Which 1775 battles are generally regarded as the first battles of the American Revolutionary War?

The Battles of Lexington and Concord are generally regarded as the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Fighting began on April 19, 1775, when British troops marched from Boston toward Concord, Massachusetts, to seize colonial military supplies. American militiamen confronted the regulars at Lexington, where the first shots were exchanged, and then resisted them during the retreat from Concord.

The exact identity of the person who fired the first shot remains uncertain, and later tradition called it the “shot heard round the world.” The clashes quickly expanded as militia from surrounding towns attacked the British column along the road back to Boston.

The battles did not immediately create an independent United States. The Second Continental Congress still sought to manage the crisis, and the Declaration of Independence came more than a year later. Nevertheless, Lexington and Concord transformed political resistance into open warfare.