Thomas Gage Thomas Gage ( 1719 or 1720 – 2 April 1787 ) was a British general , best known for his many years of service in North America , including his role as military commander in the early days of the American Revolution . Born to an aristocratic family in England , he entered military service , seeing action in the French and Indian War , where he served alongside future opponent George Washington in the 1755 Battle of the Monongahela . After the fall of Montreal in 1760 , he was named its military governor . During this time he did not distinguish himself militarily , but proved himself to be a competent administrator . From 1763 to 1775 he served as commander - in - chief of the British forces in North America , overseeing the British response to the 1763 Pontiac ' s Rebellion . In 1774 he was also appointed the military governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay , with instructions to implement the Intolerable Acts , punishing Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party . His attempts to seize military stores of Patriot militias in April 1775 sparked the Battles of Lexington and Concord , beginning the American War of Independence . After the Pyrrhic victory in the June Battle of Bunker Hill he was replaced by General William Howe in October 1775 , and returned to Britain . Early life . Thomas Gage was born in England , possibly at Firle Place , Firle , East Sussex , where the Gage family had been seated since the 15th century . His father , Thomas Gage , 1st Viscount Gage , was a noted nobleman given titles in Ireland . Thomas Gage ( the elder ) had three children , of whom Thomas was the second . In 1728 , Gage began attending the prestigious Westminster School where he met such figures as John Burgoyne , Richard Howe , Francis Bernard , and George Germain . Despite the family ' s long history of Catholicism , Viscount Gage had adopted the Anglican Church in 1715 . During his schoolyears Thomas the younger became firmly attached to the latter church ; he eventually developed a dislike for the Roman Catholic Church that became evident in later years . After graduating from Westminster in 1736 there is no record of Gage ' s activities until he joined the British Army , eventually receiving a commission as ensign . His early duties consisted of recruiting in Yorkshire . In January 1741 he purchased a lieutenant ' s commission in the 1st Northampton Regiment , where he stayed until May 1742 , when he transferred to Battereau ' s Regiment with the rank of captain - lieutenant . Gage received promotion to captain in 1743 , and saw action in the War of the Austrian Succession with British forces in Flanders , where he served as aide - de - camp to the Earl of Albemarle in the Battle of Fontenoy . He saw further service in the Second Jacobite Uprising , which culminated in the 1746 Battle of Culloden . From 1747 to 1748 , Gage saw action under Albemarle in the Low Countries . In 1748 he purchased a major ' s commission and transferred to the 55th Foot Regiment ( which was later renumbered to the 44th ) . The regiment was stationed in Ireland from 1748 to 1755 ; Gage was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1751 . During his early service years , he spent leisure time at White ' s Club , where he was a member , and occasionally travelled , going at least as far as Paris . He was a popular figure in the army and at the club , even though he neither liked alcohol nor gambled very much . His friendships spanned class and ability . Charles Lee once wrote to Gage , " I respected your understanding , lik ' d your manners and perfectly ador ' d the qualities of your heart . " Gage also made some important political connections , forming relationships with important figures like Lord Barrington , the future Secretary at War , and Jeffery Amherst , a man roughly his age who rose to great heights in the French and Indian War . In 1750 , Gage became engaged to a " lady of rank and fortune , whom he persuaded to yield her hand in an honourable way " . The engagement was eventually broken , leaving Gage broken - hearted . In 1753 , both Gage and his father stood for seats in Parliament . Both lost in the April 1754 election , even though his father had been a Member of Parliament for some years prior . They both contested the results , but his father died soon after , and Gage withdrew his protest in early 1755 , as his regiment was being sent to America following the outbreak of the French and Indian War . French and Indian War . In 1755 Gage ' s regiment was sent to North America as part of General Braddock ' s expeditionary force , whose objective was the expulsion of French forces from the Ohio Country , territory disputed between French and British colonies where there had been military clashes in 1754 . On this expedition Gage ' s regiment was in the vanguard of the troops when they came upon a company of French and Indians who were trying to set up an ambush . This skirmish began the Battle of the Monongahela , in which Braddock was mortally wounded , and George Washington distinguished himself for his courage under fire and his leadership in organising the retreat . The commander of the 44th , Colonel Sir Peter Halkett , was one of many officers killed in the battle and Gage , who temporarily took