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Facing an impending rebellion, British General Thomas Gage decided to seize weapons and gun powder being stored in Concord, Massachusetts, twenty miles northwest of Boston, to prevent violence. Patriot spies soon got wind of Gage's plan. Paul Revere and other riders spread the word of the 800 British regulars who were dispatched to Concord.

Departing Boston late in the evening of April 18, the King's troops marched into the small town of Lexington around 5:00 am to find, facing them, a militia company of more 70 men led by Captain John Parker. When the vanguard of the British force rushed forward upon the town green, Captain Parker immediately ordered his company to disperse. At some point a shot rang out-- historians still debate who fired the shot. The nervous British soldiers fired a volley, killing seven and mortally wounding one of the retreating militiamen. The British column moved on towards Concord, leaving the dead, wounded, and dying in their wake. Parker and his men would have revenge later that afternoon.

Arriving in Concord around 8:00 am, British commanders Francis Smith and John Pitcairn ordered several companies, about 220 troops in all, to secure the north bridge across the Concord River and then continue on another mile to the Barrett Farm, where a suspected cache of arms and powder was presumably located. By the time the British arrived at the North Bridge, a growing assembly of close to 400 militia from Concord and the surrounding towns had gathered on the high ground overlooking the north bridge. From their vantage point on the hill they could see smoke rising from Concord, the result of British burning some supplies that they uncovered. Thinking the town was being put to the torch, Lieutenant Joseph Hosmer of Concord shouted to his fellow officers, "Will you let them burn the town down?" The decision was then made to take action. Col. James Barrett ordered his companies to march upon the bridge but not to fire upon the British soldiers unless first fired upon. The Acton Company, commanded by thirty-year old Captain Isaac Davis, was placed at the head of the column. When asked if they were prepared to confront the British troops Davis said, "I haven't a man afraid to go."

The Minute Men formed up and marched down the hill. As they did so, the British soldiers, intimidated by the colonial numbers and orderly advance, retreated to the opposite shore and prepared to defend themselves. When Davis's company came within range, British soldiers opened fire, killing Isaac Davis and also Abner Hosmer, another Acton Minute Man. Major Buttrick of Concord shouted, "For God's sake, fire!" and the Minute Men replied with their own volley, killing three British soldiers and wounding nine others. This volley is the volley considered "the shot heard round the world." The rest of the British troops retreated back to town.

Smith and Pitcairn soon ordered a return to Boston, which devolved into a rout as thousands of minute men patriots descended on the area. As the British were attacked from all sides by swarms of angry Minutemen along what is now known as Battle Road. When they reached Lexington, John Parker and his men had their revenge, firing on the British regulars from behind cover. For the next 12 miles, the British were continually ambushed by Minutemen shooting from behind trees, rock walls, and buildings. The emotions of this fight carried well beyond April 19, inspiring American warriors to "rise up and fight again" even in the face of staggering odds against them.

Having heard of the morning fighting at Lexington, General Gage ordered Lord Percy to march from Boston with a relief column. The column reached Smith and Pitcairn's men on the eastern outskirts of Lexington, but Minutemen continued to pour in as word spread quickly throughout the area. Among these minute and militia companies were many African Americans, both free and enslaved, who took up arms and fought alongside their white neighbors.

The British conducted a running fight until they could get under the cover of British guns in ships anchored in the waterways surrounding Boston. By 8:00 pm, it was clear that the day had been a disaster for the British. They lost 73 killed and many more wounded compared to the patriot's loss of 49 killed.

Concord poet Ralph Waldo Emerson dubbed them the "embattled farmers." They were not American citizens, yet. That would have to wait until 1776 and the Declaration of Independence. On April 19, 1775 they were simply loyal British subjects who believed that they were standing up to defend and fight for their rights. In doing so they changed the world forever.

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Lexington and Concord: The Shot Heard 'Round the World

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This page provides a brief overview of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military engagements of the Revolutionary War.

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- Khan Academy

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The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, were the first military clashes of the American Revolutionary War.

The Massachusetts militia routed the British Army forces and were soon joined by militias from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. These militias would become the core of the Continental Army.

Growing tensions leading to the American Revolution

In February 1775, British Parliament declared that the colony of Massachusetts was in a state of rebellion.

