Exclusive–O’Donnell: ‘The Shot Heard Round the World,’ Subjects Become Citizens, Lexington and Concord and the 250th Anniversary of the Start of the Revolutionary War
Patrick K. O'Donnell
19 Apr 2025
This week marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the Revolutionary War. Farmers, tradesmen, laborers, and mariners–Americans of all stripes–came together to defend themselves against the most professional army in the world.
April 19, 1775, marked the beginning of an epic journey for a band of brothers who risked EVERYTHING for a nation yet to be born. Over the course of nearly eight years, many of these Americans marched thousands of miles, often shoeless, unpaid, and starving, to fight for freedom and liberties most Americans today take for granted.
In the fall of 1774, King George III told Lord North, the Prime Minister of Great Britain that “blows must decide whether they [colonists but hereafter referred to as the Americans] are to be subject to this country, or independent.” The Crown moved toward using force. For years, friction had been building in the provinces. Beginning in September 1774, Gage’s forces conducted a number of so-called powder alarms aimed at seizing gunpowder and munitions. Black powder in the colonies was precious and had to be imported since virtually no organic production existed in North America. The Crown put in place a ban on the importation of powder and firearms. Mercilessly, they leveled a number of hard economic measures, closed the port of Boston throwing thousands out of work, and passed several acts aimed to destroy the colonies’ economic will. Americans fought back by boycotting British products. In early 1775, after declaring the colonies in a state of rebellion, the Crown ordered General Gage, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America and military governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to use a “vigorous exertion” of that force and “seize the principal actors and evaders” as well as disarm the Americans. During the previous several months, most colonists had hoped for peace and still considered themselves Englishmen as they prepared to defend themselves. The British had demonstrated throughout the history of their empire that without powder and cannon to support a standing army, any rebellion could be easily crushed. Until reinforcements arrived, however, Gage must conduct the disarmament raids with surgical precision, knowing the colonists could recruit potentially overwhelming forces. He spent weeks preparing for the operation to seize rebel munitions that Americans had amassed at Concord.
The operation to seize the Patriots’ powder and cannon located by Gage’s spies at Concord unfolded around 10:00 p.m., April 18, 1775. Over 700 British regulars under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith began their journey toward Lexington and Concord.
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