Margaret Kemble Gage
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Margaret Kemble Gage was the wife of General Thomas Gage, who led the redcoats during the American Revolution, and allegedly spied against him out of sympathy for the Revolution. She was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
[edit] Patriot Spy
Several historical works, including the book Rise to Rebellion, have controversially suggested that she was sympathetic to the colonial cause and may have supplied the rebels with military information. In particular, she supposedly warned Joseph Warren on April 18, 1775 that her husband's troops planned to raid armories at Lexington and Concord, leading to Paul Revere's famous Midnight Ride. Among the contemporaries who suspected Margaret to be a spy was her own husband, who had her sent back to the family estate in England to avoid further embarrassment.
[edit] Family Life
Margaret Kemble was the granddaughter of New York Mayor Stephanus Van Cortlandt
Margaret and Thomas were wed in December 1758. Their first son, the future 3rd Viscount Gage, was born in 1761.
Margaret Gage's daughter, Charlotte Margaret Gage, married British Admiral Charles Ogle on in April 22, 1802 and died in September 1814.
Gage Road in East Brunswick, New Jersey, the town of her birth, is named in her honor.
[edit] References
- Biography of Thomas Gage at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Fischer, David Hackett (1995), Paul Revere's Ride, Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-509831-5
