"Lieutenant Thoroton Gould, aforenamed, personally made oath to the truth of the foregoing declaration by him subscribed, before us,
"Thad. Masson,
"Josiah Johnson, Simon Tufts, Justices of the peace for the county aforesaid, quorum unus."
"Province of Massachusetts Bay, Charlestown, ss.
"I, Nathaniel Gorham, notary and tabellion public, by lawful authority duly admitted and sworn, hereby certify to all whom it may or doth concern, that Thaddeus Masson, Josiah Johnson, and Simon Tufts, Esqrs., are three of his majesty's justices of the peace (quorum unus) for the county of Middlesex; and that full faith and credit is and ought to be given to their transactions as such, both in court and out. In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my name and seal, this twenty-sixth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.
"Nathaniel Gorham, Notary Public." (L. S.)
(All the above depositions are sworn to before justices of the peace, and duly attested by notaries public, in manner of the last one.)
"In Provincial Congress, Watertown, April 26, 1775.
"To the Inhabitants of Great Britain.
"Friends and Fellow-Subjects: Hostilities are at length commenced in this colony by the troops under the command of General Gage; and it being of the greatest importance that an early, true, and authentic account of this inhuman proceeding, should be known to you, the Congress of this colony have transmitted the same, and, from want of a session of the Hon. Continental Congress, think it proper to address you on the alarming occasion.
"By the clearest depositions relative to this transaction, it will appear that, on the night preceding the 19th of April instant, a body of the king's troops, under the command of Colonel Smith, were secretly landed at Cambridge, with an apparent design to take or destroy the military and other stores, provided for the defence of this colony, and deposited at Concord; that some inhabitants of the colony, on the night aforesaid, while travelling peaceably on the road between Boston and Concord, were seized and greatly abused by armed men, who appeared to be officers of General Gage's army; that the town of Lexington by these means was alarmed, and a company of the inhabitants mustered on the occasion; that the regular troops, on their way to Concord, marched into the said town of Lexington, and the said company on their approach began to disperse; that notwithstanding this, the regulars rushed on with great violence, and first began hostilities, by firing on said Lexington company, whereby they killed eight, and wounded several others; that the regulars continued their fire until those of said company, who were neither killed nor wounded, had made their escape; that Colonel Smith, with the detachment, then marched to Concord, where a number of provincials were again fired on by the troops, two of them killed and several wounded, before the provincials fired on them; and that these hostile measures of the troops produced an engagement that lasted through the day, in which many of the provincials and more of the regular troops were killed and wounded.
"To give a particular account of the ravages of the troops, as they retreated from Concord to Charlestown, would be very difficult, if not impracticable. Let it suffice to say, that a great number of the houses on the road were plundered, and rendered unfit for use; several were burnt; women in childbed were driven, by the soldiery, naked into the streets; old men peaceably in their houses were shot dead; and such scenes exhibited as would disgrace the annals of the most uncivilized nations.