Battles of Lexington and Concord

Battles of Lexington and Concord
Part of the Boston campaign of the American Revolutionary War
The Battle of Lexington depicted in a 1910 portrait by William Barnes Wollen
Date April 19, 1775 (249 years ago) (1775-04-19) Location Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America Lexington: 42°26′58″N 71°13′51″W / 42.44944°N 71.23083°W / 42.44944; -71.23083 (Lexington) Concord: 42°28′09″N 71°21′01″W / 42.46917°N 71.35028°W / 42.46917; -71.35028 (Concord) Result American victory British forces succeed in destroying cannon and supplies in Concord Militia successfully drive British back to Boston Beginning of the American Revolutionary War
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
John Parker James Barrett John Buttrick John Robinson William Heath Joseph Warren Isaac Davis †	Francis Smith John Pitcairn (WIA) Hugh Percy
Strength
Lexington: 77[1] Concord: 400[2] End of Battle: 3,960[3]	Departing Boston: 700[4] Lexington: 400[5] Concord: 100[6] End of Battle: 1,500[7]
Casualties and losses
49 killed 39 wounded 5 missing[8]	73 killed 174 wounded 53 missing[8]

The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause.^[9] The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies.

In late 1774, Colonial leaders adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the alterations made to the Massachusetts colonial government by the British parliament following the Boston Tea Party. The colonial assembly responded by forming a Patriot provisional government known as the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and calling for local militias to train for possible hostilities. The Colonial government effectively controlled the colony outside of British-controlled Boston. In response, the British government in February 1775 declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.

About 700 British Army regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot leaders had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. On the night before the battle, warning of the British expedition had been rapidly sent from Boston to militias in the area by several riders, including Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott, with information about British plans. The initial mode of the Army's arrival by water was signaled from the Old North Church in Boston to Charlestown using lanterns to communicate "one if by land, two if by sea".

The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. Eight militiamen were killed, including Ensign Robert Munroe, their third in command.^[10] The British suffered only one casualty. The militia was outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they broke apart into companies to search for the supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately 400 militiamen engaged 100 regulars from three companies of the King's troops at about 11:00 am, resulting in casualties on both sides. The outnumbered regulars fell back from the bridge and rejoined the main body of British forces in Concord.

The British forces began their return march to Boston after completing their search for military supplies, and more militiamen continued to arrive from the neighboring towns. Gunfire erupted again between the two sides and continued throughout the day as the regulars marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington, Lt. Col. Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under Brigadier General Earl Percy. The combined force of about 1,700 men marched back to Boston under heavy fire in a tactical withdrawal and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated militias then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the siege of Boston.

Ralph Waldo Emerson describes the first shot fired by the Patriots at the North Bridge in his "Concord Hymn" as the "shot heard round the world".^[11]