Often co
nfused with Patriot Day on September 11, Patriots Day is mostly celebrated in Massachusetts. On April 18. 1775 General Gage ordered 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists’ weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes left Boston to warn colonists. Before being captured by a British patrol, Revere reaches Lexington about midnight and warns Sam Adams and John Hancock.
The next day, Dr. Samuel Prescott reaches Concord with a message that the British are coming, which allows the militia to remove or destroy supplies and prepare to fight. An unordered “shot heard around the world” begins the American Revolution. British forces retreat from Lexington back to Boston and are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels. News of the events at Lexington and Concord spreads like wildfire throughout the colonies.
Post-rider Israel Bissel begins his ride through the colonies to deliver the news of Lexington.
Patriots Day celebrates these actions and the Battles of Lexington and Concord which kicked off the colonists’ fight for independence from Great Britain. Just two months after Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion, the brave residents of the colony took up arms and went to battle for independence—eventually leading to the creation of the United States of America.