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Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for April 18, 2025
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
April 18, 2025: The minutemen that fought for the Americans were not trained soldiers like the British. These men living in the colonies were mostly made up of simple farmers and tradesmen who answered the call of duty at the last minute. At Lexington, there were roughly 80 militiamen present, and another 500 were at Concord.
Tensions had been high in Massachusetts for the better part of a decade stemming from the increase in taxes that the British government imposed on the colonies at the end of the Seven Years War (1756-63). At the end of the year in 1773, colonists in Boston protested the British’s attempt to tax imports by dumping British tea into Boston Harbour. The British then passed the Intolerable Acts. These acts closed down Boston’s port, got rid of their colonial assembly, and put the colony under the rule of Major-General Thomas Gage. This led the colonists to begin prepping the militia. Word of this got back to Gage, who sent Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith to Concord.
Once Smith got to Concord, he ordered Major John Pitcairn to move ahead. Both the British and the colonists had been told to not engage, but a shot was fired. Who fired the first shot remains a mystery, but this was certainly the beginning of the war.
In this initial fight at Lexington, eight Americans were killed, and ten more were wounded. One British soldier was injured. As the British began to retreat to Concord, 50 Americans were killed with 39 wounded and five missing. The British saw 73 deaths, 173 wounded, and 26 missing. The outcome of the Battles of Lexington and Concord was the British retreating back to Boston. More importantly, however, was that Americans were beginning to feel confident that they could actually stand up and fight.[1]
Scott Rasmussen is the president of RMG Research, Inc.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
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- April 15, 2025-36% of voters say they are paying more than their fair share in taxes
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- April 11, 2025-11 multistate lawsuits have been filed against the Trump Administration
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