(AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775) Issue of the Massachusetts Gazet

Sale 2615 - Lot 11

Price Realized: $ 625

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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION--1775.) Issue of the Massachusetts Gazette, two weeks before Lexington and Concord. Issue 919. 4 pages, 15 x 9 3/4 inches, on one folding sheet; dampstaining, folds, stitch holes, trimmed on bottom edge with partial loss of one line to Page 2. Boston: Mills & Hicks, 3 April 1775

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The Gazette was a Loyalist paper. This issue features the final letter from a long series written by Daniel Leonard, writing under the pseudonym "Massachusettensis." Here, two weeks before Lexington and Concord, he attempts to discourage patriots from taking up arms: "Do you expect to conquer in war? War is no longer a simple, but an intricate science, not to be learned from books. . . . His Majesty's generals, Gage and Haldimand, are possessed of every talent requisite to great commanders. . . . Alas! my friends, you have nothing to oppose this force, but a militia unused to service, impatient of command and destitute of resources. . . . Nothing short of a miracle could gain you one battle."

Also included is a brief note on the imminent posting of General Howe to America, where he soon became commander in chief of British forces: "It is said that, with the additional Forces ordered for America, Lord How was to come out with two Regiments of Horse."