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19 April 1775Primary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Lexington and Concord: The Shot Heard Round the World

British troops marching to seize colonial arms clash with militia, and the war begins

On the timeline · around 19 April 1775 · Outbreak of WarOutbreak of WarLexington and Concord: The Shot Heard Round the World1775

Quick facts

Location
Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts
Date
19 April 1775
British force
About 700 regulars
Result
British column mauled in retreat to Boston; siege of Boston begins

What happened

Before dawn on 19 April 1775, roughly 700 British regulars marched from Boston toward Concord to seize a colonial arms cache, alerted in advance by riders including Paul Revere, who left Boston by rowboat across the Charles River after friends hung signal lanterns in Old North Church's steeple. At Lexington Green, about 77 militiamen under Captain John Parker faced the British column; a shot rang out from an unknown source, and in the exchange that followed eight militiamen were killed. The British pushed on to Concord, where at the North Bridge colonial militia returned fire and forced a British retreat, a moment later called "the shot heard round the world." As the British column marched back toward Boston along a sixteen-mile road, militia fired on them from behind trees and stone walls the entire way, turning the retreat into a rout that killed and wounded roughly 250 British soldiers.

Why it matters

Lexington and Concord turned a decade of political argument into an armed conflict, and news of the fighting spread through the colonies within days, drawing thousands of militia to besiege British-occupied Boston. Paul Revere's own written account, preserved by the Massachusetts Historical Society, is one of the most detailed first-hand records of how colonial militia were warned in time to muster.

How we know

Paul Revere's own 1798 letter to Jeremy Belknap describing his ride survives in the Massachusetts Historical Society's manuscript collection; the American Battlefield Trust's narrative draws on British and American after-action accounts of the day-long running battle.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe American Revolution30 events · How a tax dispute among British colonists became a war for independence and a new republicView all →
Lexington and Concord: The Shot Heard Round the World · The American Revolution · SourcedStory