Thomas Gage had orders to take away the weapons of the Massachusetts militia.
Thomas Gage (17183-1787) was a British General of the English troops that served in colonial America. In 1774 he was named governor of the Massachusetts Bay province. He was the one who enforced the Intolerable Acts as a way to punish people from the colony after the Boston Tea Party incident. In April 1775 he ordered to take away the weapons of the Massachusetts militia. The result of this was the initiation of the American Revolutionary War with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
