Beyond Fireworks: What July 4th Should Remind Us About the Revolution

On this 250th year since the American Revolutionary war began, a look at the hard-won fight for independence—and the books that bring its struggles, strategy, and meaning to life.

It is July 4th, and today Americans will celebrate the birth of the nation with family and friends by parades, speeches, flags, food, drink, and, of course, fireworks. It can get a bit rowdy, and for our non-US subscribers to the Military Reading Room from 99 other countries, please bear with us! Hopefully, in marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, there will also be time for reflection on those brave and resilient people who chose to struggle for independence and self-determination—and gratitude for the freedom they secured for us.

This past April 19th marked 250 years since the start of the American Revolutionary War, begun in the early morning hours on Lexington Green, Massachusetts, where approximately 80 local militia blocked 700 British regulars who marched out of Boston intent on seizing rebel stores of war materiel known to be stored around Lexington and Concord. After 30 minutes, a shot rang out. Though the origin of the first shot remains unknown, the impact is undeniable, and its echo continues to this day. That shot ignited a conflict that had long been simmering. In the hours that followed, thousands more militiamen joined in, and the British forces were also reinforced. By day’s end, 95 colonists and 273 British soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing from combat at Lexington and Concord and along the road back to Boston, some 16 miles away. The war had started; however, the Declaration of Independence would not come for 14 more months, on July 4, 1776.