The Shot Heard Around The World

After the Intolerable Acts resulted in uniting the American Colonies, tensions grew between the Americans and the British. Three colonists at the forefront of the fight for Independence were John and Samuel Adams, and John Hancock. The British planned to raid military supplies at Concord and arrest the Adams’ brothers and Hancock. Paul Revere, along with Dawes and Prescott, carried a signal to warn them when the British invaded.

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode through Lexington and Concord sounding the alarm. He hung two lanterns from the church-steeple in Boston to show the British were headed to Concord. He also warned Hancock and Adams at Reverend Jonas Clark’s parsonage in Lexington. The patriots escaped before the British got there.


As Revere and his men rode through the countryside, minutemen (men who were ready at a minute’s notice) came out in droves. The British reached concord at 5:00 am. A fight began when four hundred and fifty Americans rallied to meet the British. The fighting took place between two detachments at the North Bridge, where “one the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world.”


American Captain Isaac Davis was killed at the first shot. The British detachment retreated in disorder. As they marched toward Lexington, they were exposed to constant guerilla fire by minutemen. Militia were ready for them as they reached Lexington at 2:00 pm. Ninety-three Americans were killed wounded and missing that day. The British lost two hundred and seventy-three men. The Revolutionary War had begun.