Major Pitcairn is portrayed on several postage stamps: Liberia 701 United States 618; 1563
Major Pitcairn is depicted in a frieze in the United States Capitol Rotunda. The US Congress Architect of the Capitol, Office of the Curator Website has promoted Major Pitcairn to General Pitcairn. The caption to the image on the first page of this Major Pitcairn Website: British troops fire on colonists, who had gathered at Lexington to stop them from going on to Concord for supplies. General Pitcairn, the British officer on horseback, ordered his men to fire on the colonists when they refused to disperse, and seven people were killed. Thus the American Revolution started, with "the shot heard round the world." This caption shows a remarkable lack of knowledge of the events, and promotes Major Pitcairn to General Pitcairn.
Responding to comments about the content of the above caption, the Office of the Curator, Architect of the Capitol replied:
Thank you for your kindness in pointing out the need for revision in our Web page caption about the "Battle of Lexington" scene in the Capitol Rotunda frieze. The caption has now been revised.
The new caption is:
Battle of Lexington. British troops fire on colonists, who had gathered at Lexington to stop them from going on to Concord to destroy a colonial supply depot. Major Pitcairn, the British officer on horseback, had ordered the colonists to disarm and disperse. As they began to do so, a single shot was fired, which led to an exchange of fire between a British platoon and the colonial militia. Eight militiamen were killed and ten wounded before Pitcairn regained control of his troops. Thus the American Revolution started, with "the shot heard round the world."
The information on these webpages regarding Major Pitcairn and the events described is collated and re-written from a multitude of sources on the WWW.
The sketch of the Old North Church, and the animated lamps used on this website are used by courtesy of the excellent
Old North Church Website .
Dr. Marianne McLeod Gilchrist of
St.Andrews, Fife, Scotland has written an article about Major Pitcairn:
A Forgotten Scots Hero
Some other highly recommended Websites are:
A Bridge to the Past, Concord, Mass.
Battle of Lexington and Concord -
A Brief History
Lexington and Concord
A Revolutionary War Mystery - Who fired the shot?
Which side fired the first shot at Lexington?
the Lexington Minutemen Homepage - April 19, 1775 History
Further Information:
Collection of Revolutionary War links
Revolutionary War Discussions .
