April 19, 1775: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission
to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green.
British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began
to drift off the green.
Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud
of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others
were wounded.
Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution
had begun.
British Major John Pitcairn Captain John Parker
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