Siege of Boston - Background

Background

Prior to 1775, the British had imposed taxes and import duties on the American colonies, to which the colonists objected, since they lacked representation in the British Parliament. In response to the Boston Tea Party and other acts of protest, 4,000 British troops under the leadership of General Thomas Gage were sent to occupy the city of Boston and to pacify the restive Province of Massachusetts Bay. Gage, among other actions authorized by Parliament in the so-called Intolerable Acts, disbanded the local provincial government (led by John Hancock and Samuel Adams), which reformed itself into a Provincial Congress, and continued to meet. The Provincial Congress called for the organization of local militias and coordinated the accumulation of weapons and other military supplies. Under the terms of the Boston Port Act, Gage closed the Boston port, which caused much unemployment and discontent.

When British forces were sent to seize military supplies from the town of Concord on April 19, 1775, militia companies from surrounding towns opposed them in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. At Concord, some of the British forces were routed in a confrontation at the North Bridge. The British troops were then engaged in a running battle on their march back to Boston, suffering heavy casualties. All of the New England colonies (and later colonies further south) raised militias in response to this alarm, and sent them to Boston.