The Road to Revolution

After the meeting of the First Continental Congress, colonists from many eastern New England cities stepped up military preparations. Minutemen stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. British General Thomal Gage fond out and in spring 1775 he ordered troops march from Boston to Concorde, Massachussets, to seize illegal weapons. But the colonists were watching and on the nigbt of April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere, William Davies and Samuel Prescott spread word that the british headed for Concorde. So they rand bells and shot their guns as prearanged signals that were sent from town to town.
When the British arrived in Lexington, a small town near Concorde, 70 minutemen were waiting for them. In this first fight of the Revolutionary war, 18 minutemen were killed, 10 injured but only one redcoat was wounded. This battle lasted for 15 minutes.
When the British arrived in Concorde, all they found was an empty arsenal. They wanted to march mack to Boston, but three- to fourthousand minutemen had gathered in Concorde by then and attacked them. The remaining British troops went back to Boston that night. Colonists were now "officially" the enemies of Britain and held Boston and its encampment of British troops under siege.
In may 1775, the Second Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia. It was an endless debate. Some delegates called for indepe´ndence, other argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. The Congress agreed in the end to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its leader.
On June 17, 1775, Thomas Gage sent 2400 British soldiers up on Breed's Hill near Bunker Hill. The British attacked the colonials, who held their fire until the lasst moment, and in the end suffered over 1000 men. The colonials only lost 450 men. In spite of its wrong name, this battle was considered the most deadliest.
By July, the SCC was ready for war, but still hoped for peace, blaming only the ministers, not King George III. On July 8th, congress sent the so-called Olive Branch Petition to the king. But the king rejected it and declared war.