Following the combat at Lexington and Concord, the British found themselves facing a colonial resistance that was unanticipated. Up until 1775, much of the talk in the American colonies about revolution or rebellion was viewed in Britain as merely angry talk from dissident colonists across the Atlantic. Following Concord, however, the British realized that the movement was progressively gaining momentum and threatening a violent outcome if not quickly contained. General Thomas Gage commanded a relatively small force of British regulars in Boston and found himself under siege by the colonial militias. Still believing that the rebellion was largely the result of just a handful of traitors and not symbolic of the sentiments in the entire colony, Gage issued his amnesty declaration promising a full pardon for every militiaman who laid down his arms and left the fight. The call went largely unanswered and resulted in Gage having to use military force at the Battle of Bunker Hill five days later, resulting in a pyrrhic victory when the colonists ran out of munitions. By the end of June, the colonists and England had realized that this was no longer a matter of criminal disobedience but, in fact, a militant struggle for independence.