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Battles of Lexington and Concord Facts

Battles of Lexington and Concord Facts
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on April 15, 1775 in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Menotomy, Lincoln, and Cambridge on the outskirts of Boston in what is now the state of Massachusetts. The battles marked the first battle in the American Revolutionary War, although in the minds of many Patriots they were not the first shots fired as that would have been the Boston Massacre of 1770. The battles were the culmination of a steadily worsening relationship between the British government and the American colonies, which were highlighted by a number acts and laws - the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Tea Act for instance - enacted by the British and repeated resistance to those laws by the colonists. In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British government passed a series of laws known as the "Intolerable Acts" by the colonists, which required colonists to quarter British soldiers among other things. In 1774, some of the Patriot leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts passed a non-binding resolution known as the "Suffolk Resolves," which among other things called for the colonists to raise militias. The British government responded by declaring Massachusetts in rebellion and then sent a force to Concord to capture a cache of weapons. After an indecisive skirmish at Lexington, the British continued to march to Concord where they were met by a steadily growing militia force. The Patriot militia drove the British from Concord back to Boston, notching a decisive strategic and moral victory for the American forces.
Interesting Battles of Lexington and Concord Facts:
The Patriots were aided by intelligence reports, which led to them moving their supplies and allowed them to warn the Patriot leaders that the British were on the march.
The British controlled Boston at the time, but the rest of Massachusetts was decidedly pro-Patriot and anti-British.
When it became evident that the British were preparing a military expedition, most of the Patriot leaders left Boston, with the exception of Paul Revere and Joseph Warren. Revere and Warren did not leave Boston until April 18, which is when Revere did his famous midnight ride to warn the citizens of Concord that "the British are coming!"
It was during the Battles of Lexington and Concord where the term "minuteman" first came into use to describe colonial militia. Because any male citizen with a gun could be in the militia, they could gather a force quickly.
Although there is no doubt that the British intended to use force, it is still a question of which side fired the first actual shot.
The British commander was Major General Francis Smith.
The casualty count was forty-nine Patriots and seventy-three British killed.
After being stopped at Concord, the British force marched back to Boston and was continually harassed by Patriot skirmishers and snipers.
The famous "Lexington Minuteman" statue was commemorated in 1900 to honor the Patriot militia of the American Revolution. The statue is the likeness of Captain John Parker who fought in the battle.


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