Battle of Lexington and Concord

More than a year before Americans declared their independence, the Revolutionary War erupted with the "shot heard round the world" on April 19, 1775.

Convinced that Massachusetts was already in outright rebellion and that the other colonies would soon follow, royal officials dispatched 700 British soldiers, known as "Regulars," to seize provincial military supplies in Concord.

Rather than end the rebellion, this march triggered a war between Great Britain and its American colonies that would rage for eight years.

Paul Revere is famously remembered for his midnight ride, but he was joined by William Dawes to warn colonists that the British "Regulars" were on the move.

This urgent mission, known as the Midnight Ride, took place on April 18, 1775, to alert local militias and leaders like Samuel Adams that British troops were marching to seize colonial gunpowder and arrest rebel leaders.

Although both riders were eventually captured en route to Concord, their alarm was already racing across New England.

Following the midnight alarm, 70 outnumbered militiamen mustered on Lexington Green, sitting directly in the British path. Militia Captain John Parker ordered his men "to disperse and not to fire". As the militiamen began to withdraw, a shot rang out from an unknown person. 

Although colonists had already been killed at Lexington, this minutes-long battle at North Bridge came to be understood as the start of the Revolutionary War. As one colonial deposition explicitly stated, "then & not before... [Americans] fired upon the Regulars"

Following the skirmish, the increasingly outnumbered Regulars retreated to Boston through a bloody 16-mile march of American ambushes now known as "Battle Road". Approximately 4,000 minutemen and militia descended on the area throughout April 19, inflicting heavy casualties on the British.

The British Army ultimately suffered three times the number of colonial casualties. These arriving forces included dozens of patriots of color—such as Cuff Whittemore, a free Black minuteman from Menotomy (now Arlington), Massachusetts.

Whittemore distinguished himself at the Battle of Menotomy on April 19, 1775, fighting fiercely during the British retreat. His courage serves as a powerful reminder that African Americans were present at the very dawn of the conflict. These diverse forces went on to lay siege to form the backbone of the army.

Knowing the importance of getting their version of events to London first, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress commissioned a packet ship to deliver an address from its president, Joseph Warren, before the British report could arrive. 

Announcing that "Hostilities are at length commenced" and that the colonists determined "to die or be free," Warren still carefully stressed their hope for reconciliation. It would take another year of war before Americans officially resolved to declare independence.