April 03rd, 2019

BATTLES IN 1775: PART 2

 
BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD
The Battle of Lexington and Concord took place on April 19, 1775 and started the American Revolutionary War. On the night before the battles, hundreds of British soldiers marched from Boston to Concord. Paul Revere and other riders rode at night warning people that the British were coming, saying, “The regulars are coming!”
    At dawn on April 19, 1775 about 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and one of them shouted, “Throw down your arms! Ye villains, ye rebels.” A shot rang out, no one knew which side shot first, so both sides started shooting at each other. The British continued into Concord looking for more troops and burned what little they found, but the fire got out of control. The soldiers on America’s side thought that the fire would burn the whole town, so they hurried to Concord’s North Bridge, but it was blocked by British soldiers. They started shooting and the British fell back. The British retreated back to Boston and the Americans won their first battle.

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BATTLE OF FORT TICONDEROGA
 The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga happened on May 10, 1775 and was made possible by the Green Mountain Boys, a small military force that was established in the late 1760s.   The Green Mountain Boys were led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold, and together they captured a British garrison. It doesn’t seem like a big event, but it had a fairly large impact. This action prevented communication between different parts of the British Army. It also gave the Continental Army the higher ground that helped them in the invasion of Quebec later on in the year.

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BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL        
​The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, while the Revolutionary War had just begun. The colonists had learned that the British were planning to attack them to gain access to Boston Harbor, so they hatched a plan to occupy Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill, making sure they could build a redoubt to fight back. Unfortunately, though, the British made a series of attacks, and the colonists had run out of ammunition by the third attack, leaving the British in victory.

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BATTLE OF QUEBEC
The Battle of Quebec took place on December 31, 1775. This changed a lot and impacted a large amount of the war. They had lost more than 400 men because they were taken prisoner, their general Richard Montgomery was killed, and Benedict Arnold was wounded. After this battle, the British had gotten their victory, and the Americans stopped attacking and planning operations in Canada, making a lasting impact in the war.

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