bird to fly over the vast seas, and as strong as a beast before
their enemies. The eagle's feathers are soft and signify love; the
buffalo's skin is warm and means protection; therefore love and
protect our families."]

A general interest was excited in England, and many charitable
people gave liberally to promote the enterprise. More emigrants
followed, including, as in the other colonies, many who sought
religious or civil liberty.

[Footnote: The gentle Moravians and sturdy Scotch Highlanders were
among the number, and proved a valuable acquisition to the colony.
The former had fled hither from Austria, for "conscience' sake."
Having founded a little colony among the pine forests of Georgia,
they named it Ebenezer,-taking as their motto "Hitherto hath the
Lord helped us." When John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, came
to America as a missionary with his brother Charles, they were
greatly charmed with the fervent piety of this simple people. The
celebrated George Whitfield afterward founded at Savannah an orphan
asylum, which he supported by contributions from the immense
audiences which his wonderful eloquence attracted. On one occasion
sixty thousand were gathered to hear him, and his open-air meetings
were often attended by from twenty thousand to forty thousand
people.]

The trustees limited the size of a man's farm, did not allow women
to inherit land, and forbade the importation of rum, or of slaves.
These restrictions were irksome, and great discontent prevailed. At
last the trustees, wearied by the complaints of the colonists,
surrendered their charter to the crown. Georgia remained a royal
province till the Revolution.

[Footnote: Rum was obtained in exchange for lumber in the West
Indies. Hence this law prevented that trade and cut off a valuable
source of profit.]

INTER-COLONIAL WARS.

I. KING WILLIAM'S WAR. (1689-1697.)

CAUSE.--War having broken out in Europe between England and France,
their colonies in America took up the quarrel. The Indians of
Canada and Maine aided the French, and the Iroquois (Five Nations
of New York) assisted the English.

ATTACKS UPON THE COLONISTS.--War parties of the French and Indians
coming down on their snow-shoes from Canada through the forest in
the depth of winter, fell upon the exposed settlements of New York
and New England, and committed the most horrible barbarities.
Schenectady, unsuspecting and defenceless, was attacked at
midnight. Men, women, and children were dragged from their beds and
tomahawked. The few who escaped, half-naked, made their way through
the snow of that fearful night to Albany.

[Footnote: The histories of the time abound in thrilling stories of
Indian adventure. One day in March, 1697, Haverhill, Mass., was
attacked. Mr. Dustin was at work in the field. Hurrying to his
house, he brought out his seven children, and bidding them "run
ahead," slowly retreated, keeping the Indians back with his gun. He
thus brought off his little flock in safety. His wife, who was
unable to escape with him, was dragged into captivity. The party
who had captured Mrs. Dustin marched many days through the forest,
and at length reached an island in the Merrimac. Here she resolved
to escape. A white boy, who had been taken prisoner before, found
out from his master, at Mrs. Dustin's request, how to strike a blow
that would produce instant death, and how to take off a scalp.
Having learned these facts, in the night she awoke the boy and her
nurse, and arranged their parts The task was soon done Seizing each
a tomahawk, they killed ten of the sleeping Indians; only one
escaped She then scalped the dead bodies, in order to prove her
story when she should reach home, and hastened to the bank, where,
finding a canoe, they descended the river and soon rejoined her
family]

[Illustration: THE INDIAN ATTACK ON SCHENECTADY.]

ATTACKS BY THE COLONISTS.--Aroused by these scenes of savage
ferocity, the colonists organized two expeditions, one under
Governor Phipps of Massachusetts, against Port Royal, Acadia, and
the other a combined land and naval attack on Canada. The former
was successful, and secured, it is said, plunder enough to pay the
expenses of the expedition. The latter was a disastrous failure.

PEACE.--The war lasted eight years. It was ended by the treaty of
Ryswick (riz'-wik), according to which each party held the
territory it had at the beginning of the struggle.

II. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. (1702-1713.)

CAUSE.--England having declared war against France and Spain,
hostilities broke out between their colonies. The Five Nations had
made a treaty with the French, and so took no part in the contest.
Their neutrality protected New York from invasion. Consequently,
the brunt of the war fell on New England.

ATTACKS ON THE COLONISTS.--The New England frontier was again
desolated. Remote settlements were abandoned. The people betook
themselves to palisaded houses, and worked their farms with their
guns always at hand.

[Footnote: On the last night of February, 1704, while the snow was
four feet deep, a party of about three hundred and fifty French and
Indians reached a pine forest near Deerfield, Mass. They skulked
about till the unfaithful sentinels deserted the morning watch,
when they rushed upon the defenceless slumberers, who awoke from
their dreams to death or captivity. Leaving the blazing village
with forty-seven dead bodies to be consumed amid the wreck, they
then started back with their train of one hundred and twelve
captives. The horrors of that march through the wilderness can
never be told. The groan of helpless exhaustion, or the wail of
suffering childhood, was instantly stilled by the pitiless
tomahawk. Mrs. Williams, the feeble wife of the minister, had
remembered her Bible in the midst of surprise, and comforted
herself with its promises, till, her strength failing, she
commended her five captive children to God and bent to the savage
blow of the war-axe. One of her daughters grew up in captivity,
embraced the Catholic faith, and became the wife of a chief. Years
after she visited her friends in Deerfield. The whole village
joined in a fast for her deliverance, but her heart loved best her
own Mohawk children, and she went back to the fires of her Indian
wigwam.]

ATTACKS BY THE COLONISTS.

1. _At the South_.--South Carolina made a fruitless expedition
against her old enemies at St. Augustine (1702).

[Footnote: Four years after, the French and Spanish in Havana sent
a fleet against Charleston. The people, however, valiantly defended
themselves, and soon drove off their assailants.]

2. _At the North_.--Port Royal was again wrested from the French by a
combined force of English and colonial troops. In honor of the queen,
the name was changed to Annapolis. Another expedition sailed against
Quebec, but many of the ships were dashed upon the rocks in the St.
Lawrence, and nearly one thousand men perished. Thus ended the second
attempt to conquer Canada.

PEACE.-The war lasted eleven years. It was ended by the treaty of
Utrecht (oo-trekt), according to which Acadia was ceded to England.

III. KING GEORGE'S WAR.

[Footnote: This war was immediately preceded by what is known as
the "SPANISH WAR," which grew out of the difficulties then existing
between England and Spain. It was marked by no important event in
the colonies. Governor Oglethorpe invested (1740) St. Augustine
with a force of two thousand men, but the strength of the Spanish
garrison, and the loss by sickness, caused the attempt to be
abandoned. The Spaniards, in their turn, sent (1742) an expedition
against Georgia. By means of a letter which Governor Oglethorpe
caused to fall into the hands of the Spaniards, they were made to
believe that he expected large reinforcements. Being frightened,
they burned the fort they had captured, and fled in haste. The
colonies, also, furnished about four thousand men for an expedition
against the Spanish settlements in the West Indies; but only a few
hundred ever returned from this disastrous enterprise.]

(1744-1748.)

CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG.--War having again broken out between England
and France, the flame was soon kindled in the new world. The only
event of importance was the capture of Louisburg on the island of
Cape Breton, by a combined force of English and colonial troops.
The latter did most of the fighting, but the former took the glory
and the booty. Peace being made in 1748 by the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle (akes-la-sha-pel), England gave back Louisburg to
the French. The boundaries between the French and English colonies
were left undecided, and so the germ of a new war remained.

[Footnote: Louisburg was called the "Gibraltar of America." Its
fortifications were extensive, and cost upward of $5,000,000. The
siege was conducted in the most unscientific way, the colonial
troops laughing at military terms and discipline. When the place
was captured, they were themselves astonished at what they had
done. The achievement called forth great rejoicing over the
country, especially in New England, and had an influence on the
Revolutionary War, thirty years after. Colonel Gridley, who planned
General Pepperell's batteries in this siege, laid out the American
intrenchments on Bunker Hill. The same old drums that beat the
triumphal entrance of the New Englanders into Louisburg, June 17,
1745, beat at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. "When General Gage was
erecting intrenchments on Boston Neck, the provincials sneeringly
remarked that his mud walls were nothing compared to the stone
walls of old Louisburg."]

IV. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. (1754-1763)

CAUSE.--The English occupied at this time a narrow strip along the
coast one thousand miles in length. It was like a string to the
great bow of the French territory which reached around from Quebec
to New Orleans. Both nations claimed the region west of the
Alleghany Mountains, along the Ohio River. The three previous
inter-colonial wars had engendered bitter hatred, and occasions of
quarrel were abundant. The French had over sixty military posts
guarding the long line of their possessions. They seized the
English surveyors along the Ohio. They broke up a British post on
the Miami.

[Footnote: The claims of the real proprietors, the Indians, were
overlooked by both the English and the French. The Indians, feeling
this, sent to the agent of the Ohio Company the pertinent query,
"Where is the Indian's land? The English claim all on one side of
the river, the French all on the other. Where does our land lie?"]

[Footnote: The Indian allies of the French having captured the
Miami chief who defended his English friends, killed and ate him,
in true savage style.]

They built a fort at Presque Isle (pres-keel) near the present town
of Erie, Penn.; another, Fort le Boeuf (le boof), at the present
town of Waterford; and a third, Fort Venango, about twelve miles
south, on French Creek. These encroachments awakened the liveliest
solicitude on the part of the colonists.

WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY.--Din-wid'-die, lieutenant-governor of
Virginia, accordingly sent a message by George Washington, then a
young man of twenty-one, to the French commander of these forts,
asking their removal. Washington, the very day he received his
credentials, set out on his perilous journey through the wilderness
from Williamsburg to Lake Erie. He found the French officer at Fort
Venango loud and boastful. At Fort le Boeuf the commandant, St.
Pierre (sang-pe-are), treated him with great respect; but, like a
true soldier, refused to discuss theories, and declared himself
under orders which he should obey. It was clear that France was
determined to hold the territory explored by the heroic La Salle
and Marquette. The shore in front of the fort was even then lined
with canoes ready for an intended expedition down the river.
Washington's return through the wilderness, a distance of four
hundred miles, was full of peril. At last he reached home unharmed,
and delivered St. Pierre's reply.

[Illustration: AN INCIDENT OF WASHINGTON'S RETURN.]

[Footnote: The streams were swollen. The snow was falling and
freezing as it fell. The horses gave out, and he was forced to
proceed on foot. With only one companion, he quitted the usual
path, and, with the compass as his guide, struck boldly out through
the forest. An Indian, lying in wait, fired at him only a few paces
off, but missing, was captured. Attempting to cross the Alleghany
on a rude raft, they were caught between large masses of ice
floating down the rapid current of the mid-channel. Washington
thrust out his pole to check the speed, but was jerked into the
foaming water. Swimming to an island, he barely saved his life.
Fortunately, in the morning the river was frozen over, and he
escaped on the ice.]

WAR OPENS.--Early the next spring, the French, at the fork of the
Monongahela and Alleghany, drove off a party of English traders and
erected a fort, which was called Du Quesne (doo-kane). Soon, among
the blackened stumps, corn and barley were growing on the present
site of Pittsburg. In the meantime, a regiment of Virginia troops,
under Colonel Frye, Washington being second in command, had been
sent out to occupy this important point. Learning that the French
had anticipated them, Washington hastened forward with a
reconnoitering party. Jumonville (zhoo-mong-veel), who was hiding
among the rocks with a company of French troops, waiting an
opportunity to attack him, was himself surprised and defeated.

[Footnote: Washington's word of command to "fire!" upon that
skulking foe, on the night of May 28, 1754, was the opening of the
campaign. Washington himself, it is said, fired the first gun of
that long and bloody war.]

On the death of Colonel Frye, soon after, Washington assumed
command. Collecting the troops at the Great Meadows, he erected a
stockade, which he aptly named _Fort Necessity_. Here he was
attacked by a large force of French and Indians, and after a severe
conflict was compelled to capitulate.

THE FIVE OBJECTIVE POINTS OF THE WAR.

1. Fort du Quesne was the key to the region west of the
Alleghanies, and as long as the French held it, Virginia and
Pennsylvania were exposed to Indian attacks.

2. The possession of Louisburg and Acadia threatened New England,
while it gave control over the Newfoundland fisheries. French
privateers harbored there, darted out and captured English ships,
and then returned where they were safe from pursuit.

3. Crown Point and Ticonderoga controlled the route to Canada by
the way of Lake George and Lake Champlain, and also offered a safe
starting-point for French expeditions against New York and New
England.

4. Niagara lay on the portage between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario,
and thus protected the great fur trade of the upper lakes and the
West.

5. Quebec being the strongest fortification in Canada, gave control
of the St. Lawrence, and largely decided the possession of that
province.

We thus see why these points were so persistently attacked by the
English, and so obstinately defended by the French. We shall speak
of them in order.

1. FORT DU QUESNE.

_The First Expedition_ (1755) was commanded by General Braddock,
Washington acting as aide-de-camp. The general was a regular British
officer, proud and conceited. Washington warned him of the dangers of
savage warfare, but his suggestions were received with contempt.

[Footnote: "The Indians," said Braddock, "may frighten continental
troops, but they can make no impression on the king's regulars!"]

The column came within ten miles of the fort, marching along the
Monongahela in regular array, drums beating and colors flying.
Suddenly, in ascending a little slope, with a deep ravine and thick
underbrush on either side, they encountered the Indians lying in
ambush. The terrible war-whoop resounded on every hand. The British
regulars huddled together, and, frightened, fired by platoons, at
random, against rocks and trees. The Virginia troops alone sprang
into the forest and fought the savages in Indian style. Washington
seemed everywhere present. An Indian chief with his braves
especially singled him out.

[Footnote: Fifteen years after, this old Indian chief came "a long
way" to see the Virginia officer at whom he fired a rifle fifteen
times without hitting him, during the Monongahela fight. Washington
never received a wound in battle.]

