Supporting Paragraph On April 19th, 1775, on Lexington Green, early in the morning, gun fire had broken out between the colonists and British soldiers. This specific battle was one of the first leading up to the Revolutionary war. Being one of the battles leading to the Revolution, it is important for historians to know who had fired the first shot, to this day there are speculations, but nobody knows for sure. Many people believe the British fired the first shot, but many people also argue the colonists did. The documents “the Minutemen’s statement” and John Barker’s diary are both different sources from different perspectives therefore people might disagree. After reading John Barker’s diary and the Minutemen’s Statement, it is clear …show more content…
34 minutemen had sworn to this infront of three justices of the peace. This quote shows that 34 people agree and swear that the colonists had not fired until the British did first. The evidence from the testimony are reliable because it had stated they swore to these facts, and in front of officers. In addition to swearing on their words, we also know that this excerpt was a testimony and most likely took place in a courtroom and in front of three Justices of the Peace. The colonists knew consequences of exaggerating the truth, therefore it would be unreasonable to lie about what happened “While our backs were turned on the British Troops, we were fired on by therm, and a number of our men were killed and wounded”. Again, this was written just six days after the battle, and in front of three Justices of the Peace. This quote supports my argument because it shows that the 34 minutemen all agreed that their backs were turned as the British fired on them first. I trust this because if any of the minutemen did not agree with the statements, they would not have taken part in or spoke against the