Amos Doolittle’s Engraving
The first battles of the Revolutionary War were fought on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord, MA. Amos Doolittle made this engraving based on first-hand accounts.
Doolittle was born in Cheshire, CT in 1754. As a young teenager, he worked as a silversmith’s apprentice. As an adult, he became an engraver – one of America’s first. He also joined the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guard in New Haven. When news of the war’s outbreak reached Connecticut, he traveled with the unit to Massachusetts, where he and the artist Ralph Earl surveyed the battle sites and interviewed witnesses.
Returning to Connecticut, Doolittle quickly produced a series of four engravings, based on Earl’s sketches, including this one entitled, “A View of the South Part of Lexington.” Doolittle’s prints provided many Americans with their first visions of the Revolutionary War.
This print of Doolittle’s engraving is in the collection of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford.
Credits
Amos Doolittle’s engraving is in the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford.