The winter of 1774/5 saw preparations being pushed on both sides.

General Thomas Gage, the British Commander-in-Chief stationed at Boston, had also thrust upon him the civil government of that town.

He had some five thousand British troops in Boston, and several men-of-war in the harbor.
There were no overt acts, but the speed with which, on more than one occasion, large bodies of Colonial farmers assembled and went swinging through the country to rescue some place, which it was falsely reported the British were attacking, showed the nervous tension under which the Americans were living.

As the enthusiasm of the Patriots increased, that of the Loyalists increased also.

Among the latter were many of the rich and aristocratic inhabitants, and, of course, most of the office-holders.