The four companies of British Light Infantry deployed into line of battle as the sun rose. They had been marching most of the night. Now, the dawn light revealed a group of armed men drawn up before them on the village green. Royal Marine Major John Pitcairn rode forward, yelling, “Disperse, ye rebels!” The men moved not, muskets at the ready.
A shot rang out, no one could say from where. Both sides reacted and the roar of musketry ripped the morning air. The British infantry advanced behind their rolling volleys, quickly sweeping the 70-odd civilians aside as they marched on, suffering only one minor casualty. It was April 19, 1775. The American Revolution, simmering for 10 years, had just gone hot.
An Ill-Considered Move
British General Thomas Gage, headquartered in Boston, was being pressured by London to deal with troublesome American colonists. Led by men like Samuel Adams, independence-minded rebels had become a painful thorn in the British side, staging outrages like 1773’s Boston Tea Party.
Receiving intelligence that Adams’ Sons of Liberty were storing weapons and gunpowder in nearby Concord, Gage ordered an expedition to arrest Patriot leaders Adams and John Hancock, and to confiscate or destroy the cache. The American spy network in Boston got wind of the move and alerted Dr. Joseph Warren, a Patriot sympathizer. Warren passed the word to fellow Patriots Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, who were to warn Adams and Hancock, then staying in Lexington.
Revere, a local silversmith, arranged for lanterns to be hung in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church to alert the Patriots when the British moved. Revere and Dawes watched for the signal on the night of April 18. The signals were the now famous “one if by land, and two if by sea,” immortalized by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
British officers roused their men at 9 p.m. on April 18, hoping to catch the Patriots unawares by moving at night. The Redcoats marched as quietly as possible to Boston Neck, where they loaded into small boats in which they crossed the Charles River. But Patriot watchers were prepared, sending word to the church.
The two lanterns were hung by Sexton Robert Newman, Vestryman Captain John Pulling, Jr., or both. It seems that neither wanted the credit at the time since it was an act of treason. Only later did each man’s family claim the deed for their ancestor. Lacking evidence one way or the other, historians generally credit both men. One of those lanterns now rests in the Concord Museum. The other’s fate is unknown.
Knowing the British route was vital to the Patriots, given that the seaborne option shaved considerable time and distance from the Redcoats’ march. Revere and Dawes immediately rode through the countryside, rousing the Minutemen and the local militia companies. Popular legend tells that Revere and Dawes rode through each village yelling, “The British are coming, the British are coming!”
Not quite. That would have made no sense, considering that everyone in the colonies was technically British at the time. Also, waking everyone up served no purpose and could alert Loyalist sympathizers to the Patriot preparations. In reality, the two riders contacted local militia leaders and told them “The regulars are coming,” meaning British troops. It should be noted that the militia were already primed to move. Revere, Dawes, and Prescott merely gave them the green light.
Revere and Dawes made it to Lexington, giving militia Captain John Parker an early warning. They were joined there by Prescott. Revere was later captured by a British patrol. Dawes evaded the British and escaped back to Lexington, but Prescott pushed on to Concord, warning the Patriots there. The early warning eventually spelled the doom of Gage’s over-aggressive move. Such an overt act validated Patriot claims of tyranny and gave Adams and other firebrands the excuse they needed to escalate their rebellion.
“Let It Begin Here”
As the British approached Lexington green at dawn, Captain John Parker told his 70-odd men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, then let it begin here.” American witnesses later claimed that the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” came from a British officer’s pistol, while the British swore that they did not fire first. Others said the shot came from nearby Buckman’s Tavern, meaning it was likely a Patriot who fired it. Not being viewed as the aggressor was important to both sides, but until the time machine is invented, we’ll never know the truth.
What’s important is that the war did indeed begin at Lexington Green. July 4, 1776, officially marks American independence, but the war leading to independence began more than a year earlier. As the main body of Grenadiers closed up, the 800-man British column pushed on toward Concord. As they marched, they heard occasional musket discharges ahead of them. These were signals from Patriot scouts, designed to inform the militia commanders of the Redcoats’ progress and guide them to their assembly point.
Reversal at Concord
After a 16-mile march, the Redcoats entered Concord unopposed. British officers relaxed while their troops ransacked the town. They didn’t find much. The Patriots had spirited away whatever arms were stored there over a week earlier, as Revere had communicated the signs of an impending British strike. Major Pitcairn was said to have enjoyed a snifter of brandy instead of establishing a perimeter, as would have been his job as commander of the light infantry companies.
Musketry was soon heard north of Concord as the militia companies closed in, possibly driven by rumors that the Redcoats were burning the town. The militia approached in a skirmish line, to which three British companies responded. But the Redcoats deployed in a column, stacking up at the North Bridge, where only one company could engage the converging militia.
