At around 4A.M. Wednesday, 19 April 1775, the advance contingent of a two-thousand-man British military force marched into Lexington, fully armed and battle ready, and there confronted seventy-seven American militia men drawn up on the village green. A musket shot was fired, the British attacked, and in the ensuing battle that lasted all day and into the night, several thousand American militia, having rushed from every corner of the countryside, killed seventy-three Redcoats, wounded two hundred more, and chased the remaining eighteen hundred back to Boston and their astonished leader, General Thomas Gage.<BR>Drawing on diaries, letters, official documents and memoirs, William H. Hallahan follows the news of Lexington and Concord as it sweeps across the colonies, setting afire cities and small towns, villages and farms. The author chronicles the reactions of people from all walks of life as word reaches them and provides striking insights on lives both ordinary and mythic - from jubilant rebel leaders like Samuel Adams to suddenly apprehensive Loyalists; from farmers and shopkeepers, statesmen and aristocrats, to traitors, spies, opportunists, street thugs and cowards, as well as Europeans about to embark on a new life in the colonies. The Day the American Revolution Began portrays the foibles and courage of a people suddenly facing the prospect of war against the world's most powerful monarch, and it vividly captures the spirit of the times and the vitality of those who took part in one of the most extraordinary events in history.<BR>The Day the American Revolution Began is also filled with surprising new revelations about Lexington and Concord and its aftermath. For example, scholars have often concluded that "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired accidentally, but Hallahan's research suggests otherwise - that the shot was fired deliberately from behind a stone wall to foment the violence that sparked the war. The identity of the man who was responsible for the shot is another of many subjects this fresh look at the revolution explores.