He died when Solomon was quite young, and the boy was raised first by his grandfather Enoch Lovell, and after his death by his stepfather, Samuel Kingman.

Lovell's military service during the French and Indian War (1754–1760) is not known in detail; he is known to have served as a first lieutenant in a militia company at Lake George, New York during the 1756 campaign.

With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Lovell's military activity increased.

He was commissioned a colonel of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment in February 1776, and his troops were among those that occupied the heights south of Boston, prompting the British to withdraw the city.

He continued to be active in the defense of eastern Massachusetts, and was promoted to brigadier general of the Suffolk County militia on June 24, 1777.

During the entire course of the expedition, Lovell frequently complained (in his writings, and reportedly in war councils) of Saltonstall's unwillingness to take any sort of risks with the fleet in support of attacks on the British fortifications.