the road, behind stone walls, hillocks, and houses militiamen from village and farm made targets of the bright red coats of the British soldiers. By the time the weary column stumbled into Boston its losses totaled nearly three times those sustained by the colonists.
9. The congress debates on independence
The news of Lexington and Concord flew from one local community to another in the thirteen colonies. Within 20 days, it evoked a common spirit of American patriotism from Maine to Georgia.
While the alarms of Lexington and Concord were still re-sounding, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. Its president was John Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant. Benjamin Franklin, who had returned from London, where, as “agent” for several of the colonies, he had vainly sought conciliation. The Congress had barely organized before it was