What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“The second edition of An easy PLAN of DISCIPLE for a MILITIA.”
In June 1776, Samuel Hall advertised that the “second Edition of Col. Pickering’s PLAN of DISCIPLINE,” a popular military manual by Timothy Pickering first published in the summer of 1775, “is now in the Press” and would be published soon. In his initial advertisement for the second edition, Hall noted that “by Order of the General Assembly, all the Militia of this Colony are directed and enjoined to practise” Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia. The companies from towns throughout Massachusetts would benefit from the directions in the manual and the uniformity of consulting a common source for their instruction.
When Hall advertised that he “JUST PUBLISHED” the second edition in September 1776, he included a blurb from the “Preamble to a Resolve of the late Great and General Court of this State, directing and enjoining the Practice of [Pickering’s] Exercise,” deploying it as an endorsement for the manual he now sold at his printing office on School Street in Boston. “The Plan of Discipline,” the preamble stated, “appears to this Court to be well adapted to the Use and Practice of a Militia, as it contains all the Motions in the Motions in the Manual Exercise that are necessary and useful.” Unlike other manuals, Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia was not “clogged with many superfluous Motions, which only serve to burthen the Memory, and perplex the Learner.” Furthermore, Pickering’s manual “contains many useful Manœuvres … not published” in other manuals.” The General Court made clear its determination that Pickering’s manual was superior to others. George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, apparently agreed. Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia was one of his preferred manuals before Baron von Stueben’s Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States became first official manual of the Continental Army in 1779. Hall also included the resolution itself in his advertisement for the second edition: “It is Resolved, That the aforesaid Plan of Exercise, published by TIMOTHY PICKERING, Esq; shall, for the future, be used and practised by the Militia of this Colony.”
In case such an endorsement was not enough to make a sale, Hall highlighted the “Fourteen Octavo Copper-plate Prints … annexed to the Work.” They depicted “the Evolutions and Manœuvres, Facings, Turnings, Marchings, Wheelings and the various Positions of Bodies of Men drawn up in Military Order.” The manual also featured “a Table, shewing the Manner of the alternate Firings.” The Continental Army’s siege of Boston dislodged British forces in March 1776, but the war continued. Hall presented a new edition of Pickering’s manual to officers and soldiers to aid them in continuing to fight for the American cause and defend their families, homes, and communities.