Battle Analysis of the Battle at Lexington and Concord

Battle of Lex and Conc

Define the Subject/Evaluate the Sources

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought on two fronts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. Principle adversaries included the British armed forces and the colonial militia known as Minutemen. The night before the battles on April 18, British officials entered Concord, Massachusetts with the intent of both seizing an arms cache and also capturing key rebels including John Hancock and Samuel Adams. The colonists intercepted the message, and their being forewarned allowed the minutemen time and opportunity to intercept the British. The minutemen instigated a skirmish in Lexington and Concord simultaneously, and won decisively. The Battles of Lexington and Concord are therefore widely referred to as the starting point of the American Revolutionary War.

Research sources for studying the Battles of Lexington and Concord include books, journal articles, new media, and multimedia. Tourtellot's (1959) book is seminal but needs to be supplemented by more recent sources. Fradin's (2009) book contains valuable facts and analysis, even if it is written for young readers. McCullough's Pulitzer prize-winning book 1776 is among the most indispensible sources showing how the Battle of Lexington and Concord fits into the chronology of Revolutionary War history. Full-format electronic or digital books like Hamilton's (2014) Battles of Lexington and Concord are also helpful. In addition to books, scholarly articles and websites round out the discussion and often provide details that may be easier to access and navigate than they would be in a narrative-format book. Because most of the books, articles, and websites accessed tend to be written by American authors for an American audience, there will most certainly be pro-American biases. However, books like Tourtellot's are as objective as possible.

Review the Setting/Set the Stage

The Battles of Lexington and Concord took place on April 19, 1775, and marked the onset of the American Revolutionary War, or War of Independence. The War of Independence itself lasted for eight years; in 1783 the Treaty of Paris marked the formal end. From the perspective of the colonists, the British had been remotely collecting taxes for the Crown without offering corresponding political power or representation in parliament. A series of increases in tariffs hurt the colonies, such as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Townsend Acts. The colonies were a valuable source of raw materials for the Crown, and colonists felt exploited. Discontent and active rebellions were becoming increasingly commonplace, and thus, when the Battles of Lexington and Concord erupted it was a surprise to neither party.

From the British perspective, the colonies were Crown territory and the colonists were in active rebellion against Great Britain. The British conceived of Samuel Adams and John Hancock as rebel leaders, and viewed the stash of gunpowder in Concord as a sign that the rebels were committing acts of treason.

Based on the fact that the colonies had trained militias, and that men like Paul Revere were expecting regiments of British troops outside of Boston, the colonists and the British alike were somewhat expecting armed conflict. However, the Battles of Lexington and Concord were not pre-conceived of as first battles to start the Revolutionary War. No primary source material would suggest an organized, conscientious attempt on the part of colonial strategists to initiate an eight-year war with Britain at this time. In fact, the colonial militias were not trained to fight British soldiers, but to stave off attacks from Native Americans and French aggressors.

However, colonial intelligence gathered information about British General Gage's plan to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock from Lexington and seize the colonists' stash of gunpowder from Concord. Given the British intent to capture key rebels like Adams and Hancock, as well as a weapons stash, it is likely that the British suspected an immanent battle and were willing to take up arms with the colonial militia. Likewise, the colonial militia had sentries like Paul Revere, who watched for signs of the British approaching and gave fair warning. The warning allowed the minutemen to quickly organize and fight. Although the British outnumbered the rebels at several fronts, waves of rebel troops intercepted the stunned British while they retreated to Boston. By the end of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the British lost 273 troops and the rebels lost 94.

The rebels had several distinct advantages: thorough knowledge of the local terrain, support of locals, and especially access to quality intelligence. The British may have underestimated the level of organization exhibited by the colonists, especially given the sophistication of their warning system. Both Lexington and Concord are situated west of Boston, and the terrain includes a river that provided cover for minutemen at crucial moments. The two towns are five miles apart, allowing for rapid communications and transportation between soldiers in each area. Weather was clear, and the battle initially broke out in the early morning hours (Tourtellot, 1959).

One of the distinct weaknesses of the British was military organization and leadership, as well as underestimation of the colonists. Although early victories in the battles such as the capture of Paul Revere might have signaled a rapid British victory, the rebels persisted. Captain Parker was especially determined to hold strong against the British, even though he was grossly outnumbered. Yet when the British attempted to retreat to Boston after the ambush of rebels in Concord, they were further sabotaged along the way. Rebel soldiers continued to attack the British troops on the route from Concord back to Boston, in what is now Arlington and Cambridge. Only when they reached Charleston Neck in Boston Harbor were the British able to receive backup assistance and military support; their not having expected the colonists' ambush gave the rebels an early upper hand.