LETTER FROM THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY TO THE SEVERAL TOWNS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

Cambridge, April 28. 1775.

GENTLEMEN: The barbarous murders committed on our innocent brethren on Wednesday the 19th instant, have made it absolutely necessary that we immediately raise an Army to defend our wives and children from the butchering hands of an inhuman soldiery, who, incensed at the obstacles they met with in their bloody progress, and enraged at being repulsed from the field of slaughter, will, without doubt, take the first opportunity in their power to ravage this devoted Country with fire and sword. We conjure, therefore, by all that is dear, by all that is sacred, that you give all assistance possible in forming the Army. Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain consequences of delay; every moment is infinitely precious; an hour lost may deluge your Country in blood, and entail perpetual slavery upon the few of your posterity who may survive the carnage. We beg and entreat, as you will answer it to your Country, to your own consciences, and, above all, to God himself, that you will hasten and encourage, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form the Army, and send them forward to Head Quarters at Cambridge, with that expedition which the vast importance and instant urgency of the affair demands. We are, &c.

NEWBURYPORT COMMITTEE TO THE MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE OF WAR.

Newburyport, April 28, 1775.

SIR: Mr. Christian Febiger, the bearer, has been a resident in this Town about three weeks. He came last from New-Haven, in Connecticut, and from what acquaintance we have had with him, it appears that he is a person well acquainted with the art military, and professes that sinse he is a Dane, he is willing to serve in the American Army for pay. He appeared very ready to assist in our late alarm.

In behalf of the Committee.

JONA. TITCOMB.

To the Honourable the Chairman of the Committee of War.

SELECTMEN OF SANDBORNTON TO THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE CONGRESS.

Sandbornton, April 28, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: The messenger who bears this waits upon you to request your advice at this critical and alarming juncture. We are in a state almost totally destitute of the proper means of defence. People among us are extremely uneasy and greatly alarmed. We have made repeated trials to furnish ourselves with ammunition, but without success. We therefore request such advice as you in your wisdom shall think fit, and such assistance as you may please to grant.

We are encouraged to make this application, as we understand the Province Store is opened, and a barrel of Powder brought to Canterbury. We can assure you that it will be applied to no other use but our Country’s defence, being determined to resist all hostile attempts against our sacred and invaluable privileges to the last extremity.

We are, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servants,

JOHN SANDBORN,
AARON SANDBORN,
CALEB GILMAN.

To the Honourable Congress convened at Exeter.

GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL TO GENERAL GAGE.
[Read before Congress, May 19, 1775.]

Hartford, April 28, 1775.

SIR: The alarming situation of publick affairs in this Country, and the late unfortunate transactions in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, have induced the General Assembly of this Colony, now sitting in this place, to appoint a Committee* of their body, to wait upon your Excellency, and to desire me, in their name, to write to you, relative to those very interesting matters.

The inhabitants of this Colony are intimately connected with the people of your Province, and esteem themselves bound, by the strongest ties of friendship, as well as of common interest, to regard with attention whatever concerns them. You will not, therefore, be surprised that your first arrival at Boston, with a body of His Majesty’s Troops, for the declared purpose of carrying into execution certain Acts of Parliament, which, in their apprehension, were unconstitutional and oppressive, should have given the good people of this Colony a very just and general alarm. Your subsequent proceedings in fortifying the Town of Boston, and other military preparations, greatly increased their apprehensions for the safety of their friends and brethren. They could not be unconcerned spectators of their sufferings in that which they esteemed the common cause of this Country; but the late hostile and secret inroads of some of the Troops under your command, into the heart of the Country, and the violences they have committed, have driven them almost to a state of desperation. They feel now, not only for their friends, but for themselves, and their dearest interests and connections.

We wish not to exaggerate; we are not sure of every part of our information, but by the best intelligence that we have yet been able to obtain, the late transaction was a most unprovoked attack upon the lives and property of His Majesty’s subjects; and it is represented to us that such outrages have been committed as would disgrace even barbarians, and much more Britons, so highly famed for humanity as well as bravery.

It is feared, therefore, that we are devoted to destruction, and that you have it in command and intention to ravage and desolate the Country. If this is not the case, permit us to ask, why have these outrages been committed? Why is the Town of Boston now shut up? To what end are all the hostile preparations that are daily making? And why do we continually hear of fresh destinations of Troops to this Country? The people of this Colony, you may rely upon it, abhor the idea of taking up arms against the Troops of their Sovereign, and dread nothing so much as the horrours of a civil war. But, sir, at the same time we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that as they apprehend themselves justified by the principle of self-defence, they are most firmly resolved to defend their rights and privileges to the last extremity; nor will they be restrained from giving aid to their brethren, if any unjustifiable attack is made upon them.

Be so good, therefore, as to explain yourself upon this most important subject, so far as is consistent with your duty to our common Sovereign. Is there no way to prevent this unhappy dispute from coming to extremities? Is there no alternative but absolute submission, or the desolations of war? By that humanity which constitutes so amiable a part of your character, and for the honour of our Sovereign, and the glory of the British Empire, we entreat you to prevent it if possible. Surely it is to be hoped that the temperate wisdom of the Empire might even yet find expedients to restore peace, that so all parts of the Empire may enjoy their particular rights, honours, and immunities. Certainly this is an event most devoutly to be wished; and will it not be consistent with your duty to suspend the operations of war on your part, and enable us on ours to quiet the minds of the people, at least till the result of some further deliberations may be known?

The importance of the occasion will no doubt sufficiently apologize for the earnestness with which we address you, and any seeming impropriety which may attend it, as well as induce you to give us the most explicit and favourable answer in your power.

I am, with great esteem and respect, in behalf of the General Assembly, Sir, your most obedient servant.

To his Excellency Thomas Gage, Esq.

GENERAL GAGE TO GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL.

Boston, April 29, 1775.

SIR: I transmit you herewith a circumstantial account of an unhappy affair that happened in this Province on the nineteenth instant, between His Majesty’s Troops and the people of the country, whereby you will see the pitch their leaders have worked them up to, even to commit hostilities upon the King’s Troops when an opportunity offered. It

* Doctor Johnson and Oliver Wolcott, Esquire.