Washington concluded there was no way for Americans to expand into the West without addressing the arrogant abuses of governmental authority coming from the East. [7][11] In June 1775, when the Continental Congress asked him to command a rebel army, the Continental Army, he readily agreed. [6] Washington was charged with forming these poorly trained and unskilled companies into an army and directing the siege of Boston, the first war. On the evening of March 4, 1776, he directed his men to take the cannon from Fort Ticonderoga up Dorchester Heights and ordered his troops in Cambridge to fire on the British. Howe sent troops up Dorchester Heights to dislodge the guns, but a snowstorm prevented it. Fearing a brutal bombardment, he decided to leave Boston. On March 17, 1776, known afterward as "Evacuation Day," ending with our first victory of the war.