Of all the battles of the Revolutionary War, the very first one, Lexington and Concord, is probably the most famous.

It's where we get the idea of the Minuteman, ready for action at a moment's notice.

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, the British are coming, and the shot heard round the world,

the first busket fire they ignited the war of independence.

Despite its renown, it's also ironically the least typical.

First, George Washington was not involved. He had yet to be named the command of the Continental

Army. Second, all the other major battles were fought in a conventional late 18th century

European way, two forces confronting each other at a specific battlefield location.

Third, nobody planned a battle at Lexington and Concord. It's only by looking back that it seems inevitable.

By April 1775, tensions between the British and the Americans had reached a boiling point.

From a colonist's perspective, the British were making their lives intolerable.

A year earlier, to revert its control over the colonies, Parliament had passed the so-called

coercive acts.

Closing Boston Harbor in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, ending self-rule in Massachusetts colony

and forcing Americans to house the King's troops. From London's perspective, the colonials were

flirting with treason. Not only did they refuse to accept the new laws, they violently resisted them.

British General Thomas Gage knew he was sitting on a powder keg.

He ordered his troops not to provoke the locals.

One false move could set the continent ablaze.

So, why were the British and Lexington in the first place?

Gage had information that the rebels were storing arms and conquered

and sent a detachment to confiscate them.

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