Lindsey Graham

And through these boycotts, the colonists had hoped to pressure Parliament to hear their demands.

But British officials refused to make concessions.

Instead, each new report of colonial defiance stiffened their resolve to crush the resistance with decisive action.

And in the spring of 1775, the Prime Minister ordered General Gage to arrest two of Boston's most prominent radicals, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, both of whom were in hiding in the small town of Lexington, Massachusetts.

Afterwards, Gage planned to lead a raid on a colonial arsenal in the larger town of Concord.

But before Gage could act, colonial spies got word of his plan.

As British troops mobilized on the night of April 18th, Boston rebels Paul Revere and Samuel Dawes set out to warn the countryside, taking separate routes in case either was captured.

During his 10-mile ride to Lexington, Revere spread the alarm to local militias, declaring, the regulars are coming out.

And just after midnight, both riders reached Adams and Hancock, who nearly escaped capture in Lexington.

Later that night, Revere was seized by a British patrol, but a young doctor he'd met along the road managed to carry the warning on to Concord.

so that when dawn broke on April 19, 1775, 700 British troops marched on Lexington where they found 70 colonial militiamen waiting for them on the village green.

A shot rang out, sparking a brief but deadly skirmish that left eight colonists dead and nine wounded.

Next, the British marched six miles west to Concord, where they were met by a rapidly growing force of militiamen at the town's north bridge.

Roughly 400 of these militiamen forced the British regulars to retreat under heavy fire.

And as the British marched back to Boston, militias lined the road to continue firing on them.

Colonists had won, and the events of the day would forever be remembered as the first shots of the Revolutionary War.

In the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, thousands of colonists prepared to take up arms against Britain in defense of their rights.

In New York, rebels paraded through the streets and raided the city arsenal.

In Charleston, authorities began to fortify the harbor against a possible British siege.

In Virginia, legislative leaders donned homespun garments with the words liberty or death embroidered on their coats in honor of Patrick Henry's powerful call to arms, give me liberty or give me death.