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The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle Domestic News April 21, 1775
Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
News of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775: British troops marched from Boston, attacked at Lexington, then Concord; provincial forces forced them to retreat to Charlestown, where they were surrounded by thousands of militia.
Quality green show the numbers
Measured from the scan
— how cleanly the OCR engine read the characters
- Mean ink quality
- 98.0% The length-weighted average confidence across the OCR lines — the mean of exactly the per-line scores whose tails the two figures below report. Typical is 99%.
- Illegible ink
- 0.8% Text sitting in OCR-detected lines that scored below 80% confidence — very shaky reads. Weighted by line length, so one long bad line counts for more than a short one.
- Uncertain ink
- 0.9% Text in lines that scored 80–90% — somewhat shaky reads.
- Matches source
- 96.65% How closely the served text matches the raw OCR of the same boxes, letter by letter, after collapsing spacing and case. This measures agreement, not correctness: the OCR is often wrong and the extractor corrects it, so 100% does not mean perfect, and a low figure usually means poor scan text was rewritten rather than that text was lost (length vs source shows loss).
- Length vs source
- 100.09% Below 100% means text was dropped from the OCR; above means text was added to make it read.
Assembled by the extraction model
— whether the stitched-together text holds up; catches layout and segmentation errors, which the scores above cannot see
- Transcription confidence
- 92.0% (typical 96%) How cleanly the extractor could assemble what it was given. Low here with clean ink scores points at layout analysis — the characters were read correctly but grouped or ordered wrongly.
- Comprehension
- 90.0% Whether the piece reads coherently start to finish. Can stay high while transcription confidence drops, when only part of the component is affected.
Clipping
Full Text
BLOODY NEWS.
PORTSMOUTH, April 20, 1775.
Early this Morning, we were alarmed, with an Express from Newbury-Port, with the following Letter, to the Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence in this Town.
SIR, Newbury-Port, April 19, 1775.
The Town has been in a continual alarm, the TROOPS having marched out of Boston to make some Attack in the Country— The Reports in general concur, in part, in having been at Lexington.—And it is very generally said they have been at Concord, We sent off an Express this Afternoon, who went as far as Simons's at Danvers, before he could get Information that he thought might be depended upon— he there met two or three Gentlemen who affirmed, the Regular Troops and our Men had been engaged chief of the Morning, and that it is supposed we had Twenty-five Thousand Men engaged against Four Thousand Regulars; that the Regulars had begun a Retreat— Our Men here are setting off immediately—And as the Sword is now drawn, and first drawn on the Side of the Troops, we scruple not, you will give the readiest and fullest Assistance in your Power. And send this Information further on— In Behalf of the Committee for this Town,
Your humble Servant,
JAMES HUDSON, Chairman.
By the Express who brought the above Letter, we hear the Attack began at Lexington, (about 12 Miles from Boston) by the Regular Troops, the 18th Inst. before Sunrise, when there was but twelve Hundred Regulars, who fired on the Watch or Guard that was placed at the House where Col. Lee & Major E. Bridge Gary kept, and killed Eight. From thence they proceeded to Concord, where they made a general Attack, and burnt the Meeting-House, and other Buildings. The Provincial Forces that had assembled, obliged the Regulars to retreat, after Numbers had been slain on both Sides. A Reinforcement of Regulars came out of Boston, & made up in the whole about Four Thousand, leaving one Thousand only to guard the Town.
Thursday One o'Clock. Another Express from Newbury Port informs, That there was Sixteen Hundred Regulars in the first Body that marched out of Boston, but for what particular Purpose do not learn. At Concord it is said they took 300 Barrels of Flour from the Provincials, knocked out the Heads, and destroyed it on the Spot—20 Regulars and 40 Provincials were kill'd. The Regular Army has retreated back to Winter Hill in Charlestown, and are surrounded by the Provincials.
Our Committee immediately on receiving the above Intelligence, sent off Expresses to all Quarters.
The foregoing is the different Accounts we have receiv'd, but how far and what Part is authentic, presume not to determine.
