Today is the 250th anniversary of the first shots of the American Revolution at the battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775.

The 250th anniversary celebrations of the War of American Independence (1775-1783) have begun.

Prepare for a long series of historical anniversaries in the midst of the ongoing Culture Wars….

The AP reports: “Tens of thousands of people came to Lexington, Massachusetts, just before dawn on Saturday to witness a reenactment of how the American Revolution began 250 years ago, with the blast of gunshot and a trail of colonial flair.”

Major historical anniversaries have become mass public events including national commemorations, news reports, podcasts, feature films, documentary films, television miniseries, video games, comic books, historical re-enactments, and local commemorations.

These public history celebrations of revolutions, wars, and conflicts are often driven or accompanied by significant shifts in the interpretations of the historical societies involved in those conflicts. Historical commemorations represent major historiographical moments involving new historical research, academic publications, popular history publications, conferences, and public lectures.

The AP indicates that “Starting with Saturday’s anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the country will look back to its war of independence and ask where its legacy stands today. Just after dawn on the Lexington Battle Green, militiamen, muskets in hand, took on a much larger contingent of British regulars. The battle ended with eight Americans killed and 10 wounded — the dead scattered on the grounds as the British marched off.”

“The regulars would head to Concord but not before a horseman, Dr. Samuel Prescott, rode toward the North Bridge and warned communities along the way that the British were coming. A lone horseman reenacted that ride Saturday, followed by a parade through town and a ceremony at the bridge,”according to the AP.

The Newberry Library commemorates the beginning of the American Revolution with a map of the battles of Lexington and Concord printed by Isaac de Costa in 1775.

“250 years ago today, the Battles of Lexington and Concord took place, marking the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War. This map from the Newberry’s collection shows the development of several early battles, compressing in a single image the encounters at Lexington and Concord, the developing siege of Boston, and the Battle of Bunker Hill.”

“In this portion of the map, the action begins at Lexington Green, where three minutemen are shown lying where they were felled by Colonel Smith’s redcoats. A bit further west at Concord, near the ‘bridge where the attack began,’ mapmaker Isaac de Costa depicts a pitched battle between a disciplined force of redcoats and Colonial militia firing from the shelter of ‘Rock.'”

The full citation for the map is:

De Costa, Isaac. A Plan of the Town and Harbour of Boston and the Country adjacent with the Road from Boston to Concord Shewing the place of the late Engagement between the King’s Troops & the Provincials, together with the several Encampments of both Armies in & about Boston. Taken from an Actual Survey…by…J. De Costa. London: J. Hand, 6 December 1775.

The AP emphasizes that the annual re-enactment at Lexington attracts large crowds every year. “The day offers an opportunity to reflect on this seminal moment in history but also consider what this fight means today. Organizers estimated that over 100,000 came out for events in the two towns Saturday.”

“‘It’s truly momentous,’ said Richard Howell, who portrayed Lexington Minute Man Samuel Tidd in the battle.

“‘This is one of the most sacred pieces of ground in the country, if not the world, because of what it represents,’ he said. ‘To represent what went on that day, how a small town of Lexington was a vortex of so much.'”

Italie, Hillel and Michael Casey. “250 Years after America Went to War for Independence, A Divided Nation Battles Over its Legacy.” AP (19 April 2025).

An exhibition on Revolutionary Beginnings: War and Remembrance in the First Year of America’s Fight for Independence is currently on view at the American Revolution Institute in Washington, D.C.

The Newberry Library map has been posted on the Facebook feed of the Newberry Library.

For a few classic and recent studies of the beginning of the American Revolution, see:

Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019.

Bunker, Nick. An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

Nash, Gary B. The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783. New York: Norton, 1979.

Shy, John. Toward Lexington: The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1965.

Sweet, John Wood. Bodies Politic: Negotiating Race in the American North, 1730-1830. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.

Wood, Gordon. The American Revolution: A History. New York: Penguin Random House, 1982.