Who Fired First at Lexington and Concord?
Who fired first at Lexington and Concord?
Leading up to the incident at Lexington and Concord, we see that tensions mound all over the colonies because of all of the passing of several laws such as the sugar act, stamp and Townshend acts. To these the people responded furiously with acts such as the Boston massacre and the Boston tea party. With tensions already at a high it was already a matter of time to see which side was going to fire first; this point came on the 19th of April when a group of militia men encountered troops entering Concord from their route from Boston. Tensions high and words were exchanged leading into the firsts shots of the revolutionary war at Lexington and Concord with the help of the British troops giving off the first shots of the war and thus initiating it. They started off this feud by threatening the militia men by way of insults, raiding the stores of Concord, and by outside information given to the troops in which helped them plan their attack.
According to the testimony of John Parker, the Commander of the Militia in Lexington, (source 2) the British had shot the militia first. In his testimony, he states that orders were given to his militia to remain on standby in case the passing troops were to come in and fire. They were to not fire unless fired upon. Furthermore, according to all accounts the militia had dispersed upon seeing the troops arriving, after this point on both sides of the story diverge. The most plausible and believable of the both stories is that of the people and militia themselves. They state in the account of John Parker that the troops had rushed in and began firing upon them with out notice. According to Samuel Winship,(source 5) no discharge or arms was done on either side until the order was given to, and order only done by a commander, more specifically a commander of the British troops as seen by the picture on (source
Leading up to the incident at Lexington and Concord, we see that tensions mound all over the colonies because of all of the passing of several laws such as the sugar act, stamp and Townshend acts. To these the people responded furiously with acts such as the Boston massacre and the Boston tea party. With tensions already at a high it was already a matter of time to see which side was going to fire first; this point came on the 19th of April when a group of militia men encountered troops entering Concord from their route from Boston. Tensions high and words were exchanged leading into the firsts shots of the revolutionary war at Lexington and Concord with the help of the British troops giving off the first shots of the war and thus initiating it. They started off this feud by threatening the militia men by way of insults, raiding the stores of Concord, and by outside information given to the troops in which helped them plan their attack.
According to the testimony of John Parker, the Commander of the Militia in Lexington, (source 2) the British had shot the militia first. In his testimony, he states that orders were given to his militia to remain on standby in case the passing troops were to come in and fire. They were to not fire unless fired upon. Furthermore, according to all accounts the militia had dispersed upon seeing the troops arriving, after this point on both sides of the story diverge. The most plausible and believable of the both stories is that of the people and militia themselves. They state in the account of John Parker that the troops had rushed in and began firing upon them with out notice. According to Samuel Winship,(source 5) no discharge or arms was done on either side until the order was given to, and order only done by a commander, more specifically a commander of the British troops as seen by the picture on (source