Which 1775 battles are commonly identified as the first major military actions of the American Revolution?

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first major military actions of the American Revolution, fought on April 19, 1775.

British troops marched from Boston toward Concord to seize colonial military supplies. Patriot riders, including Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott, warned local militia that the expedition was approaching. At sunrise, British regulars and militiamen confronted one another on Lexington Common.

The fighting continued through Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. At Concord’s North Bridge, colonial militia resisted the British advance, and the British column faced repeated attacks during its retreat to Boston. The day transformed a political crisis into a large-scale armed conflict.

The Lexington encounter is often described as the first battle, although it was a brief skirmish rather than a long engagement. The battles are also associated with the phrase “the shot heard round the world,” from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1837 poem “Concord Hymn.”