This Day in American History...

Meredith Jessup | April 19, 2010 9:47 AM

On this day in 1775, British troops departed Boston, Mass., in a march toward nearby Concord to disarm local militias and squelch colonial insurgencies. Just days earlier, patriot Paul Revere famously rode to Concord to alert the colonists to arm themselves and hide supplies. In the early morning hours of April 19, British troops confronted a militia unit on the green in Lexington. Eight colonists were killed and ten wounded.

From Lexington, the British continued their march to Concord, but found the militia had hidden most of their armaments. In a fierce fight, hundreds of colonial militiamen joined the counterattack, forcing the British to make a desperate retreat back to Boston.

“Our all is at stake,” declared a call to arms issued the next day; the British were going “to ravage this devoted country with fire and sword.” Some colonists resisted taking up arms. Others joined the fight to save themselves and their children from lives of “perpetual slavery” under British rule.

The war for America's independence had begun, 235 years ago today.