About Item:

In 1771, Paul Revere created a display in the windows of his home to call attention to the 1 year anniversary of the Boston Massacre. He did this by creating images on oiled cloth, placing candles behind them for illumination, and mounting them in his windows so people on the sidewalk and in North Square could see them clearly. This newspaper account is the only written document we have describing the event.

Read excerpted transcription here

Glossary Terms:

• Messieurs—French term for “misters”
• XXIXth—29th
• Regiment—A unit of an army
• Congregational Meeting Houses—a church building belonging to the Protestant denomination of Congregationalism. Paul Revere was a Congregationalist
• Endeavouring—Trying
• Therefrom—From that place
• Obelisk—A tall, pointed structure that is usually used as a memorial or monument
• Pal—Pale
• Thereof—The thing mentioned just before
• Grenadier—A soldier whose specialty is grenades and other small explosives
• Countenances—Faces
• Melancholy—Sad and thoughtful
• Doleful—Dreary, sad
• Peal—Ring
• Habitations—Where people live

From the collections of Paul Revere Memorial Association