Breaking the News of the American Revolution

Newspapers in the Revolutionary era kept increasingly literate colonists informed of events happening hundreds of miles away. They also provided a platform for discussing political issues, airing grievances, relaying battlefield developments, and mobilizing public opinion. The Saturday Evening Post traces its roots to The Pennsylvania Gazette — one of the most prominent newspapers in the American colonies — which in April and May 1775 carried eyewitness accounts of and reports on the historic battles that marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

Start of the Revolution

The Pennsylvania Gazette printed excerpts from letters detailing firsthand the events of April 19, 1775, including this one dated April 20

I have yet an opportunity of writing to you from my own house, but how long that privilege is to continue God only knows. Yesterday morning, or rather late in the night of the 18th, a brigade, or four regiments… marched on towards Concord; on their way, in passing through Lexington, the troops came unexpectedly on a company of our country people (who are called Minute Men) that were early in the morning exercising with arms, without ammunition. The Officer of the troops [Maj. Pitcairn] is said to have ordered them to lay down their arms; —the Captain [John Parker] replied, he was on his own ground, that his company were without ammunition, and had no intent but that of improving in the military art: After some altercation, report says the Captain and his men turned to go off, and that the Light Infantry fired on them, killed six, and wounded mortally two others. The troops continuing their route to Concord, the country by the time of their getting there were alarmed, and our people, taking to a hill, began firing upon the troops with about 200 men.

Many are killed on both sides, and were left on the roads, neither side having time to collect their dead. Our people came to no regular battle, but annoyed their whole passage back. We could see the flashes, and hear the reports of the guns for hours, the warmest fire being about two miles from the town, where only water parted us. The marching of the troops to the water side was so sudden and silent, that few of the inhabitants knew of it till next morning.

—The Pennsylvania Gazette, April 27, 1775

Who Fired the First Shot?

Immediately after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress ordered the taking of official depositions from many witnesses present at the fight for the purpose of establishing the claim that the British fired first. On April 24, 1775, Capt. John Parker gave his account of the battle (below). The question of which side fired the opening salvo is still unanswered

I, John Parker, of lawful age, and commander of the militia in Lexington, do testify and declare that on the 19th instant, in the morning, about one of the clock, being informed that there were a number of regular officers riding up and down the road, stopping and insulting people as they passed the road, and also was informed that a number of regular troops were on their march from Boston, in order to take the province stores at Concord, ordered our militia to meet on the common in said Lexington, to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered nor meddle or make with said regular troops (if they should approach) unless they should insult or molest us, and upon their sudden approach I immediately ordered our militia to disperse and not to fire; immediately said troops made their appearance and rushed furiously, fired upon and killed 8 of our party, without receiving any provocation therefor from us.

John Parker
Lexington, April 24, 1775
—The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 17, 1775

Open Letter to the People of Britain

In April 1775, Joseph Warren of Boston — physician, military officer, and Founding Father — wrote an open letter to the British people giving the colonists’ view of the events. It was Warren who dispatched William Dawes and Paul Revere to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the impending British march on Lexington

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 Command of Gen. 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 for want of a Session of the Honourable Continental Congress, think it proper to address you on this 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 command of Colonel Smith, was secretly landed at Cambridge, with an apparent design to take or destroy the military and other stores provided for the defense of this Colony, and deposited at Concord — that some inhabitants of the Colony on the night aforesaid, whilst travelling peaceable 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 Col. 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 thro’ 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 child-bed 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 nation.

Per order,
Joseph Warren, President, Pro Tem
—The Pennsylvania Gazette, May 17, 1775

Lexington Alarm

Just hours after the battle on Lexington Green, Joseph Palmer — a member of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety — wrote a brief letter (below) detailing the events in Lexington and Concord and dispatched an express rider to alert other colonies that the war had begun. The announcement — published in colonial newspapers like The Pennsylvania Gazette — stirred men to gather with their local militias and march toward Boston

On Monday Evening last an Express arrived here from New-York, by whom we have the following Advices. Watertown, Wednesday Morning, near 10 of the clock.

To all friends of American Liberty, be it known, that this Morning, before Break of Day, a Brigade consisting of about 1000 or 1200 Men, landed at Phipps’s Farm, at Cambridge, and marched to Lexington, where they found a Company of our Colony Militia in Arms, upon whom they fired without any Provocation, killed 6 Men, and wounded 4 others. By an Express from Boston, we find another Brigade are on their March from Boston, supposed to be about 1000. The Bearer, Trail Bissel, is charged to alarm the Country quite to Connecticut; and all Persons are desired to furnish him with fresh Horses, as they may be needed. I have spoken with several, who have seen the Dead and Wounded. Pray let the Delegates from this Colony to Connecticut see this, they know Col. Forster, one of the Delegates.

J. Palmer, one of the Committee
—The Pennsylvania Gazette, April 26, 1775

Paul Revere’s Ride

In early June, the first report of Paul Revere’s ride appeared in print, notes David Hackett Fischer, Professor of History Emeritus at Brandeis University, in his book Paul Revere’s Ride. It appeared in “An Account of the Hostilities Between Great Britain and America, in a Letter to a Gentleman” by William Gordon that was published in the June 7, 1775, issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette:

Mr.Paul Revere, who was sent express, was taken and detained some time by the officers, being afterwards upon the spot, and finding the regulars at hand, passed thro’ the Lexington company with another, having between them a box of papers belonging to Mr. Hancock, and went down a cross road, till there was a house so between him and the company, as that he could not see the latter; he told me likewise, that he had not got half a gun shot from them before the regulars appeared; that they halted about three seconds; that upon hearing the report of a pistol or gun, he looked round, and saw the smoke in front of the regulars, our people being out of view because of the house; then the regulars huzza’d and fired, first two more guns, then the advanced guard, and so the whole body; the bullets flying thick about him, and he having nothing to defend himself, ran into a wood, where he halted and heard the firing for about a quarter of an hour.

This article is featured in the March/April 2025 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.