[
54]
Marines.
Capt. Souter,
Second Lieutenant McDonald wounded.
Second Lieut. Isaac Potter missing. One serjeant killed, two wounded, one missing. One drummer killed, 25 rank and file killed, 86 wounded, five missing.
Total. One lieutenant killed.
Two
lieutenant colonels wounded.
Two captains wounded.
Nine lieutenants wounded.
One lieutenant missing.
Two ensigns wounded.
One serjeant killed, seven wounded, two missing. One drummer killed, one wounded, 62 rank and file killed, 157 wounded, 24 missing.
N. B.
Lieut. Isaac Potter reported to be wounded and taken prisoner.
Signed,
To counteract the impressions conveyed by the
British, or Ministerial account, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts published a narrative of the excursion and ravages of the
King's Troops, under the command of
General Gage, on the nineteenth of April, 1775, to which were appended many depositions of eye-witnesses, and which was transmitted to
England and to the Continental Congress, and otherwise extensively circulated.
The opening paragraph was as follows: ‘On the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, a day to be remembered by all
Americans of the present generation, and which ought and doubtless will be handed down to ages yet unborn, the troops of Britain, unprovoked, shed the blood of sundry of the loyal American subjects of the
British king in the field of
Lexington. * * * * The engagement lasted through the day.’ * * * *
We will now turn to an account by a British eye-witness.
April 19, 1775.
Extracts from the Diary of a British Officer in 1775, in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1877, showing the features of the general action, beginning with the previous evening:—
18th, between 10 and 11 P. M., all the grenadiers and light infantry of the army embarked and landed on the opposite shore on Cambridge marsh.
After getting over the Marsh, where they were wet to the knees, they were halted in a dirty road, and stood there till 2 A. M., waiting for provisions to be brought from the boats and divided—an unnecessary procedure.
At 2 A. M., began their march by wading through a very long ford up to their middles.
At 5 A. M., arrived
