Lexington, April 19, 1775

Ernest C. Peixotto's pen-and-ink sketch commemorates the opening moments of the American Revolution. A fallen log bears an inscription urging colonists to hold their ground at Lexington Common, while a colonial house stands fortified behind a picket fence and sheltering trees. Peixotto's detailed linework captures both the architectural specificity of the scene and the dramatic natural landscape framing this pivotal moment. The work exemplifies late-nineteenth-century illustrated journalism, when artists rendered historical events with documentary precision for newspapers and magazines, establishing visual conventions that would shape American comic art in the decades to follow.