command of the regiment , was slightly wounded . The regiment was decimated , and Captain Robert Orme ( General Braddock ' s aide - de - camp ) levelled charges that poor field tactics on the part of Gage had led to the defeat ; as a result of his accusations Gage was denied permanent command of the 44th Regiment . Gage and Washington maintained a somewhat friendly relationship for several years after the expedition , but distance and lack of frequent contact likely cooled the relationship . By 1770 , Washington was publicly condemning Gage ' s actions in asserting British authority in Massachusetts . Creation of the light infantry . In the summer of 1756 Gage served as second - in - command of a failed expedition to resupply Fort Oswego , which fell to the French while the expedition was en route . The following year , he was assigned to Captain - General John Campbell Loudoun in Halifax , Nova Scotia , where a planned expedition against Louisbourg turned back when confronted by a larger French fleet . In December 1757 , Gage proposed to Loudoun the creation of a regiment of light infantry that would be better suited to woodland warfare . Loudoun approved the plan before he was recalled that month , also recommending Gage to the king for promotion to full colonel . Gage spent the winter in New Jersey , recruiting for the newly formed 80th Regiment of Light - Armed Foot , the " first definitely light - armed regiment in the British army . " While it is uncertain exactly when he met the Kembles , his choice of the Brunswick area may well have been motivated by his interest in Margaret Kemble , a well - known beauty of the area , and the granddaughter of New York Mayor Stephanus Van Cortlandt . Recruiting and courtship were both successful . By February 1758 Gage was in Albany , preparing for that year ' s campaign , and he and Margaret were married on 8 December of that year . The campaign for which Gage went to Albany culminated in the disastrous Battle of Carillon , in which 16 , 000 British forces were defeated by barely 4 , 000 French forces . Gage , whose regiment was in the British vanguard , was again wounded in that battle , in which the British suffered more than 2 , 000 casualties . Gage , who had been brevetted a brigadier general for the 1758 campaign , received in 1759 a full promotion to the position , largely through the political manoeuvring of his brother , Lord Gage . Failure to act against La Galette . The new general was placed in command of the Albany post , serving under Major General Jeffery Amherst . In 1759 , shortly after capturing Ticonderoga without a fight , General Amherst learned of the death of General John Prideaux whose expedition had captured Fort Niagara . Amherst then ordered Gage to take Prideaux ' s place , and to take Fort de La Présentation ( also known as Fort La Galette ) at the mouth of the Oswegatchie River on Lake Ontario . When Amherst learned that the French had also abandoned Fort St . Frédéric , he sent a messenger after Gage with more explicit instructions to capture La Galette and then , if at all possible , to advance on Montreal . When Gage arrived at Oswego , which had been captured in July by troops under Frederick Haldimand ' s command , he surveyed the situation , and decided that it was not prudent to move against La Galette . Expected reinforcements from Fort Duquesne had not arrived , the French military strength at La Galette was unknown , and its strength near Montreal was believed to be relatively high . Gage , believing an attack on La Galette would not gain any significant advantage , decided against action , and sent Amherst a message outlining his reasons . Although Amherst was incensed at Gage ' s failure , and there was no immediate censure from either Amherst or the war ministry , Gage ' s troops were in the rear of Amherst ' s army in the 1760 expedition that resulted in Montreal ' s surrender . Early governorship . After the French surrender , Amherst named Gage the military governor of Montreal , a task Gage found somewhat thankless , because it involved the minute details of municipal governance along with the administration of the military occupation . He was also forced to deal with civil litigation , and manage trade with the Indians in the Great Lakes region , where traders disputed territorial claims , and quarrelled with the Indians . Margaret came to stay with him in Montreal and that is where his first two children , Harry , the future 3rd Viscount Gage , and Maria Theresa , were born . In 1761 , he was promoted to major general , and in 1762 , again with the assistance of his brother , was placed in command of the 22nd Regiment , which assured a command even in peacetime . By all accounts , Gage appeared to be a fair administrator , respecting people ' s lives and property , although he had a healthy distrust of the landowning seigneurs and of the Roman Catholic clergy , who he viewed as intriguers for the French . When peace was announced following the 1763 Treaty of Paris , Gage began lobbying for another posting , as he was " very much [ tired ] of this cursed Climate , and I must be bribed very high to stay here any longer " . In October 1763 the good news arrived that he would act as commander - in - chief of North America while Amherst was on leave in