[5][6] Following the outbreak of the American Revolution, Kemble Gage sailed from Boston to England in the summer of 1776 on a ship carrying military widows, orphans, and 170 soldiers who had been badly wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

[9][10] Prior to the battle, the Sons of Liberty observed British troops in Boston preparing for action.

Joseph Warren, one of the key leaders of the Sons of Liberty, learned from a confidential informer, well-connected to the British high command, "intelligence of their whole design...to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were known to be at Lexington, and burn the colonists' military stores at Concord.

"[9][11] Warren, after learning of the plan, dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes, which set off a chain reaction of alarm riders across Massachusetts and into adjoining colonies.

Instead of a quiet night mission, the British troops were opposed by thousands of wide-awake, angry, armed colonists.

[9][11][13][14] She was an American, and her family's prestige and wealth lent her social standing equal to that of her husband, whose officers were even known to call her "Duchess".