The Battles of Lexington and Concord

The Battles of Lexington and Concord
Date	Wednesday, April 19, 1775
Weather	~55-65`F, winds calm
Location	Lexington and Concord Massachusetts
	Great Britain	The US Colonies
Belligerents	Great Britain	United States
Commanders	Lieutenant-General Hugh Percy, Major John Pitcairn, Major-General Francis Smith	Colonel James Barrett, Colonel John Buttrick, Dr. Joseph Warren, John Parker, William Heath
Casualties	Force: 1500 Killed: 73 Wounded: 174 Captured: 53	Force: 3800 Killed: 49 Wounded: 39 Captured: 0

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were actually the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.  They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston.  The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.


About 700 British Army regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were ordered to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Dr. Joseph Warren alerted the colonists of this.  The Patriot colonists had received intelligence weeks before the expedition which warned of an impending British search, and had moved much, but not all, of the supplies to safety.  They had also received details about British plans on the night before the battle, and information was rapidly supplied to the militia.


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