Analysis: Who Shot First In The Revalutionary War

The first shots of the Revolution rang out April 19 1775 at Lexington green. Reports say the British fired first killing eight patriots. I believe these reports to be true. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this, since none of us were there, no one can be certain on who fired first. Evidence shows the British fired first. I think based on the evidence provided it was very easy to see the British were the first to fire the shot of the revolution.

Similar to the way that the colonial and British perspectives greatly varied for the Boston Massacre, their opinions are once again vastly different for the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In this event as well, both parties attempt to place the blame on the other which is not unusual due the nature of the sources. However, this highlights the large amount of bias evident in all of the accounts. For the colonial perspective, there are two statements, each from a member of a colonial militia that fought during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Both of these sources place the blame on the British soldiers and claim that the British fired first, killing several colonists. One account, from the Battle of North Bridge, claims that the colonists were ordered to hold their fire and that they didn’t fire until the British opened fire upon them. The other account, from soldier who fought during the skirmish at the Lexington Green, states that the colonists did not even get a single shot off, at least not before the soldier whose account this is was wounded. This source also claims that the British commanding officers were yelling at and insulting the colonists as their ranks closed on the milita. Both these sources are very similar to the colonial perspectives of the Boston Massacre because they all place the blame on the British soldiers and attempt to make themselves appear as the victims.

My first rebuttal source is Simon Winships official deposition 6 days after the event. He claims that the british fired first when he says “The troops marched on till they came within a few rods of captain parkers company, who were partly collected on the place of the parade, when said winship observed an officer at the head of said troops flourishing his sword, and with a loud voice giving the word fire.” So what happened was he was on the front line when he claims to have seen the british fire first.But this is not a reliable source for the reason of it is 6 days after the event they may forget some stuff as if it was on the day of the event as both of my sources. Also then is it more reliable if a colonist say it was a colonist or a british claiming it was the colonist.

At about five o’clock in the morning,an unknown participant fired the first shot,and then all Boston fortified against the American patriots.(McGill 1)After Americans espied as many as 40 boats or barges coming over,full of troops.(Grayson 40)British Lieutenant General Thomas Gage planned to fortify the hills on Dorchester Heights,south of Boston.(James Kirby 1)The bloodiest battle of the American Revolutionary War started.(James Kirby 1)

The Second reason is that is that the colonists pushed their rights against the British Soldiers. The colonists would hurt and taunt the British Soldiers while knowing that they couldn’t taunt them back. The British were quick-tempered but managed to stay loyal and not fire until it got too out of hand and the colonists started a riot, then that when the British Soldiers responded with force. The colonists essentially started the fight by using force first.

The two sides eyed each other and waited for the first move. No one is sure who made the first move, all we know is that a shot rang out and the fighting started. This first shot is called the “shot heard round the world”.The militia or residential army alongside the minutemen who claimed to able to be ready to fight within a minute were no match for the British troops. The Americans were defeated and the British moved on to concord to seize the gunpowder. The British troops were met by more minutemen and more of the militia. This time the battle was much harder for the British and eventually they had to retreat. The British retreated toward Boston and were again sucked into combat with the colonial minutemen and militia. The colonists killed over 125 people including British officers. These fights where the British had killed Americans were taken and made into propaganda to increase the tension between the two

