Thomas Gage
Born in Gloucestershire, England, Thomas Gage born in 1721 was the second son of an Irish Viscount of modest means. Gage joined the Army in 1739. Although no initially describe as an intellectual, he later displayed a fondness for liberal education and sent his oldest son to the university of Gottingen and Berlin to study arts and sciences.
Gage first commission as ensign was in 1740 which led to a recruiting assignment in Yorkshire. In January 1741, gage purchased a commission as lieutenant in a regiment under Colonel Chalman Deley, recently known as the First North Hampton. He later transferred to Battereau Foot, an Irish Corps of two Battalions, which led to him receiving the rank of captain-lieutenant in 1742. In 1743, he was given his Captaincy. He accompanied the British troops which were sent to Flanders after the outbreak of the war with France in 1744 to oppose the French Army, where he took part in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745.
Orders came from Braddock in 1754 to the Forty-Fourth and Forty-Eighth, which Gage was apart of to se sail for Virginia. The ship set sail on New Years Day 1755 along with Commander Keppel who commanded the protecting warships. By the middle of March the troops has all arrived in Virginia. His service during the Seven Years War in the Braddock Campaign, at Ticonderoga and Montreal and various administrative assignments led to his appointment in 1763 as British Commander in Chief for North America.
While holding this position, he was named governor of Massachusetts in 1774; at the same time that Parliament passes the Coercive Acts in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, which occurred the previous year. He tried to put down the dissident forces in the colony. He ordered the arrest of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. In April 1775, he sent soldiers to seize military stores at Concord, which had begun to stock large quantities of ammunitions.
This was the first serious engagement of the American Patriot Paul Reveres’s famous ride warning of British attack. The battle was fought April 19, 1775. Gage sent about 700 British soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, to Concord; their orders were to capture or destroy the supplies. The colonial militia, or minutemen, had been warned of the British advance by the American patriots Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott.
Gage was the one to be a soldier who hated war. Thomas Gage took part in the battle of Culloden, the French and Indian War, and in the conquest of Canada. He witnessed the British defeat at Fontenoy which changed his outlook of battles. “He was the younger son of an aristocratic Anglo-Catholic family with its seat at Firle Place, Susses, in the south of England” (Fi...
He volunteered in 1776 at the Battle of Bunker Hill, under the command of General Ward. He was in charge of the colonials around Boston. Soon after, in 1775, George Washington arrived in Boston to take command of the army. There he met with Knox, developing a strong friendship, and soon after, promoting Knox to position of chief artillery officer of the Continental Army because of his knowledge on artillery. Knox gave Washington the idea to use the cannons that they had claimed from the recently capture Fort Ticonderoga. He was tasked by Washington to retrieve and transport the cannons to Boston. He moved the heavy artillery over 300 miles of winter terrain with the use of ox-drawn sleds. In 1776, the cannons were used to force the British out at Dorchester Heights, the key to Boston, which was successfully executed, winning victory for
The soldiers were trialed for murdered but were found innocent. Afterwards, a group of men formed named The Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty lead protest in Boston. A key event leading to the revolution was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was a protest lead by the Sons of Liberty. The group of men dumped the imported tea and further eroded the relations with Britain. After the Boston Tea Party, the colonist refused to drink British tea. As stated in Tom Gage’s Proclamation, “Whereas the rebels hereabout, Are stubborn still, and still hold out; Refusing yet to drink their tea, In spite of Parliament and me” Furthermore, the British were becoming annoyed by the colonists actions. Therefore, the British passed the Intolerable Acts. The Intolerable Acts, as the name predicts, made the colonists furious. The British had passed the Intolerable Acts precisely to punish the Massachusetts colonist. The Acts consisted of the Massachusetts Bay closing, until tea was paid for, and a new Quartering Act, The new Quartering Act allowed British Troops to be stationed in private homes if necessary. Also, it gave power to the crown to elect all officials in
First Revolutionary Battle at Lexington & Concord. History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. .
Their answer was the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts in the Colonies. The first of these acts was the Boston Port Bill. This bill shut down the Boston Harbor, the livelihood of many Bostonians. It would not re-open until the tea that was dumped could be paid off. Another one of the Intolerable Acts was the Massachusetts Government Act, in which they had to hand their government over to royal officials.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the very first battles of the Revolutionary War. The battle of Lexington was a brief fight that marked the first war-like conflict. It took place on the morning of April 19, 1775, when about 70 colonial minutemen, commanded by Captain John Parker, collided with about 800 British soldiers marching their way to Concord, Massachusetts, to steal some equipment from the colonial militia. The British soldiers were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith (Lexington, Battle of).
