<P> On Brooks Hill (also known as Hardy's Hill) about 1 mile (1.6 km) past Meriam's Corner, nearly 500 militiamen had assembled to the south of the road, awaiting opportunity to fire down upon the British column on the road below . Smith's leading forces charged up the hill to drive them off, but the colonists did not withdraw, inflicting significant casualties on the attackers. Smith withdrew his men from Brooks Hill, and the column continued on to another small bridge into Lincoln, at Brooks Tavern, where more militia companies intensified the attack from the north side of the road . </P> <P> The regulars soon reached a point in the road now referred to as the "Bloody Angle" where the road rises and curves sharply to the left through a lightly - wooded area . At this place, the militia company from Woburn had positioned themselves on the southeast side of the bend in the road in a rocky, lightly - wooded field . Additional militia flowing parallel to the road from the engagement at Meriam's Corner positioned themselves on the northwest side of the road, catching the British in a crossfire, while other militia companies on the road closed from behind to attack . Some 500 yards (460 m) further along, the road took another sharp curve, this time to the right, and again the British column was caught by another large force of militiamen firing from both sides . In passing through these two sharp curves, the British force lost thirty soldiers killed or wounded, and four colonial militia were also killed, including Captain Jonathan Wilson of Bedford, Captain Nathan Wyman of Billerica, Lt. John Bacon of Natick, and Daniel Thompson of Woburn . The British soldiers escaped by breaking into a trot, a pace that the colonials could not maintain through the woods and swampy terrain . Colonial forces on the road itself behind the British were too densely packed and disorganized to mount more than a harassing attack from the rear . </P> <P> As militia forces from other towns continued to arrive, the colonial forces had risen to about 2,000 men . The road now straightened to the east, with cleared fields and orchards along the sides . Lt. Col. Smith sent out flankers again, who succeeded in trapping some militia from behind and inflicting casualties . British casualties were also mounting from these engagements and from persistent long - range fire from the militiamen, and the exhausted British were running out of ammunition . </P> <P> When the British column neared the boundary between Lincoln and Lexington, it encountered another ambush from a hill overlooking the road, set by Captain John Parker's Lexington militiamen, including some of them bandaged up from the encounter in Lexington earlier in the day . At this point, Lt. Col. Smith was wounded in the thigh and knocked from his horse . Major John Pitcairn assumed effective command of the column and sent light infantry companies up the hill to clear the militia forces . </P>

Cause of the battles of lexington and concord