Four balls passed through his clothes. Two horses were shot under
him. Braddock was mortally wounded and borne from the field. At
last, when the continental troops were nearly all killed, the
regulars turned and fled disgracefully, abandoning everything to
the foe. Washington covered their flight and saved the wreck of the
army from pursuit.

_Second Expedition_ (1758).--General Forbes led the second expedition,
Washington commanding tho Virginia troops. The general lost so much
time in building roads that, in November, he was fifty miles from the
fort. A council of war decided to give up the attempt. But Washington
receiving news of the weakness of the French garrison, urged a forward
movement. He himself led the advance guard, and by his vigilance
dispelled all danger of Indian surprise. The French fired the fort,
and fled at his approach. As the flag of England floated out over the
ruined ramparts, this gateway of the west was named Pittsburg.

[Footnote: This was in honor of William Pitt, prime minister of
England, whose true friendship for the colonies was warmly
appreciated in America. He came into power in 1758, and from that
time the war took on a different aspect.]

2. ACADIA AND LOUISBURG.

1. _Acadia_.--Scarcely had the war commenced, when an attack
was made on Acadia. The French forts at the head of the Bay of
Fundy were quickly taken, and the entire region east of the
Penobscot fell into the hands of the English.

[Footnote: This victory was disgraced by an act of heartless
cruelty. The Acadians were a simple-minded, rural people. They
readily gave up their arms and meekly submitted to their
conquerors. But the English authorities, knowing their sympathy
with the French and coveting their rich farms, drove old and young
on board the ships at the point of the bayonet, and distributed
them among the colonies. Families were broken up, their homes
burned, and, poor exiles, the broken-hearted Acadians met
everywhere only insult and abuse. Longfellow, in his beautiful poem
"Evangeline," has revived in the present generation a warm sympathy
for these people, whose misfortunes he has so pathetically
recorded.]

2. _Louisburg_ (1757).--General Loudoun collected an army at
Halifax for an attack on Louisburg. After spending all summer in
drilling his troops, "he gave up the attempt on learning that the
French fleet contained one more ship than his own!" The next year
Generals Amherst and Wolfe captured the city after a severe
bombardment, and took possession of the entire island.

[Footnote: Abandoning Louisburg, the English made Halifax, as it is
to-day, their rendezvous in that region.]

3. CROWN POINT AND TICONDEROGA.

1. _Battle of Lake George_.--About the time of Braddock's
expedition, another was undertaken against Crown Point. The French
under Dieskau (de-es-ko) were met near the head of Lake George.

[Footnote: The brave Dieskau was severely wounded. In the pursuit,
a soldier found him leaning against a stump. As he fumbled for his
watch to propitiate his enemy, the soldier thinking him to be
searching for his pistol, shot him.]

[Footnote: Johnson, the English commander, received word of the
approach of the enemy, and sent out Colonel Williams with twelve
hundred men to stop them. In the skirmish Williams was killed. He
was the real founder of Williams College, having by his will, made
while on his way to battle, bequeathed a sum to found a free school
for Western Massachusetts.]

Fortunately, General Johnson, being slightly wounded, early in the
action retired to his tent, whereupon General Lyman, with his
provincial troops, regained the battle then nearly lost. This
victory following closely on the heels of Braddock's disaster,
excited great joy. Johnson was voted knighthood and $25,000; Lyman,
the real victor, received nothing. This battle ended the attempt to
take Crown Point. Johnson loitered away the summer in building a
fort near by, which he called William Henry.

[Footnote: Two years after, Montcalm, the new French general, swept
down from Canada and captured this fort with its garrison, although
Webb was at Fort Edward, fourteen miles below, with six thousand
men lying idly in camp. The victory is noted for an illustration of
savage treachery. The English had been guaranteed a safe escort to
Fort Edward. But they had scarcely left the fort when the Indians
fell upon them to plunder and to slaughter. In vain did the French
officers peril their lives to save their captives from the lawless
tomahawk. "Kill me," cried Montcalm, in desperation, "but spare the
English, who are under my protection." The Indian fury, however,
was implacable, and the march of the prisoners to Fort Edward
became a flight for life.]

In the fall he returned to Albany and disbanded his troops.

2. _Attack on Ticonderoga_.--On a calm Sunday morning, about
four months before the fall of Fort du Quesne, a thousand boats
full of soldiers, with waving flags and strains of martial music,
swept down Lake George to attack Ticonderoga. General Abercrombie
ordered an assault before his artillery came up, and while the
battle raged lay hid away in the rear. A disastrous repulse was the
result.

[Footnote: While the main army was delaying after this failure,
Colonel Bradstreet obtained permission to go against Fort
Frontenac, on the present site of Kingston. Crossing the lake, he
captured the fort and a large quantity of stores intended for Fort
Du Quesne. The loss disheartened the garrison of the latter place,
frightened off their Indian allies, and did much to cause its
evacuation on the approach of the English.]

3. _Capture of both Forts_.--The next year (1759), at the
approach of General Amherst with a large army, both Ticonderoga and
Crown Point were evacuated.

4. NIAGARA.

1. About the time of Braddock's expedition, General Shirley marched
to capture Niagara. But reaching Oswego and learning of that
disastrous defeat, he was discouraged. He simply built a fort and
came home.

[Footnote: The next year that indefatigable general, Montcalm,
crossed the lake from Canada and captured this fort with its
garrison and a large amount of public stores.]

2. Nothing further was done toward the capture of this important
post for four years, when it was invested by General Prideaux
(pre-do). In spite of desperate attempts made to relieve the
garrison, it was at last compelled to surrender (1759). New York
was thus extended to Niagara River, and the West was secured to the
English.

[Footnote: Prideaux was accidentally killed during the siege, but
his successor, Johnson, satisfactorily carried out his plans.]

5. QUEBEC (1759).--The same summer in which Niagara, Crown Point,
and Ticonderoga were occupied by the English, General Wolfe
anchored with a large fleet and eight thousand land troops in front
of Quebec. Opposed to him was the vigilant French general,
Montcalm, with a command equal to his own. The English cannon
easily destroyed the lower city next the river, but the citadel
being on higher ground, was far out of their reach. The bank of the
river, for miles a high craggy wall, bristled with cannon at every
landing-place. For months Wolfe lingered before the city, vainly
seeking some feasible point of attack. Carefully reconnoitering the
precipitous bluff above the city, his sharp eyes at length
discovered a narrow path winding among the rocks to the top, and he
determined to lead his army up this ascent.

[Footnote: It was expected that the two armies engaged in the
capture of these forts would join Wolfe in the attack on Quebec;
but for various reasons they made no attempt to do so, and Wolfe
was left to perform his task alone.]

[Illustration: QUEBEC IN EARLY TIMES]

[Footnote: General Wolfe was a great admirer of the poet Gray. As
he went the rounds for final inspection on the beautiful starlight
evening before the attack, he remarked to those in the boat with
him. "'I would rather be the author of The Elegy in a Country
Churchyard' than to have the glory of beating the French to
morrow," and amid the rippling of the water and the dashing of the
oars he repeated

 "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
    And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
  Await alike the inevitable hour
    The paths of glory lead but to the grave"]

To distract the enemy's attention, he took his men several miles up
the river. Thence dropping down silently by night with the
ebb-tide, they landed, clambered up the steep cliff, quickly
dispersed the guard, and at day-break stood arrayed in order of
battle on the Plains of Abraham.

