In April, 1775, there were approximately 3,000 British regulars in Boston commanded by General Thomas Gage, who was also the military governor of Massachusetts.

 

Boston had been occupied since 1768 and the military force there had been recently augmented to enforce what the colonists called the "Intolerable Acts" which had been passed by the British Parliament to punish Massachusetts for acts of protest that included the "Boston Tea Party".

 

Gage was generally sympathetic to the colonials and tried to separate his role as Military Governor from that of a General of occupying forces as much as possible.

 

The colonists had been forming its own militia groups since the 17th century. The British made full use of these militia units in the French and Indian War in the 1750s and 1760s.

 

But now Gage received an order from the Earl of Dartmouth on April 14th to disarm these militia, now simply called rebels. There was known to be a stash of hidden weapons in Concord. He was also ordered to arrest the burgeoning rebel leaders -- especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

 

On the morning of April 18th, Gage sent out a small mounted patrol to intercept any messengers who may have been out and about on horseback. But this patrol didn't behave as British patrols at this time normally did and started asking questions about the whereabouts of Adams and Hancock.

 

All this accomplished was to alarm the population and increase the state of preparedness of the rebel colonists.

 

In particular, the militia at Lexington began to muster early that evening.

 

On the afternoon of the 18th, Gage ordered Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith to secretly take a detachment of troops to Concord and "seize and destroy all military stores". Gage attempted discretion and decided not to issue written orders to arrest Hancock and Adams for fear of sparking a general uprising.

 

The rebels, in the meantime, had learned of Gage's instructions even before Gage did himself from their own sources in London. They also learned of Gage's plan.

 

Between 9:00pm and 10:00pm on the evening of the 18th, Joseph Warren (one of the rebel leaders) told William Dawes and Paul Revere that the British redcoats were about to embark on boats from Boston to Cambridge and thence to Lexington and Concord.

 

Dawes was not overly worried about the weapons cache in Concord, but he was concerned that the militia in Lexington might be caught by surprise.

 

Revere rode to Lexington, avoided a British patrol and warned practically every house on the way that the "Regulars are coming" (not the "British are coming" -- as they all still considered themselves to be Englishmen at this time).

 

The British advance guard under Major John Pitcaim entered Lexington at sunrise on April 19th, 1775. 77 Lexington militiamen under Captain John Parker (almost 1/3 of these men were in one way or another related to Parker) emerged from Buckman Tavern to meet them.

 

Parker was aware that his little band was outmatched and was not prepared to risk his men. He was purported to have said: "Stand your ground; Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."...