700 elite soldiers of His Majesty's Foot march through Lexington to Concord, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775, to seize and destroy military stores stockpiled there by the province's illegally formed Provincial Congress. Eight militiamen are killed at Lexington; more deaths occur at Concord's North Bridge. 75 soldiers are killed by day's end. "Crossing the River" narrates the internal conflicts, hubris, stupidity, viciousness, valor, empathy, and sacrifice of many of the historical day's participants. It investigates simultaneously the cause and consequence aspects of high-risk decision-taking.