This tunebook, carried by 13-year-old fifer Thomas Nixon, Jr. during the Revolutionary War, is one of only 14 handwritten books of the period known to exist, and is a part of the FHC’s prized Nixon Family Collection. It is also the only known example of a Revolutionary War-Era tunebook to include fife harmonies, which weren’t known to exist before their documentation here.
Nixon enlisted as a fifer in the Framingham militia in April of 1775. He marched on Lexington and Concord in his uncle John’s brigade, later serving at the Battle of Bunker Hill and under George Washington in New York. It was during his time in New York that he acquired this book, to which he added over 50 tunes. It was also at this time that he obtained a 17th century Dutch recorder, also in the History Center’s collection, which he would have played by the campfire. The recorder is beautifully crafted and a rare example of an instrument with a known Revolutionary War-Era owner.