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Battle of Menotomy
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date April 19, 1775; 249 years ago (1775-04-19) Location Menotomy, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Result American victory
Belligerents
Massachusetts Bay	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
William Heath Gideon Foster	Hugh Percy
Strength
5,100
Casualties and losses
25 killed	40 killed

The Battle of Menotomy was an action on April 19, 1775 (the day of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, popularly regarded as the opening day of the American Revolutionary War), in what is now Arlington, Massachusetts. 5,100 men from eastern Middlesex County and southern Essex County gathered in Menotomy to meet the retreating British troops on their way to Boston from Concord. 25 rebels and 40 British troops were killed in this battle. It was here in Menotomy that the first British soldiers were captured.

Prelude

The village of Menotomy (today's Arlington, Massachusetts) lay on the busy Concord Road (now Massachusetts Avenue) between Boston and Lexington. On April 18 the Revolutionary body, the Committee of Safety, met there at the Black Horse tavern, in arms over oppressive British policies. At 3 a.m., the following day the British troops marched through town en route to Concord to destroy the military stores collected there, rousing the Committee from its sleep.

The Battle

While the fighting was going on in Lexington and Concord, 5,100 militia men from thirteen towns arrived in Menotomy from Middlesex and Essex Counties. These men took up positions in and around houses, stone walls, fields and barns along the road the British troops would take on their retreat to Boston. The British column stretched for an entire mile.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Ultimately, the bloodiest fighting of the first day of the American Revolution took place inside a single house as the British cleared a path for their retreat.

Of the 25 militia men killed in Menotomy, 11 died in the the Jason Russell House. During the fighting in Menotomy, 40 British soldiers were killed.

References

1. Thomas Fleming (March 6, 2019). "Battle of Menotomy — First Blood, 1775". HistoryNet. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
2. ""The Battle of Menotomy"". Arlington Historical Society. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
3. ^ ""Menotomy Minutemen Trail Guide"" (PDF). Retrieved April 14, 2019.
4. "The Battle of Menotomy", Arlington Historical Society
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference hnet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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