Lexington Travel Guide

British troops marched from Boston to Lexington late on April 18, 1775.  Tipped off, patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes rode ahead to sound the warning. Members of the local militia, known as "Minutemen" for their ability to assemble quickly, were waiting at the Buckman Tavern. John Hancock and Samuel Adams, leaders of the revolutionary movement, were sleeping at the nearby Hancock-Clarke House. The warning came around midnight, followed about 5 hours later by some 700 British troops, en route to Concord, where they planned to destroy the rebels' military supplies. Ordered to disperse, the colonists -- fewer than 100, and some accounts say 77 -- stood their ground. Nobody knows who started the shooting, but when it was over, eight militia members lay dead, including a drummer boy, and 10 were wounded.