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Previously unknown, a map drawn by Lord Percy, the British commander at Lexington, sheds new light on the perilous retreat to Boston 250 years ago this month.

What began as a civil war within the British Empire continued until it became a wider conflict affecting peoples and countries across Europe and North America.

Overshadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.

This special issue looks at the dramatic and momentous events that occurred 250 years ago this month.

“Now the war has begun and no one knows when it will end,” said one minuteman after the fight.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

Ike's Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr. | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2

By John D. Eisenhower

The author, who once served under General Patton and whose father, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was Patton's commanding officer, shares his memories of "Ol' Blood and Guts."

Gen. George Patton

America: Experiment or Destiny? | June 1977, Vol 70, No 3

By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

We can take pride in our nation, not as we pretend to a commission from God and a sacred destiny, but as we struggle to fulfill our deepest values in an inscrutable world.

american destiny

A Yankee Among The War Lords | October 1970, Vol 21, No 6

By Barbara W. Tuchman

First of the Three Parts from STILWELL THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA 1911-1945

American Heritage Logo

Two Intimate Enemies | September 2000, Vol 70, No 3

By Joseph J. Ellis

When John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.

jefferson adams

On History | February 1964, Vol 15, No 2

By John F. Kennedy

"Americans are united by their history and by a faith in progress, justice, and freedom," writes President Kennedy

jfk

The Day The Civil War Ended | June/July 1978, Vol 29, No 4

By Bruce Catton

At the Gettysburg reunion fifty years after the battle, it was no longer blue and gray. Now it was all gray.

civil war reunion

    Today in History

  • Madison proposes 12 amendments

    Congressman James Madison proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution during a session of Congress. Ten of the twelve amendments were ratified by the states in 1791, better known as the Bill of Rights. 

  • Frank Lloyd Wright born

    American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is born in Richland Center, Wisconsin. Wright, best known for designing Fallingwater and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, led the Prairie School that revised American architecture.

    More »

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