Where did the first battles of the American Revolutionary War begin in April 1775?

The first battles of the American Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts in April 1775.

British regulars marched from Boston on April 19, 1775, intending to seize colonial military supplies at Concord. Colonial militia confronted them first at Lexington, where fighting broke out, and then at Concord, including the fighting at the North Bridge.

The British withdrawal to Boston became a running battle as militia from surrounding communities joined the confrontation. The events marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between Britain and the American colonists.

The battles are sometimes reduced to the phrase “the shot heard round the world,” but that wording comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s later poem. The clashes also directly preceded the Second Continental Congress’s assumption of wartime responsibilities.