Patriots' Day is an annual event, formalized as a legal holiday or a special observance day in six U.S. states, commemorating the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy, the inaugural battles of the American Revolutionary War. The holiday occurs on the third Monday of April each year, with celebrations including battle reenactments and the Boston Marathon.
Statue of the Lexington Minuteman on the Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts
Patriots' Grave in the Old Burying Ground cemetery, Arlington, Massachusetts
Acton Minutemen and citizens marching from Acton to Concord on Patriots' Day 2012
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies.
The Battle of Lexington depicted in a 1910 portrait by William Barnes Wollen
Thomas Gage
Francis Smith, commander of the military expedition, in a 1763 portrait
A March 24, 1775, resolution, signed by John Hancock, resolves that measures for "putting this colony into a complete state of defense, be still most vigorously pursued by the several towns, as well as individual inhabitants".