Battle  Of  Lexington & Concord

                         In  February  Parliament  said  that  Massachusetts  was  in  an open  rebellion.  This  gave  the  British  the  right  to  treat  the  colonists  as  rebels  and  shoot  the  colonists  whenever  they  saw  them.  General  Gage  received  a  secret  order  from  the  British  government  saying  to  go  and  arrest  Massachusette's  principle  leaders [or  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams] .  The  Boston  colonists  heard  about  the  orders  before  even  Gage  did.  John  Hancock  and  Samuel Adams  were  told  the  news,  then  fled. Gage  then  decided  to  destroy  the  guns  and  gunpowder  at  Concord  after  he  captured  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams.  On  the  night  April  18 , 1775,  700  British  men  marched  toward  Concord.  Joseph  Warren , a  Boston  Patriot , discovered  that  the  British  were  on  the  march.  He  sent  Paul  Revere  and  William  Dawes  to  ride  on  horseback  to  Concord  and  warn  the  people  that  the  Redcoats  were  coming.  When  the  British  reached  Lexington  70  minutemen , awoke  by  Revere  and  Dawes , stood  in  their  way.  No  one  knows  who  fired  the  first  shot , but  when  all  the  smoke  cleared  8  Minutemen  were  dead  and  10  Minutemen  were  wounded.  Only  one  British  soldier  was  hurt  none  were  dead.  The  British  continued  to  march  to  Concord.  When  they  got  there  they  searched  for  the  gunpowder  and  guns.  They  got  some  of  it.  Just  outside  Concord  on  North  Bridge  some  minutemen  attacked  Redcoats.  3  Redcoats  died  and  2  mineutemen  died.  On  the  back  to  Boston  the  Redcoats  got  attacked  on  by  some  more  Minutemen.  The  total  killed  that  day  were  250  Redcoats  and  90  Minutemen.  After  this  battle  this  encouraged  more  Minutemen  to  join  the  war.  

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