March On Concord example essay topic

The American Revolution officially began in the Lexington Common and continued to Concord's North Bridge. On April 18, 1775, the infamous British General Thomas Gage sent 700-800 soldiers to Lexington and Concord. The events of this day, and the following day, were a turning point in the continuing struggle between Great Britain and the American Colonies. These battles proved to increase confidence within the American colonies because the British failed to acknowledge the size and difficulty of the military task facing them until it was too late, there was an obvious lack of preparation by the British, and the heroic fighting by the Americans could not be suppressed by the apathetic Redcoats.

Gage wanted to send out a surprise armed forces unit to destroy Yankee arms and supply depots in Concord. Concord was about sixteen miles away from Boston and Gage hoped he could accomplish the mission in an extremely elusive and secretive manner. Gage was able to retrieve a map of Concord which revealed all of the houses and barns where artillery, ammunition, rations, tents, small arms, and other military supplies were supposedly stored. In the late night of April 18, 1775, about 700 men commanded by Lt. Col. Francis Smith assembled for a march on Concord.

The men traveled without baggage and artillery and carried only thirty-six rounds of ammunition per man. The lack of supplies carried in the march was supposed to make the colonists believe that it was simply a training march. However, the attempts by the Crown for surprise and secrecy were absent even before the march began. A key spy for the rebels named Dr. Joseph Warren had a source that provided him with key tactical campaigns of the redcoats. Warren was a revolutionary thinker and was extremely respected in the Whig community. Dr. Warren was informed by a confidential source "Very near the heart of British command"1 of a plan to march on Lexington and Concord to "Seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were known to be at Lexington, and burn the stores at Concord".

2 It is believed that General Gage's American wife Margaret Kemble Gage was the one who betrayed Gage. Many believe she felt an obligation to her American brothers and sisters to help with their revolution. In receiving this information, Dr. Warren notified Paul Revere of the happenings, begging him to "Immediately set off for Lexington, where Messrs Hancock and Adams were, and acquaint them of the movement, and that it was thought they were the objects". 3 Dr. Warren did send more than one rider to Lexington with a message to ensure that the crucial information would be received. Warren suspected that the redcoats were patrolling along the roads west of Boston and knew the delivery was urgent enough to risk two riders. The other message was entrusted to William Dawes, a Boston tanner and loyal Whig.

Paul Revere and William Dawes both carried written message stating: "A large body of the King's troops (supposed to be a brigade of about 12, or 15,000) were embarked in boats from Boston, and gone to land at Lechmere's point". 4 The Kings troops selected to march were some of the most prestigious soldiers of the Crown. These soldiers were handpicked and were renowned to be the most dynamic and agile men General Gage had to offer. This select team, however, had some drawbacks. The men, although elite, were not used to fighting next to one another and it became a noticeable Achilles' heel during battles. Reliance on each other is prevalent during any battle where a soldier could possibly lose his life.

If a soldier is fighting next someone he has no feelings or relationship with, it can grow to be a selfish fight. This lack of unity became apparent in the first moments of the concord expedition when the companies joined on Boston's Back Bay. "The 23rd's regimental adjutant, Frederick Mackenzie, was appalled by the disorder he met on the beach. He found no officer of high rank firmly in command of the embarkation, and separate companies straggling aimlessly". 5 A main reason for this confusion was because few soldiers except the commanding officers knew the mission they were embarking upon.

The soldiers were packed tightly into boats which delivered them from an extremely secluded part of Boston on the Back Bay to an even more isolated spot on Lechmere Point in Cambridge. Another problem with this excursion across the river was that there weren't enough boats to transport the infantry. The decision was made to take two trips which grew to be a problem because a swift march was vital to the Crown's success. After landing, the companies were finally all in their proper places and ready to march. The troops quickly approached a swamp and grew increasingly frustrated when they were instructed to trudge across it.

This filled their boots with mud, and soaked their uniforms, which were already uncomfortable enough. "They advanced painfully in their soggy gaiters and square-toed shoes full of brackish river water". 6 This early discomfort discouraged the march and made the men exceedingly grouchy. Finally, after all of the men made it across the swamp they marched to a farm road and rested while provisions were accumulated. Now the troops were out of the soggy swamp but they were freezing cold due to the breeze on their damp clothes. At about 2: 00 the companies had the supplies ready and they continued their march.

The troops approached another stream; this one however had a bridge. The men were ordered to wade across so the sleeping countryside wouldn't be alerted by their heavy footsteps on the wooden bridge. This was a disappointment to the men, because they were just warming up from their last dip and now had to get wet again. I can only imagine the thoughts of the men, as they wade across the stream looking up at the bridge imagining how much easier it would " ve been to just cross using the bridge. Most likely thoughts of misery, and confusion played in their heads. Upon reaching the other side, the companies organized and continued their mysterious march.

The British Regulars continued West through Cambridge to the great road that led to Lexington and Concord. After harassing the people of this town, interrogating them and such, they marched through to Meno tomy. Here Colonel Francis Smith was worried about the early dawn that was approaching in just a few hours. He ordered Major Pitcairn to lead six companies to march quickly to Concord and capture the bridges north and south of the town.

Smith instructed the rest of the men to take a short rest because he realized how tired they were. They had been moving a mile every sixteen minutes. As they approached Lexington, Major Pitcairn's men expected a fight and had their guns ready and loaded. What Pitcairn and some of his officers witnessed as they scoped from a hilltop was approximately a quarter of the towns population assembled in the town common. About thirty more were milling around collecting ammunition and weapons.

