Final Straw First Battles

First Continental Congress Sept. 1774 The first Continental Congress was a meeting held in Philadelphia with delegates from the 13 colonies (except Georgia) In attendance were John Adams, George Washington, and Patrick Henry who famously said “I am no longer just a Virginian, but and American.”

Purpose of the Congress These men met to discuss a solution to the Intolerable Acts that the British had imposed It took them two months to come to a consensus They sent to the King a document saying while they were still loyal, they would not trade with Britain until their full colonial rights were restored

Britain’s Response The King of course didn’t like these demands and sent more Redcoats over to the Colonies Thomas Gage was the acting commander of these troops and governor of Massachusetts He told the crown that he needed more troops and supplies but was not given them and told to stop acting like an “old woman”

Thomas Gage

Lexington -April 1775 Gage finally ordered about 700 Redcoats to march to Concord and seize a weapons store there They had to pass through Lexington to get there though The Minute Men were notified by Paul Revere’s Ride They waited at Lexington for hours into the night and when the British didn’t show up most of the men left while others went to the tavern

The Battle The British finally showed up at 4:30 in the morning and the militia men came out to meet them There were only about 77 colonists against the 700 British The militia were just ordered to surrender when a shot rang out “the shot heard around the world” The fighting then commenced 8 of the militia were dead and 9 wounded 1 Redcoat was injured

Concord The British continued on to Concord On their way they, they ransacked homes looking for weapons, angering the minute men When the British finally made it to Concord they were met by many more minute men than they had expected They were pushed back

Back to Boston The Redcoats fled back towards Boston As they fled they were fired on constantly by the militia Still, not great marksmen ~3,500 militia men were firing constantly for 18 miles and only 250 redcoats were killed