The Revolutionary War was bound to happen. The Americans and the British anticipated it. For years and years the American colonies were forced to endure an increasingly harsh rule by their mother country. The opposition to that rule had flamed hotter with each passing year, finally reaching such a heat that the colonists were ready to rebel. The colonists' victory in the Revolutionary War can be attributed to three main occurrences. The first is the Battle of Concord which was the first victory for the colonists. The second contributing factor in the colonists' victory is the great military leadership, and the third factor is the British surrendering at Yorktown.
April 19, 1775 some seventy minutemen stood on the village common at Lexington, Massachusetts waiting for the British redcoats to come by on their way to Concord. In the Massachusetts colony the minutemen had spent months storing military supplies at Concord.
Washington DC
American League (owners?), 2/11/14 (LOC)
This painting depicts the forces of British Major ...The minutemen knew that the British commander General Thomas Gage was aware of their supply and would send out troops to destroy it. That day had dawned. Gage's troops came galloping into Lexington and there stood the minutemen led by Captain John Parker. The British outnumbered the minutemen by a great deal and Parker ordered his men to disband. Abruptly afterwards shots rang out, no one knew from which side the shots had fired but the redcoats were ordered to open fire. Eight Americans died, and ten fell wounded. The redcoats rode onto Concord. Waiting at Concord were 400 minutemen, they lay concealed in the woods around town. The British troops entered the town and burned houses and destroyed ammunition they found. The minutemen drew closer and closer to the redcoats at the bridge. The redcoats opened fire. Their first shots fell short. The minutemen spread out and returned fire,