Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library |
| The University of Michigan |
| Lexington and Concord Collection |
After the skirmish between the patriots and British regulars at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress ordered depositions of participants to be taken for the purpose of establishing the claim that the British fired first. Accordingly, a committee set to work to record all declarations of the eyewitnesses, make several copies, and have all of them signed. The first set was dispatched to London to the Massachusetts agent there, while other sets were sent to neighboring colonies. They are still a chief source of information on the first engagement of the Revolution.
This set, comprising 20 depositions signed by 94 men, April 23-25, apparently was sent by the Cambridge Committee of Safety to the Albany committee. Thirteen of the depositions relate to Lexington; the others to Concord.
Purchased, 1938
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