Split History of the Battles of Lexington and Concord
alerted others As he spread the news other men he encountered jumped on horses and helped get the message to as many colonists as possible The patriots expected that the British were going to raid colonial stores of weapons and supplies several miles up the road in Concord They also believed colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock might be arrested Revere knew he had to warn Adams and Hancock who were staying in Lexington as well as the folks in Concord But with British
patrols guarding the routes out of Boston and the road to Concord Revere knew he wasn't guaranteed to reach either of his destinations Two lanterns in the Old North Church signaled Paul Revere that the British were moving out by sea THE SONS OF LIBERTY The Sons of Liberty was a secret society of American patriots who rallied against British rule whenever they could They organized resistance efforts against taxes they felt were unfair The first Sons of Liberty groups formed in Boston and New York around 1765 to protest the taxes levied through the Stamp Act Their rallying cry was No taxation without representation meaning that the colonists shouldn't be taxed if they weren't allowed to choose who represented them in Britain's Parliament
GROWING UNREST In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War Boston had become the center of growing unrest Colonists there were fed up with the unfair taxes levied by the British They boycotted goods that were taxed and had harsh words for the British troops who were sent to enforce the new taxes On March 5 1770 those harsh words turned violent On that cold New England night a group of angry colonists insulted a British guard and began throwing snowballs at him Other British soldiers joined the
scuffle and began firing their weapons into the crowd Five Americans were killed The event became known as the Boston Massacre Tensions boiled over with the Boston Massacre in March 1770 Two of the five victims were only 17 years old The Boston Massacre only served to raise the level of anger many in Boston felt and it gave them even more reason to protest After night fell on December 16 1773 members of
