Gage

Gage, THOMAS, an English general, was born in 1721, the second son of the first Viscount Gage. In 1755 he accompanied Braddock's ill-fated expedition as lieutenant-colonel, and as brigadier-general became in 1760 military governor of Montreal, and in 1763 commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. His inflexible character led the government to regard him as well fitted to end the disturbances in the American colonies. In 1774 he was nominated governor of Massachusetts, a post of peculiar difficulty, and his enforcement of the rigorous decrees of parliament brought matters to a climax. On the night of 18th April 1775 he despatched an expedition to seize a quantity of arms which had been stored at Concord; and next day took place the memorable encounter of Lexington, which announced that the Revolution had begun. The battle of Bunker Hill (q.v.) made him unpopular. For a short time he was commander-in-chief in America, a post he soon resigned to return to England, where he died, 2d April 1787. One of his sons became third viscount.