[Footnote: Although Wolfe rose from a sick-bed to lead his troops,
he was the first man to land. The shore was lined with French
sentinels. A captain who understood French and had been assigned
this duty, answered the challenge of the sentinel near the landing,
and thus warded off the first danger of alarm.]

Montcalm, astonished at the audacity of the attempt, could scarcely
believe it possible. When convinced of its truth he at once made an
impetuous attack. Wolfe's veterans held their fire until the French
were close at hand, then poured upon them rapid, steady volleys.
The enemy soon wavered. Wolfe, placing himself at the head, now
ordered a bayonet charge. Already twice wounded, he still pushed
forward. A third ball struck him. He was carried to the rear. "They
run! They run!" exclaimed the officer on whom he leaned. "Who run?"
he faintly gasped. "The French," was the reply. "Now God be
praised, I die happy," murmured the expiring hero. Montcalm, too,
was fatally wounded as he was vainly trying to rally the fugitives.
On being told by the surgeon that he could not live more than
twelve hours, he answered, "So much the better. I shall not see the
surrender of Quebec."

Five days afterward (September 18, 1759,) the city and garrison
capitulated.

CLOSE OF THE WAR.

[Footnote: The five points which were especially sought by the
English were now all captured. Canada itself, worn out,
impoverished, and almost in famine, because of the long war, was
ready for peace.]

PEACE.--The next year an attempt was made to re-capture Quebec. But
a powerful fleet arrived from England in time to raise the siege. A
large army marched upon Montreal, and Canada soon submitted. The
English flag now waved over the continent, from the Arctic Ocean to
the Mississippi. Peace was made at Paris in 1763. Spain ceded
Florida to England. France gave up to England all her territory
east of the Mississippi, except two small islands south of
Newfoundland, retained as fishing stations; while, to Spain she
ceded New Orleans, and all her territory west of the Mississippi.

PONTIAC'S WAR.--The French traders and missionaries had won the
hearts of the Indians. When the more haughty English came to take
possession of the western forts, great discontent was roused.
Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, Philip-like, formed a
confederation of the tribes against the common foe. It was secretly
agreed to fall at once upon all the British posts. Eight forts were
thus surprised and captured.

[Footnote: Various stratagems were employed to accomplish their
designs. At Maumee, a squaw lured forth the commander by imploring
aid for an Indian woman dying outside the fort. Once without, he
was at the mercy of the ambushed savages. At Mackinaw, hundreds of
Indians had gathered. Commencing a game at ball, one party drove
the other, as if by accident, toward the fort. The soldiers were
attracted to watch the game. At length the ball was thrown over the
pickets, and the Indians jumping after it, began the terrible
butchery. The commander, Major Henry, writing in his room, heard
the war-cry and the shrieks of the victims, and rushing to his
window beheld the savage work of the tomahawk and the
scalping-knife. Amid untold perils he himself escaped. At Detroit,
the plot was betrayed by a squaw, and when the chiefs were admitted
to their proposed council for "brightening the chain of
friendship," they found themselves surrounded by an armed garrison.
Pontiac was allowed to escape. Two days after he commenced a siege
which lasted several months. In payment of the supplies for his
army, he issued birch-bark notes signed with the figure of an
otter. These primitive "government bonds" were promptly paid when
due.]

Thousands of persons fled from their homes to avoid the
scalping-knife. At last the Indians, disagreeing among themselves,
deserted the alliance, and a treaty was signed. Pontiac, still
revengeful, fled to the hunting-grounds of the Illinois. There he
was murdered by a Peorian Indian, while endeavoring to incite
another attack.

EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.--In this war the colonists
spent $16,000,000, and England repaid only $5,000,000. The
Americans lost thirty thousand men, and suffered the untold horrors
of Indian barbarity. The taxes sometimes equaled two-thirds the
income of the tax-payer; yet they were levied by their own
representatives, and they did not murmur. The men of different
colonies and diverse ideas fought shoulder to shoulder, and many
sectional jealousies were allayed. They learned to think and act
independently of the mother country, and thus came to know their
strength. Democratic ideas had taken root, legislative bodies had
been called, troops raised and supplies voted, not by England, but
by themselves. They had become fond of liberty. They knew their
rights and dared maintain them. When they voted money they kept the
purse in their own hands.

The treatment of the British officers helped also to unite the
colonists. They made sport of the awkward provincial soldiers. The
best American officers were often thrust aside to make place for
young British subalterns. But, in spite of sneers, Washington,
Gates, Montgomery, Stark, Arnold, Morgan, Putnam, all received
their training, and learned how, when the time came, to fight even
British regulars.

CONDITION OF THE COLONIES.

[Footnote: Read Dames's Popular History of the United States, Chap
4, Colonial Life.]

There were now thirteen colonies. They numbered about 2,000,000
people. The largest cities were Boston and Philadelphia, each
containing about eighteen thousand inhabitants Three forms of
government existed--charter, proprietary, and royal. Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut, had charter governments. Maryland
and Pennsylvania (with Delaware) were proprietary--that is, their
proprietors governed them. Georgia, Virginia, New Hampshire, New
York, New Jersey, and the Carolinas were directly subject to the
crown, the last three being at first proprietary, but afterward
becoming royal. The colonies were all Protestant. The intolerant
religious spirit of early days had moderated, and there had been a
gradual assimilation of manners and customs. They had, in a word,
become Americans. In accordance with the customs of the age, the
laws were still severe. Thus in New England, at one time, twelve
offences were punishable by death, while in Virginia there were
seventeen capital crimes. The affairs of private life were
regulated by law in a manner that would not now be endured. At
Hartford, for example, the ringing of the watchman's bell in the
morning was the signal for every one to rise and in Massachusetts a
scold was sometimes gagged and placed near her door, while for
other minor offences the stocks and pillory were used. The social
prejudices brought over from England still survived in a measure.
Even in New England official positions were monopolized by a few
leading families, and often descended from father to son. The
catalogues of Harvard and Yale were long arranged according to the
rank of the students.

[Illustration: THE STOCKS.]

[Illustration: A SCOLD GAGGED.]

Nine colleges had already been established. These were Harvard,
William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Columbia (originally called
King's), Brown, Rutger's (then Queen's), Dartmouth, and Hampden
Sidney. Educational interests were not fostered by the English
government. Only one donation was given to found a college in the
colonies--that of William and Mary, an institution named in honor
of these sovereigns.

[Illustration: The pillory.]