The British did indeed fire first but fell back when more and more militiamen showed up. By the time British soldiers were prepared to return back to Boston, almost 2000 militiamen arrived and more were arriving. Fighting had started yet again with militiamen hiding behind bushes in trees. British soldiers pulled back to Lexington where they had came into contact with more reinforcements of Redcoats. This didn’t stop the Patriots from continuing to resume attacks. The British tried and tried with Redcoats flanking and canon fire. The Patriots had a chance to finish the Redcoats off but were commanded not to. The British Redcoats retreated to Charlestown Neck. The Americans had won the battle, neither Samuel Adams or John Hancock had been taken and they only destroyed very little military supplies! By the end of the day Britain lost 293 soldier and the colonials 93. The colonial Patriots proved they were more than a group of unorganized colonial rebels.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, “Concord Hymn” supports that the first shot was fired at the North bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. The first stanza of the Concord Hymn is, “By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world.” Although, Emerson suggest that it was in Concord where the “shot heard around the world” was fired, desendents of the towns Lexington and Concord still debate this fact today. On Wednesday, April 19, 1775 at the village green in the village of Lexington in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay. Captain John Parker and around 60 militia men, many of the men being related to Parker faced off against 240 redcoats under General Gage’s comand. John Parker was a farmer and had previously fought along side the british. The militia men were not near as well trained or well equipt as the british regulars. There were over one hundred onlookers at the battle of Lexington. Both John Parker’s milita men and Gage’s redcoats were under orders to hold their fire. Nobody is exactly sure who fired the first shot at Lexington, some people believe that it could have been a spectator. Regardless of who fired the first shot.

1st, Resolved, That whoever shall aid, or abet, or in any manner assist in the introduction of tea, from any place whatsoever, into this colony, while it is subject, by a British act to parliament, to the payment of a duty, for the purpose of raising a revenue in American, he shall be deemed an enemy to the liberties of America.

Washington fires the first shot with a mortar hitting a house with British soldiers eating starting the siege. Cornwallis had to rely on his ten forts called redoubts to defend Yorktown. General Washington knew he had to take out redoubts nine and ten in order to get close enough to attack Cornwallis. On one moonless night with Jupiter and Venus glowing brightly 400 French soldiers attacked redoubt nine while 400 (with one soldier thinking it was the signal to attack) American soldiers attacked redoubt ten. In an attempt to turn the tide Cornwallis sent the British army to attack the nearest allied troops in an attempt to spike (to take a spike usually made of iron pounded into the hole where the fuse in the cannon goes requiring the army to have to drill it out damaging the weapon) or fill the cannons with dirt rendering them useless until the cannons can be cleaned. The attack was doomed form the start, and the British were pushed back after a brief battle, and the allied army shortly repaired the cannons and put them back into the fight. After a few days of fighting the Cornwallis ran away to hide in Yorktown’s cave. Not really inspiring for the British army to have their general run and hide in a cave for that is very embarrassing for a

During the Boston Massacre, a mob of colonists in Boston harassed the British soldiers. Captain Thomas Preston wrote,” On this is a general attack was made on the men by a great number of heavy clubs and snowballs being thrown at them…” During the riot, the British troops shot 5 colonists from the mob. The shots, however, were fired without their Captain’s demand. In Captain Thomas Preston’s report he admitted that he did not order the men to fire. He wrote, “ This might be the case as many of the mob called out fired, fire, but i assured the men that i gave no such order; that my words were, don’t fire, stop your firing.” To this day, no one knew who called out “fire”. At last, the colonists called a town meeting to demand the removal of British troops and even argued a trial for the incident of the shots. The judges agreed to put the soldiers on trial while the colonists were the one who started

From the British only one soldier is wounded, but the American revolution has just begun. Their is tension between the American colonies and the British government, reaching the breaking point. The British governor of Massachusetts, who is also General Thomas Gage, received instructions

While the British were in the streets of Boston the colonists decided to protest the king. The colonists were protesting that the taxes that the kind had on the people were unfair. The colonists started with using verbal abuse, but eventually they started throwing things and beating the soldiers. The colonists were saying things like “Fire you bloody lobsters” and throwing things such as snowballs, pebbles, rocks, sticks basically anything they could find. Since the colonists were threatening the British they had a reason to fire. A report made shows that one colonist was physically beating one of the British guards. This colonist had no charges filed against him, but the British soldier was the one who fired the first shot. The British was put in jail for using self defense against the

Henceforth, the overall rundown of the book is based off the British view of the the American Revolution and how they viewed the colonist from a retrospect in the events happening. To begin with, King George the III had been placing taxes on the colonist, which made them furious over their relationship with him. The loyalist saw these “acts” as a part of

their British oppressors. Furthermore, it made sense for colonists to be armed because the colonial