Minute Man National Historical Park was the starting place of the American Revolution, where the resolve of citizens willing to risk their lives for the ideals of liberty and self-determination was instrumental in the formation of the American identity. The park preserves sites where Colonial militiamen and British soldiers clashed on April 19, 1775. A force of 700 British soldiers left Boston to seize military supplies stockpiled in Concord, while alarm riders alerted the countryside and militia companies in area towns assembled, ready 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 the British troops marched back toward Boston, militia companies poured in, and by afternoon nearly 4,000 Colonists unleashed an incessant fire upon the British soldiers. At the end of the day, the Colonists surrounded and laid siege to Boston, and the Revolutionary War had begun.
