Lexington

=The Battle of Lexington= toc == The battle of Lexington was in 1775. It happened in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, the colonists had been preparing for the battle. They had been preparing since the writer. They were very nervous and tired of preparing. People had been getting trained for fighting, like minute men. Others had been producing guns and ammunition.

Before the War
Before the war started, Paul Revere was on his famous midnight ride. Paul Revere and William Dawes were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the British army coming to capture them and obtain the weapons in Concord. The ride occurred on April 18-19, 1775. The redcoats were in the Boston ports coming towards Lexington and Concord. Revere rode from Boston warning patriots about the redcoats. Revere arrived in Lexington around 12:00 midnight. William Dawes arrived about thirty minutes later because he took a different route than Revere. Sam Adams and John Hancock were spending the night in Lexington. Revere and Dawes warned them then they were joined by Samuel Prescott. The three of them proceeded to warn more people in Concord but were captured by the British army. Prescott escaped with his horse and went on to warn many others of the British. Dawes escaped too, but his horse fell and he was captured again. Revere was soon questioned by the British at gunpoint. They soon escorted him back to Lexington.

The Battle[[image:http://www.americanrevolution.com/Lexington.jpg width="291" height="196" caption="Fighting at Concord"]]
On April 19, 1775, 700 British regulars were given secret orders by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to capture and destroy the military weapons and supplies that were stored in Concord. The colonial Patriots had received word of this weeks before it happened and spread the word as quickly as possible. They had moved the weapons to a safe place. They had also found out the British plans for the battle and spread the word to the militia and minute men.

The First Shots
The first shots were fired in Lexington just as the day broke. The colonists were outnumbered and soon retreated. The British regulars went down to Concord to retrieve the weapons. At the North Bridge in Concord lots of minute men, several hundred in fact, fought the British and defeated three waves of British troops. The British fell back from a pitched field meaning it was an open, head to head battle with no elements of surprise. Even more minute men followed the retreating British regulars.

The Next Shots in Lexington
More colonials arrived to kill and wound more of the British regulars on the march back to the Boston port. When they returned to Lexington, they were hit with some heavy fire by the patriots and many of the regulars were either killed or wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Smith sent some of his troops to the flanks so they could protect from the nearly 1,000 patriots attacking. There was a small bridge that the redcoats were approaching and they had to organized their men to march across it. After arranging the men they finally crossed the bridge and returned fire. The patriot had killed two of the men and wounded six. The redcoats then fled.

The End Has Come
The British regulars finally withdrew. They retreated to Boston. This was just the very start of the Revolutionary War. The first of many victories for the Americans.