Battles of Lexington and Concord

Battles of Lexington and Concord
Part of the Boston campaign of the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Lexington depicted in a 1910 portrait by William Barnes Wollen
DateApril 19, 1775 (1775-04-19)
Location
Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America
Lexington: 42°26′58″N 71°13′51″W / 42.44944°N 71.23083°W / 42.44944; -71.23083 (Lexington)
Concord: 42°28′09″N 71°21′01″W / 42.46917°N 71.35028°W / 42.46917; -71.35028 (Concord)
Result
  • American victory
    • British forces succeed in destroying cannon and supplies in Concord
    • Militia successfully drive British back to Boston
    • Beginning of the American Revolutionary War
Belligerents
 Massachusetts Bay  Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
  • John Parker
  • James Barrett
  • John Buttrick
  • John Robinson
  • William Heath
  • Joseph Warren
  • Isaac Davis †
  • Francis Smith
  • John Pitcairn (WIA)
  • Hugh Percy
Strength
Lexington: 77[1]
Concord: 400[2]
End of Battle: 3,960[3]		 Departing Boston: 700[4]
Lexington: 400[5]
Concord: 100[6]
End of Battle: 1,500[7]
Casualties and losses
49 killed
39 wounded
5 missing[8]		 73 killed
174 wounded
53 missing[8]

The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first major military actions between the British Army and Patriot militias from British America's Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The opposing forces fought day-long running battles in Middlesex County in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge.

After the Boston Tea Party (1773), the British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts (early 1774), including the restrictive Massachusetts Government Act. Patriot (Colonial) leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the acts. The leaders formed a Patriot provisional government, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and called for local militias to train for possible hostilities. The Provincial Congress effectively controlled the colony outside of Boston. On September 17, the First Continental Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves. In response, in February 1775, the British government declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.

On April 18, 1775, about 700 British Regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, received secret orders to capture and destroy colonial military supplies reportedly stored at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot leaders received word weeks before the British expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. On the night before the battles, several riders, including Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, warned area militias of the British plans and approaching British Army expedition from Boston.

The first shots between Patriot militiamen and Regulars at Lexington were fired at sunrise on April 19. Eight militiamen were killed and ten wounded.[9] Only one British soldier was wounded. The outnumbered militia quickly fell back and the Regulars proceeded to Concord, where they split into companies to search for supplies. At the Old North Bridge in Concord, approximately 400 militiamen engaged 100 Regulars at about 11:00 am, resulting in casualties on both sides. The outnumbered Regulars fell back and rejoined the main body of British troops in Concord.

Then the British forces began a return march to Boston after a mostly unsuccessful search for military supplies. Meanwhile, more militiamen from neighboring towns arrived along the return route. The two forces exchanged gunfire at many places along the march throughout the day. Lieutenant Colonel Smith's troops were reinforced by Brigadier General Earl Percy's force at Lexington at a crucial time during their return. The combined British force of about 1,700 men returned to Boston under heavy fire and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown after incurring heavy losses. The militias then blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the siege of Boston.

  1. ^ The exact number of militia on the Lexington common when the clash occurred is a matter of debate. Coburn, pp. 165–167, identifies 77 individuals by name who mustered for the encounter, but he also notes that no official roll was ever submitted to the Provincial Congress. Fischer, pp. 183, 400, cites contemporaneous accounts and those of other historians that put the number between 50 and 70 militia, but notes that Sylvanus Wood, in an account taken 50 years later, recalled only counting 38 militia.
  2. ^ Chidsey, p. 29, estimates the colonial force at 500 by the time the confrontation occurred at the North Bridge. Coburn, pp. 80–81, counts about 300 specifically, plus several uncounted companies.
  3. ^ The peak strength of militias that massed around the British column on April 19 is uncertain. Many of the militiamen who joined the battle at various locations during the day continued to follow the British column all the way to Charlestown, but some also dropped out and returned home. Coburn located muster rolls for 79 militia and minute companies engaged that day, listing 3,960 officers and soldiers in all. But there are no tallies for six of these companies, and some units known to be present during the day (such as the Lincoln militia company) are not included at all.
  4. ^ Chidsey, p. 6. This is the total size of Smith's force.
  5. ^ Coburn, p. 64. This force is six light infantry companies under Pitcairn.
  6. ^ Coburn, p. 77 and other sources indicate "three companies". Chidsey, p. 28 gives a company size "nominally of 28".
  7. ^ Coburn, p. 114 gives the size of Percy's force at 1,000. This count reflects that estimate plus the departing strength, less casualties.
  8. ^ a b Chidsey, p. 47, cites all casualty figures except missing-in-action. Coburn, pp. 156–159, cites by town and name the American losses, and by company the British losses, including missing-in-action (from Gage's report). Chidsey, Coburn, and Fischer disagree on some American counts: Chidsey and Fischer count 39 wounded, Coburn says 42. Fischer, pp. 320–321, also records 50 American killed-in-action, in contrast to Chidsey and Coburn's 49.
  9. ^ "Captain Parker's Company of Militia". The Lexington Minute Men. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
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