Today marks the beginning of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States . As you know ;there were events that led up to this day.
But on April 18 ,1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston to Lexington and Concord to warn them that the Brits were on the march to seize their arsenal.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord ;the first battle between colonial patriots and the Brits.
The colonial militia at Lexington mustered to the town square in parade formation to demonstrate a protest of the Brit march to Concord . They were led by John Parker ;a vet of the French and Indian war .
The Brits were led by Major John Pitcairn . Had they been led by a better officer the battle would not have happened. But Pitcairn was contemptuous of the colonials. Instead of staying on the road to Concord ;he marched his troops to the town square to challenge the militia.
Pitcairn demanded they put down their arms . Reportedly Parker ordered the militia to disperse . But in the confusion of the Brit movement ,a shot was fired. (the shot heard round the world ). This gave Pitcairn the justification he was looking for. The Brits fired a volley that killed 8 colonials (some of them were bayonetted )and wounded several others.
Perhaps they would've clashed later that day at Concord . But at Lexington the war began.
Word of the action at Lexington swiftly spread and the colonials in the area grabbed their personal weapons to join the fight.
The Brits reached Concord but found no weapons at the armory . The road back to Boston by then was swarming with armed colonials. There was a battle at the North Bridge and then the Brits began their long march back through a gauntlet of colonials taking pot shots at them.
By the time they got back to Boston 15,000 colonials were surrounding the town.
The colonials lost 49 killed ;39 wounded ,and 5 missing. The Brit regulars lost 73 killed ;174 wounded ,and 26 missing from the 700 troops that began the march.
Over in Parliament they were drafting an act in an attempt of reconciliation called the' Conciliatory Resolution '. It would've replaced taxes that colonials objected to with 'voluntary contribution' to the defense of the colonies.
But it arrived to the Continental Congress too late .
