What was the first battle of the American Revolutionary War?

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.

The fighting took place in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. British regulars marched from Boston toward Concord to seize colonial military supplies. Colonial militia confronted the troops at Lexington, and fighting continued during the British retreat through Concord and nearby communities.

The clash transformed political tension into open warfare. The British column suffered heavy casualties on its return to Boston, while militia from Massachusetts and neighboring colonies gathered around the city. The battles became a powerful revolutionary symbol because local residents resisted a large professional army.

The events are sometimes called the “shot heard round the world,” a phrase popularized later rather than a contemporary battlefield report. The Battle of Bunker Hill followed in June 1775, making it a major early battle but not the first. The war ended years later after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.