Читать книгу Revolution An Uncommon Chronicle of the American War for Independence - Kenneth JD Samcoe - Страница 5

March to Concord, Leaving Eight Dead, Several Wounded

When I reflect ... that the fight was between those whose parents but a few months ago were brothers, I shudder at the thought, and there’s no knowing where our calamities will end.

John Adams

April 19, 1775

Boston, Massachusetts: Apr. 19, 1775. Murder and mayhem descended on the town of Lexington, Massachusetts early this morning when a British brigade of 500 light infantry marched into the village common and opened fire on 36 local militiamen performing drill near the south wall.

Major John Pitcairn, the officer in charge of the brigade, rode up to the militiamen, drew his sword and shouted, “Lay down your arms!” When the men refused and began to disperse words were shouted, a musket went off and Pitcairn ordered his men to fire.

Two of the militia were shot and killed and another bayoneted to death inside the Common. Five others were mortally wounded as they attempted to escape. Two British infantry were wounded in the action.

The brigade was an advanced guard of 1,000 British troops, who crept off the Boston peninsula shortly after midnight to launch early morning raids on militia armories. Apparently, the British stopped at Lexington because their intelligence learned that two rebel leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, were spotted in the area. Hancock and Adams had fled Boston in March, under threat of imprisonment by British authorities. The rebel leaders were not found. A second brigade of grenadiers, with light cannon, marched past Lexington toward Concord, seven miles north.

The element of surprise was lost to the British when rebel minutemen observed them cross the Charles River. The minutemen alerted militia in the towns of Cambridge, Lexington and Concord. One of the minutemen, Paul Revere, a silversmith with a shop in Boston, was captured outside of Lexington and later released.