American Revolution

The American Revolutionary War began in 1775, when Paul Revere's midnight ride alerted the Massachusetts militia that British troops were moving to seize an arms depot in Concord, Massachusetts. The militia held a bridge at nearby Lexington, and the "Shot heard 'round the world" was fired. After this short skirmish, and the subsequent Battle of Lexington, delegates from the Thirteen Colonies met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and drafted a Declaration of Independence on July 4 of the following year. The war concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, granting independence to the colonies.