On the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk) they may have made a slight mistake. In the On This Day under History they state: “1775: The American War of Independence begins with Battles of Lexington and Concord. The British won both.”

Did they win both? I seem to remember that the British while dispersed the rebels, they were unable to complete their tasks and ran in to a fair bit of trouble on their walk back to Boston.

What are the thoughts of my fellow anoraks?

First of all, I think it was more like a series of running skirmishes, not two discrete battles. I suppose that at both Lexington and Concord proper, the militia was dispersed. But that was overshadowed by the defeat they were handed in the strategic sense, having failed to secure the weapons, and suffering casualties in their retreat back to Boston.