Lexington+and+Concord

=**__The Battle of Lexington and Concord__** = =Overview =

The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the opening engagements of the American Revolution. It began on Apr. 19, 1775. After the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 by the British Parliament, unrest in the colonies increased. The British commander at Boston, Gen. Thomas Gage, sought to avoid armed rebellion by sending a column of royal infantry from Boston to capture colonial military stores at Concord . News of his plan was dispatched to the countryside by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott. As the advance column under Major John Pitcairn reached Lexington, they came upon a group of militia (the minutemen). After a brief exchange of shots in which several Americans were killed, the colonials withdrew, and the British continued to Concord. Here they destroyed some military supplies, fought another engagement, and began a harried withdrawal to Boston , which cost them over 200 casualties.

They were fought in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America .

=**The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere** =

Paul Revere was a humble man, residing in Boston MA, and a leading figure in the growing patriot movement. Although a silversmith by trade, he was employed by the state of Massachusetts to serve as an express news courier. He was sent, on April 18th, 1775, to alert the countryside that the Brittish were marching onto Concord and had come to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Revere was not the only Midnight Rider, for another, Willaim Dawes, was sent to Lexington via another route. Also every small settlement that Revere passed and alerted that night also sent out riders to alert other towns and villages that the Brittish were coming. These other brave Patriots are all but forgotten by history, while Revere alone is remembered, simply because one of his descendants wrote a [|famous poem about him]. Actually, Revere did not finish his ride, for a Brittish soldier caught him along the way, while Dawes and Prescott, another rider, excaped to safety.

=**﻿The Battle of Lexington and Concord** = ==<span style="font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lexington: ** == <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although remembered as one of the most important battles in the Revolutionary war, the Battle of Lexington was, in actuality, nothing more than a minor skirmish between the Patriots and the British. Captain John Parker had assembled his 130 Minutemen on the Lexington Green per Paul Revere’s instructions. The Patriots waited on the green for some time, but, when no Brits appeared, Parker assumed it was a false alarm and told his troops to retire, but be alert for orders to return. Parker then sent four scouts down the road to locate the Brits’ location, however, the British were prepared for this maneuver, clever as it was, and positioned an advance guard at the front of their force for the sole purpose of capturing such scouts. Three of the scouts sent out by Parker ran straight into this trap card, but they are not important. The important scout was the fourth one, a man by the name of Thaddeus Brown. Now, it would seem as if Brown’s horse was either extremely intelligent or had a saddle imbibed with very good juju, for it happened to stop and save its master from the fate as his comrades. At this point, Captain Parker was not certain that there would be fighting. He assumed that the redcoats would ignore the Minutemen on the green and continue onwards to destroy the arms at Concord. He was sorely mistaken.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On April 19, 1775, Major Pitcairn, the man in charge of the British infantry shouted to the rebels to surrender and lay down their arms. It was at this point that Parker grasped the magnitude of the situation and the dangerous position he had put his men in, for they were an easy target standing on the green. Cautiously, he gave the order to disperse, as so they could fight the battle better. The Brits took this tactical repositioning to be a full out retreat and rushed forward eagerly, as to destroy the fleeing Patriots. In the frenzied rush, a shot was fired. To this day, we are unsure of which side fired this fateful blast, which is now known as the Shot Heard Round The World <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What we do know is that the Patriots, disoriented, disorganized and outnumbered, fled the scene, having suffered eighteen casualties and eight fatalities.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Battle of the Lexington Green was an all out military victory for the Brits, suffering no fatalities and only one British soldier receiving a light wound. However, great as this accomplishment was, the true victory, in the overall scheme of things, rested with the colonists. By spreading rumours that it was indeed the Brits who fired first, the colonies would stand united against their British “Oppressors”. In fact, this perception was so important for the revolution, Sam Adams, while fleeing the scene, is reported to have said on the topic of the first shots being fired, “What a glorious day for America”

