"Lexington and Concord: What was the British plan?" Topic

We just moved and my books are all boxed up awaiting to have bookshelves built. Been working on a L & C scenario. I have a question regarding the British mission.

What did the British have in mind when they set off to Lexington and Concord? I know they were to do something about Militia muskets, gun powder and I guess cannons.

It would seem to me that if the regulars were going to confiscate weapons and gunpowder, they would need wagons to bring them back. Yet I have not read or heard that they had wagons with them.

Were they going to somehow destroy it all or guard it until wagons showed up? Were they going to press in service some farmers wagons? Considering the nightmare march back to Boston, if they had wagons they would have been abandoned somewhere along the way.

They weren't going to "confiscate" but to destroy--break musket stocks, dump powder and shot into streams and knock trunnions off cannon barrels. That's what they did with supplies not relocated in time. But I think calling it a plan gives them too much credit.

Probably more of a mission than a plan, but the British still had to get the troops embarked and landed and they also mounted a 'rescue' mission when they got into trouble.

That indicates that there was a basic plan for the raid and the only problem the British encountered was the level of resistance from the Americans which they had not planned on at all.

In The Boston Campaign Victor Brooks it describes the Marines at Ephraim Jones' Tavern digging up and spiking three 24-pounder cannon in the back yard of the tavern. There does not appear to be a plan to remove only destroy military supplies. The burning of the supplies appear to have provoked the assembling militia to respond as it appeared the town was being burned down. Sparks from the fire did set the Meeting House on fire so it was a significant bonfire.

March in, scare the locals into submission, destroy some stuff and leave.

I believe they were to arrest Hancock and the Adamses.

It wasn't the first such expedition either.
One such, on September 1 1774, was called the Powder Alarm. The intent was to remove the King's powder from a magazine near Charlestown. Towns in the Colony had already removed their powder.
Gage sent the 4th Regiment, approx 240 men, to secure the powder and bring it back to Boston. A separate force seized two field pieces in Cambridge.
Naturally there were rumors of bloodshed, and the War nearly broke out then.

One expedition ended in farce, where the Lobsters were barred from crossing a raised drawbridge. Negotiations allowed them to make a symbolic March across the bridge, and then go back.

And there was the "Powder Magazine Incident" the next day in Virginia. It seems almost inevitable that such things would sooner or later end in serious bloodshed, but no one on the British side seems to actually be planning for a war. I think it should be a general rule that if you don't have a plan to fight and win a war, you should be careful about doing things which might start one.

Not that Britain in 1775 is unique in this regard.

I think "plan" be a little generous

I was just told last night that there was a similar raid done in 1774 in Salem, conducted by the 64th Regt. Of course Smith's Rangers famously attacked the garrison at Fort Loudoun (PA) in 1765, and the HMS Gaspee was attacked and destroyed in 1772. Lots of violence before 1775 rolled around.

The plan, as detailed by those above, was search, destroy, and arrest. The fact that for once, the rebels had better intelligence, was the key to thwarting the Crown efforts. Lord Percy only discovered it was blown when coming across a group of people talking about it at night, thus leading to his relief column the next day to rescue Lt Col. Smith and Major Pitcairn.

In hindsight, the plan had no chance of success, though I believe some musket balls and other such things were destroyed along the way. It's not a bad game to play, though you'd better have lots of militia.

Having participated in the 225th re-enactment back in 2000, I can tell you it was a long day, even for us – and most of us didn't march out of Boston the night before (some did). I can't imagine how the real soldiers felt at the end of the day, other than thankful Percy came out to save them.

Is it correct to say these muskets and supplies were the property of the Crown? Paid for by the Crown and distributed throughout the colonies for self defense and to augment the regulars when at war?

So if there are quantities of gunpowder in barrels, they would light a match and run? Solves the problem of destroying the muskets. Two birds with one stone.

The plan was much like the plan of Nixon and Kissinger. "To show resolve!"