Thomas Gardner

Col. Thomas Gardner (1724–July 3, 1775) was an American political figure and soldier.

Gardner was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1755, he married Joanna Sparhawk, a member of one of Brighton's founding families.

Gardner, a political figure in Massachusetts on the eve of the Revolution, was in the forefront of those urging resistance to the King's dissolution of the General Court in 1774, following the Boston Tea Party. He was chosen to represent Cambridge in the Middlesex County Convention, called to consider measures for public safety, as well as in the First and Second provincial Congresses. In May 1775 he was elected to the Revolutionary Council of Safety.

During the spring of 1775, he was commissioned a Colonel of a regiment he had organized largely at his own expense. Gardner's rapid rise to prominence ended when he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill, in June 1775 [Swett, S.: "History of Bunker Hill Battle, With a Plan", Second Edition, Munroe and Francis, Boston (1826). [http://books.google.com/books?id=QM3KyrZKnZAC Fulltext online at the Google Books Library Project] ] . Lingering until July 3, 1775, Gardner was the second-highest ranking American officer killed at Bunker Hill. His funeral services were attended by General George Washington.

Places named for him include Gardner Street in Boston, Massachusetts, and the city of Gardner, Massachusetts in 1785.

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