The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on 19 April 1775 in Massachusetts and began the1 American Revolutionary War. British regulars marched from Boston to seize colonial weapons at Concord; they met militia at Lexington, where the first shots were fired, fought again at Concord's North Bridge (the shot heard round the world of Emerson's poem), and were then harried all the way back to Boston. It turned a political crisis into open war.
Before dawn on 19 April 1775 a British column marched out of Boston to seize the colonists' hidden arms. On the green at Lexington and the bridge at Concord, farmers and militiamen stood in their way, and the first shots of the American Revolution rang out.
Part of The greatest battles of the American Revolution · Next: Battle of Bunker Hill
The road to rebellion
By April 1775 Massachusetts was close to open revolt, and the British governor sent a column to seize colonial military stores at Concord. Patriot riders, including Paul Revere, spread the alarm through the night2, so that when the regulars arrived the countryside was already rousing.
The green at Lexington
At dawn the British found a small company of militia under Captain John Parker drawn up on Lexington green. In the confrontation a shot was fired, no one knows by whom3, and a volley left several militiamen dead1. This moment, and the fighting later that day at the North Bridge in Concord, became famous as the shot heard round the world4. The British marched on to Concord.
The North Bridge at Concord
At Concord the regulars searched for weapons, most of which had been hidden, while militia gathered on the hills. At the North Bridge the Americans advanced and traded fire with the British, driving them back5. It was here that Americans first fought the regulars as an organised force and won the exchange.
The long retreat to Boston
The British began the march back to Boston, but the roused militia lined the roads and walls, firing from cover the whole way. The retreat became a running battle; only the arrival of a relief column saved the exhausted regulars2, who reached Boston having taken far heavier losses than the colonists.
Why Lexington and Concord mattered
The day turned a long political crisis into armed rebellion. Thousands of militia closed in around Boston, beginning the siege of the city1, and the Thirteen Colonies found themselves at war with the British Empire. For what came next, see the Battle of Bunker Hill.