The Lexington Green

On the morning of April 19, 1775, seventy-seven militia men lined up acros the Lexington Green (a triangular grassy field that hasn't changed in over 200 years) to meet the incoming British Regulars. The British "Redcoats" had marched shoulder to shoulder from Boston and were on their way to the Lexington and Concord arsenal to confiscate the ammunition the colonists had stockpiled. The soldiers were ordered by the military governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, to remove and take possession of the contraband without any incident and return to Boston. But something happened along the way in Lexington. It is believed that General Gage's wife alerted the colonists about what was to happen. This gave the colonists time to hide most of their stockpile in the freshly-plowed fields in Concord (where the majority of the arsenal was located). Meanwhile, Captain John Parker, who was in charge of the militia in Lexington, instructed his fellow farmers to, "Stand your ground. Don't fire until fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." No one knows who fired first, but in the end, eight Lexington farmers were killed and ten were wounded. Two British soldiers also died.