Agriculture was the main dependence of the people, though
manufactures, even at this early period, received much attention at
the north. Hats, paper shoes, household furniture, farming
utensils, and the coarser kinds of cutlery were made to some
extent. Cloth weaving had been introduced. Most thrifty people,
however, dressed in homespun. It is said of Mrs. Washington that
she kept running sixteen spinning-wheels. Commerce had steadily
increased--principally, however, as coast trade, in consequence of
the oppressive laws of Great Britain. The daring fishermen of New
England already pushed their whaling crafts far into the icy
regions of the north. Money was for many years very scarce. In 1635
musket-bullets were made to pass in place of farthings, the law
providing that not more than twelve should be given in one payment.

[Illustration: THE WOOLEN SPINNING-WHEEL.]

The first printing press was set up at Cambridge, in 1639. Most of
the books of that day were collections of sermons. The first
permanent newspaper, The Boston News Letter, was published in 1704.
In 1750 there were only seven newspapers. The Federal Orrery, the
first daily paper, was not issued till 1792. There was a public
library in New York, from which books were loaned at four and a
half pence per week.

The usual mode of travel was on foot or horseback. People journeyed
largely by means of coasting sloops. The trip from New York to
Philadelphia occupied three days if the wind was fair. There was a
wagon running bi-weekly from New York across New Jersey.
Conveyances were put on in 1766, which made the unprecedented time
of two days from New York to Philadelphia. They were, therefore,
termed "flying machines."

The first stage route was between Providence and Boston, taking two
days for the trip. A post-office system had been effected by the
combination of the colonies, which united the whole country.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the early postmasters-general. He made
a grand tour of the country in his chaise, perfecting and maturing
the plan. His daughter Sally accompanied him, riding sometimes by
his side in the chaise, and sometimes on the extra horse which he
had with him. It took five months to make the rounds which could
now be performed in as many days. A mail was started in 1672,
between New York and Boston, by way of Hartford; according to the
contract the round trip being made monthly.

[Illustration: OLD-FASHIONED "STAGE WAGON."]

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

1. _The New England_ people were strict in morals. Governor
Winthrop prohibited cards and gaming tables. A man was whipped for
shooting fowl on Sunday. No man was allowed to keep tavern who did
not bear an excellent character and possess property. The names of
drunkards were posted up in the ale houses, and the keepers
forbidden to sell them liquor. By order of the colony of
Connecticut, no person under twenty years of age could use any
tobacco without a physician's order; and no one was allowed to use
it oftener than once a day, and then not within ten miles of any
house.

Articles of dress were also limited or regulated by law. No person
whose estate did not exceed 200 pounds, could wear "gold or silver
lace, or any lace above 2 shillings per yard." The "selectmen" were
required to take note of the "apparel" of the people, especially
their "ribbands and great boots." Only the gentility, including
ministers and their wives, received the prefix _Mr._ and _Mrs._ to
their names. Others, above servitude, were called _Goodman_ and
_Goodwife._

Conduct was shaped by a literal interpretation of the Scriptures.
Simplicity of manners and living was carefully inculcated. At first
the ministers had almost entire control. A church reproof was the
heaviest punishment, and knotty points in theology caused the
bitterest discussion. A pillion was the grandest equipage, and a
plain blue and white gown, with primly starched apron, was the
common attire of the New England dames.

2. _The Middle Colonies_.--The manners of the New York people
were essentially Dutch. Many customs then inaugurated still remain
in vogue. Among these is that of New Year's Day visiting, of which
General Washington said, "New York will in process of years
gradually change its ancient customs and manners, but whatever
changes take place, never forget the cordial observance of New
Year's Day." So, also, to the Dutch we owe our Christmas visit of
Santa Claus, colored eggs at Easter, doughnuts, crullers, and New
Year's cookies. Laws of morality were rigidly enforced, as in New
England. Furniture and equipages were extremely simple. Carpets
were hardly known before 1750, and each housekeeper prided herself
on the purity of her white-sanded floor.

[Illustration: DUTCH MANSION AND COTTAGE IN NEW AMSTERDAM.]

3. _The Southern Colonists_ differed widely from the northern
in habits and style of living. In place of thickly-settled towns
and villages, they had large plantations, and were surrounded by a
numerous household of servants. An estate in those days was a
little empire. The planter had among his slaves men of every trade.
The mansion-house was large, and fitted to the free-hearted, open
handed hospitality of its owner. The negro quarters formed a hamlet
apart, with its gardens and poultry yards. There were large sheds
for curing tobacco, and mills for grinding corn and wheat.
Everything necessary for ordinary use was produced on the
plantation. Their tobacco was put up by their own negroes, and
consigned direct to England. The flour of the Mount Vernon estate
was packed under the eye of Washington himself, and we are told
that barrels of flour bearing his brand, passed in the West India
market without inspection. A style of luxury and refinement already
prevailed. Services of plate, elegant equipages, and liveried
servants were not uncommon. Rich planters vied with one another in
the possession of the finest horses.

[Illustration: FIELD-SPORTS OF THE SOUTH--FOX-HUNTING]

EDUCATION.

1 _The Eastern Colonies_--Next to their religion, the Puritans
prized education. When Boston was but six years old, $2,000 were
appropriated to the seminary at Cambridge, now known as Harvard
University. Some years after, each family gave a peck of corn or a
shilling in cash for its support. Common schools had already been
provided, and in 1647 every town was ordered to have a free school,
and, if it contained over one hundred families, a grammar school.
In Connecticut, any town that did not keep a school for three
months in the year was liable to a fine. In 1700, ten ministers,
having previously so agreed, brought together a number of books,
each saying as he laid down his gift, "I give these books for
founding a college in Connecticut." This was the beginning of Yale
College. It was first established at Saybrook, but in 1716 was
removed to New Haven. It was named from Governor Yale, who
befriended it most generously.

[Illustration: A WEDDING JOURNEY.]

The "town meetings," as they were styled, were of inestimable value
in cultivating democratic ideas. The young and old, rich and poor,
here met on a perfect equality for the discussion of all local
questions. In Hartford, every freeman who neglected to attend the
town meeting was fined sixpence, unless he had a good excuse.

2. _The Middle Colonies_ already had many schools scattered
through the towns. In New York, during the Dutch period, it was
customary for the schoolmaster, in order to increase his earnings,
to ring the church-bell, dig graves, and act as chorister and town
clerk. In the English period, some of the schools were kept by
Dutch masters, who taught English as an accomplishment. As early as
1702, an act was passed for the "Encouragement of a Grammar Free
School in the City of New York." In 1795, George Clinton laid the
foundation of the common-school system of the State, and within
three years nearly 60,000 children were receiving instruction. At
Lewiston, Del, is said to have been established the first girls'
school in the colonies. The first school in Pennsylvania was
started about 1683, where "reading, writing, and casting accounts"
were taught, for eight English shillings per annum. The Orrery
invented by Dr. Rittenhouse, in 1768, is still preserved in
Princeton College. No European institution had its equal.

Churches were established by the various denominations. The Swedes
had a meeting house erected even before the landing of Penn.
Ministers' salaries were met in different ways. In New York the
Dutch dominie was paid sometimes in wampum. The dominie of Albany
on one occasion received one hundred and fifty beaver skins.

3. _The Southern Colonies_ met with great difficulties in
their efforts to establish schools. Though Virginia boasts of the
second oldest college, yet her English governors bitterly opposed
the progress of education. Governor Berkeley, of whose haughty
spirit we have already heard, said, "I thank God there are no free
schools nor printing-presses here, and I hope we shall not have
them these hundred years." The restrictions upon the press were so
great that no newspaper was published in Virginia until 1736, and
that was controlled by the government. Free schools were
established in Maryland in 1696, and a free school in Charleston,
S. C., in 1712. Private schools were early established by the
colonists in every neighborhood.

A farm of one hundred acres was set apart by law for each
clergyman, and also a portion of the "best and first gathered corn"
and tobacco. Absence from church was fined. In Georgia, masters
were compelled to send their slaves to church, under a penalty of 5
pounds.

Summary of the History of the Second Epoch, arranged in
Chronological Order.

1607. Jamestown founded by the London Company. First permanent
      English settlement in America, May 23
1609. Virginia received its second charter, June 2
1610. "Starving Time" in Virginia
1612. Virginia received its third charter, March 22
1613. Pocahontas married Rolfe, April
      Settlement of New York by the Dutch
1614. Smith explored the New England Coast
1615. Culture of tobacco commenced in Virginia
1619. First Colonial Assembly, June 28
      Slavery introduced in the English colony at Jamestown
1620. Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. First permanent English
        settlement in New England, December 21
1622. Indian massacre in Virginia, March 22
      New Hampshire granted to Gorges and Mason, Aug. 10
1623. New Hampshire settled at Dover and Portsmouth
1628. Charter granted to Massachusetts Bay Colony, March 4
1629. New patent for New Hampshire granted to Mason,
        November 7
1630. First house built in Boston, under Governor Winthrop,
        July
1632. Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore, June 20
1634. Maryland settled at St. Mary's;
1633-6. Connecticut settled at Windsor, Hartford, and
        Wethersfield,
1635. Clayborne's rebellion in Virginia and Maryland,
1636. Rhode Island settled at Providence, June,
1637. Pequod War,
1638. New Haven colony founded, April 18,
      Delaware settled near Wilmington by the Swedes, April
1641. New Hampshire united to Massachusetts,
1643. Union of the New England colonies, May 29,
1644. Second Indian massacre in Virginia, April 18,
      Charter granted to Rhode Island.--Providence and Rhode
        Island plantations united, March 14,
1655. Civil war in Maryland,
      New Sweden conquered by the Dutch, October,
1660. Navigation Act, passed in 1651, now enforced,
1662. Charter granted to Connecticut, April 20,
1663. Albemarle Colony formed, March 24,
1664. New Netherland conquered by the English and called New
        York, September,
      New Jersey settled at Elizabethtown,
1670. South Carolina settled on the Ashley River,
1675. King Philip's War,
1676. Bacon's rebellion, April
1679. New Hampshire made a royal province
1680. Charleston, S. C., founded
1682. Pennsylvania settled
      Delaware granted to William Penn by the Duke of York,
        August 31,
1683. Philadelphia founded by William Penn, February,
1686. Andros arrived in Boston as governor of New England,
        December 20,
1689. King William's war,
      Andros seized and sent to England
1690. Schenectady burned by the Indians and the French
1692. Salem witchcraft
      Massachusetts received a new charter, under Phipps, Gov.
1697. Peace of Ryswick terminated King William's war
1702. Queen Anne's war commenced,
      Delaware secured a separate legislative assembly,
1710. Port Royal, N. S., captured by the English and named
        Annapolis,
1713. Queen Anne's war closed by the treaty of Utrecht
1732. Washington born, February 22,
1733. Georgia settled by Oglethorpe at Savannah, February 12,
1739. The Spanish War began,
1744. King George's war began,
1745. Louisburg captured by the English, June 17,
1748. King George's war ended by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle
1753. Washington sent with a letter by Dinwiddie to St. Pierre,
        October 31,
1754. Battle at Gt. Meadows-Ft. Necessity captured by French,
1755. The French driven from Acadia, June,
      Braddock defeated in the Battle of Monongahela, July 9,
      The British defeated Dieskau at Lake George. September 8,
1756. War first formally declared between the English
        and the French, May 17,
      French under Montcalm captured Fort Oswego, Aug. 14,
1757. Fort William Henry surrendered to Montcalm, Aug. 9,
1758. Abercrombie repulsed at Fort Ticonderoga, July 8,
      Louisburg taken by Amherst and Wolfe, July 26,
      Fort Frontenac captured by the colonists, August 27,
      Fort du Quesne taken by the English, November 25,
1759. Ticonderoga and Crown Point abandoned by the French,
      Niagara surrendered to England, July 25,
      Battle of Plains of Abraham--Quebec surrendered,
1760. Montreal surrendered to the English, September 8,
      Pontiac's war,
1763. Peace of Paris,

REFERENCES FOR READING.

Palfrey's History of New England.--Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac.
--Neal's History of the Puritans.--Holmes's Robinson of Leyden
(Poem).-Mrs. Hemans's Landing of the Pilgriris (Poem).--Martyn's
Pilgrim Fathers of New England.--Elliott's History of New England.
--Hopkins's Youth of the Old Dominion.--Simms's Smith and
Pocahontas.--Mrs. Sigourney's Pocahontas (Poem).--Longfellow's
Courtship of Miles Standish, and Evangeline (Poems).--Holland's Bay
Path.--Barber's New England.--Irving's Knickerbocker's History of
New York, and King Philip's War (Sketch Book).--Cooper's Last of
the Mohicans--James's Ticonderoga.--Hubbard's History of Indian
Wars in New England.--Hall's Puritans and their Principles.
--Randall's School History of New York--Barber's American
Scenes--Tracy's American Historical Reader--Paulding's Ode to
Jamestown (Poem), and his Dutchman's Fire-Side (a novel)--Street's
Frontenac (a romance)--Mrs Childs's Hobomok (a novel).--Margaret
Smith's Journal (by Whittier).--Harper's Magazine, Vol. 52, p t,
art, Up the Ashley and Cooper (Life in Colony of S. C.)--Sanborn's
History of New Hampshire--Holland's History of Western
Massachusetts.--Greene's History of Rhode Island.

EPOCH III.

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

From 1775--the Breaking out of the War,
To   1787--the Adoption of the Constitution.

CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

REMOTE CAUSES.--England treated the settlers as an inferior class
of people. Her intention was to make and keep the colonies
dependent. The laws were framed to favor the English manufacturer
and merchant at the expense of the colonist. The Navigation Acts
compelled the American farmer to send his products across the ocean
to England, and to buy his goods in British markets. American
manufactures were prohibited.

[Footnote: _Questions on The Geography of The Third Epoch_.

  Locate Boston. Portsmouth. Newport. Philadelphia. Salem.
  Concord. Lexington. Whitehall. Cambridge. New London.
  Charleston. Charlestown. Brooklyn. New York. White Plains.
  North Castle. Cherry Valley. Elizabethtown. Trenton. Princeton.
  Germantown. Albany. Oriskany. Bennington. Yorktown. Monmouth C. H.
  Quebec. Danbury. Savannah. Augusta. Norfolk. Norwalk. Fairfield.
  New Haven. Elmira. Camden. Hanging Rock. Cowpeus. Guilford C. H.
  Wilmington. Eutaw Springs.

  Locate Crown Point. Fort Ticonderoga. Fort Edward. Fort Griswold.
  Fort Moultrie. Fort Washington. West Point. Fort Schuyler (Fort
  Stanwix was named after Gen. Schuyler in 1776, and so in history
  is called by either name). Stony Point. Fort Lee. Fort Mifflin.
  Fort Creek. Catawba River. Yadkin River. Dan River.
  Delaware River.

  Locate Valley Forge. Ninety Six. Dorchester Heights. Morristown.
  King's Mountain. Bemis's Heights. Wyoming.]

Iron works were denounced as "common nuisances." William Pitt, the
friend of America, declared that "she had no right to manufacture
even a nail for a horseshoe."

[Footnote: The exportation of hats from one colony to another was
prohibited, and no hatter was allowed to have more than two
apprentices at a time. The importation of sugar, rum, and molasses,
was burdened with exorbitant duties; and the Carolinians were
forbidden to cut down the pine-trees of their vast forests, in
order to convert the wood into staves, or the juice into turpentine
and tar for commercial purposes. Read Barnes's Popular History of
the United States, p. 134.]

THE DIRECT CAUSE was an attempt to tax the colonies in order to
raise money to defray the expenses of the recent war. As the
colonists were not represented in Parliament they resisted this
measure, declaring that TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY.
The British government, however, was obstinate, and began first to
enforce the odious laws against trade. Smuggling had become very
common, and the English officers were granted

WRITS OF ASSISTANCE, as they were called, or warrants authorizing
them to search for smuggled goods. Under this pretext any petty
custom-house official could enter a man's house or store at his
pleasure. The colonists believed that "every man's house is his
castle," and resisted such power as a violation of their rights.

[Footnote: The matter was brought before a general court, held in
Boston, where James Otis, advocate-general, coming out boldly on
the side of the people, exclaimed, "To my dying day I will oppose,
with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such
instruments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other."
"Then and there," said John Adams, who was present, "the trumpet of
the Revolution was sounded."]

THE STAMP ACT (1765), which ordered that stamps bought of the
British government, should be put on all legal documents,
newspapers, pamphlets, &c., thoroughly aroused the colonists.

[Footnote: The assembly of Virginia was the first to make public
opposition to this odious law. Patrick Henry, a brilliant young
lawyer, introduced a resolution denying the right of Parliament to
tax America. He boldly asserted that the king had played the
tyrant; and, alluding to the fate of other tyrants, exclaimed,
"Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell, and George III."
--here pausing till the cry of "Treason! Treason!" from several
parts of the house had ended, he deliberately added--"may profit by
their examples. If this be treason, make the most of it."--John
Ashe, speaker of the North Carolina Assembly, declared to Governor
Tryon, "This law will be resisted to blood and to death."]

The houses of British officials were mobbed. Prominent loyalists
were hung in effigy. Stamps were seized. The agents were forced to
resign. People agreed not to use any article of British
manufacture.

[Footnote: The newspapers of the day mention many wealthy people
who conformed to this agreement. On one occasion forty or fifty
young ladies, who called themselves "Daughters of Liberty," brought
their spinning-wheels to the house of Rev. Mr. Morehead, in Boston,
and during the day spun two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn,
which they presented to their pastor. "Within eighteen months,"
wrote a gentleman at Newport, R.I., "four hundred and eighty-seven
yards of cloth and thirty-six pairs of stockings have been spun and
knit in the family of James Nixon of this town." In Newport and
Boston the ladies, at their tea-drinkings, used, instead of
imported tea, the dried leaves of the raspberry. They called this
substitute Hyperion. The class of 1770, at Cambridge, took their
diplomas in homespun suits.]

Associations, called the "Sons of Liberty," were formed to resist
the law. Delegates from nine of the colonies met at New York and
framed a Declaration of Rights, and a petition to the king and
Parliament. The 1st of November, appointed for the law to go into
effect, was observed as a day of mourning. Bells were tolled, flags
raised at half-mast, and business was suspended,

[Footnote: The name was assumed from the celebrated speech of Barre
on the Stamp Act, in which he spoke of the colonists as "sons of
liberty."]

[Footnote: At Portsmouth, N. H., a coffin inscribed "LIBERTY, aged
CXLV years," was borne to an open grave. With muffled drums and
solemn tread, the procession moved from the State House. Minute
guns were fired till the grave was reached, when a funeral oration
was pronounced and the coffin lowered. Suddenly it was proclaimed
that there were signs of life. The coffin was raised, and the
inscription "Liberty Revived" added. Bells rang, trumpets sounded,
men shouted, and a jubilee ensued.]

Samuel and John Adams, Patrick Henry, and James Otis, by their
stirring and patriotic speeches, aroused the people over the whole
land.

Alarmed by these demonstrations, the English government repealed
the Stamp Act (1766), but still declared its right to tax the
colonies. Soon, new duties were laid upon tea, glass, paper, &c.,
and a Board of Trade was established at Boston, to act
independently of the colonial assemblies.

MUTINY ACT.--Anticipating bitter opposition, troops were sent to
enforce the laws. The "Mutiny Act," as it was called, ordered that
the colonies should provide these soldiers with quarters and
necessary supplies. This evident attempt to enslave the Americans
aroused burning indignation. To be taxed was bad enough, but to
shelter and feed their oppressors was unendurable. The New York
assembly, having refused to comply, was forbidden to pass any
legislative acts. The Massachusetts assembly sent a circular to the
other colonies urging a union for redress of grievances.
Parliament, in the name of the king, ordered the assembly to
rescind its action; but it almost unanimously refused. In the
meantime the assemblies of nearly all the colonies had declared
that Parliament had no right to tax them without their consent.
Thereupon they were warned not to imitate the disobedient conduct
of Massachusetts.

BOSTON MASSACRE.--Boston being considered the hot-bed of the
rebellion, General Gage was sent thither with two regiments of
troops. They entered on a quiet Sabbath morning, and marched as
through a conquered city, with drums beating and flags flying.
Quarters being refused, they took possession of the State House.
The Common was soon crowded with tents. Cannon were planted,
sentries posted, and citizens challenged. Frequent quarrels took
place between the people and the soldiers. One day (March 5, 1770)
a crowd of men and boys, maddened by its presence, insulted the
city guard. A fight ensued, in which two citizens were wounded and
three killed. The bells were rung; the country people rushed in to
the help of the city; and it was with great difficulty that quiet
was at last restored.

[Footnote: The soldiers were tried for murder. John Adams and
Josiah Quincy, who stood foremost in opposition to British
aggression, defended them. All were acquitted except two, who were
found guilty of manslaughter.]

