The Role Of Thomas Gage In The Battle Of Concord

Most people did not expect the colonists with their under trained militia to last long against the British superpower. The colonists did just that. In the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of 1200 troops under orders from Artemas Ward, and led by William Prescott was supposed to entrench themselves on the rise on Bunker Hill, but instead misunderstood the instructions and went to Breed’s Hill by mistake. The next morning, the British were shocked to see Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom urged that the British soldiers attack the American soldiers, even though the Americans were in a superior position. Major General William Howe, leader of the British forces could easily have surrounded the Americans with his ships, but chose to march his troops up the hill; to the Americans. Howe might have believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of a smashing, head-on attack. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how a person looks at it, William Howe was wrong. The Americans stood their ground, dug in their heels, and stood firm. In the first wave, the Americans waited until they were within forty meters, then opened fire. The British force retreated with their wounded for a second wave. The British rushed up yet again. Again they retreated, suffering a great number of casualties. By the time the

Over the first few months of 1775 Concord struggled to gain and train a functional militia. After month of angry talk amongst citizen and leader in Concord action became more prominent, Gross stated “Nearly all of local life took on a military cast” towards mid spring point of 1775(69).

In 1775 General Thomas Gage, Commander if the British Force in the Massachusetts Colony, issued orders to the troops quartered in Boston, Massachusetts to march to Concord and and destroy the colonial military stores that were there. The reason the British were in Massachusetts in the first place was because the people of Massachusetts were very rebellious and have had many violent resistances against the British already. The secret orders that Gage issued were hardly a secret and some colonials knew about this movement a week before the British moved out. Both the British troops and the colonial militia meet each other at Lexington Green on the 19th of April, 1775. Suddenly a bullet whizzed

A sneaky, stealthy war tactic called Guerilla Warfare won the American Revolutionary War for the Patriots. Guerrilla warfare is a tactic that was practiced a lot in the revolutionary war and was without a doubt one of the few reasons the Patriots defeated the British. Guerrilla warfare helped the colonists win the Revolutionary war. This tactic was used successfully used in the Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and was widely practiced by Francis Marion in the south.

Shortly after George Washington becoming chief, Britain's General Gage a discreet plan to send out British soldiers to Lexington April 19th, 1775, where their goal was to capture Colonial leaders such as John Hancock and leader Samuel Adams, then to concord, where they would have to seize all gunpowder. Fortunately friends of the Americans leaked Gage’s plan to the people. Two

The British were over confident and made poor decisions, whereas George Washington carefully thought out his tactics. The colonists used Guerilla Warfare, and militia were quick and often popped out from behind trees to attack. Using this type of warfare was very beneficial to the Colonists, as it did not give the British enough time to shoot the colonists before they were killed. Guerrilla Warfare was known to “weaken the enemy” (McDougal,210). By focusing on winning small battles, in their own land, the colonists were able to keep enough supplies, food and men to eventually win the war. In the battle of Yorktown, “British general Cornwallis set up his base, located on a peninsula” (McDougal, 209), which was a bad move on their part. Washington saw the opportunity and made the smart decision to block the one land entrance, so that the British could no longer get any supplies that they needed. Washington’s plans along with the Colonists motivation were the were the reason they won the

to burn the militas arms stache, but the milita beat them to it. When the British reach Concord almost all of the supplies had been hidden or relocated thanks to Paul Reveres efforts. As the British troops were searching and destroying milita supplies in Concord the American militia gathered just outside the town on a hilltop. After gathering several hundred men, the American milita began their slow march into concord. In order to regain entrance into the town of Concord the miltia had to cross the North brigde that was garded by three british companies. After firing a warning shot, the British fired a full scale volley into the American militia, after volleys were exchanged the British troops retreated to avoid a full scale battle. This will be one of the bloodiest retreats recorded in the revolutionary war. As word spread to the colonist about lexinton and concord, colonist came from all over to help in the effort to defened lexington and concord. As the british retreated back to Boston colonist hid along the road behind anything they could and fired on the british all the way back to boston. The British were so appauled by the actions of the colonist and deemed such actions as cowardly or unhonorable. Anyone who was caught inside there home on the road to boston and was suspected of firing on the british were killed and their houses were burned. It was the first american victory in the revolutionary war and a pivotal event

