FINALLY, the war begins.

On 1775, the dispute between Britain and the colonists took a radical turn. Following the path of General Thomas Gage, who was a British Military Commander, was named Governor of Massachussetts. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other colonial leaders got together in a Provincial Congress, in here they governed Massachussetts without Gage. They also began to stock-pile arms and ammunitions, meaning they were preparing for some intense battles and wars, one of them was the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord consisted of two battles that began on April 19th, 1775. British troops were sent to Concord to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, but both men had already been warned about the British attack. That night of April 19th, Paul Revere went through Concord warning everybody about the British attack, telling them "the British are coming". So when the British came to attack the Minutemen, Americans who were"ready to fight in a minute," were ready and waiting to attack at Lexington. The Americans were holding back when someone fired a shot, and the British troops started to attack the Minutemen. Nobody knows who fired the first shot. The British killed many Minutemen and many more got hurt in this Battle at Lexington. The rest of the Minutemen ran into the woods. After this battle, the British found out that Hancock and Adams had escaped. So the British marched to Concord searching for ammunition. While the British went to look at a near farm for weapons, they encountered a group of Minutemen at the North bridge of Concord. There was a huge fight, and the Minutemen won, making the British retreat. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were battles that are known because they took away many lives. At the end of the battles, the British had lost about 272 soldiers, while the Colonists lost about 94. The Revolutionary War had begun.

A famous poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, called the Battle of Lexington as "the shot heard 'round the world," because this battle gave start to the Revolutionary War.

Second Continental Congress

On May of 1775, once again all the colonies assembled in Philadelphia, and Congress assumed responsiblity for the war. Volunteers from the Middle and Southern colonies marched North to support the Patriots in Boston. Congress chose George Washington as the commander of the New Continental Army. George Washington was idyllic, he had served as a colonial officer in the French and Indian War, he was born in Virginia, the wealthiest and biggest colony at that time, it was convenient for Congress to place a Virginian as the commander. New England urged Virginia's help in order to win the war. In this Second Continental Congress some radical members wanted to declare Independence, but not everyone was ready and well-prepared. Congress still had some hope on declaring peace first, so in July, 1775 they sent an "Olive Branch Petition" to King George, which obviously he "proudly" rejected, and instead sent more troops to Boston.