Why did General Cage send British troops to Lexington and Concord in 1775?have support detail.

Colonial militias in the Boston area had grown stronger
and more vehemently opposed to the British rule ever since the Intolerable Acts had been
imposed following the Boston Tea Party. General Thomas Gage, the military governor of
Massachusetts and commander of about 3,000 British troops stationed in Boston, received
special orders from William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, the American colonial secretary of
state: Gage was to remove the rebels' stored weapons housed in Concord, and capture
local leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. 

Gage
dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith with a force of about 700 regulars to
proceed to Concord. Gage, however, did not order the arrest of Adams or Hancock and
warned Smith to

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"seize and destroy... all Military stores... But
you will take care that the soldiers do not plunder the inhabitants or hurt private
property." 

Gage hoped to
avoid armed conflict, and he decided against the arrests of Adams and Hancock because it
"might spark an uprising." When the British arrived at Lexington, a tiny force of
militia awaited them under Captain John Parker. Although Parker ordered his men to
disperse, a shot was fired, and the British eventually charged, killing eight
militiamen. The war was on.