Tag: Lexington

Who Fired First in the Revolutionary War?

This contemporary American artist’s depiction of the Battle of Lexington asserts that the British fired first.

Since today is the anniversary of the so-called Battle of Lexington (personally, I think it’s a stretch to call it a battle) and the beginning of the Revolutionary War, I’ll take a minute to discuss one of the questions that has caused a lot of “inkshed” in the two and a half centuries since then: who fired the first shot?

The great majority of contemporary American accounts that I’ve read, whether from eyewitnesses or hearsayers, stated that the British fired first, without any provocation from the Americans. This, if true, would mean that the Americans were innocent, and that the king’s troops had started a war by slaughtering civilians. Most of the British accounts, on the other hand, claimed that the Americans fired first, and that the British fired in response. This, if true, would mean that the Americans provoked the whole thing, while the British were justifiably acting in self-defense.

I would probably have more confidence in the eyewitness accounts if more of the people were blaming their own side (“A guy I know named Bill fired his gun without orders, and that started the whole thing…”). But when it seems like most people were (so to speak) voting along party lines, it’s hard to tell which candidate was the real villain.

At the time, the question of who fired first was considered greatly important by both sides, because they wanted to prove the justice of their actions. But does it really matter? Not much. Even if we knew exactly who fired the first shot, where they were standing, what kind of gun they had, and what they had eaten for breakfast, would it make a difference? No (except for trivia games). The situation in Massachusetts in 1775 was such that the war was pretty much bound to start — at least, it seems that way to me — and who pulled the trigger first is pretty insignificant. Neither side was entirely innocent, and it’s not as if that one person, whoever they were, can be held responsible for starting the war. Personally, I don’t think that historians will ever be able to figure out who fired first, yet somehow it seems that we can’t stop wondering about it.

And speaking of historical trivia, here’s some for you: The first shot fired on Lexington Green was not “the shot heard ’round the world.” That phrase refers instead to the shots fired later that day by the Americans at Concord’s North Bridge — where, incidentally, it was the British who fired first.

The same American artist’s depiction of the fighting at the North Bridge in Concord.

“For your better information…”

May 3, 1775

General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in America, and Governor of Massachusetts

“The intelligence you seem to have received, relative to the late excursion of a body of Troops into the Country, is altogether injurious, and contrary to the true state of facts,” wrote British General Thomas Gage to Jonathan Trumbull, the governor of Connecticut. He was answering a letter that Trumbull had sent to him a few days before, talking about the battles of Lexington and Concord, and asking about what the British troops had done — some people said that they had committed “outrages” that “would disgrace even barbarians” — and why Boston was now cut off from the outside world. Gage responded:

The Troops disclaim with indignation the barbarous outrages of which they are accused, so contrary to their known humanity….For your better information, I enclose you a narrative of that affair, taken from gentlemen of indisputable honour and veracity, who were eye-witnesses of all the transactions of that day. The leaders here have taken pains to prevent any account of this affair getting abroad but such as they have thought proper to publish themselves; and to that end the post has been stopped, the mails broke open, and letters taken out; and by these means the most injurious and inflammatory accounts have been spread throughout the Continent, which has served to deceive and inflame the minds of the people….

You ask, why is the Town of Boston now shut up? I can only refer you for an answer to those bodies of armed men who now surround the Town, and prevent all access to it.

I don’t know, off the top of my head, how true it was that, as Gage said, the rebel leaders were basically censoring mail in order to prevent people from hearing the other side of the story. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was truth in it, though; after all, they were now at war, and letters written by the enemy — including those who sided with the British — probably seemed like fair game.

Sources

“Governour Trumbull to General Gage. [Read before Congress, May 19, 1775.] Hartford, April 28, 1775.” American Archives, ed. Peter Force, Series 4, Volume 2, 433-4.

“General Gage to Governour Trumbull. [Read before Congress, May 19, 1775.] Boston, May 3, 1775.” American Archives, ed. Peter Force, Series 4, Volume 2, 482-3.