England . He immediately left Montreal , and took over Amherst ' s command in New York on 17 November 1763 . When he did so , he inherited the job of dealing with the Indian uprising known as Pontiac ' s Rebellion . Pontiac ' s Rebellion . Following the conquest of New France , Amherst , who had little respect for Indians , instituted policies that severely hampered British - Indian relations , principally forbidding the sale of ammunition to them . Combined with widespread concern about British expansion into their territories , this prompted the tribes of the Ohio Country and the formerly French " Pays d ' en Haut " to rise against the British . In May 1763 , under the leadership of the Ottawa leader Pontiac , they launched a series of attacks on lightly garrisoned British frontier forts , successfully driving the British from some , threatening others , and also terrorising the settlers in those areas . Hoping to end the conflict diplomatically , Gage ordered Colonel John Bradstreet and Colonel Henry Bouquet out on military expeditions and also ordered Sir William Johnson to engage in peace negotiations . Johnson negotiated the Treaty of Fort Niagara in the summer of 1764 with some of the disaffected tribes , and Colonel Bouquet negotiated a cease - fire of sorts in October 1764 , which resulted in another peace treaty finalised by Johnson in 1765 . In 1765 , the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment finally got through to Fort Cavendish , the last fort still in French hands . The conflict was not fully resolved until Pontiac himself travelled to Fort Ontario and signed a formal treaty with Johnson in July 1766 . Securing his position . When General Amherst left North America in 1763 , it was on a leave of absence from his position as commander - in - chief . In 1764 , Amherst announced that he had no intention of returning to North America , at which point Gage ' s appointment to that post was made permanent . ( Amherst retained posts as governor of Virginia and colonel of the 60th Foot , positions he only gave up in 1768 when he was required to actually go to Virginia or give up the post . ) Intrigues of other high - ranking officers , especially Robert Monckton and his supporters , for his offices , continued throughout his tenure as commander - in - chief . Gage was promoted to lieutenant general in 1771 . In 1767 Gage ordered the arrest of Major Robert Rogers , the former leader of Rogers ' Rangers who Gage had come to dislike and distrust during the war . The arrest was based on flimsy evidence that Rogers might have been engaging in a treasonous relationship with the French ; he was acquitted in a 1768 court martial . Gage spent most of his time as commander - in - chief , the most powerful office in British America , in and around New York City . Although Gage was burdened by the administrative demands of managing a territory that spanned the entirety of North America east of the Mississippi River , the Gages clearly relished life in New York , actively participating in the social scene . Although his position gave him the opportunity to make financial arrangements that might have lined the pockets of high - ranking officers at the expense of the military purse , there is little evidence that he engaged in any significant improper transactions . In addition to the handsome sum of £10 per day as commander - in - chief , he received a variety of other stipends , including his colonel ' s salary , given for leading his regiment . These funds made it possible to send all of the Gage children ( at least six of whom survived to adulthood ) to school in England . If Gage did not dip his hand unnecessarily in the public till , he did engage in the relatively common practices of nepotism and political favouritism . In addition to securing advantageous positions for several people named Gage or Kemble , he also apparently assisted in the placement of some of his friends and political supporters , or their children . Rising colonial tension . During Gage ' s administration political tensions rose throughout the American colonies . As a result , Gage began withdrawing troops from the frontier to fortify urban centres like New York City and Boston . As the number of soldiers stationed in cities grew , the need to provide adequate food and housing for these troops became urgent . Parliament passed the Quartering Act of 1765 , permitting British troops to be quartered in private residences . Gage ' s thoughts on the reasons for colonial unrest played an important role in furthering the unrest . He at first believed that the popular unrest after the 1765 Stamp Act was primarily due to a small number of colonial elites , led by those in Boston . In 1768 he recommended the deployment of two regiments to occupy Boston , a move that further inflamed the city . Among the troops quartered in the city was the 29th Regiment of Foot , which had previously clashed with colonists in Quebec and New York , and had a reputation for poor discipline . This occupation eventually led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 . Later that year he wrote that " America is a mere bully , from one end to the other , and the Bostonians by far the greatest bullies . " Gage later came to change his opinion about the source of the unrest , believing