<span style="font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**Concord:**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The militiamen of Concord and Lincoln, in response to the raised alarm, had mustered in Concord. They received reports of firing at Lexington, and were not sure whether to wait until they could be reinforced by troops from towns nearby, to stay and defend the town, or to move east and greet the British Army from superior terrain. A column of militia marched down the road toward Lexington to meet the British regulars. As the regulars numbered about 700 and the militia only numbered about 250, the militia column turned around and marched back into Concord, barely preceding the regulars. The militia then retreated to a ridge overlooking the town and the commanders discussed what to do next. The leaders ended up deciding to be cautious, and Colonel James Barrett surrendered the town of Concord and led the men across the North Bridge to a hill where they could continue to watch the troop movements of the British and the activities in the center of town. This step proved helpful, as the ranks of the militia continued to grow as minuteman companies arriving from the western towns joined them there.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When the troops arrived in Concord, Smith divided them to carry out Gage's orders. The 10th Regiment's company of grenadiers secured South Bridge while seven companies of light infantry under Captain Parsons, about 100 in number, secured the North Bridge. Captain Parsons took four companies to search Barrett's Farm, where intelligence indicated supplies would be found.Two companies were stationed to guard their return route, and one company remained guarding the bridge itself. These companies, which were under the inexperienced command of Captain Walter Laurie, were aware that they were greatly outnumbered by the 400-plus militia men that were only a few hundred yards away. Very worried, Captain Laurie sent a messenger to Smith requesting reinforcements. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Using information provided by Loyalist spies, the grenadier companies searched the small town for military supplies. When they arrived at Ephraim Jones' tavern, they found the door barred shut, and Jones refused them entry. According to reports provided by local Tories, Pitcairn knew that the cannon had been buried on the property. Jones was ordered to show where the guns were buried. These turned out to be three massive guns hat were very efficient against fortifications, and that had enough range to bombard the city of Boston from other parts of nearby mainland.The grenadiers smashed the three guns so they could not be mounted. They also burned some gun carriages found in the village meetinghouse. This caused a fire to spread across the town. Of the damage done, only that done to the cannon was significant. Colonel Barrett's troops, upon seeing smoke rising from the village square, decided to march back toward the town from their vantage point on Punkatasset Hill to a lower, closer flat hilltop about. As the militia advanced, the two British companies that held the position near the road retreated to the bridge and allowed the Barrett's men to control the hill.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Five full companies of Minutemen and five more companies of militia from Acton, Concord, Bedford and Lincoln occupied this hill as more groups of men streamed in, totaling at least 400 against Captain Laurie's light infantry companies. Barrett ordered the Massachusetts men to form one long line two deep on the highway leading down to the bridge, and then he called for another consultation. While overlooking North Bridge from the top of the hill, Barrett, Lieutenant John Robinson of Westford and the other captains then discussed possible courses of action. Captain Isaac Davis of Acton declared his willingness to defend the town by saying, "I'm not afraid to go, and I haven't a man that's afraid to go." <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Barrett told the men to load their weapons but not to fire unless fired upon, and then ordered them to advance. Laurie ordered the British companies guarding the bridge to retreat across it.

However, Laurie then made a poor tactical decision. Since his call for help had not produced any results, he ordered his men to form positions for "street firing" behind the bridge in a column running perpendicular to the river. This formation was not appropriate for an open path behind a bridge. Confusion ran wild as regulars retreating over the bridge tried to form up in the street-firing position of the other troops. Lieutenant Sutherland, who was in the rear of the formation, saw Laurie's mistake and ordered flankers to be sent out. But since he was from a company different than the men under his command, only three soldiers actually obeyed him. The rest of the soldiers tried as best they could to follow the orders of their superior, but the whole situation was very confusing.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The colonists themselves were stunned by their own success. No one had actually believed either side would shoot to kill the other. After the battle ended, some colonists advanced further, others retreated; and some went home to their families. Colonel Barrett eventually began to regain control. He moved some of the militia back to the hilltop and sent Major Buttrick with others across the bridge to a defensive position on a hill.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lieutenant Colonel Smith heard the battle going on from his position in the town right after he received the request for reinforcements from Laurie. He immediately assembled two companies of grenadiers to lead toward the North Bridge himself. As these troops marched, they met the crumbled remains of the infantry companies running towards them. Smith was worried about the four companies that had been at Barrett's, since their route to town was now unprotected. When he saw the Minutemen behind their wall, he stopped his two companies and took a closer look. One of the Minutemen behind that wall observed, "If we had fired, I believe we could have killed almost every officer there was in the front, but we had no orders to fire and there wasn't a gun fired."

=<span style="font-size: 1.4em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**﻿The British Return to Boston** =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The real battle of the day was yet to come. Around noon the British were not quite sure upon their travel plans back to the city of Boston. The only way back was down a long narrow road that stretched 18 miles which they took themselves just 12 hours earlier. One mile into their trek the British exerted warning shots into a house as they crossed a small bridge at Meriam’s Corner. Suddenly, the British were getting shot at from each direction. The Americans were shooting from behind stonewalls, trees, houses, and barns, a concept known as Skirmish warfare introduced to the militia by William Heath. The bloodiest part of the march occurred at “Bloody Angle” which was two sharp turn on the road. The Americans opened fire from both side. As they approached Lexington, the redcoats expected to be terminated in one final assault, but to their avail General Gage sent Lord Percy with 1,000 men who waited in battle formation. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Lexington General William Heath took the reign of the American troops and had them staged at different spots long the road to keep the British under constant pressure. Once the British pass a unit of flanking troop they were instructed to mover further down the road. As the British reached Charleston, the American ceased firing and the battle came to the end. 73 British laid dead, 174 wounded and 26 missing. Americans were far better off with only 49 dead, 39 wounded and 5 missing.

=__Staplers__=

<span style="font-size: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**Works Cited:**
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Arnold, James R., and Roberta Wiener. The Revolutionary War. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 2002. Print.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Bober, Natalie. Countdown to Independence. [New York]: Simon Pulse, 2007. Print.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Colby, Jean Poindexter, and Barbara Cooney. Lexington and Concord, 1775: What Really Happened. New York: Hastings House, 1975. Print.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Fischer, David Hackett (1994). Paul Revere's Ride. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-508847-6.<span style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|http://books.google.com/books?id=knC-kTFI9_gC].

Hughes, Christopher. Battlefields across America. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century, 1997. Print.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">McDowell, Bart. The Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C.: Wilburt Garrett, 1982. Print. National Geographic Magazine.

Morrissey, Brendan (1995). Boston 1775. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-362-1. [|http://books.google.com/books?id=dJlAdSPLi5MC].