The Battles of Lexington and Concord was fought on April 19, 1775. It began the American Revolutionary War. Trouble had been brewing between the people of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, mostly in Massachusetts. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize colonial arms. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire.