In 1875 there was an exhibition of relics of the fight at Lexington, and some of them are still retained in the library hall. A printed list of them was issued in 1875. A musket taken from a British soldier was bequeathed by Theodore Parker to the State of Massachusetts, and now hangs in the Senate Chamber. Cf. _Hist. Mag._, iv. 202 (July, 1880).] In 1875 Justin Winsor published first in the _Bulletin_ of the Boston Public Library a bibliographical commentary on all printed matter respecting the battle, grouping his notes by their affinities; and this was enlarged in the _Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Battle_, published by the city of Boston in 1875; and still further augmented in a section of his _Handbook of the American Revolution_ (Boston, 1879). In 1880 James F. Hunnewell, in his _Bibliography of Charlestown and Bunker Hill_ (Boston), grouped everything alphabetically under such main headings as monographs, maps and plans, contemporary newspapers, American statements, British accounts, French accounts, anniversaries. His enumeration is more nearly exhaustive than Mr. Winsor's, though this may still supplement it in some particulars. * * * * * The earliest printed accounts which we have of the battle are in the newspapers, and of these a full enumeration is given by Mr. Hunnewell.[550] What may be called the official statements on the American side were speedily placed before the public, but, strange to say, neither of the two officers who have been held to have directed the conduct of the Americans vouched for any of the early accounts. From Putnam we have nothing. Prescott made no statement, which has come down to us, earlier than in a letter addressed to John Adams, Aug. 25, 1775,[551] though he is said to have assisted the Rev. [Illustration: RICHARD FROTHINGHAM. After a steel plate kindly furnished by Mr. Frothingham's son, Mr. Thomas Goddard Frothingham. There is a memoir of Mr. Frothingham, by Charles Deane, in the _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings_, Feb., 1885, and separately. Mr. Frothingham was born Jan. 31, 1812, and died Jan. 29, 1880. Remarks made to the society at the time of his death are in the _Proc._ (Feb., 1880), xvii. 329. Cf. R. C. Winthrop's _Speeches_ (1878, etc.), p. 125.] Peter Thacher in a narrative which was prepared within a fortnight, Thacher himself having observed the fight from the Malden side of Mystick River.[552] This Thacher MS. was made the basis of the account which the Committee of Safety, by order of the provincial congress, prepared for sending to England.[553] There have been preserved a large number of letters and statements written by eye-witnesses or by those near at hand, some of them conveying particulars essential to the understanding of the day's events, but most adding little beyond increasing our perceptions of the feelings of the hour.[554] [Illustration: