Some of the most intense fighting of April 19, 1775 occurred at Bloody Angle, where woods and bends in the road, unlike the open farmland that characterized most of the 18th-century Battle Road landscape, allowed the Colonists to set up an ambush. As British troops ascended the height to the road, the Woburn Militia gave them a very heavy fire, while a larger body of men who had crossed the farm fields from Meriam’s Corner drew up on the other side, catching the British in a cross-fire from both sides of the road. Americans filled a young growth of wood and fired from behind larger trees, and when the British sent out a flank guard on the left to dislodge them, those soldiers only became better targets. In the short but sharp contest that followed, the British received more deadly injury than at any one place from Concord to Charlestown, with eight or more killed on the spot and many others likely wounded. At 1:00 p.m., Colonial Militia numbering 1500 men faced 700 British Regulars, with 14¼ miles and 6 hours remaining to Boston.
