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Battles of Lexington and Concord

Explore the site of the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord at Minute Man National Historical Park! Go in-person or through the Google Expeditions virtual reality app! Explore how, where, and why the Revolutionary War started back in 1775.

Click here to go to Minute Man National Historical Park’s website

You can download the free Google Expeditions app for Android or Apple devices ! Google Expeditions/Which Destinations to view:

  • The American Revolution Begins > All Destinations

Instructions for downloading/using the Google Expeditions App

  1. Open the app store
  2. Search for “Google Expeditions”
  3. Select the app titled “Expeditions” with the orange icon
  4. After the app finishes downloading, open the app and log into a google account
  5. Go to the “Library” section at the bottom of the app
  6. Search the name of the tour you want to download in the search bar
  7. Tap the tour you want to see, then tap “Download to view or guide”
  8. Press “View” to open the menu for the virtual tour
  9. Scroll to the tour location you want to start at.
  10.  Press the binoculars icon in the top right to start viewing in VR mode
  11. To search for another tour, exit the tour and go back to the “Discover’’ tab at the bottom. 

The British were walking from Boston to Lexington and then Concord. They moved a lot faster as they returned! As you can see on this map, that is a lot of ground to cover in one day.

The National Park Service created this map to show where the British marched (red) and Paul Revere’s ride (blue).

Now you have seen the park, videos about these battles, the current map, and the historical map. Here are some things you to discuss?

  1. Why was “Minute Man” a good description of these soldiers?
  2. When these colonists were not shooting at the British, what jobs do you think they had?

This clip from the excellent John Adams miniseries shows the aftermath of these battles. We highly recommend the John Adams book and the HBO(TM) Miniseries. You can stream it on Amazon Prime, use HBO Go, or rent it on YouTube for $3.99.

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This Liberty Kid’s video is a great explanation for younger viewers, and the next video is from the History Channel and appropriate for older students. This Liberty Kids episode is all about the beginning of the War. Watch to learn more about Lexington and Concord.

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The History Channel produces great documentaries. This one is meant for an hour long viewing and details these important events in American history.

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