| Citation |
NYJ-N.775.059
15 Jun 1775:11,12,13,21,22,23 (1693 Supplement)
Philadelphia, June 7. An account of the commencement of
hostilities between Great Britain and America, in the
province of Massachusetts-Bay by the Rev. Mr. William
Gordon, of Roxbury, in a letter to a gentleman in England.
(Published with the consent of the author.) My dear Sir: I
shall now give you a letter upon public affairs. [Narration
in 6 columns, includes the following, col.2] At night we had
it confirmed to us, that the regulars had been roughly
handled by the Yankees, a term of reproach for the New-
Englanders, when applied by the regulars. The brigade under
Lord Percy marched out, playing, by way of contempt, Yankee
Doodle; they were afterwards told, they had been made to
dance to it. . . [and at the end of col.2] Before Major
Pitcairn arrived at Lexington signal guns had been fired,
and the bells had been rang [?] to give the alarm; but let
not the sound of bells lead you to think of a ring of bells
like what you hear in England; for they are only small sized
bells, one in a parish, just sufficient to notify to the
people the time for attending worship, &c. [col.3] . . . and
there were present when the roll was called over about one
hundred and thirty of both, as I was told by Mr. Daniel
Harrington, clerk to the company, who further said, that the
night being chilly, so as to make it uncomfortable being
upon the parade, they having received no certain
intelligence of the regulars being upon their march, and
being waiting for the same, the men were dismissed, to
appear again at the beat of drum.
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