After Parliament had passed the Intolerable Acts-largely aimed at punishing Boston's revolutionaries for the Boston Tea Party -the British government had tightened its grip on the government of Massachusetts. The royally appointed governor, Thomas Gage, had been granted broadly expanded powers, and the British had sent thousands of troops to Boston.

The Massachusetts colonial assembly responded to these provocations by directing townships to ready their militias. War was coming, and Boston's patriots were preparing for it.

The British were preparing, too, and in April 1775, they directed Gage to disarm the rebels. Gage ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to gather 700 British Army soldiers and march to Concord, where the rebels were reportedly storing mass quantities of arms and ammunition. Their orders were to find the stash and destroy it.

The Patriots, as the anti-British rebels were known, had established a fairly effective intelligence network, and some historians even believe that Gage's American wife, Margaret Kemble Gage, was a rebel spy. Whether or not she was the one who provided the Patriots with the information about the planned seizure and destruction of the armory at Concord, they received word of the British orders.

The "shot heard round the world"

On April 18, Revere was warned that British Army regulars were making their way to the towns of Lexington and Concord. Having already warned the militia in Concord, which had secured the weapons supply, Revere rode quickly to Lexington to warn the townspeople of the expected British onslaught. The rebel intelligence network suggested that the British aim in Lexington was to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the most prominent Patriot leaders, but the size of the British army force was large enough to suggest they had bigger goals in mind.

The British soldiers and rebel militiamen raced to Lexington during the night; they confronted each other at Lexington Green-a village common area-just as the sun was rising on the morning of April 19. Captain John Parker, a veteran of the Seven Years' War, led a contingent of 80 Lexington militiamen, known as minutemen because they had to be ready to fight at a minute's notice. Years later, one of the participants recalled Parker's words right before the deadly skirmish: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."

A British officer demanded that the militia disarm and disperse, and in the ensuing confusion, shots were fired. To this day, there exists considerable uncertainty over whether the militiamen or the British soldiers fired first. Regardless, the British soldiers rushed forward with their bayonets. A skirmish ensued, during which eight militiamen were killed and only one British soldier wounded.

After order was restored, the British soldiers began the march to Concord, where militias from Concord and the nearby town of Lincoln were waiting. After the British found and destroyed rebel weapons caches, they squared off against the colonial forces at the North Bridge. Outnumbered and outmaneuvered, the British soldiers broke rank and fled, handing the stunned colonists a victory.

The militiamen proceeded to lay siege to Boston, where they were joined by militias from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. These colonial forces would be constituted as the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

What do you think?

In your opinion, was the Battle of Lexington really a battle? Why was it so significant?

Do you think the confrontation at Lexington and Concord made war with Britain inevitable?

What role do you think spies might have played in shaping the course of the first military clash between the British army and the colonial militias?

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- British Battles

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- British Battles

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The opening shots of the American Revolutionary War on 19th April 1775, that 'echoed around the world'
The next battle of the American Revolutionary War is the Battle of Bunker Hill Return to the American Revolutionary War index
Battle: Lexington and Concord

War: American Revolution

Date of the Battle of Lexington and Concord: 19 th April 1775

Place of the Battle of Lexington and Concord: Boston, Massachusetts

Combatants at the Battle of Lexington and Concord: British Troops and the Militia of Massachusetts

Generals at the Battle of Lexington and Concord: Colonel Smith, Major Pitcairn and Lord Percy commanded the British Troops. Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to warn the villages on the route to Concord and the Congress. Militia were commanded by Barrett, Buttrick, Robinson and many others.

Size of the armies at the Battle of Lexington and Concord: 1,800 British. American numbers are unknown.

Uniforms, arms and equipment at the Battle of Lexington and Concord: The British were armed with muskets and bayonets. Some light guns were used. The American militia were armed with muskets, blunderbusses and any weapons they could find.

Winner of the Battle of Lexington and Concord: The British suffered extensive loss. The Americans considered the contest an encouraging start to the war.

British Regiments at the Battle of Lexington and Concord:
Regiments of Foot: 4th, 5th, 10th, 18th, 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers, 38th, 43rd, 52nd, 59th and Marines.

Account of the Battle of Lexington and Concord:
This engagement was the first encounter of the Revolutionary War. General Gage commanded the British garrison in Boston. A Provincial Congress, determined on independence for the American colonies, was established in Cambridge, Massachusetts, outside Boston, and the New England militia was drilling for war.

