Minute Man National Historical Park preserves sites where Colonial militiamen and British soldiers clashed on April 19, 1775, in the fighting that began the American Revolution and helped shape American identity through the resolve of citizens willing to risk their lives for liberty and self-determination. A force of 700 British soldiers left Boston to seize military supplies stockpiled in Concord, but alarm riders alerted the countryside and militia companies in area towns assembled to defend their communities and liberties if necessary. After brief battles at Lexington Green at 5:00 a.m. and Concord’s North Bridge at 9:30 a.m., fighting escalated along the Battle Road as British troops marched back toward Boston and militia companies poured in. By afternoon, nearly 4,000 Colonists unleashed an incessant fire on the British soldiers, and by the end of the day the Colonists had surrounded and laid siege to Boston, beginning the Revolutionary War. The five mile Battle Road Trail from Meriam’s Corner to Fiske Hill passes battle sites, agricultural fields, colonial homes and taverns, forests, fragile wetlands, and historic landmarks, following in part the Battle Road marched by the British column and in part stone walls and farm lanes traversed by the Colonists.
