Significance of Battles at Lexington and Concord - Article Example

Significance of battles at Lexington and Concord. The origin of the battles of Lexington and Concord may be traced to the years preceding 1775 and more particularly to the events precipitated by the French and the Indian war .Although the war came to an end in 1763, in favor of the British and its American colonies against the French and its American Indian friends, the aftermath impacted negatively on the colonies. In a bid to ease its burden from the above war, Britain enacted and imposed the Stamp Act on the thirteen American colonies. This move sparked animosity and defiance in the land against the British imperial rules. The secret groups in Boston known as Sons of Liberty, started by Adams who was to later rise to the top seat of the land, directly attacked stamp agents and destroyed the stamps and records (Lanning , 153). These groups, observes Peacock 8, other than attacking tax collectors, encouraged noisy demonstrations and engaged the British infantry or Redcoats as they were known, in street fights. It is the anti-British campaigns undertaken by this group that did build up tension between the colonists and their master in Boston. The Boston Tea Party, an incident dubbed so after members of the Sons of Liberty dumped 90,000 pounds of tea belonging to the East India Company into water on the night of 16th 1773( Campbell, 35).This was a protest against the British policies on tea. In its response to this, Britain employed a harsh punishment on Boston by shutting down Boston’s harbor, a move which was detrimental to Boston’s economy. More so, more Redcoats were deployed in the region to quell any acts of aggression and General Thomas Gage relinquished his former position as commander of the British troops in colonies to become the governor of Massachusetts (Peacock, 9). In a bid to make the Bostonians tore the line and to further send chilling waves to all the colonists who would think of rebelling, the British parliament passed four punitive laws: the Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Quartering Act. These Acts, writes Campbell, were collectively referred to as Coercive Acts in Britain, perhaps, because of their punitive nature, while the colonists dubbed them as Intolerable Acts. Peacock, 8 describes how the infamous Boston Tea Party was executed. 50 members of the Sons of Liberty, having been inspired by Adams, disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians. They then boarded three British ships in the Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water, one which Campbell quantifies as 90,000 tones of tea. It is this unfortunate event which severed the already strained relations between Britain and the colonists. The colonists were required to pay for the destroyed tea, a Governors Council was replaced with a body appointed by the king, the powers of the king were extended to include appointing judges and other officials and penultimate, the Acts limited the authority of town meetings. Town meetings, observes Campbell, had been in existence for more than 100 years. In addition, the acts allowed all the governors to house troops in vacant buildings without permission. The colonists were however not threatened by these unpopular legislations and contrary to the British expectations, the colonists rallied behind the Bostonians in the course towards independence (Campbell, 35) Waldman, 1 notes, as does other writers in this topic, that the 13 American colonies were unhappy with being subjects to King George 111and his laws. The colonists desired to make their own laws and at the Continental Congress meeting, a decision was made in support of a war fare against the British to achieve their goal. The question of when however, remained unclear. The colonists thus sought to gather weapons and food in readiness to defend themselves from the British. The British acts of espionage on the colonists seemed to have paid off as they were informed of the stockpile of armaments taking place in Massachusetts. On April 14th 1775, orders were sent to General Gage to act against the rebels. Implementing this order, General Gage crafted a plan and the 19th of April 1775 was the date of its execution. Unfortunately for Gage, his plans leaked and his prime targets Sam Adams and John Hancock escaped. The news about the coming of the British diffused in the air and the entire countryside was alerted of the British presence. In a show of solidarity against a common enemy, the militias from these towns came to fight alongside their brothers in Lexington and Concord. The Minutemen, a selected section of the militia, justified their course by responding to the call and marshalling 70 of them at Lexington Green awaiting the enemy. The Minutemen were named so because they could spring into action in a minute’s time. During this time of call for duty, the Minutemen were ready to face off the Regulars without much preparedness led by militiaman Captain John Parker. Lanning, 154 records what transpired before the first shot went into the air. The British major John Pitcairn rode forward his forces and before the Minutemen, he demanded that they disperse. Parker in his response to Pitcairn is reported to have ordered his forces to stand their ground. Most historians concur that a shot was heard, one which sparked off the war. The question as to who did it however is not agreeable. Campbell, 38 writes that participants on the American side would assert that the first shot came from the British Musket, whereas the British would claim that the Americans fired first. Lanning records a loss of eight militiamen, including Parker