W. Thomas Smith e-mailed me a bit ago this morning:

Just over an hour ago – 230 years ago, this very
morning –
several British infantry and grenadier companies ran over a
handful of armed and very gutsy colonials who had formed
ranks on the Green in Lexington, Massachusetts.
By now the Brits – under Lt. Col. Francis Smith of the 10th
Lincolnshires and Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines
– would have been advancing on Concord.
They would actually strike there around 9:00 AM.
Before the day was over these rag-rag colonial militiamen
would force the redcoats to retreat back toward Boston…
thus, the famous “shot heard ’round the world” and the
birth-cry of the first FREE American armed force.