They were a motley host rather than an army.

They had few guns and almost no powder.

Idle waiting since the fight at Lexington made untrained troops restless and anxious to go home.

Nothing holds an army together like real war, and shrewd officers knew that they must give the men some hard task to keep up their fighting spirit.

It was rumored that Gage was preparing an aggressive movement from Boston, which might mean pillage and massacre in the surrounding country, and it was decided to draw in closer to Boston to give Gage a diversion and prove the mettle of the patriot army.