THIS DAY IN HISTORY - April 19, 1775 - American Revolution begins at Battle of Lexington

History ^ | 4/19/19

[Libloather]

At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun.

By 1775, tensions between the American colonies and the British government approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. In the spring of 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, received instructions from England to seize all stores of weapons and gunpowder accessible to the American insurgents. On April 18, he ordered British troops to march against the Patriot arsenal at Concord and capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington.

[Libloather]

The first shots were fired just after dawn in Lexington, Massachusetts the morning of the 19th, the "Shot Heard Round the World."

Is it too late for a do-over?

[NFHale]

Gee...

See what happens when a bunch of pissed-off Americans shoot the bastards who come to take away their guns?

Hmmm... something for a certain group of people to think about.

[BeauBo]

Maybe just the accidental discharge heard round the world?

One nervous new guy?

[Gay State Conservative]

Proud to say that I was born about 6 miles from that very site.However,I'm ashamed to say that the only cause for which today's typical resident of the Gay State would die would be global warming and “transgenderd” rights!

[rhombus10]

I love movies about this time period. They depict red coats and colonials romping through lush woods and farm fields. Hahaha This time of year, New England is gray, cold and wet. There are no leaves on the trees and no crops in the ground.

[NonValueAdded]

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[this thread, of course]
THIS DAY IN HISTORY - April 19, 1775 - American Revolution begins at Battle of Lexington

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Recessional of the Sons of the American Revolution:

“Until we meet again, let us remember our obligations to our
forefathers who gave us our Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
an independent Supreme Court and a nation of free men.”

Dr. Benjamin Franklin, when asked if we had a republic or a monarchy, replied "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Can we???

[the OlLine Rebel]

I guess you mean if it tries to depict this particular event.

Because once they left Boston next year, not a whole lot happened up in NE besides some skirmishing. Oh, Newport being the major exception.

[myerson]

Citizen militias certainly have their place, don’t they.

[Red Badger]

Waco........................

[C210N]

The first few killed were from my town, with the best trained and equipped with bayonets, Acton. The "Acton 37". They traveled with hundreds of others to Concord.

Three Men from Acton

The town of Acton, Massachusetts, is located six miles west of Concord. In 1775, it was a small rural farming community in Middlesex County. Shortly after the British Parliament revoked the provincial charter of Massachusetts, Acton organized a Minuteman Company. Many other similar towns did the same. In typical New England fashion, in a nascent form of democracy, members of the company elected Isaac Davis, a popular 30-year-old gunsmith, as Captain. The ranks of the company swelled as tension with the British in Boston continued to smolder. Luther Blanchard, the company’s fifer, learned to play a tune called “The White Cockade,” a throwback to Scottish opposition to the English crown.

[C210N]

Is it too late for a do-over?

“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

W. S. Churchill

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I’ve noticed, for the last forty years. that newspapers tend to ignore this date like it was the plague. No mention of it in any editorials I can remember.

Needless to say, years ago, in Letters-to-the-Editor, I love to chide them about forgetting it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I have read that their was a call to arms several months before, and THIRTY THOUSAND MILITIA MEN responded.

This was actually the second call to arms. Not as many responded, but the war was now ON!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

This was one of the most epic days in world history.

Had Pickering not hemmed and hawed and marched his troops down from Salem in a timely manner, he would've been in a position to cut off the British retreat and the entire expedition would have been routed...leading to a much different conclusion.

Pickering was a pussy.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Not all of us.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I love movies about this time period. They depict red coats and colonials romping through lush woods and farm fields. Hahaha This time of year, New England is gray, cold and wet. There are no leaves on the trees and no crops in the ground.

So true. And the night before, when the march began, the British screwed themselves up the keyster big time by disembarking at Lechmere Point in the Charles, in waist deep water, which was probably freezing. THEN they started walking west.

That must have been pleasant.

[laplata]

Right on!

They hate us and can’t stand the fact that we are able to defend ourselves, our families, our property, etc.

[NonValueAdded]

Imagine if Davis, who superbly trained and equipped his men, survived and was available to GW. What a difference it would have made. Talk about a lucky shot for the Redcoats.

[Gay State Conservative]

Not all of us.

True enough.But you've gotta admit that we're very much in the minority here!

[zeugma]