Battle+of+Lexington+and+Concord


 * __ THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD __**

On April 19, 1775 in [|Lexington Massachusetts], there was one of the the first battles of The Revolutionary War.The two combatant forces in this battle was the British army and the Massachusetts [|Militia]. Right off the bat, all of the world thought the British would defeat them in 6 months, or less. The Americans with little to no training where armed with whatever they would find. In this case the goal of the British was to seize all of the arms and ammunition of the Americans. Once British[| spies] discovered the supply of munitions, they immediately prepared to take over the town. Under the leadership of lieutenant colonial [|Francis Smith] British premeditated attempted to attack the[| patriots] supply of[| munitions].The regulars had defeated the militia men, and found no source of ammo or rebellion leaders. This lead to an American Defeat. But on the down side for the British, the military supplies they where in search for where not there. They had been relocated to Concord, a town not to far away. But as the British marched to Concord they where confronted at [|North Bridge] and the 500 [|militia men] had pushed the Regulars back and fought them off. This battle only lasted a matter of minutes In the end three [|companies] of the [|Kings] soldiers where fought off. This gave the Americans a huge moral boost as they entered their War for Independence.

**__Colonial Thomas Gage__**


 * The British commander for a large portion of the attack was [| Colonial Thomas Gage] . He was the governor of the Massachusetts colony at the time. He had originally ordered 20 soldier to search the town of Lexington for signs of rebellion(guns ammo troops ect). He instructed Lieutenant Colonial Francis Smith to seize and destroy all military supplies of the Americans. And although Francis Smith was the leading commander, Gage was the one who lead the combat in battle and was there on the front lines. But this was not Gage's first taste in battle. He had seen action in the [|French and Indian War] as well. Now back in Lexington he sent out a patrol of 20 soldiers to capture all of the rebellion leaders. But his patrol acted much more different than normal British procedures. They went around asking civilians where the leaders would be and made no attempt to sneak up on them. Making Gage's orders extremely unusual for British military tactics. This was to be the first battle to start the [|American Revolution]. **

This is an Image of Thomas Gage, The British commander in charge of the attacks.

__The Americans__ As for the Americans they did much preparation to prepare for the British attack on Concord. As a matter of fact, American spies had intercepted the message to Invade concord. They acquired this information before Gage even saw the letter. Now to escape the threat of arrest or even death,[| Adams] and [|Hancock] had moved to the residents of Hancock's relatives in[| Boston]. Now by this point the British had received news of their gathering of supplies. On April 8 [|Paul Revere]( one of the only two leaders including [|Joseph Warren], that stayed in the town) rode through the town telling the people that the British where on the move towards Concord. Ironically one main source of the rebels information on this attack was from [|Margaret Gage]. This was Thomas Gage's wife, who happened to be New jersey born and sympathized the colonies greatly. This is an image of Margaret Gage, the main informant of the upcoming attack of the British

media type="youtube" key="hiIFRCk1hxY" width="425" height="350" This is a clip of the a Documentary from History Chanel, on the Battles of Lexington and Concord.