The rest of the townspeople, unarmed, were curious and stayed close to their houses ready to witness the battle. All of the mingling spectators as well as the militia around the town appeared to Pitcairn as soldiers, for he was a good distance from the town. Parkers men were assembled in the common and were drawn up in two lines so that there would look to be more men than there were. In a completely unorthodox command, the men were ordered by Captain Parker not to stand their ground upon being fired at. "I immediately ordered our troops to disperse and not to fire". 7 Major Pitcairn had a firm idea of how he wanted to engage in battle with the minutemen.

He ordered his soldiers to hold fire, and surround the motley group and disarm it, without even taking prisoners. "He (Pitcairn) regarded the whole thing as a civil action, involving not an army but British subjects in violation of the government's laws". 8 As the light infantry company marched to the right of the meetinghouse toward the militia, Major Pitcairn ordered the colonists, who he considered as much British citizens as his own troops, to surrender. As you may have guessed, none of the men lay down their arms. The colonists, in a rather chaotic way, dispersed with their weapons in hand. While all of this was going on, the British light infantry began to charge forward.

An accidental shot was fired, which served as the spark that engulfed this battle. Pitcairn, tried his best to instruct his troops to hold fire, but the excitement of the shot was too much. "The men (redcoats) were so wild they could hear no orders. 9 To no ones surprise, the minutemen dispersed into the woods leaving behind many of their own. When the firing had ended, the entire British force of about 700 flocked to the Common and the roads around it. "We then formed in the common...

We waited a considerable time there". 10 No minutemen were anywhere to be seen, except for the corpses that lay in the streets of Lexington. After the soldiers were organized in the Common, the troops were ordered to replenish their cartridge boxes before marching on to Concord. Although the minutemen in the woods were defeated, there were plenty of issues to deal with.

Wounded men needed treatment, and the corpses needed to be cleaned up. In total, eight men lay dead with nine more wounded. A glimmer of hope came across the survivors when they realized that the British would sooner or later have to come back through Lexington. Captain Parker assembled the remaining minutemen to march toward Concord.

Some of them wounded, however all had a resolve comparable to none. A difference between the battles at Lexington and at Concord is that in Concord the entire town was awake and it was daytime. At concord, the militia was assembled since early in the morning on April 19, 1775. The rebels would now be able to bypass the midnight rides, and sneaking around since it was daytime. Another advantage the Minutemen in Concord had was that the terrain of Concord was more irregular and was filled with hills. "Concord was as much a town of hills as Lexington was of plains".

11 This allowed them to have clearer shots from a perch, instead of firing from the Common. As the British entered the heart of Concord at about eight in the morning, they were tired; for they had been marching for eleven hours. The Minutemen were perching themselves on ridges and were constantly growing. "All the time their (The Minutemen's) number was being swollen by new companies from nearby towns". 12 Smith and Pitcairn sent six companies to capture the bridges, and to discover and destroy the hiding-places of supplies. The British began to set fire to the town, and when the minutemen became aware of this, they grew increasingly worried about their families and riled up.

One man asked the patriotic question: "Will you let them burn the town down?" 13 Of course the answer was a resounding "No"14 The main casualties of the battle occurred on Concords North Bridge where the Americans inflicted fourteen casualties on the Redcoats. The Redcoats made a rapid retreat facing a mediocre amount of Minutemen. Colonel Smith, hearing the firing at the bridge, sent out reinforcements. These reinforcements met the retreating company. After seeing the increased strength of the Minutemen, they turned around.

At about noon the whole invading force retreated toward Lexington, covered by strong Minutemen parties. The Minutemen weren't about to let the retreating Redcoats escape without an honest fight. Minutemen appeared with guns-a-blazing from everywhere. They rallied from the woods, fields, and farm-houses. The Americans were picking off Redcoats every step of their march. The exhausted Americans attacked the retreating redcoats; from the woods, behind stone-walls, fences, and buildings.

Man after man fell dead in the British ranks until wagons were filled with the slain and the maimed. Exhausted by lack of sleep, fatigue of marching, famine and thirst, the eight hundred men would have definitely surrendered if relief had not arrived. Reinforcements under Lord Percy, met the embarrassed Redcoats within half a mile of the Lexington Common. The total casualties for both of the battles were overwhelming. For the British: 73 killed; 174 wounded; and 26 missing. For the Americans: 49 killed; 39 wounded; and 5 missing.

This proved to be a unanimous victory for the Americans. I believe that this obvious American victory happened for a few reasons. First of all, the British commanders were not only unprepared, but overtly cocky. Their long and unorganized march to Lexington and then to Concord extremely fatigued their soldiers.

"Under the procrastinating command of Colonel Smith, they had taken eleven hours to come seventeen miles, and his troops had so conducted themselves that the whole point of the mission was now irrelevant anyhow". 15 Also, the eight hundred soldiers that marched to these battles weren't told what their mission entailed. If I was in their boots, I would be extremely cautious and frustrated. I wouldn't know if I was marching for some sort of reconnaissance mission or for an all out battle. I argue that this confusion might have created an obvious delinquency on the battlefield.

These battles proved to increase confidence within the American colonies due to an intense misjudgment and lack of preparation by the British, plus heroic fighting by the Americans.