Paul Revere had already ridden through the countryside, warning of the hundreds of redcoats marching west from Boston.
The Minute Men had already confronted the “regulars” at Lexington and suffered grievous losses at their hands.
The colonial militia at Concord had already fired on the king’s light infantry, who turned around and ran away.
British General Thomas Gage’s forces had already begun retreating to Boston, suffering dozens of casualties from militia snipers taking advantage of high ground along the route of nearly 20 miles.
It was April 19, 1775, a clear, blustery New England spring day — the one we now know as the beginning of the American Revolution.
But then something happened that, perhaps more than anything else, revealed why the colonists’ cause was likely to defeat the most powerful empire the world had ever seen.
Today, 250 years later, the “Battle of Lexington and Concord” carries many lessons. But perhaps the mos…
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