Ch.4+Lexington+and+Concord

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 * Battle of Lexington and Concord **


 * Battle:** Concord and Lexington 1775
 * War:** American Revolution
 * Date:** 19th April 1775
 * Place:** Boston, Massachusetts
 * Combatants:** British Troops and the Militia of Massachusetts
 * Generals:** Colonel Smith, Major Pitcairne and Lord Percy commanded the British Troops. [|Paul Revere] and William Dawes rode to warn the villages on the route to Concord and the Congress. Militia were commanded by Barrett, Buttrick, Robinson and many others.
 * Size of the armies:** 1,800 British. American numbers unknown.
 * Victor:** Colonies
 * Casualties:** The British Regiments suffered 19 officers and 250 soldiers killed and wounded. The American losses did not exceed 90 men.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American revolution. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex Country, Providence of Massachusets Bay, within the towns of Lexington and Concord. 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. About 700 British armed regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot colonials had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. They also received details about British plans on the night before the battle and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the enemy movement. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they searched for the supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately 500 militiamen fought and defeated three companies of the King's troops. The outnumbered regulars fell back from the minutemen after a pitched battle in open territory. More militiamen arrived soon thereafter and inflicted heavy damage on the regulars as they marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington, Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under [|Lieutenant-General Hugh Percy]. The combined force, now of about 1,700 men, marched back to Boston under heavy fire in a tatical withdrawal and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated militias blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the Seige on Boston. No one is still sure who fired first, but it was the [|"Shot Heard 'Round the World."] The weapons depot was saved, and the British were forced to retreat, harassed by militiamen along the way. The skirmishes were preceded by Paul Revere's famous ride, warning the countryside: "The British are Coming!"
 * The Event: **

**Significance:** The historical significance is that the historical significance is that these battles showed that the colonists, although not using the traditional fighting techniques, had a chance against Britain. It highlighted Britain's weaknesses, such as their outdated ways of fighting and their lack of knowledge of the land. It also showed that Britain had terribly underestimated the power of the colonists along with the fact that it was one of the first militia based battles of the revolutionary war, and the first one that really drove Boston toward the revolutionary cause. It started the American revolutionary epoch.

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