Echoes of Lexington and Concord

In front of Lexington, Massachusetts’s Town Hall is a large sign that announces, every day, the number of days until April 19, 2025, the 250th anniversary of the first battle between British Army soldiers and local militia units that began America’s War for Independence. Neither the original event’s location nor its date was entirely a surprise, either in Massachusetts or as far south as Virginia. But to understand why this clash happened, and what effect it had, one must look at a chain of earlier events, and the effect that each of these had on the thoughts and beliefs of many thousands of British Americans.