and ten of them wounded as opposed to the British one man loss during this encounter. Whoever fired the first shot may not be important per se, but the significance of the shot itself marked a turning point in the American history as it witnessed for the first time an armed struggle between the American militia men and the British troops. This ushered in the American Revolutionary epoch, a period which would end and see the Americans free of British control. As a matter of fact, the war at Lexington laid the foundation for the American Revolution and gave impetus to the successive revolts which eventually paid off. With 700 British soldiers under Colonel Francis Smith and Pitcairn against Parker’s team of 70 militia men, it is by no doubt the Americans were numerically challenged in this duel. Peacock, 10 observes that General Gage did not want to fight the colonists but instead, intended to frighten them with the power of the British army through a show of force. His core aim was to curb acts of resistance from the colonists. But with the shot at Lexington and the return of fire that ensued, the periods that followed witnessed more and more revolts from the colonists. Dr .Joseph Warren a patriot living in Boston through his messengers William Dewes and Paul Revere appear to have succeeded in informing the colonists of the British presence. A myth has it that Revere and the other messengers shouted, “The British are coming!” This information may be incorrect as many Americans living in the countryside still considered themselves British. They would thus come out to welcome their ‘countrymen’ other than prepare to fight them. Not sure whether he will be able to get out of Boston, since messengers were prime targets of the British, Paul Revere put lanterns in the old North Church Steeple. This was a coded message where lighting of one lantern signified that the enemy was coming by land while two lit lanterns meant that they were coming by sea. Thus the noble acts of Revere, Dewes and a third force, Prescott conveniently formed a triumvirate that effectively informed the patriots in time of the coming enemy (ushistory.org). After the war at Lexington, which was hardly a battle lasting less than an hour, the British soldiers realized that Adams and Hancock had escaped and so they set forth to Concord looking for weapons. Aware of the British presence town leaders in Concord withdrew to the heights north west of town, across the North Bridge. Campbell, 38 encapsulates the events as they unfolded. The British soldiers set ablaze the town courthouse and blacksmith shop after a futile exercise in search of weapons, prompting a reaction from concord townsmen. More than 4,000 Minutemen faced off the British soldiers during this encounter, gunning down 14 of them in the process. Overwhelmed by the militia, the British soldiers had no option but to retreat to Boston. The militia continued to pursue the enemy and by the time the British soldiers arrived at their garrison in Boston, a considerable loss was incurred in terms of personnel. The militia though fighting in an orthodox manner from behind trees and fences, much less with no coordination, almost annihilated Smith’s forces thanks to Earl Percy. General Gage had earlier in the day responded to Smith’s request for reinforcement by sending Earl Percy with roughly 1000 men. Percy managed to collect Smith’s forces successfully back into the regiment amidst heavy fire from the militia. The battles of Lexington and Concord led to the loss of lives of Americans and British soldiers. The days to come could see heightened resentment of the British by the Americans for the colonists’ blood had been shade in their own soil. Campbell, 38 records the figures of the casualties at the end of 19th April 1775. He provides a figure of roughly 20% for the British. Of this there were 73 deaths and a total of 200 either wounded or missing. The Americans on the other hand suffered 49 deaths and 39 wounded. These figures slightly differ with those provided by Lanning. Lanning states that the British had suffered 73 deaths, 174 wounded and 26 wounded while the American casualties totaled 49 dead, 41 wounded and 5 missing. Though slightly different findings, the two writers confirms that indeed there were casualties as a result of the two battles and many lives were lost. Whether inadvertent or carefully articulated the first shot rung and the impact was one which opened a fresh page in the history of the Americans. This revolutionary shot came to be referred to as ‘the shot heard round the world’ after the works of a famous poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The harsh imperial policies imposed on the colonists coupled with the events of the Lexington and Concord continued fanning the already glowing flame of the spirit of independence among the Americans. Below is an excerpt of Emerson’s famous poem about the first battle of the American Revolutionary war. “By The Rude Bridge That Arched The Flood, Their Flag to Aprils Breeze Unfurled, Here Once The Embattled Farmers Stood, And Fired The Shot Heard Round The World." It is undoubtedly clear that the British had underestimated the strength of the American resistance. May be, perhaps considering the fact that there had not been any resistance of gun fire engagement from the colonists. The British did not labor to delve into the situation before acting. This miscalculation was to later boomerang on them as they registered the highest number of casualties in the battles of Lexington and Concord. Although the British military is considered to have won the war, the war proved to have given the colonists an impetus to fight