Random Fact for April 19...
1775: The American Revolution Begins
At about 5:00 AM, seven hundred British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, marched into Lexington to find seventy-seven armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town's common green. Bristish Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment of hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the "shot heard around the world" was fired from an undetermined gun, followed by shots from both sides. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying, and ten others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured. A call to arms spread across the Massachusetts countryside. When the British troops moved on to Concord at about 7:00 AM, they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. The American Revolution had begun.