The escalation toward war began in earnest in late 1773 with the Destruction of the Tea. Yet the autumn of 1774 was the start of the true political American Revolution, when Massachusetts cast away the authority of its Crown-appointed government and replaced it with a democratically elected Provincial Congress. The spring of 1775 was then the blossoming of that revolution during the Battle of the Nineteenth of April into a genuine though uncommitted Revolutionary War. This advent of hostilities and the immediate aftermath in turn gave way, in the summer of 1775, to a very long Siege of Boston, with each side digging in and preparing for battle.
The New England Army of Observation, drawn from the various colonial militias, would continue to entrench in a semicircle around Boston, while rebel leaders like Dr. Joseph Warren, Gen. Artemas Ward, and Brig. Gen. Israel Putnam would work together to determine just how far they were willing to press the new war militarily. Away in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress with representatives from all of the thirteen colonies would likewise debate the measures they would take to press the new war politically. But none would yet press for independence.
The colonies sought only self-determination while remaining under the auspices of the British Empire. Indeed, many Americans yet believed—or hoped—that a peaceful conclusion to the great debate was still attainable, and that their beloved and benevolent King had only been deceived by a treacherous and wicked Ministry and the majority Tories in Parliament—the true enemies of America.
Just as the Americans would entrench around Boston, so too would the British entrench in the town itself, led by Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage and supported by Vice Adm. Samuel Graves and his warships in the harbor. Though the redcoats would receive many fresh reinforcements in the coming months, they would remain greatly outnumbered by the Americans besieging Boston. General Gage’s primary strategy would therefore be to strengthen the British defensive positions to deflect any potential American assault while he petitioned the home government for still more troops.
In contrast, the American leaders knew that although they had many more soldiers than the redcoats, they lacked the necessary artillery and gunpowder to force the British from Boston. With Gage’s army protected by the many guns of the Royal Navy warships and the newly entrenched field pieces of the Royal Artillery, an American assault with essentially only infantry soldiers was doomed to failure.
To avoid a stalemate, Dr. Warren and the other Americans leaders looked to the west, with its ample supply of heavy artillery at Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point. But the rebel leaders also looked to the north, where another British force loomed in Canada—one that could swoop in and eliminate all that the Americans had gained. And General Gage looked to his spies. Once aware of the Yankee plans, he would soon prepare an audacious stroke to break the Siege of Boston and cut off the head of the American Rebellion. All now hinged on the next decisions of Dr. Joseph Warren and Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage. Those decisions would determine the fate of America—and would forever alter its history.