Lexington and Concord: 22 Hours and a Shot Heard Around the World

In celebration of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, the National Archives is highlighting key events in our nation’s journey to independence. This edition explores the first battles of the American Revolutionary War: Lexington and Concord. Today’s post comes from Tracy Baker, an intern in the National Archives Office of the Executive Secretariat.

Boston, Massachusetts, the largest city in the 13 colonies, played a critical role in the American Revolution. Frustrated with the British Crown’s implementation of taxation without representation, in 1773, colonists protested by dumping 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbor in what’s known as the Boston Tea Party.

The British Crown responded with the Intolerable Acts, which restricted the power of colonial governments, closed the Port of Boston, and allowed British troops to be quartered in private homes. The arrival of British warships and “Regulars” into Boston further escalated tensions in the colony. General Thomas Gage, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, oversaw the implementation of the Intolerable Acts and led the British troops stationed in Massachusetts. 

Revolutionary leaders like John Hancock and Samuel Adams, previously residing in Boston, were forced to flee to the Massachusetts countryside. By early April 1775, only the area around Boston remained under British control, while the rest of Massachusetts was in open rebellion.

As tensions rose, American colonists developed alert signals and prepared minutemen to fight at a moment’s notice. Moreover, both the British and Americans employed a network of spies to gather intelligence. When General Gage received orders from London to use force in repelling resistance and to arrest Revolutionary leaders, the prelude to the American Revolutionary War unfolded. 

At 10 p.m. on April 18, 1775, using intelligence from British spies, Gage ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to march 700 soldiers to Concord to seize and destroy a known stockpile of military supplies. Dr. Joseph Warren, a physician in Boston, quickly learned of General Gage’s plans and sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to alert the Massachusetts countryside.

Two lanterns were hung in the Old North Church, the tallest structure in Boston, to signal that the British were heading west by water. At 12:30 a.m. on April 19, 1775, Revere and Dawes arrived in Lexington and met briefly with John Hancock and Samuel Adams before continuing west. When word of the British movement arrived at Concord, the town’s minutemen and militia quickly began removing and hiding any remaining military stockpiles. Meanwhile, Captain Parker of the Lexington Militia mustered his company on the town green. 

Ferrying 700 British soldiers across the Charles River took over three hours. By the time the royal troops completed the river crossing at 2 a.m., any hope of secrecy was spoiled. The colonists rang bells and fired gunshots through the night. Cold and wet, the British troops began their 16-mile march to Concord.

At 4:30 a.m., Captain Parker of Lexington armed his militia and prepared to meet the British infantry on the path to Concord. Parker is known to have proclaimed to his militia, “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

Around 5 a.m., British forces confronted the militia on the Lexington Green. The exact details of what happened in Lexington that April 19th morning remain a mystery. Parker’s men, outnumbered, began to withdraw from the British line. However, when a gunshot from an unknown source went off, the British and militiamen engaged in a volley of shots.  

The fighting in Lexington resulted in the death of 8 colonists and the injury of 10 others. The British troops suffered no casualties and continued on their march to Concord. Reuben Brown, an alarm rider stationed in Lexington, hastily raced to Concord to inform the town leadership of the shots fired. Knowing the war had already begun at Lexington, the Concord militia and minutemen waited for the British troops to arrive.

When the British regulars entered Concord at 7 a.m., they sought to secure the two bridges in the town as soon as possible. The colonial militia, once again outnumbered, retreated across the North Bridge and away from the town center. Under the orders of Royal Governor Gage, the British regulars started searching the town and houses.

The British troops had intelligence that James Barrett of Concord was gathering and storing arms and military supplies. Seven British companies went west across the North Bridge to search Barrett’s house. Understanding that the bridge was their only access point back to the full forces of the British troops, three companies of British soldiers stayed to maintain control of the North Bridge while the remaining companies continued west to search Barrett’s farm. 

Near the North Bridge, under the cover of Punkatasset Hill, colonial militia members spotted smoke coming from the Concord town center. Concern quickly spread through the ranks of the colonial troops. Around 9:30 a.m., in an impromptu decision, several companies of colonial troops began marching toward the North Bridge. The three British companies left to guard the bridge were hopelessly outnumbered.

When the colonial companies advanced within 80 yards of the British position, three shots rang out from the British side, injuring a fife player in the colonial military band. Major John Buttrick of Concord then gave the order to fire, marking the first time colonial militiamen were officially ordered to fire on British soldiers. Twelve British soldiers were hit, three fatally, forcing the British to retreat east toward the Concord town center. Around 12: p.m., rejoined by the companies sent to search Barrett’s farm, the British soldiers began their march back toward Boston.

About a mile east of the Concord town center, American militia companies from surrounding Massachusetts towns spotted British light infantry descending Meriam Hill and condensing inward to cross a small bridge over Elm Brook. Taking advantage of the British troops’ vulnerability, Captain Brooks from the nearby town of Reading, Massachusetts, ordered his men to find cover. Brooks then gave orders to fire directly towards the bridge.

Taking several casualties, British soldiers briefly returned fire before continuing to march east. Captain Brooks’s attack at Meriam’s Corner marked the first purely offensive action taken by the colonists in the war and the start of a 16-mile battle in what has become known as the Battle Road. 

A mile further down the road, the British column faced a second attack as they descended Brooks Hill. Waiting for them, colonial companies from Woburn, Massachusetts, took position on the high ground. Using the landscape to their advantage, the militia hid behind trees and walls and attacked the British soldiers from both sides of the road. Deploying their flank guard, the British attempted to dislodge the Americans from their posts behind large trees. However, as one militia volunteer described it, the tactic only made the British a “better mark to be shot at.” The ambush at Brooks Hill resulted in “more deadly injury than at any one place from Concord to Charlestown.”

Eager to rejoin the fight, Captain Parker of Lexington regathered his shattered company and marched west toward Concord. Finding high ground overlooking a narrow bridge, Parker’s men waited and opened fire on the advance guard of the British column. With over 1,000 colonial militia quickly closing in, the British regulars desperately attempted to protect the column and retreated toward Lexington. Fortunately for the British soldiers, a relief brigade of 1,000 additional soldiers and two artillery pieces had arrived in Lexington to resupply the fractured British column. After taking time to reorganize and tend to the wounded, the refreshed British Army left Lexington for Boston around 3:30 p.m. 

The colonial attacks continued as the British Army marched east. The British, exhausted from several hours of being fired upon, disobeyed orders to not harm civilians, and ravaged towns along the road to Boston. Jason Russell’s house became the site of a particularly violent exchange with the British, leaving 12 colonial victims dead in ankle-deep blood.

When the British forces returned to Boston around 7 p.m., a total of 73 British soldiers were killed, 174 wounded, and 26 missing. The long day of April 19, 1775, ended with colonial militiamen surrounding the city and the beginning of the Siege of Boston. 

Want to know more? Come visit the Road to Revolution exhibit in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The series features National Archives records that tell the story from colonial resistance to American independence and the diverse experiences of the nation’s founding generation.