Spies warned General Thomas Gage of the British military that colonists were gathering weapons to fight against the British for their independence. (Waldman 5) On April 14, 1775 General Thomas Gage received covert orders from Britain capture colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who had been provoking the colonists to rebel against the British for their freedom, as well as to capture and destroy the colonial rebels military supplies. Spies and friends of the colonial Patriots leaked out General Gage's plan. Through the late nights of April 19, 1775 General Gage sent 700 British Redcoats to Lexington green. The colonial Patriots had assembled a halt to try and slow the British's progression towards Concord. Both sides came into contact and stood their ground intensely. “Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men!” (King 25) A shot was fired, (unclear still to this day what side shot first) and the Battle of Lexington and Concord had begun! Chaos back and forth between the two sides as they were firing at each other. When the smoke had cleared eight rebellious Patriots lay dead and nine were wounded, while the British Redcoats only had one injured. The British Redcoats

So we can look at General George Washington’s tactics of “engage, retreat and exhaust the enemy”, we can look at significant battles such as Bunker Hill, Fort Ticonderoga, and most certainly the shocking outcome at Saratoga, and we clearly see that Patriot resistance to the British forces in New England and New York

Back in 1774 Thomas Gage had a job that no one would envy. He would be tasked with stemming the tide of a rebellion in the colonies of North America. Many considered him the protagonist of the English cause in the Revolutionary war. Tensions were rising and Gage had just been appointed Military Governor of Massachusetts. With this title, he would effectively be the most powerful British official in the 13 Colonies. Gage had control over military, political, and diplomatic decisions (Britannica, 2015). When relations turned sour between the American colonies and their mother country, people looked to Gage to make it right. Gage was unable to take the necessary actions to prevent the war and ended up being a driving factor in the American Revolution.

Prescott planned to fortify Bunker Hill in order to disrupt British maneuvers and provide area defense. However, for reasons unknown Prescott and over 1200 of his men moved past Bunker Hill and fortified a hill even closer to the British encampment, Breed’s Hill. “That morning the Colonists frantically worked to build a fortification, a redoubt, and a rail fence that extended from the hill to the shore.”1 The British soon noticed the structure, and at 0200 British sentries notified General Howe of the activities. However, like General Gage, Howe regarded the Colonists’ militia as an undisciplined and untrained group of amateurs. So he dismissed the actions of the Colonists and did not immediately notify Gage. Howe’s failure to report the Colonists’ activities serves as Gage’s first mistake in the operations process of mission command. Gage rightfully viewed his army and navy as superior to the Colonists’ militia in every way. He knew the British military had hundreds of years experience at war, were uncontested at sea, had conquered two continents, and were better armed. He also knew the Colonists had little experience at war, no naval force, and limited arms and munitions. In consideration of these facts Gage did not recognize the Colonists as a viable threat. Moreover, he completely underestimated the power of their resolve as well as their capabilities. Subsequently, he didn’t feel the need to create Commander’s

England made any town meeting, except authorized by the governor illegal, and housed British soldiers in select public buildings. In Massachusetts the British military governor, General Gage, ordered his 3,500 British soldiers in Boston to seize armories and storehouses in Charlestown and Cambridge. After the seizure, 20,000 colonial militiamen mobilized to protect other military supply depots and in the town of Concord the famous defensive force, the Minutemen, were organized.2 With these acts Parliament declared that Massachusetts was in open rebellion. British Secretary of State, Lord Dartmouth, quickly ordered Gage to send his soldiers on a search and destroy mission to capture colonial leaders, and military supplies in Concord. “At the same time Gage would attempt to find, capture, or kill John Hancock and Samuel Adams.”3 The stage was set for the first major engagements of the American Revolution.

During the American Revolution many people contributed to the fight against the colonists. Among these people was Thomas Gage a British general. Who is best known for his years of service in North America. His military career in North America began in 1754. Thomas Gage was born on 1719 in Firle, England.

Fought on April 19, 1775, The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the start of the Revolutionary War. Britain’s general Gage had a plan to send out British soldiers in two groups. Some would go to Lexington, and capture John Hancock and Sam Adams, important leaders to this war. The others would go to Concord, and destroy all shops that carried weapons and gunpowder and any rebels . American spies found out about the plan and leaked the secrets. So on the night of April 18, 1775, when British troops were on the move, lanterns that hung from Boston’s North Church informed the colonists that the British were coming. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott rode off on horses to warn other places. That’s when Paul Revere yelled the

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores”. A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.