On April 18, 1775, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord. Fighting broke out, forcing the regulars to conduct a fighting withdrawal to Boston. Overnight, the local militia converged on and laid siege to Boston. On March 25, 4,500 British reinforcements arrived with three senior generals; William Howe, John Burgoyne and Henry Clinton. On June 17, the British seized the Charlestown peninsular after a costly frontal assault, leading Howe to replace Gage. Many senior officers were dismayed at the attack which had gained them little, while Gage wrote to London stressing the need for a large army to suppress the revolt. On July 3, George Washington took command of the Continental Army besieging Boston. Howe made no effort to attack, much to Washington 's surprise. After a plan to assault the city was rejected, in early March 1776, the Americans fortified Dorchester Heights with heavy artillery captured from a raid on Fort Ticonderoga. On March 17, the British were permitted to withdraw unmolested, sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington then moved his army to New York.
where did fighting first occur between the british and the american colonists
Concord