The Battles of Lexington and Concord, Part 1 | The Shot Heard ’Round the World

An effort to seize gunpowder from the colonists led to the first battle of the American Revolution. General Thomas Gage decided to seize the arsenals in New England, which would effectively disarm the colonists. In response, colonists in Massachusetts set up a system of alarm riders and local militias to fight back if needed.

On the evening of April 18, 1775, alarm riders were signaled from the Old North Church that British troops, numbering 800 to 900 men, were headed out of Boston by sea — the back bay — for the march to Lexington and Concord. Alarm rider Paul Revere made it to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock, but he was captured by the British before he got to Concord. The British released him after he warned them that overwhelming numbers of colonial militiamen were marching to Lexington.

As students watch the video, they consider how the seizure of gunpowder was a tipping point toward open warfare between the colonists and the British.