19 April 1775, dawn
Lexington: the green at dawn
The regulars, about 700 light infantry and grenadiers under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, cross the Charles by boat at midnight and set out for Concord at about 2 a.m. Bells and alarm guns along the road tell their officers that surprise is lost. Smith sends Major John Pitcairn ahead with six light companies and asks Boston for reinforcements.
Lexington Battle Green, where the militia stood on the morning of 19 April 1775Wikimedia Commons, John Phelan, CC BY 3.0 (Lexington Battle Green, Lexington MA.jpg)
At sunrise Pitcairn’s companies reach Lexington, where 77 militiamen under Captain John Parker stand in ranks on the common, beside the road to Concord but not across it. The leading companies turn onto the common to surround and disarm them, and Pitcairn halts three more on the left. Parker orders his men to disperse and not to fire, and some of them do not hear him.
A shot is fired, and who fired it is unknown. The regulars answer with a volley and a bayonet charge without orders, killing eight militiamen and wounding ten, while one regular is wounded. Smith comes up with the grenadiers, has a drummer beat assembly, and the column reforms and marches on to Concord.
Sources
- David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere’s Ride (1994).
- Allen French, The Day of Concord and Lexington (1925).
Prev: Lexington and ConcordNext: Concord: the North Bridge