Acting on orders from the British Government in London, General Gage decided to send a force to seize the weapons and ammunition held by the Congress in the armoury at Concord, some 15 miles from Boston. Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was dispatched with the grenadier and light infantry companies from each of the regiments in the garrison. Boston was sealed overnight to prevent word being passed of the departure of the force, which was rowed across the harbour late on the night of 18th April 1775 to Charles River. The troops landed and began the march, but the sound of bells ringing showed that the countryside had been alerted.

Paul Revere and William Dawes escaped from Boston and rode through the villages on the route to Concord warning the inhabitants, shouting as they rode ' The British are coming. '

Lieutenant-Colonel Smith sent, in advance of his main body, a force of light infantry under Major Pitcairn to secure the bridges at Concord. Pitcairn entered Lexington to find a body of militia drawn up on the village green. Shots were fired in which 18 Americans were hit and the militia dispersed.

The troops marched on to Concord where the British destroyed such supplies as had not been removed. In the meantime, American militia attacked a body of light Infantry on one of the bridges in Concord and drove them back.

Smith's troops then began the march back to Boston, shot at from hidden positions by American militia along the route, until they met Percy's relieving force and the whole force withdrew into Boston. On the route British soldiers burned and looted houses of the colonials. In one or two cases colonial militia caught with weapons were summarily executed.

The British force was extracted through the initiative of Lord Percy, who, on finding the bridge at Cambridge blocked by the American Colonial Militia, took the British force east to Charlestown on Boston Harbour, from where they were conveyed to Boston by Royal Navy boats.

Casualties at the Battle of Lexington and Concord: The British Regiments suffered 19 officers and 250 soldiers killed and wounded. The American losses did not exceed 90 men.

Follow-up to the Battle of Lexington and Concord: The British force achieved its aim of destroying much of the build-up of arms and ammunition at Concord, but the harrying of the troops along the route of their return march and the way they were bundled back into Boston was considered by both sides to be a reverse for the British.

This success encouraged the spirit of revolt across the American colonies and was the immediate cause of New York being seized for the revolution. A strong force of Americans moved spontaneously to Boston and invested the city, this force being eventually formed into Washington's Continental Army.
Anecdotes and traditions from the Battle of Lexington and Concord:

It is claimed that the fight at Lexington was begun by Major Pitcairn firing his pistols at the Americans. Major Pitcairn was fatally wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill on 17th June 1775.
References for the Battle of Lexington and Concord:
History of the British Army by Sir John Fortescue

The War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward
The previous battle in the British Battles sequence is the Battle of Quebec 1759 The next battle of the American Revolutionary War is the Battle of Bunker Hill

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The opening shots of the American Revolutionary War on 19th April 1775, that 'echoed around the world'

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- Ducksters

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Learn about the Battle of Lexington and Concord major event in the American Revolutionary War. The first battles of the war.

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- US History.com

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Ready to fight at a moment's notice, minutemen began fighting early in the American Revolution. Their efforts at Lexington and Concord inspired many patriots to take up arms against Britain.

Britain's General Gage had a secret plan.

During the wee hours of April 19, 1775, he would send out regiments of British soldiers quartered in Boston. Their destinations were Lexington, where they would capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, then Concord, where they would seize gunpowder.

But spies and friends of the Americans leaked word of Gage's plan.

Two lanterns hanging from Boston's North Church informed the countryside that the British were going to attack by sea. A series of horseback riders - men such as Paul Revere, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott - galloped off to warn the countryside that the Regulars (British troops) were coming.

Regulars

It is a myth that Revere and other riders shouted, "The British are coming!" This warning would have confused a good many of the Americans living in the countryside who still considered themselves British. The Regulars were known to be British soldiers.

We set off for Concord, and were overtaken by a young gentleman named Prescot, who belonged to Concord, and was going home. When we had got about half way from Lexington to Concord, the other two stopped at a house to awake the men, I kept along ....

In an instant I saw four of them, who rode up to me with their pistols in their bands, said ''G---d d---n you, stop. If you go an inch further, you are a dead man.'' Immediately Mr. Prescot came up. We attempted to get through them, but they kept before us, and swore if we did not turn in to that pasture, they would blow our brains out, (they had placed themselves opposite to a pair of bars, and had taken the bars down). They forced us in. When we had got in, Mr. Prescot said "Put on!" He took to the left, I to the right ...