for their independence. This battle proved to the colonists that despite their small numbers and lack of regular training, they could stand against militarily trained force regulars; the British soldiers (Lanning, 155). As Emerson implies in his poem, the significance of the battle was the awakening of the American spirit towards the path of nationalism and a relentless endeavor to defend it. Although by the time of the first shot, only a third of the Americans were patriots who favored independence from Britain. The remaining majority often called Tories or Loyalists, argues Peacock, 8, still considered themselves British and even acted espionage. It was however, just a matter of time before the Tories could change course and aboard the train of patriots. Together the Americans demanded for nothing less than independence. The success use of militia in the battles of Lexington and Concord seems to have given undue weight in the American military strategic thought, observes Campbell, 38. This was evident in the second Boston siege where militia from all over the colony gathered on the heights outside Boston to lay siege on it. Peacock warns that the militia could not effectively march the regulars over the long period of the Revolution. If only they had more coordination, he says, the minutemen could have annihilated the Redcoats even after Percy’s reinforcement. A disciplined regular army was therefore needed to see the revolution through. More so Days later after the battle at concord, the men of Massachusetts used the incident as propaganda to further their cause. This ultimately paid off as they succeeded in having the public opinion to their favor. With a united front, they could then stand together against a common enemy. Unity among the Americans provided an enabling ground and environment; something which was a key ingredient in the recipe for a successful Revolution. Lord Percy, who led Smith’s forces back to the garrison at Boston wrote back to London, records us history…warning that the rebels should not be looked at as an irregular mob, but instead the British government should take considerable measure in averting their cause. For this reason, generals William Howes, Henry Clinton and Burgoyne were sent to Boston to arrest the situation. Though seen as minor battles, the battles at Lexington and Concord not only marked the beginning of the American revolutionary wars but also influenced other groups of people under colonial rule to rise against their colonial masters in demanding for freedom. From Europe, to Asia to Africa, the wave of resistance against colonialism was felt in the years to come. It is the courage taken by the townsmen of Massachusetts to stand against the well trained British soldiers that inspired the course of the Revolution. The shot having been heard around the world, so did it send with it the spirit of nationalism which saw many colonists attain their independence. Campbell, 38 demonstrates how, the patriots in Massachusetts succeeded in dismantling royal authority during the battles of Lexington and Concord. The royal authority, he observes, is one which was revered and faithfully observed for the otherwise was unthinkable. The colonists continued to keep a stockpile of weapons, tax revenues were directed to the illegal Provincial Congress and organized resistance against the royal authority. All these coupled with the war episodes culminated into the disregard of and open defiance to the royal authority. These acts of hostilities united the Americans in the course of the fight for freedom which eventually led to the American independence (Campbell, 35) In conclusion, the battles at Lexington and Concord were not decisive in the sense that they did not pronounce immediate independence to the Americans. Lanning p, in his work ranks the battles fought to deliberate the Americans from British rule. Even though the battles at Lexington and Concord do not top this list, he affirms that it played a significant role in opening up of the armed engagements of the American Revolution. ‘The shot heard around the world’ on the 19th of April 1775 marked the beginning of a war that would change the world. The question is would the Revolutionary war have broken out anywhere else in the colonies if the events at Lexington Green never happened? This may be a subject of debate but the facts are clear. The cause of the Revolutionary war finds its roots from the colonial period. With their oppressive policies, the British got nothing but discontent from the American patriots who were determined to gain their independence. Thus the relations between the colonies and their master were strained. However, tensions grew higher after the French and the Indian War. It should be noted that the Americans were ripe for independence and were ready to fight for it. This is evident in the remaining wars that were fought and gave them victory such as the Boston Siege, the Battle at Saratoga and the final victory at Yorktown. Works Cited. “Ushistory.org.” Lexington and Concord .2012 .2 Dec 2012. http://www.ushistory.org/us/11c.asp Ballard C. Campbell. Disasters, Accidents and Crises in American History: A Reference Guide to the Nation’s Most Catastrophic Events. New York: InfoBase Publishing, 2008. Print. Judith Peacock. The Battles of Lexington and Concord. New York: Capstone, 2002. Print. Michael, Lee Lanning. The American Revolution 100: The People, Battles and Events of the American War for Independence, Ranked by their Significance. Naperville, IL: Sourcebook Inc, 2009. Print Scott, P Waldman. The Battles of Lexington and Concord. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Print. Read More