After the battle of Lexington where did the British go?

Answer 1

Around 4:30 A.M., Pitcairn neared the Lexington Common. Their guns were already primed and loaded. As the British approached Lexington, their advance guard captured 3 militia scouts that were just outside of the town, waiting to spot the British approach. The fourth militia scout, Thaddeus Brown, escaped capture and rode back into town. He warned Parker that the British were 1/2 mile away. Pitcairn was told that 500 militiamen were in town waiting for his force. He slowed his advance and waited for Smith's force to catch up to his.

Pitcairn ordered his men to surround the disarm the local militia that had gathered, specifically ordering them not to open fire on the militia. At nearly the same time, Parker ordered his militia to disperse, which they began to do. Pitcairn's plan was to not get bogged down, since his orders were to peacefully take possession of the Concord bridges. However, he could not leave the militia unmolested. Meanwhile, Parker was satisfied with the show of presence by the militia, and did not want to become engaged in a skirmish with the British.

At 5:00 A.M., just as the sun was beginning to rise, Pitcairn ordered his men to double their ranks, load their muskets, and sent them into the town at a double quick march. As the first British soldiers reached the community church at the southern end of the Common Green, Pitcairn rode to the front of his troops and ordered the militiamen to lay down their arms and disperse. Parker recognized that his 70 militiamen did not have a chance against the powerful British force and passed the word for his men to disperse. Parker told his men not to disarm but to just disperse. An unknown soldier accidently fired a shot. This was the infamous "Shot heard 'round the World." It was not known if it was the British or the militia that fired the shot.

The British soldiers immediately formed up in ranks fired on the militia, who were at a range of about 40 yards. Pitcairn moved among his soldiers, trying to regain order and telling his men to cease firing. The militia returned fire while they began to scatter for cover. Within a matter of minutes, the British troops made a bayonet charge and swept the militia from the Common Green. The British had broken ranks and were about to start breaking into houses when Smith arrived. Pitcairn and Smith soon got their troops under control and re-established order. They reformed their men into columns, fired a traditional victory volley, and headed on towards Concord.

Pitcairn's horse was hit in two places. The regulars charged forward with bayonets. Captain Parker witnessed his cousin Jonas run through. Eight Massachusetts men were killed and ten were wounded against only one British soldier of the 10th Foot wounded (his name was Johnson, according to Ensign Jeremy Lister of that regt., present at this incident.) The eight British colonists killed, the first to die in the Revolutionary War, were John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, Jonathon Harrington, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzey, Asahel Porter, and Jonas Parker. Jonathon Harrington, fatally wounded by a British musket ball, managed to crawl back to his home, and he died upon his doorstep. One wounded man, Prince Estabrook, was a black slave who served in the town's militia.

The light infantry companies under Pitcairn at the common got beyond their officers' control. They were firing in different directions and preparing to enter private homes. Upon hearing the sounds of muskets, Colonel Smith rode forward from the grenadier column. He quickly found a drummer and ordered him to beat assembly. The grenadiers arrived shortly thereafter, and, once they were rounded up, the light infantry were then permitted to fire a victory volley, after which the column was reformed and marched towards Concord.

Answer 2

After Lexington the British pushed on to Concord. There they encountered a growing number of militia minute companies as word spread through the area that the British were marching and there had been blood shed at Lexington. There was some fighting at Concord, but the British were not driven away. They did decide it would be best to get back to Boston as quickly as possible, so they turned around and went back through Lexington and on to Boston. At Lexington on the way back they met reinforcements sent out from Boston to aid them. All the way back the British were shot at by Americans, both militia and minutemen and local citizens not part of either. More Americans flocked to the scene by the minute. They would fire at the marching British column from behind stone walls bordering the farm fields by the road, then run ahead and repeat the process. If anybody shot from a house by the road the British entered the house and killed everyone inside. It was over fifteen miles back to Boston and it was a long, bloody and agonizing trip for the British troops.

Answer 3

The British army then marched toward Concord, but were met there with superior numbers of Patriot forces and were forced to retreat back to Boston.