Battles of Lexington and Concord

The North Bridge over the Concord River in Minute Man National Historical Park, Massachusetts. On April 19, 1775, colonial militia exchanged fire with British regulars here, and the first militiamen killed in Concord fell near this spot on the opening day of the American Revolution. The wooden bridge you walk today is a reconstruction, but the quiet river, meadows and trees keep the scale of the fight: two small bodies of men facing each other across a narrow crossing. Daniel Chester French's Minute Man statue, unveiled for the battle's centennial in 1875, stands nearby.