Inman House

Although the Inman House is no longer standing, it was significant to life in Cambridge before and during the Siege of Boston.

Ralph Inman bought the property and built the house in 1756. He was a well-known merchant and loyalist before the Revolution broke out and his house hosted many entertaining and lavish parties for the other Tories in Cambridge. On one occasion, Ralph hosted a two hundred-person party for his son George upon his graduation from Harvard. 

Ralph Inman was in Boston, visiting his daughter, during the events of the Battle of Lexington and Concord but his wife was at their house in Cambridge. After the battle, Cambridge became the gathering place for militias and eventually the first headquarters of the Continental Army. Thousands of men from all over New England came to Cambridge to join the fight and soon after the battle of Lexington and Concord the Inman House was seized and used to house troops that had arrived in Cambridge, even with Mrs. Inman living there. General Putnam and his men from Connecticut occupied the Inman House and grounds, with over 3,000 troops living on the Inman property throughout the Siege of Boston.

Ralph Inman’s son, George had just graduated from Harvard and chose to fight in the war on the British side, against his father’s wishes. George Inman’s first battle was the Battle of Bunker Hill, of which he gives a detailed description from memory in his diary. He continued to fight for the British throughout the war.

Although the Inman House and ground suffered damage through the war, the Inman’s were allowed to return to their estate in Cambridge.

 

The Inman Diaries

George Inman's account of The Revolutionary War.