Patriot`s Day and the beginning of the Revolutionary

Patriot’s Day and the beginning of the Revolutionary War
America’s Revolutionary War between the 13 American colonies and the British army began on April
19th, 1775 in Concord, Massachusetts. Here in Massachusetts we celebrate Patriot’s Day with
reenactments of Paul Revere’s ride, the Minutemen’s marches to Lexington and Concord, and the “shot
heard round the world” that began the Revolutionary War.
The British “regulars” were stationed in Boston and their officers began arousing them at 9pm on April
18th, 1775 to begin a secret mission to march to Concord, MA and seize stores of ammunition that were
supposedly stored there. The colonists had heard of the proposed raid and had moved their munitions to
nearby towns weeks before.
By 10pm, the men of the British regimens were at the western end of the Boston Common waiting to be
taken by boat across the Charles River to Cambridge. The Boston Commons that we know today does
not abut water. But in 1775 it did.
This is a map that shows the land area of Boston in 1775 (gray section) and
the present Boston land area due to landfill (white and gray).
The image on the left shows what a map
of Boston looked like in 1775. The two
Xs mark the west end of the Boston
Common (X on the right) and Phipp’s
farm in Cambridge (X higher on the left).
The British troops crossed from “X” to
“X” by boat.
Judging from the map legend that I
haven’t shown here, that distance
between these two points is about 1.5
miles. Evidently it took from 10pm to
midnight on April 18th to make this
crossing by boat.
1. What was the British crossing rate in miles per hour?
The boats the British regulars used to cross the Charles River were naval barges and were packed so
tightly that there was no room for soldiers to sit down. When the British soldiers disembarked at Phipps
Farm in Cambridge, it was into waist-deep water at midnight.
After disembarking at Phipps Farm, the regulars began their 17 miles march to Concord at about 2 am.
They did not carry knapsacks, since they would not be encamped. They carried their food bags,
canteens, muskets, and accoutrements, and marched off in wet, muddy shoes and soggy uniforms.
Imagine what that must have felt like in April in Boston.
Meanwhile, Paul Revere and William Dawes rode by horseback to Lexington to warn John Hancock and
Samuel Adams of the British movements.
2. Horses can gallop at between 10 and 17 miles per hour. What is the range of time that it might
have taken Paul Revere and William Dawes to ride their 13-mile routes? Show your work.
But they stopped often on their rides to say to countrymen “the Regulars are coming out” … not as is
commonly quoted “the British are coming”. There was no calling out in the night, just quietly relating that
the British regulars were on the move.
3. They started riding at 11pm and reached
Lexington at midnight. How much time could
they have spent stopping and announcing the
movement of the British?
The British began their march from Phipps Farm in
Cambridge at around 2 am and headed first towards
Lexington. They arrived at the Lexington Green at
around sunrise, 5 am. Lexington was about 13 miles
from Phipps Farm.
4. What was the approximate rate of the
marching British regulars?
I’ve found no record of the time of day when the British militia finally reached Concord.
5. If the Old North Bridge is about 8 miles from the Lexington Green, how long did it probably take
the exhausted British soldiers to reach Concord?
Happy Patriot’s Day!
Brought to you by YummyMath.com
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord