[grey_whiskers]

Jeepers.

Creepers.

"The Shot Heard Round The World."

...Richmond?

(sharp intake of breath) ...

no guarantees; PRAY.

[Publius]

The events at Lexington and Concord were an exercise in gun control. American subjects of the Crown were ordered to turn in their weapons by the Military Governor of Massachusetts so that they could no longer raise their hands in defiance to His Sovereign Majesty King George III of the United Kingdom.

A British patrol was on its way to Concord to seize a rebel arsenal when it encountered resistance at the town green of Lexington. Colonel Francis Smith said to the assembled colonists, "Lay down your arms, you rebel bastards!" Someone fired a shot, and the first battle was on.

The patrol made its way to Concord. Major Pitcairn had his troops throw some cannonballs and powder in the river and spike a few cannon. Most of the rifles in the hands of citizens were cached where the troops couldn't find them. Ben Franklin later said in a letter to a friend that a group of American schoolboys could have done more damage.

Pitcairn adjourned to a tavern while Smith got his troops into formation for the march back to Boston. It ended up being a long march in that the colonists fired at the troops at will, and the march to Boston became a rout.