Just as I reached it, out started six officers, seized my bridle, put their pistols to my breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did.

- Paul Revere, "Account of Midnight Ride to Lexington" (1775)

Lexington and the Minutemen

The first battle of the war, Lexington marked the beginning of the American Revolution. Although Lexington and Concord were considered British military victories, they gave a moral boost to the American colonists.

Word spread from town to town, and militias prepared to confront the British and help their neighbors in Lexington and Concord.

These Colonial militias had originally been organized to defend settlers from civil unrest and attacks by French or Native Americans. Selected members of the militia were called minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a minute's time.

Sure enough, when the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the Lexington Green awaiting them. Both sides eyed each other warily, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, a bullet buzzed through the morning air.

It was "the shot heard round the world."

Concord

Thomas Gage was appointed commander in chief of all British forces in North America in 1763.

The numerically superior British killed seven Americans on Lexington Green and marched off to Concord with new regiments who had joined them. But American militias arriving at Concord thwarted the British advance.

As the British retreated toward Boston, new waves of Colonial militia intercepted them. Shooting from behind fences and trees, the militias inflicted over 125 casualties, including several officers. The ferocity of the encounter surprised both sides.

Lt. Col. Smith's Report to Gen. Gage

In obedience to your Excellency's commands, I marched on the evening of the 18th inst. with the corps of grenadiers and light infantry for Concord, to execute your Excellency's orders with respect to destroying all ammunition, artillery, tents, &c., collected there, which was effected, having knocked off the trunnions of three pieces of iron ordnance, some new gun carriages, a great number of carriage wheels burnt, a considerable quantity of flour, some gunpowder and musket balls, with other small articles thrown into the river. Notwithstanding we marched with the utmost expedition and secrecy, we found the country had intelligence or strong suspicion of our coming, and fired many signal guns, and rung the alarm bells repeatedly; and were informed, when at Concord, that some cannon had been taken out of the town that day, that others, with some stores, had been carried three days before ....

I think it proper to observe, that when I had got some miles on the march from Boston, I detached six light infantry companies to march with all expedition to seize the two bridges on different roads beyond Concord. On these companies' arrival at Lexington, I understand, from the report of Major Pitcairn, who was with them, and from many officers, that they found on a green close to the road a body of the country people drawn up in military order, with arms and accoutrements, and, as appeared after, loaded; and that they had posted some men in a dwelling and Meeting-house. Our troops advanced towards them, without any intention of injuring them, further than to inquire the reason of their being thus assembled, and, if not satisfactory, to have secured their arms; but they in confusion went off, principally to the left, only one of them fired before he went off, and three or four more jumped over a wall and fired from behind it among the soldiers; on which the troops returned it, and killed several of them. They likewise fired on the soldiers from the Meeting and dwelling-house. We had one man wounded, and Major Pitcairn's horse shot in two places. Rather earlier than this, on the road, a country man from behind a wall had snapped his piece at Lieutenants Adair and Sutherland, but it flashed and did not go off. After this we saw some in the woods, but marched on to Concord without anything further happening. While at Concord we saw vast numbers assembling in many parts; at one of the bridges they marched down, with a very considerable body, on the light infantry posted there. On their coming pretty near, one of our men fired on them, which they returned; on which an action ensued, and some few were killed and wounded. In this affair, it appears that after the bridge was quitted, they scalped and otherwise ill-treated one or two of the men who were either killed or severely wounded, being seen by a party that marched by soon after. At Concord we found very few inhabitants in the town; those we met with both Major Pitcairn and myself took all possible pains to convince that we meant them no injury, and that if they opened their doors when required to search for military stores, not the slightest mischief would be done. We had opportunities of convincing them of our good intentions, but they were sulky; and one of them even struck Major Pitcairn. On our leaving Concord to return to Boston, they began to fire on us from behind the walls, ditches, trees, etc., which, as we marched, increased to a very great degree, and continued without the intermission of five minutes altogether, for, I believe, upwards of eighteen miles; so that I can't think but it must have been a preconcerted scheme in them, to attack the King's troops the first favourable opportunity that offered, otherwise, I think they could not, in so short a time as from our marching out, have raised such a numerous body, and for so great a space of ground. Notwithstanding the enemy's numbers, they did not make one gallant effort during so long an action, though our men were so very much fatigued, but kept under cover.