that democracy was a significant threat . He saw the movement of colonists into the interior , beyond effective Crown control , and the development of the town meeting as a means of local governance as major elements of the threat , and wrote in 1772 that " democracy is too prevalent in America " . He believed that town meetings should be abolished and recommended that colonisation should be limited to the coastal areas where British rule could be enforced . Governor of Massachusetts . Gage returned to England in June 1773 with his family and thus missed the Boston Tea Party in December of that year . The British Parliament passed a series of measures known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts as a way to punish the colonies , and specifically the Province of Massachusetts Bay , for this and other acts of protest against British colonial policy . Some of the terms of those acts , for example the option to remove political trials to England , originated with Gage , and measures curbing the activities of town meetings and extending Crown governance into the Ohio Country also show his influence . With his military experience and relative youth ( Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson was then 62 years old and unpopular , and the equally unpopular lieutenant governor ( Andrew Oliver ) , a hated Tory , was 67 in 1773 and died in March 1774 ) , Gage , a popular figure on both sides of the Atlantic , was deemed the best man to handle the brewing crisis and enforce the Parliamentary acts . In early 1774 , he was appointed military Royal governor of Massachusetts , replacing Hutchinson . He arrived from England in early May , first stopping at Castle William on Castle Island in Boston Harbor . He then arrived in Boston on 13 May 1774 , having been carried there by the " HMS Lively " . His arrival was met with little pomp and circumstance , but was generally well received at first as Bostonians were happy to see Hutchinson go . Feelings about him rapidly deteriorated as he began to implement the various acts , including the Boston Port Act , which put many people out of work , and the Massachusetts Government Act , which formally altered the provincial assembly ' s right to nominate members of the Governor ' s Council , though it retained the elected General Court . Gage dissolved the Assembly in June 1774 after he discovered the Massachusetts representatives were sending delegates to the extralegal Continental Congress . He called for new elections to be held as per the Massachusetts Government Act , but his authority was undermined by the representatives who refused to meet with the new appointed Governor ' s Council . He attempted to buy off political leaders in Massachusetts , notably Benjamin Church and Samuel Adams . With the former he was successful — Church secretly supplied him with intelligence on the activities of rebel leaders — but Adams and other rebel leaders were not moved . In September 1774 Gage withdrew his garrisons from New York , New Jersey , Philadelphia , Halifax and Newfoundland and brought all under his wing in Boston together with a large British naval presence under the control of Admiral Samuel Graves . Gage also sought to strictly enforce army decisions calling for the confiscation of war - making materials . In September 1774 , he ordered a mission to remove provincial gunpowder from a magazine in what is now Somerville , Massachusetts . This action , although successful , caused a huge popular reaction known as the Powder Alarm , resulting in the mobilization of thousands of provincial militiamen who marched towards Cambridge , Massachusetts . Although the militia soon dispersed , the show of force on the part of the provincials had a lasting effect on Gage and he subsequently grew more cautious in his actions . The rapid response of the provincials was in large part due to Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty . The Sons of Liberty kept careful watch over Gage ' s activities and successfully warned others of future actions before Gage could mobilise his British regulars to execute them . Gage was criticised for allowing groups like the Sons of Liberty to exist . One of his officers , Hugh Percy remarked , " The general ' s great lenity and moderation serve only to make them [ the colonists ] more daring and insolent . " Gage himself wrote after the Powder Alarm , " If force is to be used at length , it must be a considerable one , and foreign troops must be hired , for to begin with small numbers will encourage resistance , and not terrify ; and will in the end cost more blood and treasure . " Edmund Burke described Gage ' s conflicted relationship by saying in Parliament , " An Englishman is the unfittest person on Earth to argue another Englishman into slavery . " American War of Independence . In January 1775 , Gage received orders from London to take decisive action against the growing rebellion . Given intelligence that the rebels had been stockpiling weapons at Concord , Massachusetts , he ordered a troop of British regulars to march there on the night of 18 April to confiscate them . A brief skirmish in Lexington scattered colonial militia forces gathered there , but in a later standoff in Concord , a portion of the British force was routed by a stronger