Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/601

Rh published " Poems " (Philadelphia, 1872) ; " Elsie Magoon, or the Old Still-House " (1872) ; " Steps Upward " (1873) ; and " Gertie's Sacrifice."

GAGE, Matilda Joslyn, reformer, b. in Cicero, N. Y., 24 March, 1826. Pier father, Dr. H. Joslyn, was an active abolitionist, and she inherited from him an interest in the questions of woman suffrage and slavery. She was educated in De Peyster and Hamilton, N". Y., and in 1845 was married to Henry H. Gage, a merchant in Cicero. From 1852 till 1861 she wrote and spoke on reform measures, and was an eager advocate of the abolition of slavery at any cost. In 1862, on the presentation of colors to a company of the 122d New York regiment, Mrs. Gage made an address in which she prophesied the" failure of any course that did not abolish slavery. In 1872 she was elected president of the National woman suffrage association, and of the New York state woman's suffrage society, and she is now (1887) vice-president of each, and one of a special committee to arrange for an international council of women to meet in Washington in 1888. From 1878 till 1881 Mrs. Gage edited and pub- lished the " The National Citizen " in Syracuse, N. Y. She is the author of " Woman as an Invent- or " (New York, 1870), and " The History of Wo- man Suffrage," with Susan B. Anthony and Eliza- beth Cady Stanton (3 vols., New York,' 1881-'6).

GAGE, Thomas, Irish traveller, b. in Limerick. Ireland, in 1597; d. in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1656. His. father sent him in 1612 to Spain to study in the Jesuit college, but he was filled with a great aversion to the Jesuits, and joined the Dominicans in 1621. He was afterward pro- fessor of rhetoric in the convent of Jerez, and later asked and obtained leave to join a party of missionaries to the Philippine islands, but be- fore his departure a royal decree was promulgated forbidding any foreigner, under severe penalties, to go to the Spanish colonies. But the president of the mission, Jacinto Calvo, hid Gage in a hogshead, and they sailed from Cadiz, 3 July, 1627, with twenty-seven Dominican friars. After various adventures the party reached Mexico, where Gage decided to remain, and he taught Latin for some time in the convent school. In 1626 he was employed as Indian teacher and mis- sionary in Guatemala, and afterward obtained the rich parish of San Jose de Amatitlan, where lie occupied himself more in amassing wealth than in caring for his flock. When, in 1636, he obtained from the general of the order permission to return to Europe, he had 9.000 ducats in his possession. As the provincial jnit difficulties in his way, he turned his wealth into pearls and precious stones, and on 7 Jan., 1637, left his parish secretly, and, making his way through the province of Nicaragua, sailed from the gulf-coast of Costa Rica on 4 Feb. After losing most of his fortune in an adventure with Dutch corsairs, he finally reached Spain on 28 Nov., 1637, and in 1638 arrived in England, after an absence of twenty-six years. After a visit to Italy in 1639, he took an active part in the par- liamentary troubles in England, and publicly ab- jured Roman Catholicism in the cathedral of St. Paul in 1644. He was rewarded with the rectory of Deal, and there prepared for publication his work, " New Description of the West Indies, and a Journey of 3,300 Miles on the Mainland of Mexico and Central America, with a Residence of Eleven Years in the Indian Cities of Guatemala, with a Grammar of the Poconchi Language " (London, 1648), which he dedicated to Oliver Cromwell. This book made a sensation, as, although it was full of gross exaggerations and some flagrant un- truth, it laid for the first time before the public a description of the Spanish possessions in America, the knowledge of which so far had been jealously guarded by the authorities. The work passed through several editions, and was translated into the principal languages of Europe. As Gage in his work had treated of the great riches of Mex- ico and Central America, Cromwell's attention was attracted, and, after many consultations with the author, an expedition against the Spanish colonies was resolved upon. On 11 March, 1655, a fleet of twenty-three sail, under Vice-Admi- ral Penn, having on board 6,550 troops and ma- rines, left Bristol, with Gage on board as guide. The fleet arrived before Havana on 15 April, but, as the expedition had been reported beforehand, the Spaniards had taken measures of defence. After taking some booty on the coast of Santo Do- mingo, the fleet anchored on 9 May before Spanish Town. Jamaica, landed the troops of Gen. Venables, and, after a desperate resistance by the Spaniards, captured the whole island, which has since re- mained a British colony. Before the conquest was concluded. Gage died of dysentery.

GAGE, Thomas, British soldier, b. in Firle. Sus- sex, in 1721 ; d. in England, 2 April, 1787. He was the second son of Thomas Gage, Viscount Gage of Castle Island, and Baron Gage of Castlebar. He was appointed major of the 44th regiment in Febru- ary, 1747, and at the time of Braddock's expedition had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His command was the first to re- ceive the onslaught of the French and Indians at Monon- gahela, 9 Sept., 1755. Although himself in- jured, he rallied the troops to aid in tak- ing Braddock, who was mortally wound- ed, to a place of safe- ty. His account of the battle, made in a statement to Chal- mers for his " An- nals," is printed in the " Massachusetts Historical Society Collections," vol. 34. He accompanied Gen. Abercrombie on his Ticonderoga expedition in 1758, as colonel of the 80th regiment of light-infantry. Gen. Amherst, in August, 1759, gave him command of the Ontario department, and as a brigadier-general he participated in the campaign for the conquest of Canada in 1759. On the capitulation of Montreal in September, 1760, he was appointed military governor of the city, and his mild administration of this department contrasted favorably with the severity of Murray's government of the Quebec district. The 22d regiment was assigned to him in June, 1762. and in December, 1763, he succeeded Amherst as commander-in-chief in America, with headquarters at New York. In 1765 he surrendered the stamped paper to the municipality. He directed the affairs of the army until February, 1773, when he sailed for England, leaving Gen. Haldimand in command, that officer coming from the southern, or Florida, department, where he had been in control since 1766. Gage's correspondence with Haldimand during this period is contained in the " flaldimand Collection" in the British museum, copies of which have been made