The Battles of Lexington and Concord began on April 19, 1775, launching the Revolutionary War’s first major military actions.
British troops marched from Boston toward Concord to seize colonial military supplies. At sunrise in Lexington, Massachusetts, British regulars encountered local militia, and fighting soon spread along the road to Concord and back toward Boston.
Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott helped warn communities that the British expedition was approaching. Colonial militia members later confronted British forces at Concord’s North Bridge, where the famous “shot heard ’round the world” became associated with the opening of the conflict.
The identity of the person who fired the first shot at Lexington remains uncertain because contemporary British and Patriot accounts conflict. The date of the battles, however, is firmly established as April 19, 1775.