Sometime before 10 p.m., on the night of April 18, 1775, William Dawes left Boston to ride to Lexington and warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that there was a detachment of British soldiers on their way. Around 10, Paul Revere left by a different route to do the same thing. On the way they were joined by a doctor, Samuel Prescott, from Concord. It was Prescott who managed to escape a British patrol and was the only rider who managed to reach Concord, where real resistance was able to organize.

There was enough of a warning given that a small group, less than 100, of militia were ready on the Lexington common when the 700 or so British arrived. Sometime around dawn, probably around 5 a.m., somebody fired a shot. This used to be taught as “the shot heard ‘round the world.â€

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