Paul Revere Sounded the Alarm, and at Lexington They Stood

Leslie Ford / April 19, 2011

“The British are coming!” cried Paul Revere.  On April 19^th, 1775, the British marched toward the small villages of Lexington and Concord to seize supplies of the citizen militia and snuff out the colonial resistance.

But the British would not succeed.  Warned by Paul Revere’s alarm, the militia, made up of farmers and shopkeepers, met them on the green outside the town.  A hundred and fifty strong, the citizens of Lexington armed themselves and faced the trained forces of British infantry and grenadiers.  Captain John Parker told this volunteer militia, “Stand your ground.  Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

The British fired the “shot heard round the world,” in Emerson’s memorable words, and they marched against the citizens on the field, killing eight and leaving ten wounded. And so the War for Independence began. Before the British could continue into Concord, the Minute-men, rallied by the Battle at Lexington, engaged the British forces and drove them back into Boston. (more…)