Summary:
A synopsis of the battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolution.
Paul Revere and William Daws were captured at 1:30 the night before the battle took place. Prescott got away and rode on to concord to warn the colonists of the British moving towards them. That gave some time for the colonists to hide whatever weapons they could and send them out away from there.
On April 15,1775 The British troops crossed the Charles River from Boston towards Concord. At 3:05 AM that morning, the British courier left General Gage. At about 6:45 AM British troops met up with the marines and started walking along Orange Street singing Yankee Doodle. Yankee Doodle was a song that the British sang to mock the colonists. As the British reached the great bridge in Cambridge, the planks were up. The colonists had stacked them neatly nearby, so it was a slight delay but did not take to long for the British to take care of.
Soon the temperature rose to 85. The British began to tire in their heavy wool waistcoats. When they reached Lexington, 8 Americans were killed. They then marched on to Concord. Just before entering Concord, Colonel Smith split his army in two. He sent the grenadiers on the main road and sent Major Pitcairn up the hill that led to the flat area overlooking the Town Square.
The grenadiers marched into town and searched for military stores concealed in town. They searched each home and building. They found 3 cannons, several gun carriages, one hundred barrels of flour, and large amounts of harness that were classified as military supplies. Whatever was found was put in a pile and burned.
It was about 8:00 AM when Captain Parsons and the light infantry arrived at North Bridge. Minutemen and local militia were gathering as well as minutemen from surrounding areas to total over four thousand men. The colonists were very angry with the British because they thought they were burning down homes on purpose. The soldiers were actually putting out fires. A meeting was then held of militia commanders and they decided to lead their men against the British then and there. Around 10 AM the Americans started after the British. They were told not to fire unless fired upon. The British army retreated down the hill and crossed the bridge and drew themselves into formation. When the minutemen were about 50 yards away, shots rang out from the British side. Since the British were very unorganized they could not get many shots off at the Americans. They were surprised at the accuracy and the speed of the minutemen. The redcoats practically falling apart, retreated toward Concord. The Americans then swarmed the bridge after them.
The redcoats reached the grenadiers and the light infantry and they fired a volley at the minutemen wounding and killing some while they were charging with the bayonet. The minutemen then broke into two groups. One went back over the bridge and up Punkatasset Hill. The other went into the hills overlooking the road to Concord. Grenadiers and the light infantry were on their way to Concord but they were being fired upon. Minutemen were shooting at them from all possible hiding places.
Since the road was narrow and surrounded by dense woods it was perfect for the American army. The troops who were marching in the back were more vulnerable to being shot. The British army started firing in the general direction of the shots, but were just wasting ammunition because it was not hitting that many people. The fact that the British were not very accurate gave Americans confidence to take risks that they might not have taken before. When the marching battle reached Lincoln, 180 more minutemen joined in the fighting. This doubled the fire against the grenadiers and light infantry. Many of them collapsed from exhaust. They had been marching in the heat since 2:00AM and it was nearly 2:00PM.
British troops rushed towards Lexington with all of their energy. Many officers road horses ahead of the pack to get there faster. Since the British were out of ammunition they were going to be captured or killed within minutes. To everyone's surprise there were about 800 redcoats in town and were there to rescue the British. It was 1500 British soldiers surrounded by over 10,000 minutemen and militia members. General Percy ordered that the buildings in town be burned so that Americans could not use them as fortresses. At 3:30PM British set out for Boston. General Percy decided to head for Charlestown instead. That was where the British navy was. They still had the American army on their backs. The British finally reached Charlestown and the minutemen and militia stopped fighting. Finally the pain and suffering was over for the British army.
This battle had a great significance to the American Revolution. This battle gave the Americans confidence that they didn't have before. Also, it got the British to realize that the Americans were no joke. The Battle of Lexington and Concord set the stage for the rest of the Revolutionary War.
This is the complete article, containing 838 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
