This stamp was one of a series of stamps that commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. A painting of Washington taking charge of the troops can be seen in the first image above. This series was issued to commemorate Lexington and Concord, which were the precursor to the revolutionary war. And as such, only two stamps were supposed to be issued, one for Lexington and one for Concord with which the minutemen were associated. The original designs are shown in the second image above. However, Congressman Frederick W. Dallinger of Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggested that the tercentenary celebration should have an additional stamp for Cambridge. They stressed the connection of Washington taking command of the army there. Hence three values were issued, the 2¢ and 5¢ plus the 1¢ for Cambridge. There was a movement to include Paul Revere in this series with perhaps a depiction of his midnight ride to Concord, but alas, he did not make the cut.

The vignette was taken from a photogtyptic chart from Cambridge Public Library, which has sadly been lost. The photogtypytic chart illustration was based on the painting seen above, and the designers added the Washington Elm. The elm and its plaque are shown in the third illustration above.

The last two images are two proofs of this stamp, one on India (617-P1) and one on a card (617-P2).