Historical Object of the Week: Rules and Regulations for the Massachusetts Army

Each week we will present an artifact from the  collection that speaks to Concord’s storied history. We welcome comments, memories and suggestions for future items.

The pamphlet, Rules and Regulations for the Massachusetts Army, is a very significant and rare artifact of the early Revolution in the collection of the Concord Museum. Because of the dramatic events at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775, other aspects of Concord’s role in the beginning of the Revolution are often eclipsed. Two important meetings of the Provincial Congress were convened in Concord in April.

This publication contains the 53 rules adopted by the April 5, 1775, meeting. These rules governed the conduct of the provincial forces arrayed against the British in Boston—the Minuteman and Militia companies that responded to the Alarm of April 19th. Out of these companies, the Provincial Army was formed.

This pamphlet is signed “Capt. Abijah Wyman’s Martial Book – given Him by Coll. Prescott, June 1775.” Abijah Wyman from Ashby was a captain in William Prescott’s regiment from Groton, which had responded to the April 19 alarm but, arriving after the action, continued on to Cambridge and joined the provincial army besieging Boston.  

To learn more about the events of April, 1775, read The Minutemen and Their World, by Robert A. Gross, available at the Concord Museum Shop.