Lexington
Lexington, MA
“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
One of the main catalysts for the American Revolution was, “No taxation without representation!” The Boston Tea Party was the last straw for London. In response, more than 4,000 troops were sent to Boston to restore order.
In 1775, word reached General Gage, the British commander in Boston, that rebel militia was forming in the towns of Lexington and Concord. Some reports put he militia as near a thousand. It was rumored that they had muskets, powder, and cannon. Gage’s hope was that a swift victory would crush the rebellion as it had during Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia a century earlier. In order to do so, he ordered Lt. Colonel Smith to crush them. He marched on Lexington with 700 soldiers. Due to rebel spies in Boston, these troop movements were not kept secret. Three messengers, including Paul Revere, were sent to warn rebel elements in the countryside.
On April 19, upon reaching the town, Major Pitcairn estimated that about 40 militia had formed up. One estimate is that there were 70 militia. To this day, no one is certain who fired the first shot. The result, however, was that the British fired several volleys from their muskets. This left eight Americans dead and ten others wounded
(Norton 341).
Sam Adams and John Hancock, the instigators of the incident, were able to escape (Shaara 272).
These were days before the Geneva Conventions. Wounded prisoners often did not survive long.
Today, we don’t have to worry about getting shot by the British-we shoot each other.
The Battle of Lexington was a British victory. The short engagement likely convinced Smith and Pitcairn that victory against the rebels would be easy. When they arrived at Concord, however, they were in for an unpleasant suprise.
Bibliography
Norton, Mary Beth. 1774: The Long Year of Revolution. Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.
Shaara, Jeff. Rise to Rebellion. Ballantine Books, 2001.
