THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD
Meantime, the British troops numbering eight hundred men, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, were on their way to Lexington. But before they
had gone far they were made aware, by the ringing of church-bells, the
firing of signal-guns, the beating of drums, and the gleaming of
beacon-fires from the surrounding hilltops, that their secret was out, and
that the minutemen knew what was going on.
[Illustration: Monument on Lexington Common Marking the Line of the
Minutemen.]
Surprised and disturbed by these signs that the colonists were on the
alert, Colonel Smith sent Major Pitcairn ahead with a picked body of
troops, in the hope that they might reach Lexington before the town could
be completely aroused. He also sent back to Boston for more men.
The British commander would have been still more disturbed if he had known
all that was happening, for the alarm-signals were calling to arms
thousands of patriots ready to die for their rights. Hastily wakened from
sleep, men snatched their old muskets from over the door, and bidding a
hurried good-by to wife and children, started for the meeting-places long
before agreed upon.
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