As tensions escalated between Great Britain and the American colonies before the Revolutionary War, the North ministry grew increasingly concerned about the abundance of arms throughout New England, fearing it would precipitate armed conflict. In response, King George III issued a confidential Order in Council on October 19, 1774, prohibiting the export of arms and powder to America. Word of this order spread to operatives within New England's patriot movement, spurring them to act before supplies could be further restricted.
On December 14, 1774, local Patriots led by John Langdon launched an assault on Fort William and Mary, which guarded the entrance to the busy seaport of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The raiders overcame a six-man caretaker detachment stationed at the fort. Following this initial success, patriots led by John Sullivan returned to the fort on December 15, 1774, conducting a second raid. During these two operations, the Patriots seized the garrison's powder supply and numerous cannons.
The seized materials were distributed strategically throughout several towns in the colony for potential use in the anticipated conflict with Great Britain. The cannons captured in the raid proved particularly significant, as they were later employed in the pivotal Battle of Bunker Hill. The capture of Fort William and Mary stands as one of the first overt acts of the American Revolutionary War and represents the only battle to take place within the state of New Hampshire.
European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.
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