Two Women Remembered As “The American Army of Two”

At Scituate, MA. stands the historical and unique Scituate Lighthouse. In 1811, the Lighthouse Service contracted to build a 24-foot octagonal granite tower, backed with rubble stone, at the north side of the entrance to Scituate Harbor. The new light soon caused as much confusion as it provided help to the mariners. Skippers spied Scituate's fixed white signal, thinking they were approaching the Boston Light.

To differentiate the two stations, the US Lighthouse Service added a 14-foot section of brick work to elevate Scituate's Light. Then a second fixed red beacon was installed on the east side of the tower wall. However, the crimson beam was feeble, and from any appreciable distance offshore the two colors blended into one. The ship wrecks continued until a solution was realized in the construction of the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse. As soon as the spindle legged Minot's went into service in 1850, Scituate Light was turned off. However, when the former light went down in the great storm of 1851, the Scituate beacon was reestablished and remained lit until Minot’s replacement structure was finished in 1860.

Simon Bates was the initial keeper of Scituate Lighthouse. During the War of 1812, Bates' two daughters, Rebecca and Abigail, by themselves, saved the town from possible destruction at the hands of a British warship. In September 1814, the man of war ship La Hogue anchored and several boatloads of soldiers put off for shore. Watching the enemy movement from the lighthouse tower, the Bates girls, alone at the station, sprang into action. Grabbing a drum and fife, the children dashed into nearby cover and began playing with all the gusto they could muster. The shrill notes and rhythmical beat soon reached the ears of the startled British commander, who must have surmised American troops were marshaling to meet his landing party. He promptly sounded a signal ordering his long-boats back to the ship. The La Hogue sailed away, the town was spared, and the Bates girls have since been fondly remembered by towns people as "The American Army of Two." Although the name Bates is synonymous with mine, research did not reveal any relationship to Simon Bates.

In 1916, the Scituate Lighthouse was put up for sale and the following year purchased by the Town of Scituate. After providing periodic maintenance to both the tower and keeper's house, in 1968 civic leaders made the Scituate Historical Society the light's caretaker. That same year, the organization succeeded in having the treasured landmark added to the National Register of Historic Places, and later the light relight as a private light.