George Rogers Clark was born in Albermale County, Virginia on November 19, 1752 to John and Ann Rogers Clark. The Clark family consisted of six boys and four girls living on a four hundred acre plantation. George Rogers Clark was not even the most famous person in his family, his younger brother William later came to fame with his good friend Merriwether Lewis for exploring Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. The Clark family was very well to do and influential, which enabled them to send young George to very good school, and have him tutored by some of the great minds in the region, like George Mason. George Rogers Clark had three friendships as a child that forever changed and shaped his future as a leader and revolutionary war hero.
On April 19th, 1775 British troops marched to Lexington and Concord, where many militia men already awaited their arrival. The British were after the ammunition of the militia. Paul Revere previously warned the militia so that they could be prepared. Many people are unaware of the fact that Paul Revere was accompanied by William Dawes on his midnight ride.
...rader. Committees operating under rules set by the newly created Continental Association enforced a boycott on good from British. The Congress pledged to support Massachusetts if an attack were to happen; meaning all of the colonies would become involved. The American Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord a year after congress gave Massachusetts this pledge." it was not immediately clear to British, and even to many Americans, that the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord were the first battles of war." (Brinkley, 128) Colonists prepared a militia, organizing small, armed groups ready for quick action as Minute Men, ready for an open rebellion. At the same time the military governor of Massachusetts began fortifying Boston, despite the discussions underway in Parliament, the Massachusetts military, marched on Concord, where militia supplies were stored.
Instead they passed new acts which were worse than the ones passed before. As a result of the Tea Act, all the taxes except the tax on tea was repealed in order to keep Parliament’s right to tax the colonies, and the colonists did not like this act. As a result of their anger towards the British, the Boston Tea Party occurred: Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston Harbor and empty 342 chests of tea to the Boston. Still, the British kept on trying to control the Americans, but this time, they passed 4 acts, the Intolerable Acts, in order to punish and control people; The Boston Harbor would be closed, the people of Boston would have a curfew, Massachusetts would lose its self-government/town meetings, royal officers would be allowed to be tried in Britain, and the British troops would use empty buildings. Instead of giving Americans the freedom they wanted, the British punished them. Yet, this did not stop Americans. Instead, they were even angrier to the British for the strict rules the British was passing in order to control the colonists. They knew they had to do something, which resulted in continental congresses, the Articles of Confederation, and the American Revolution. The British was not going to stop trying to hold power over the colonies, and as Patrick Henry started off by saying “Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the first, his Cromwell — and George the third — ” and finished “may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it”(Wolverton, Joe, II). This was no longer of a fight against the British, but a fight to be
After the British captured the fort, Quebec was the next military target. The following June, Major General James Wolfe led the British up the river. Helping Wolfe were Brigadiers General Robert Monkton, James Murray, and George Townsend. The flotilla had forty-nine men-of-war, fully one-quarter of the entire Royal Navy, two hundred transports, storage vessels and provision ships. (digitalhistory.org) The fleet was commanded by three admirals, Saunders, Holmes and Durrel. The chief navigator was Captain James Cook. He would later explore the Pacific Ocean.
The day was April 18, 1775. Revere, in Boston at the time, had just been informed by Joseph Warren that General Thomas Gage had dispatched a group of Regulars to capture Sam Adams and John Hancock, in Lexington, and burn the military stores in Concord. (Fischer 95-97) Revere acted quickly and moved to the Christ Church, the tallest building in the North End at the time. He had been told to light a lantern visible from Charlestown to warn a group of Charlestown Whigs of the moving Redcoats. Here, three of Revere's friends and fellow Whigs came to his aid. The most prominent of the three was Robert Newman, a sexton in the church. The three managed to evade the Redcoat guards and were able to light the lantern and send the message. Revere, promptly, went back to his house to prepare for his journey. (Forbes 254-257)
King George thought the colonists should be dealt with harshly for their disobedience and insolence. Using his profound influence, he pushed through the Townshend Acts, in 1766, taxing many commodity items. including tea, resulting in the infamous Boston Tea Party. King George was eventually humbled by the American colonies. successfully became the United States of America.
On April 19, 1775, British soldiers attacked the towns of Lexington and Concord. When the news reached West Springfield a company of minutemen composed of West Springfield’s citizens began the nearly one hundred mile march to the west on April 20th. Captain Enoch Chapin, First Lieutenant Samuel Fowler and Second Lieutenant Luke Day led fifty men westward to aid their fellow colonists. They were part of a larger regiment led by Colonel Patterson. At the end of their month long service, the minutemen returned home. A majority of the men would later re-enlist.
Michael Collins played a major part in Ireland's history after 1916. Michael Collins had been involved in the Easter Uprising in 1916, but he played a relatively low key part. It was after the Uprising that Collins made his mark leading to the treaty of 1921 that gave Ireland dominion status within the British Empire.