colonial militia contingent . When the British left Concord following their search ( which was largely unsuccessful , as the colonists , with advance warning of the action , had removed most of the supplies ) , arriving colonial militia engaged the British column in a running battle all the way back to Charlestown . The Battles of Lexington and Concord resulted in 273 total casualties for the British and 93 for the American rebels . Following Lexington and Concord , thousands of colonial militia surrounded the city , beginning the Siege of Boston . At first , the rebels ( led mainly by Massachusetts General Artemas Ward ) faced some 4 , 000 British regulars , who were bottled up in the city . British Admiral Samuel Graves commanded the fleet that continued to control the harbour . On 25 May , 4 , 500 reinforcements arrived in the city , along with three more generals : Major General William Howe and Brigadiers John Burgoyne and Henry Clinton . On 12 June , Gage issued a proclamation , believed to have been authored by Burgoyne but distributed in Gage ' s name , granting a general pardon to all who would demonstrate loyalty to the crown — with the notable exceptions of John Hancock and Samuel Adams . Gage also worked with the newly arrived generals on a plan to break the grip of the besieging forces . They would use an amphibious assault to take control of the unoccupied Dorchester Heights , which would be followed up by an attack on the rebel camp at Roxbury . They would then seize the heights on the Charlestown peninsula , including Breed ' s Hill and Bunker Hill . This would allow the British to eventually take the colonial headquarters at Cambridge . The colonists were warned of these plans , and seized the initiative . On the night of 16 – 17 June , they fortified Breed ' s Hill , threatening the British position in Boston . On 17 June 1775 , British forces under General Howe seized the Charlestown peninsula at the Battle of Bunker Hill . The British won the battle , but suffered more than 1 , 000 casualties without significantly altering the state of the siege . Henry Clinton called it " [ a ] dear bought victory , another such would have ruined us " , while other officers noted that nothing had been gained in the victory . Return to Britain . On 25 June 1775 , Thomas Gage wrote a dispatch to Britain , notifying Lord Dartmouth of the results of the battle on 17 June . Three days after his report arrived in England , Dartmouth issued the order recalling Gage and replacing him with William Howe . The rapidity of this action is likely attributable to the fact that people within the government were already arguing for Gage ' s removal , and the battle was just the final straw . Gage received the order in Boston on 26 September , and set sail for England on 11 October . The nature of Dartmouth ' s recall order did not actually strip Gage of his offices immediately . William Howe temporarily replaced him as commander of the forces in Boston , while General Guy Carleton was given command of the forces in Quebec . Although King George wanted to reward his " mild general " for his service , Gage ' s sole reward after Lord Germain ( who succeeded Dartmouth as the Secretary of State for North America ) formally gave his command to Howe in April 1776 was that he retained the governorship of Massachusetts . On the Gages ' return to England , the family eventually settled into a house on Portland Place in London . Although he was presumably given a friendly reception in his interview with a sympathetic King George , the public and private writings about him and his fall from power were at times vicious . One correspondent wrote that Gage had " run his race of glory . . . let him alone to the hell of his own conscience and the infamy which must inevitably attend him ! " Others were kinder ; New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth characterised him as " a good and wise man . . . surrounded by difficulties . " Gage was briefly reactivated to duty in April 1781 , when Amherst appointed him to mobilise troops for a possible French invasion . The next year , Gage assumed command of the 17th Light Dragoons . He was promoted to full general on 20 November 1782 , and later transferred to command the 11th Dragoons . Final years and legacy . As the war machinery was reduced in the mid - 1780s , Gage ' s military activities declined . He supported the efforts of Loyalist s to recover losses incurred when they were forced to leave the colonies , notably confirming the treachery of Benjamin Church in order to further his widow ' s claims for compensation . He received visitors at Portland Place and at Firle , including Frederick Haldimand and Thomas Hutchinson . His health began to decline early in the 1780s . Gage died at Portland Place on 2 April 1787 , and was buried in the family plot at Firle . His wife survived him by almost 37 years . His son Henry inherited the family title upon the death of Gage ' s brother William , and became one of the wealthiest men in England . His youngest son , William Hall Gage , became an admiral in the Royal Navy , and all three daughters married into well - known families . The town of Gagetown , New Brunswick was named in his honour . Consequently , the Canadian Forces base CFB Gagetown also carries his name .