when was the first armed conflict of the revolutionary war

His target was the town of Concord, 18 miles northwest of Boston, where a considerable quantity of these arms and supplies were stockpiled. At last, following the advice he received from his superiors in England, Gage decided to send a force of around 700 soldiers on a secret expedition into the countryside to seize and destroy arms and supplies and disrupt the colonists' warlike preparations. Isolated in Boston, General Gage was running out of options. Their goal was to raise and equip an army of 15,000 men. They took control of the colony's militia forces, and began stockpiling arms, ammunition and provisions. Towns across Massachusetts chose to send representatives to this essentially illegal body which immediately proceeded to assume political power. In October Patriot leaders called for a Provincial Congress in Massachusetts. The previous summer British warships closed Boston Harbor, Royal Governor, General Thomas Gage, tasked with implementing the wildly unpopular Massachusetts Government Act, also dismissed the elected Massachusetts legislature, the Great and General Court. In the days, weeks, and months leading to April 19, 1775, tensions across the colony of Massachusetts reached a boiling point.

When was the first armed conflict of the revolutionary war