War Begins

April 19, 1775

As tensions between the colonists and the British grew, a split developed and widened between those taking sides in America as the loyalists (colonists remaining loyal to the king) and the patriots (those opposing British laws). Near midnight, April 18, 1775 General Thomas Gage (British commander-in-chief) sent his soldiers toward Lexington . He wanted to seize patriot arms and ammunition stored in Concord. Paul Revere and William Dawes rode ahead to warn the local minutemen, or patriot volunteers. At dawn 70 minutemen met the English soldiers on the village green at Lexington. The British again engaged in fighting at the bridge north of Concord before retreating to Boston.



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