Thursday Evening 6 o'Clock, another Express, who came to rally the whole Country informs, that General Haldimand was sent out of Boston, with the first Party, in order to take some Gentlemen Prisoners, & if they met with any Difficulty, Lord Percy, with the main Body was to follow after, which he did, when a general Engagement ensued, and the Provincials obliged them to retreat to the Place mentioned in a Paragraph above, where they are almost surrounded by 30,000 of the Provincials; that there had been and was a constant firing on both Sides.
Great Numbers are gone and going from all our Towns above, and no doubt 50,000 are now assembled.
PORTSMOUTH, April 20, 1775.
Early this Morning, we were alarmed, with an Express from Newbury-Port, with the following Letter, to the Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence in this Town.
SIR, Newbury-Port, April 19, 1775.
The Town has been in a continual alarm, the TROOPS having marched out of Boston to make some Attack in the Country— The Reports in general concur, in part, in having been at Lexington.—And it is very generally said they have been at Concord, We sent off an Express this Afternoon, who went as far as Simons's at Danvers, before he could get Information that he thought might be depended upon— he there met two or three Gentlemen who affirmed, the Regular Troops and our Men had been engaged chief of the Morning, and that it is supposed we had Twenty-five Thousand Men engaged against Four Thousand Regulars; that the Regulars had begun a Retreat— Our Men here are setting off immediately—And as the Sword is now drawn, and first drawn on the Side of the Troops, we scruple not, you will give the readiest and fullest Assistance in your Power. And send this Information further on— In Behalf of the Committee for this Town,
Your humble Servant,
JAMES HUDSON, Chairman.
By the Express who brought the above Letter, we hear the Attack began at Lexington, (about 12 Miles from Boston) by the Regular Troops, the 18th Inst. before Sunrise, when there was but twelve Hundred Regulars, who fired on the Watch or Guard that was placed at the House where Col. Lee & Major E. Bridge Gary kept, and killed Eight. From thence they proceeded to Concord, where they made a general Attack, and burnt the Meeting-House, and other Buildings. The Provincial Forces that had assembled, obliged the Regulars to retreat, after Numbers had been slain on both Sides. A Reinforcement of Regulars came out of Boston, & made up in the whole about Four Thousand, leaving one Thousand only to guard the Town.
Thursday One o'Clock. Another Express from Newbury Port informs, That there was Sixteen Hundred Regulars in the first Body that marched out of Boston, but for what particular Purpose do not learn. At Concord it is said they took 300 Barrels of Flour from the Provincials, knocked out the Heads, and destroyed it on the Spot—20 Regulars and 40 Provincials were kill'd. The Regular Army has retreated back to Winter Hill in Charlestown, and are surrounded by the Provincials.
Our Committee immediately on receiving the above Intelligence, sent off Expresses to all Quarters.
The foregoing is the different Accounts we have receiv'd, but how far and what Part is authentic, presume not to determine.
Thursday Evening 6 o'Clock, another Express, who came to rally the whole Country informs, that General Haldimand was sent out of Boston, with the first Party, in order to take some Gentlemen Prisoners, & if they met with any Difficulty, Lord Percy, with the main Body was to follow after, which he did, when a general Engagement ensued, and the Provincials obliged them to retreat to the Place mentioned in a Paragraph above, where they are almost surrounded by 30,000 of the Provincials; that there had been and was a constant firing on both Sides.
Great Numbers are gone and going from all our Towns above, and no doubt 50,000 are now assembled.
What sub-type of article is it?
Military
Rebellion Or Revolt
What keywords are associated?
Lexington
Concord
British Regulars
Provincial Militia
Battles
What entities or persons were involved?
James Hudson
Col. Lee
Major E. Bridge Gary
General Haldimand
Lord Percy
Where did it happen?
Lexington And Concord, Massachusetts
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Lexington And Concord, Massachusetts
Event Date
April 18 19, 1775
Key Persons
James Hudson
Col. Lee
Major E. Bridge Gary
General Haldimand
Lord Percy
Outcome
eight killed at lexington; later reports 20 regulars and 40 provincials killed; british retreated to winter hill and were surrounded.