 Later, after Pitcairn's arrival in the Concord square, British officers refreshed themselves in the tavern.The tavern also has earlier links to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress which met next door in October 1774, in the First Parish Church.With John Hancock as president and Benjamin Lincoln as secretary, the Congress consisted of 300 delegates from Massachusetts towns who passed measures ending tax payments to the Crown and organizing a militia force to defy King George III by arms if necessary.