- Lieutenant Colonel Smith, 10th Regiment of Foot, letter to General Gage (April 22, 1775)

The first bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, marked the crossing of a threshold, and the momentum from these events pushed both sides farther apart. Following the battles, neither the British nor the Americans knew what to expect next.

Indignation against the British ran high in the Colonies - for they had shed American blood on American soil. Radicals such as Sam Adams took advantage of the bloodshed to increase tensions through propaganda and rumor-spreading. The Americans surrounded the town of Boston, and the rebel army started gaining many new recruits.

During the battles of Lexington and Concord, 73 British soldiers had been killed and 174 wounded; 26 were missing. Lord Percy, who led the British back into Boston after the defeat suffered at Concord, wrote back to London, "Whoever looks upon them [the Rebels] as an irregular mob will be much mistaken." Three British major generals - William Howe, Henry Clinton, and "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne - were brought to Boston to lend their expertise and experience to the situation.

Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen Join the Cause

Shortly after the battle, an express rider carried the news to New Haven, Connecticut, where a local militia commander and wealthy shopkeeper named Benedict Arnold demanded the keys to a local powder house.

After arming himself and paying money from his own pocket to outfit a group of militia from Massachusetts, Arnold and his men set off for upstate New York. He was searching for artillery that was badly needed for the Colonial effort and reckoned that he could commandeer some cannon by capturing Fort Ticonderoga, a rotting relic from the French and Indian War.

Up in the Hampshire Grants, part of modern-day Vermont, Ethan Allen who led a group called the Green Mountain Boys, also had the idea to capture Fort Ticonderoga. The two reluctantly worked together and surprised the poorly manned British fort before dawn on May 10, 1775.

The fort's commander had been asleep and surrendered in his pajamas!

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Battles of Lexington and Concord, (April 19, 1775), initial skirmishes between British regulars and American provincials, marking the beginning of the American Revolution. Acting on orders from London to suppress the rebellious colonists, General Thomas Gage, recently appointed royal governor of Massachusetts, ordered his troops to seize the colonists' military stores at Concord. En route from Boston, the British force of 700 men was met on Lexington Green by 77 local minutemen and others who had been forewarned of the raid by the colonists' efficient lines of communication, including the ride of Paul Revere. It is unclear who fired the first shot. Resistance melted away at Lexington, and the British moved on to Concord. Most of the American military supplies had been hidden or destroyed before the British troops arrived. A British covering party at Concord's North Bridge was finally confronted by 320 to 400 American patriots and forced to withdraw. The march back to Boston was a genuine ordeal for the British, with Americans continually firing on them from behind roadside houses, barns, trees, and stone walls. This experience established guerrilla warfare as the colonists' best defense strategy against the British. Total losses were British 273, American 95. The Battles of Lexington and Concord confirmed the alienation between the majority of colonists and the mother country, and it roused 16,000 New Englanders to join forces and begin the Siege of Boston, resulting in its evacuation by the British the following March.

Jeff Wallenfeldt.

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Battles of Lexington and Concord | Revolutionary War, Patriots, British

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Battles of Lexington and Concord, (April 19, 1775), initial skirmishes between British regulars and American provincials, marking the beginning of the American Revolution. Acting on orders from London to suppress the rebellious colonists, General Thomas Gage, recently appointed royal governor of

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- History.com

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- History.com

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Lead-Up to the Battles of Lexington and Concord

Starting in 1764, Great Britain enacted a series of measures aimed at raising revenue from its 13 American colonies. Many of those measures, including the Sugar Act, Stamp Act and Townshend Acts, generated fierce resentment among the colonists, who protested against "taxation without representation." Boston, the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre and the 1773 Boston Tea Party, was one of the main points of resistance. King George III of Britain ramped up the military presence there, and in June 1774 he shut down the city's harbor until colonists paid for tea dumped overboard the previous year. Soon after, the British Parliament declared that Massachusetts was in open rebellion.
Did you know? Paul Revere never shouted the legendary phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!") as he passed from town to town during his midnight ride on April 18, 1775. The operation was meant to be conducted as discreetly as possible since scores of British troops were hiding out in the Massachusetts countryside. Furthermore, colonial Americans at that time still considered themselves British.
On April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren, a physician and member of the Sons of Liberty, learned from a source inside the British high command that Redcoat troops would march that night on Concord. Warren dispatched two couriers, silversmith Paul Revere and tanner William Dawes, to alert residents of the news.

