Volume 13 , Issue 23

Paul Revere's Deposition ca. 1775

We found the following over at the Massachusetts Historical Society, showing a manuscript deposition written possibly at the request of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. It is from the manuscript collection, which gives a description of Revere's famous ride on the evening of 18 April 1775.

Testimony of the Midnight Rider -- Whig printers, some of whom have smuggled their presses out of Boston, publish accounts of the April 1775 events at Lexington and Concord in the next few days. Within four days of the battles, the Provincial Congress authorized justices of the peace to record eyewitness depositions. Bystanders, militiamen, alarm riders, and even British soldiers taken prisoner were asked to testify. The British, the colonists were convinced and the King should know, prompted the aggression. To carry their point, though, the Congress was to discover exactly who fired the first shot that fateful morning on Lexington Green.

[If you have trouble reading the handwritten version, scrolled to the bottom of the window and click the transcription link for a more readable view.]
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