Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection(AMERICAN REVOLUTION)British Accounts of the Battles of Lexington and Concord printed in The New-England Chronicle: or, The Essex Gazette, Vol. VII, No. 354. Cambridge: Printed by Samuel and Ebenezer Hall, from Tuesday, May 2, to Friday, May 12, 1775 Folio, 4 pages (15 1/2 x 10 in.;396 x 252 mm) printed on a full sheet of laid paper, fine allegorical woodcut vignette in masthead, text in three columns; a little browned and soiled, a few tiny losses at intersecting folds, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot. British accounts of the first military engagements of the American Revolution, spun for American propaganda and calculated to further inflame the colonists against the Redcoats. Just weeks after "the shot heard 'round the world," the Chronicle here prints extracts of letters "intercepted" from British soldiers that "may serve to shew the Importance of the late Action, and the Pains taken by their Superiors to have it thought that the Provincials began the Fire, and behaved with savage Barbarity during the Action." A letter from 28 April is representative: "I am well, all but a Wound I received through the Leg by a Ball from one of the Bostonians. … I had the strongest Assurance of going Home, but the laying of Tax on the New-England People caused us to be ordered for Boston, where we remained in Peace with the Inhabitants, till, on the Night of the 18th of April, 21 Companies of Grenadiers and Light Infantry were ordered into the Country about 13 miles; where … we met an incredible Number of People of the County in Arms against us. Col. Smyth of the 20th Regiment ordered us to rush on them with our Bayonets fixed; at which time some of the Peasants fired on us, and our Men returning the Fire, the Engagement began; they did not fight us like a regular Army, only like Savages, behind Trees and Stone Walls, and out of the Woods and Houses. … I can't be sure when you'll get another Letter from me, as this extensive Continent is all in Arms against us: These people are very numerous, and full as bad as the Indians for scalping and cutting the dead Men's Ears, and Noses off, and those they get alive, that are wounded and can't get off the Ground." This important issue also prints some brief, early reports on a planned "general congress," which would meet in September as the First Continental Congress, as well as an exchange of letters between Jonathan Trumbull and Thomas Gage discussing Connecticut's response to Lexington and Concord. The fourth page includes the text of a significant resolution from the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, sitting in Watertown, detailing the planned resettlement of inhabitants from British-occupied Boston to surrounding towns.Condition ReportCondition as described in catalogue entry. The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The
Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection(AMERICAN REVOLUTION)British Accounts of the Battles of Lexington and Concord printed in The New-England Chronicle: or, The Essex Gazette, Vol. VII, No. 354. Cambridge: Printed by Samuel and Ebenezer Hall, from Tuesday, May 2, to Friday, May 12, 1775 Folio, 4 pages (15 1/2 x 10 in.;396 x 252 mm) printed on a full sheet of laid paper, fine allegorical woodcut vignette in masthead, text in three columns; a little browned and soiled, a few tiny losses at intersecting folds, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot. British accounts of the first military engagements of the American Revolution, spun for American propaganda and calculated to further inflame the colonists against the Redcoats. Just weeks after "the shot heard 'round the world," the Chronicle here prints extracts of letters "intercepted" from British soldiers that "may serve to shew the Importance of the late Action, and the Pains taken by their Superiors to have it thought that the Provincials began the Fire, and behaved with savage Barbarity during the Action." A letter from 28 April is representative: "I am well, all but a Wound I received through the Leg by a Ball from one of the Bostonians. … I had the strongest Assurance of going Home, but the laying of Tax on the New-England People caused us to be ordered for Boston, where we remained in Peace with the Inhabitants, till, on the Night of the 18th of April, 21 Companies of Grenadiers and Light Infantry were ordered into the Country about 13 miles; where … we met an incredible Number of People of the County in Arms against us. Col. Smyth of the 20th Regiment ordered us to rush on them with our Bayonets fixed; at which time some of the Peasants fired on us, and our Men returning the Fire, the Engagement began; they did not fight us like a regular Army, only like Savages, behind Trees and Stone Walls, and out of the Woods and Houses. … I can't be sure when you'll get another Letter from me, as this extensive Continent is all in Arms against us: These people are very numerous, and full as bad as the Indians for scalping and cutting the dead Men's Ears, and Noses off, and those they get alive, that are wounded and can't get off the Ground." This important issue also prints some brief, early reports on a planned "general congress," which would meet in September as the First Continental Congress, as well as an exchange of letters between Jonathan Trumbull and Thomas Gage discussing Connecticut's response to Lexington and Concord. The fourth page includes the text of a significant resolution from the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, sitting in Watertown, detailing the planned resettlement of inhabitants from British-occupied Boston to surrounding towns.Condition ReportCondition as described in catalogue entry. The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
