Lexington and Conquere

Lexington and Concord
 

 

Britain's General Gage had a secret plan. In April 19, 1775, he would send out troops of British soldiers quartered in Boston. Their destinations were Lexington, where they would capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock. Then they would go to Concord, where they would seize their weapons. But spies and friends of the Americans spread word of Gage's plan. A series of horseback riders men such as Paul Revere, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott galloped off to warn the countryside. They informed that the British troops were coming.

Word spread from town to town. The militias prepared to confront the British and help their neighbors in Lexington and Concord. The 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. They could be ready to fight in a minute's time. When the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed waiting for them. Both sides watched each other warily, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, a bullet buzzed through the air, It was "the shot heard round the world."

The numerically superior British killed seven Americans on Lexington. Then the British marched off to Concord with new regiments who had joined them. But American militias arriving at Concord prevented 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 was a surprise for both sides. 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.