The first battle of the Revolution was the Battle of Lexington and Concord. On the night of April 18th, 1775, General Thomas Gage, commander of the British forces, ordered his troops led by Lt.Col. Francis Smith, Maj. John Pitcairn of the marines, and the British armies, to seize arms that had been reported at Concord. Concord is a village twenty miles northwest of Boston, past the village of Lexington. As the march progressed the British heard gunshots and ringing bells. What was supposed to be confidential was discovered instantly. As the British moved quickly before sunrise to Concord they were confronted with approximately seventy militia drawn upon two lines. Forcefully outnumbered the militia scattered. The British arrived sooner than the minuteman arranged for, so the colonists weren’t quite prepared. Anonymously a shot was fired, followed by two British volleys. Who shot the first shot? What side started this horrific battle? Will evidence ever be able to determine what really happened?
idence will be able to determine what happened. With over 20 testimonials a conclusion has been made; the rebels started the war, the rebels shot the first shot. If you recall the British had no intensions of starting a fight with the colonists they were simply going to Concord to seize weapons. The rebels heard about the British coming, and knew they were greatly outnumbered and wouldn’t be able to keep their weapons away from the British so out of self-protection the colonists shot the first shot to hopefully alarm the British to stay back.
Indication shows that Major John Pitcairn ordered his troops to not harm or capture the rebels just retrieve the weapons. Therefore he never told his troops to fire. John Parker even admitted he told his troops to “fire even if they were the least bit insulted.” This leads to the assumption that the British said something and the rebels took it offensively and shot at the British out of anger. Nathaniel Mullekin a militia patriot confessed he heard the B
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