Unsure how to proceed, Concord minutemen and militia observed from high ground as the Regulars searched the town and burned what little provincial supplies they found. The colonists were spurred to action when the fires accidentally spread to buildings.
Still on the defensive, they only fired after receiving a volley of British musket fire at Concord’s North Bridge. After the skirmish, the increasingly outnumbered Regulars retreated to Boston—a bloody 16-mile march through American ambushes now known as “Battle Road.”
