In January 1775, Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for America sent a letter to General Thomas Gage, the British commander in chief in Boston, Massachusetts. In his assessment, the American resistance was no more than “a rude rabble without a plan” and to avoid any bloodshed, he directed Gage to arrest “the principal actors and abettors in the provincial Congress.”

The letter did not arrive in Boston until April 14, and by then, the leaders were no longer in Boston. In a move theoretically designed to prevent a rebellion, Gage instead decided to seize the provisional military supplies stored in Concord, located about 20 miles northwest of Boston. Gage subsequently ordered Lt. Col. Francis Smith to lead 800 soldiers on this mission to “seize and destroy all artillery, ammunition, provisions, tents, small arms and all military stores whatever.”

As preparations were under way in Boston, on April 16, Paul Revere rode to Lexington to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams, leaders in the Provisional Congress, who in turn ordered everything removed from Concord. Two days later, during the night of April 18-19, Revere and William Dawes rode toward Lexington to raise the alert that the Regulars were coming. Joined by Dr. Samuel Prescott, the trio then headed to Concord. Of the three, only Prescott made it to Concord. Revere’s contributions were immortalized years later in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1861 poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

Having crossed the Charles River overnight, the British troops, Grenadiers and Light Infantry, began their march around 2 a.m. on April 19. At dawn, in Lexington, the British advance troops, under Maj. John Pitcairn, were met on the town commons by approximately 80 militiamen in parade formation, under the command of Capt. John Parker. Given they were greatly outnumbered, it is believed that Parker sought to avoid conflict yet make a political statement. Although both sides had been ordered not to fire, as the militiamen began to disperse, a shot rang out. No one knows who fired the first shot in the American War of Independence but in the end eight militiamen were killed and 10 wounded in this first skirmish.

As the column of British soldiers marched into Concord and initiated their search for military supplies, the militia and Minutemen, outnumbered 3:1, retreated over the North Bridge to the high ground overlooking Concord to await reinforcements from nearby towns. In the second skirmish of the day, 90 light infantrymen left to secure the bridge encountered 500 militiamen led by Col. James Barrett. Two colonists and three British soldiers were killed.

Following the skirmish, Smith’s troops began to retreat through Concord and the disorganized columns continued toward Lexington where they were met by a brigade of reinforcements under Lt. Gen. Hugh Percy. There the pursuing militia were dispersed by artillery fire. The battle however did not end there. The militia’s warning system had raised militia and Minutemen throughout the area. In the end, the battlefield would stretch the 18-miles from Concord back to Charleston including 1,700 British regulars and 4,000 militiamen. By the end of the day, the British losses included 73 killed, 174 wounded and 26 missing. The colonists meanwhile had 49 killed, 41 wounded and five missing.

Although the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord were small, their significance was not lost on the leaders of both sides. They were at a point of no return, as John Adams, colonial statesman and future president, is said to have observed after reviewing the scene, “the die was cast and Rubicon crossed.” Meanwhile, Percy reflected in a letter written the next day, “whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob will find himself much mistaken. They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about… You may depend upon it, that as the Rebels have now had time to prepare, they are determined to go thro’ with it, ….” While some weapons had been seized, the mission which sought to avert a fight “turned a colonial revolt against British policy into a fight for political independence.”

In honor of the 250th anniversary, the U.S. Army Center of Military History has published a new booklet entitled “Opening Shots” which addresses the beginning of the American Revolution (https://history.army.mil/Publications/Publications-Catalog-Sub/Publications-By-Title/Opening-Shots/). For those interested in a virtual tour of the battle fields, CMH has also produced a series of History Trails, the first of which focuses upon Lexington and Concord (https://www.thenmusa.org/army-trail/founding-the-nation/battles-of-lexington-and-concord/). Additional information can also be found on various sites sponsored by the National Park Service, the American Battlefield Trust, the British National Army Museum (https://www.nam.ac.uk/), etc.