| By noon on April 19, 1775, British
troops had reassembled in Concord Center and started the 18 mile
trek back to Boston. When they came to Meriam's Corner, musket
fire erupted. The encounter known as "Battle Road"
had begun. As the British troops returned to Boston, the colonists
fired at them from behind boulders, walls, trees, houses and
barns. Violent clashes ensued at Brooks Hill, Bloody Angle, the
Bluff, and Fiske Hill. By the time the Regulars were within sight
of Lexington Green, they broke into a run. |
Only the arrival of Lord Percy's
relief column of 1000 troops averted catastrophe for the British
army. Even with Percy's help, the road to Boston was treacherous.
The fiercest fighting was in Menotomy (Arlington) where both
Americans and Regulars inflicted considerable harm on one another.
By the time the British troops reached Boston Harbor they had
suffered 273 casualties while the colonists losses totaled 94. |
