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Lexington-Concord Issue

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5-cent Lexington-Concord Sesquicentenary The Minute Man single

A series of three stamps issued on April 4, 1925, commemorated the 150th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first conflicts of the American Revolutionary War. These battles immortalized the Minutemen, the voluntary militia that confronted the British during those battles and inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem 'Concord Hymn'. The poem includes the phrase "the shot heard round the world."

The 2-cent and 5-cent stamps were directly related to both Lexington and Concord. The 2-cent stamp pictured the actual battle at Lexington, and the 5-cent stamp featured the "Minute Man" statue at Concord. The 1-cent stamp depicts General Washington assuming command of the American troops at Cambridge a full two months after the skirmishes.

These stamps were the first of a group of commemoratives celebrating the 150th anniversaries of important events of the War of Independence. While the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord were clearly worthy of postal commemoration, some Revolutionary War commemoratives were brought about by political pressure and depict events that would be considered relatively minor today.

Roger S. Brody

Gen. George Washington and his troops stand at Cambridge, Massachusetts, are the subject for the first denomination of the Lexington-Concord Issue. As a single, the one-cent stamp typically paid the one-cent card rate. But it was also commonly used with other denominations to fulfill large-weight and foreign destination rates. An estimated total of over 15 million stamps of the one-cent issue were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued to the public.

Alexander T. Haimann, National Postal Museum

Henry Sandham’s painting, ‘Birth of Liberty,’ was the model for the imagery on the two-cent stamp of the Lexington-Concord Issue. As a single, the two-cent stamp typically paid the first-class domestic rate. But it was also commonly used with other denominations to fulfill large-weight and foreign destination rates. An estimated total of over 26 million stamps of the two-cent issue were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued to the public.

Alexander T. Haimann, National Postal Museum

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5-cent Lexington-Concord Sesquicentenary The Minute Man single

The Daniel Chester French statue of the Minute Man who purportedly heard the call to arms and was ready to march at a minute’s notice was the subject of the final denomination of the Lexington-Concord Issue. The five-cent stamp was commonly used with other denominations to fulfill large-weight and foreign destination rates. An estimated total of over to 5 million stamps of the five-cent issue were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and issued to the public.

Alexander T. Haimann, National Postal Museum

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