Sources for Further Reading

Printed Sources

Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts: 1788-1789.  Volume within series, Acts and Laws of the Commmonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Company, 1894 reprint.  See page 584 for resolve dated June 24, 1789 to compensate Williams for loss of property.

Chamberlain, Mellen. A Documentary History of Chelsea.  Boston: printed for the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1908.

Chidsey, Donald Barr. The Siege of Boston : an On-the-Scene Account of the Beginning of the American Revolution. NY : Crown Publishers, [1966].

Coburn, Frank Warren. The Battle of April 19, 1775 in Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville and Charlestown, Massachusetts. Lexington, Mass. : The Author, 1912.

Coffin, Charles Carleton. The Boys of '76. NY: Harper & Brothers,1877.

Ellis, George E. March 17th, 1876 : Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Evacuation of Boston by the British Army, March 17th, 1776.... Boston: printed by order of the City Council, 1876.

French, Allen. The Siege of Boston. NY: Macmillan Company, 1911.

Hale, Rev. Edward E. "The Siege of Boston," Chapter II in The Memorial History of Boston, volume 3, edited by Justin Winsor. Boston: Osgood, 1881.

Lockhart, Paul. The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington. New York: Harper Collins, 2011.

McCullough, David. 1776. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Sumner, William H. History of East Boston: With Biographical Sketches of Its Early Proprietors and an Appendix. Boston: J. E. Tilton, 1858.

Online sources

"Boston 1775." Blog featuring history and analysis about Boston and the start of the American Revolution.

Teacher and student resource (forthcoming) about the Siege of Boston. Developed by a Teacher Fellow at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Online sources comparing the original land configuration of Boston to its present shape

Architecture, MIT. "Beacon Hill Through Time." Accessed 5 November 2010.

Breed's Hill Institute. "Now & Then." Accessed 5 November 2010.

Digital Archive of American Architecture. "Boston: History of the Landfills." Accessed 5 November 2010.

World Book. "Boston in 1775." Accessed 5 November 2010.

Additional online primary sources from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Henry Knox diary, 20 November 1775-13 January 1776. This web presentation features images and transcriptions of the journal kept by Henry Knox during his assignment to recover cannon and mortars from Fort Ticonderoga and bring them to Boston. Knox's actions were pivotal in bringing about the end of the Siege of Boston in March 1776.

Prospect Hill. Bunker Hill. Handbill. [Cambridge or Watertown: unidentified printer, 1775.]This Object of the Month presentation from the MHS features a handbill that is a that satiric comparison of living conditions for soldiers on both sides of the lines during the Siege of Boston, 1775-1776.  It is  an early example of psychological warfare used by the Americans during the Revolutionary War and it was printed to encourage British soldiers to desert.

Sons and Daughters of Liberty Unite to Boycott William Jackson. This Object of the Month website presentation from the MHS features a broadside published circa 1769-1770 that urges Bostonians to boycott Jackson's shop.

Two favorite Songs made on the Evacuation of the Town by British Troop, on the 17th of March 1776. Broadside. [Boston, 1776].  This broadside presents two celebratory songs composed about the evacuation of Boston by the British troops in March 1776.

"Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army" section of the Massachusetts Historical Society's website, The Coming of the American Revolution. This section of the website  features many documents related to American military campaign after the arrival of General George Washington.