They went by separate routes in case one of them was captured. Revere crossed the Charles River by boat to get to Charlestown, where fellow patriots were waiting for a signal about the movement of British troops. The patriots had been instructed to look at the steeple of Boston's Old North Church, which was visible to them because it was the highest point in the city.

If there was one lantern hanging in the steeple, the British were arriving by land. If there were two, the British were coming by sea. Two lanterns were set out, and the covert signal was memorialized in American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," in which he wrote:

As Revere carried out his mission in Charlestown, Dawes left Boston and traveled along the Boston Neck peninsula. The two met up in Lexington, a few miles east of Concord, where revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock had temporarily holed up. Having persuaded those two to flee, a weary Revere and Dawes then set out again. On the road, they met a third rider, Samuel Prescott, who alone made it all the way to Concord. Revere was captured by a British patrol, while Dawes was thrown from his horse and forced to proceed back to Lexington on foot.

Fighting Breaks Out in Lexington and Concord

At dawn on April 19, some 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and came upon 77 militiamen gathered on the town green. A British major yelled, "Throw down your arms! Ye villains, ye rebels."

The heavily outnumbered militiamen had just been ordered by their commander to disperse when a shot rang out. To this day, no one knows which side fired first. Several British volleys were subsequently unleashed before order could be restored. When the smoke cleared, eight militiamen lay dead and nine were wounded, while only one Redcoat was injured.

The British then continued into Concord to search for arms, not realizing that the vast majority had already been relocated. They decided to burn what little they found, and the fire got slightly out of control. Hundreds of militiamen occupying the high ground outside of Concord incorrectly thought the whole town would be torched. The militiamen hustled to Concord's North Bridge, which was being defended by a contingent of British soldiers. The British fired first but fell back when the colonists returned the volley.

This was the "shot heard 'round the world" later immortalized by poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Emerson was not the only artist moved to depict the battle; painter Amos Doolittle, known as "The Revere of Connecticut," created four celebrated engravings of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.)

After searching Concord for about four hours, the British prepared to return to Boston, located 18 miles away. By that time, almost 2,000 militiamen-known as minutemen for their ability to be ready on a moment's notice-had descended to the area, and more were constantly arriving.

At first, the militiamen simply followed the British column. Fighting started again soon after, however, with the militiamen firing at the British from behind trees, stone walls, houses and sheds. Before long, British troops were abandoning weapons, clothing and equipment in order to retreat faster.

When the British column reached Lexington, it ran into an entire brigade of fresh Redcoats that had answered a call for reinforcements. But that did not stop the colonists from resuming their attack all the way through Menotomy (now Arlington) and Cambridge.

The British, for their part, tried to keep the colonists at bay with flanking parties and canon fire. In the evening a contingent of newly arrived minutemen from Salem and Marblehead, Massachusetts, purportedly had a chance to cut off the Redcoats and perhaps finish them off. Instead, their commander ordered them not to attack, and the British were able to reach the safety of Charlestown Neck, where they had naval support.

Effects of Lexington and Concord

The colonists did not show great marksmanship that day. As many as 3,500 militiamen firing constantly for 18 miles only killed or wounded roughly 250 Redcoats, compared to about 90 killed and wounded on their side.

The relatively low casualties of the Battles of Lexington and Concord proved they could stand up to one of the most powerful armies in the world. News of the battle quickly spread, reaching London on May 28. A few months later, the British narrowly defeated the Americans in Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, the low number of casualties once again showing the strength of patriot forces. By the following summer, a full-scale war of independence had broken out, paving the way for the creation of the United States of America.

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Battles of Lexington and Concord - Winner, Date, Summary | HISTORY

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The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought between colonial militiamen and British Redcoats on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War.

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The Battle of Lexington & Concord- Battle Stack Video

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The Battles of Lexington & Concord (American Revolution)

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Battles of Lexington and Concord April 19, 1775, (The American Revolution)