On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent 900 men to seize munitions stored by the colonial militia at Concord, Massachusetts, and Paul Revere rode to alert the countryside. When the British troops entered Lexington on the morning of April 19th, they found 75 minutemen in formation up on the village common. Shots were exchanged, and the British moved on to Concord, where they once again faced the colonists. By the time the British soldiers began the return march, several thousand militiamen had gathered along the road. A running fight ensued, and the British detachment suffered heavily. With the Battle of Lexington and Concord the shooting war had begun.