author
Thomas Gage
1721–1787
A British general at the center of the American Revolution, he spent much of his career in North America and became one of the best-known military leaders on the British side. His story follows the uneasy path from imperial confidence to open rebellion.
1 Audiobook
Gage's Instructions
by Henry De Berniere, Thomas Gage
About the author
Born in Sussex in 1721, Thomas Gage was the second son of the 1st Viscount Gage. He entered the British Army in the 1740s, served in Europe, and later built his reputation in North America during the French and Indian War.
Gage went on to hold major command responsibilities after Britain’s victory over France, including service as commander in chief in North America. He worked in a world of fragile alliances, frontier conflict, and rising tension between Britain and its colonies, and he also became governor of Massachusetts in the years just before the Revolution.
He is best remembered for his role at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. As unrest in Massachusetts deepened, troops under his command marched on Concord in April 1775, leading to the battles of Lexington and Concord. Although he remained an important figure in British military history, his name is now closely tied to the crisis that helped launch the Revolution.