“they’ve planned in order to finish us off, preferably without a fight.”
You’re right.
We were ***this close*** to finding ourselves bereft of the arms, ammo and gunpowder needed to mount a decent (if halting and incomplete) self-defense against a certain cadre of lobsterbacks on April 19, 1775.
Fortunately for us, certain foresighted patriots saw to it that those same lobsterbacks scurried back to Boston by the end of the day, not only empty-handed, but also, bleeding from both nostrils.