the 9. Nothing very remarkable at night their was thre of our Amarican Boys made their escape from the Enemy in Boston and were taken up by our men who were Patroling on Dorchester Point to and they brought of things to considerable value.
the 10. Nothing Strange this day.[207]
SUPPLEMENT,
CONTAINING
OFFICIAL PAPERS ON THE SKIRMISHES AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD,
AND A LIST OF REVOLUTIONARY ARTICLES IN THE POUGHKEEPSIE MUSEUM.
SUPPLEMENT.
OFFICIAL PAPERS
concerning
THE SKIRMISHES AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD.
In the preceding Journal of a Soldier, in 1775, his narrative commences on the day of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, the opening conflicts of the Revolution. Some official matters relating to those events, which are inaccessible to the general reading-public, will doubtless be acceptable, as they certainly are appropriate, in this connection.
The skirmishes occurred on the 19th of April, 1775. On the 22d, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts assembled, and, deeming it important to have the whole truth known, appointed a committee to take depositions in relation to the transactions of the British troops in their route to and from Concord. Another committee was appointed the following day, consisting of Dr. Church, Elbridge Gerry, and Thomas Cushing, to draw up a narrative of the massacre. The committee to take depositions held their sessions at Concord and Lexington, on the 23d and 25th of April. Feeling it to be expedient to send an account immediately to England, a committee, consisting of Dr. Warren, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Gardiner, and Colonel Stone, was chosen to prepare a letter to Dr. Franklin, the colonial agent in London. They reported a letter, and also an "Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain," on the same day. Captain Richard Derby, of Salem, was employed to proceed immediately with the despatches. He placed them in the hands of Doctor Franklin on the 29th of May, and on the following day the address was printed and circulated. It gave the first intelligence of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, to the British public.
The following, copied from the Journals of the Continental Congress, are the several papers referred to:—
"To the Hon. Benjamin Franklin, Esq., at London.