The spread-out Patriots returned fire, pushing the British back in confusion. As his men retreated into the town, the expedition’s commander, Colonel Francis Smith, decided that he’d seen enough. His Redcoats formed up and hit the road for Boston.
The Gauntlet
The British column set off back the way they had come. But while they rummaged through Concord, Patriot militia hemmed them in on three sides. The strong militia force pushed through Concord and nipped at the British heels. Light Minuteman companies sniped at the Redcoats’ flanks as they marched.
Perhaps Gage’s one good call that day was sending an artillery-equipped relief force to meet the retreating column at Lexington. That move likely saved the entire force from annihilation. As it was, British dead littered the road, some of whom still lie in their graves along that hellish road. The Redcoats had lost all semblance of discipline by the time they staggered into Boston in small groups. The sixteen-mile gauntlet cost them 273 casualties, over 25% of the original force. The Patriots suffered 95. The war was on, and the British had been served.
Besieging Boston
Patriot forces soon assailed Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, overwhelming the British garrison. The triumphant Americans dismounted the fort’s artillery and hauled it overland to Boston, where it added muscle to the Patriot forces besieging the city. Congress soon dispatched George Washington to take command. The kernel of the Continental Army was born.
Gage’s blunder soon led to his relief and the war flared around Boston. It required eight long years to finish the job, but April 19, now known as Patriots’ Day, started America on the road to independence.
Why 1775?
American resistance to perceived British tyranny had been building for some time. I say “perceived” because, in all honesty, the taxes imposed on Colonial Americans were not high, and they were enacted for a specific reason.
The 1756-1763 French and Indian War (or Seven Years War to the rest of the world) had benefited American colonists enormously, through expanded territory and increased security. But wars are expensive, and the British Parliament increased taxes throughout the Empire to pay its war debts. The American colonies were reasonably expected to help pay for the war.
But if the taxes were justified, and not financially overbearing, what was the problem? The main issue was the way in which the taxes were imposed. The colonies had long advocated for a voice in how they were governed, but London had brushed those concerns aside. The Enlightenment ideal of representative government was strong in the American colonies, leading to the notion that government actions, including taxes, were unjust without the consent of the governed. This led to the slogan, “No taxation without representation.”
So, while no one likes to pay taxes, the American colonists objected more to the way in which those taxes were imposed, not necessarily the taxes themselves, though there was some of that too. The principle is nuanced, but important. England claimed to be a Constitutional Monarchy, and it was. But England essentially dictated to its colonies, none of whom were represented in Parliament. Each American colony had its own legislature for local matters, but all were subject to Parliament and the King.
When Americans balked at paying the taxes, the British reaction was ham-fisted and led to more problems. Incidents like the 1770 Boston Massacre and the 1773 Boston Tea Party amped up tensions. The Boston Massacre, by the way, was egged on by American radicals like Samuel Adams. The British troops who fired on the crowd were in an impossible situation. Samuel’s cousin John, later the second President of the United States, successfully defended the soldiers in court, winning a victory for the rule of law and the idea of a fair trial.
But the British steadfastly refused American entreaties for representation, instead increasing their Boston garrison and restricting civil liberties. It was the standard British modus operandi, but there was a key difference between the American colonies and places like Ireland and India: Americans were armed. They had guns and they knew how to use them.
Gage’s plan to seize those arms in April 1775 was predictable, as was its result. Americans were primed for an overt response to an overt act. Gage, totally misreading the situation, gave them that overt act.
Why is Patriots’ Day Important?
First and foremost, as we’ve seen, April 19 was the Revolutionary War’s first day. But beyond that, Lexington and Concord have shaped our notion of the benefits of an armed populace. The British expedition’s purpose was to arrest Adams and Hancock and confiscate arms from the people. The people responded with an emphatic “NO.” So emphatic, in fact, that the people eventually changed their government as a consequence.
That experience was only sixteen years in the past when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. James Madison wrote the Second Amendment very deliberately, and the final text resulted from Congressional debate. Every one of those men understood April 19, 1775’s significance, resulting in the text’s inclusion of the militia and, in a second, non-dependent clause, the people themselves. Those men also understood, as George Mason said, that the militia consisted of the people. All of the people.
Thanks to April 19’s legacy, the armed American citizen symbolizes liberty. The armed American citizen is, indeed, a citizen, not a subject. The armed American citizen does not seek conflict, but stands ready to defend liberty, should the need arise. Captain John Parker knew this. “Do not fire unless fired upon,” he told his men. That principle is still important today. As armed citizens, we look not to impose our ideals on others. Rather, we defend the liberty of all against those who would trample it.
Happy Patriots’ Day. Raise a glass of your favorite beverage to the memory of those who stood up for their rights 248 years ago. They stood for your rights too. They deserve to be remembered.
