Colonists Fought a Battle: Textbook AccountsFrom: Ver Stegg, Clarence, L. The story of Our Country, Sacramento, CA: California State Department of Education, 1967From: McGuire, Edna. The Story of American Freedom. NY: MacMillan Co., 1967Farmers and merchants who lived in Lexington and Concord were prepared. During the months before Paul Revere’s ride, they had gathered gunsand ammunition and had practiced marching together as soldiers. They became a militia, a body of men ready to leave their jobs at any time to become part of an army. Members of the Massachusetts militia were called Minutemen because they were always ready to march at a minute’s notice.Awakened by Paul Revere’s warning, the Minutemen dressed hastily and snatched up their guns. Part of the militia gathered to Lexington onthe road to Concord. When the 700 English soldiers arrived at Lexington early on the morning of April 19, they found 38 minutemen blocking their path.The English commander ordered the Americans to lay down their guns and go home. Just as the Minutemen started to fall back, someone fired a shot. To this day we do not know whether it camefrom a British or an American musket. Officers on both sides said that they did not give an order to fire. Perhaps a nervous soldier pulled the trigger of his gun accidentally. It turned out to bethe first shot in the War for Independence.After the first shot, soldiers on both sides began tofire. Eight Americans were killed and nine others Massachusetts people began to store gunpowder and bullets. Men promised tofight on a minute’s notice if they were needed. They were called Minutemen. British soldiers in Boston heard that powder was stored in nearby Concord. Samuel Adams and another leader, John Hancock, were at Lexington. British soldiers were ordered to make Adams andHancock prisoners and to take the powder at Concord.A colonial leader learned the British plans He sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to call the minutemen to arms. Riding through the night, these men spread the news. They also warned Adams and Hancock who thus escaped the British. On April 19, 1775, the British soldiers marched into Lexington. They found the Minutemen waiting there on the village green. Fifty Minutemen stood facing a thousand British soldiers, but they would not lay down their guns. The British fired, and eight Minutemen fell dead.There was a fight at Concord where the British destroyed such powder and bulletsas they could find. When the soldiers started back to Boston, the Minutemenwere wounded. The English soldiers then marched on to Concord, but the colonists had already moved most of the powder and cannons; the British got little for their hard journey. To make matters worse, they were 20 miles from Boston and hundreds of Minutemen were gathering to attack them.followed, firing from behind fences and trees. The British lost three times as many men that day as the colonists. The quarrel had become a war. The fight at Lexington marked the opening of the Revolutionary War.1. How do these two accounts compare to the account that we wrote? Do you think one account is more believable than the other? Why?2. What new information did you learn from the Ver Stegg account?3. What new information did you learn from the McGuire