BOSTON TEA PARTY (Dec. 16, 1773).--The government, alarmed by the
turn events had taken, rescinded the taxes, except that on
tea--which was left to maintain the principle. An arrangement was
made whereby tea was furnished at so low a price that with the tax
included it was cheaper in America than in England. This subterfuge
exasperated the patriots. They were fighting for a great principle,
not a paltry tax. At Charleston the tea was stored in damp cellars
where it soon spoiled. The tea-ships at New York and Philadelphia
were sent home. The British authorities refused to let the
tea-ships at Boston return. Upon this an immense public meeting was
held at Faneuil Hall, and it was decided that the tea should never
be brought ashore. A party of men, disguised as Indians, boarded
the vessels and emptied three hundred and forty-two chests of tea
into the water.

[Footnote: Faneuil Hall was the rendezvous of the Revolutionary
spirits of that time--hence it has been called the "Cradle of
Liberty."]

[Footnote: On their way home from the "Boston Tea Party," the men
passed a house at which Admiral Montague was spending the evening.
The officer raised the window and cried out, "Well, boys, you've
had a fine night for your Indian caper. But, mind, you've got to
pay the fiddler yet." "Oh, never mind," replied one of the leaders,
"never mind, squire! Just come out here, if you please, and we'll
settle the bill in two minutes." The admiral thought it best to let
the bill stand, and quickly shut the window.]

[Illustration: FANEUIL HALL]

THE CLIMAX REACHED.--Retaliatory measures were at once adopted by
the English government. General Gage was appointed governor of
Massachusetts. The port of Boston being closed by act of
Parliament, business was stopped and distress ensued. The Virginia
assembly protested against this measure, and was dissolved by the
governor. Party lines were drawn. Those opposed to royalty were
termed _Whigs_, and those supporting it, _Tories_. Everywhere were
repeated the thrilling words of Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or
give me death." Companies of soldiers, termed "Minute men," were
formed. The idea of a continental union became popular. Gage, being
alarmed, fortified Boston Neck, and seized powder wherever he could
find it. A rumor having been circulated that the British ships were
firing on Boston, in two days thirty thousand minute men were on their
way to the city. A spark only was needed to kindle the slumbering
hatred into the flames of war.

[Footnote: The public feeling in England wan generally against the
colonies. "Every man," wrote Dr. Franklin, "seems to consider
himself as a piece of a sovereign over America; seems to jostle
himself into the throne with the king, and talks of _our_ subjects in
the colonies."]

[Footnote: Marblehead and Salem, refusing to profit by the ruin of
their rival, offered the use of their wharves to the Boston
merchants. Aid and sympathy were received from all sides.
Schoharie, N. Y., sent five hundred and twenty-five bushels of
wheat.]

THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (Sept. 5, 1774) was held in
Philadelphia. It consisted of men of influence, and represented
every colony except Georgia. As yet few members had any idea of
independence. The Congress simply voted that obedience was not due
to any of the recent acts of Parliament, and sustained
Massachusetts in her resistance. It issued a protest against
standing armies being kept in the colonies without the consent of
the people, and agreed to hold no intercourse with Great Britain.

1775.

BATTLE OF LEXINGTON (April 19).--General Gage, learning that the
people were gathering military stores at Concord, sent eight
hundred men under Col. Smith and Major Pitcairn to destroy them.
The patriots of Boston, however, were on the alert, and hurried out
messengers to alarm the country.

[Footnote: Paul Revere caused two lights to be hung up in the
steeple of Christ Church. They were seen in Charlestown; messengers
set out, and he soon followed on his famous midnight ride. (Read
Longfellow's poem.)]

When the red-coats, as the British soldiers were called, reached
Lexington, they found a company of minute men gathering on the
village green. Riding up, Pitcairn shouted, "Disperse, you rebels;
lay down your arms!" They hesitated. A skirmish ensued, in which
seven Americans--the first martyrs of the Revolution--were killed.

[Illustration: PUTNAM SUMMONED TO WAR.]

The British pushed on and destroyed the stores. But alarmed by the
gathering militia they hastily retreated. It was none too soon. The
whole region flew to arms. Every boy old enough to use a rifle
hurried to avenge the death of his countrymen, From behind trees,
fences, buildings, and rocks, in front, flank and rear, so galling
a fire was poured, that but for reinforcements from Boston, none of
the British would have reached the city alive. As it was, they lost
nearly three hundred men.

_Effects of the Battle_.--The news that American blood had
been spilled flew like wild-fire. Patriots came pouring in from all
sides. Putnam left his cattle yoked in the field, and without
changing his working clothes, mounted his fastest horse, and
hurried to Boston. Soon twenty thousand men were at work building
intrenchments to shut up the British in the city. Congresses were
formed in all the colonies. Committees of safety were appointed to
call out the troops and provide for any emergency. The power of the
royal governors was broken from Massachusetts to Georgia.

[Footnote: Israel Putnam, familiarly known as "Old Put," was born
in Salem, Mass., 1718. Many stories are told of his great courage
and presence of mind. His descent into the wolf's den, shooting the
animal by the light of her own glaring eyes, showed his love of
bold adventure; his noble generosity was displayed in the rescue of
a comrade scout at Crown Point, at the imminent peril of his own
life. He came out of one encounter with fourteen bullet-holes in
his blanket. In 1756, a party of Indians took him prisoner, bound
him to a stake, and made ready to torture him with fire. The flames
were already scorching his limbs, and death seemed certain, when a
French officer burst through the crowd and saved his life. At Fort
Edward, when all others fled, he alone fought back the fire from a
magazine in which were stored three hundred barrels of gunpowder,
protected only by a thin partition. "His face, his hands, and
almost his whole body, were blistered; and in removing the mittens
from his hands, the skin was torn off with them." The British
offered him money and the rank of major-general if he would desert
the American cause; but he could neither be daunted by toil and
danger, nor bribed by gold and honors.]

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL (June 17).--The patriot leader, Gen. Ward,
having learned that the British intended to fortify Bunker Hill,
determined to anticipate them. A body of men, under Col. Prescott,
were accordingly assembled at Cambridge, and, after prayer by the
president of Harvard University, marched to Charlestown Neck.
Breed's Hill was then chosen as a more commanding site than Bunker
Hill. It was bright moonlight, and they were so near Boston that
the sentinel's "All's well," was distinctly heard. Yet so quietly
did they work that there was no alarm. At daylight the British
officers were startled by seeing the redoubt which had been
constructed. Resolved to drive the Americans from their position,
Howe crossed the river with three thousand men, and formed them at
the landing. The roofs and steeples of Boston were crowded with
spectators, intently watching the troops as they slowly ascended
the hill. The patriot ranks lay quietly behind their earthworks
until the red-coats were within ten rods, when Prescott shouted
"Fire!" A blaze of light shot from the redoubt, and whole platoons
of the British fell. The survivors, unable to endure the terrible
slaughter, broke and fled. They were rallied under cover of the
smoke of Charlestown, which had been wantonly fired by Gage.

[Illustration: THE PRAYER BEFORE THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.]

Again they were met by that deadly discharge, and again they fled.
Reinforcements being received, the third time they advanced. Only
one volley smote them, and then the firing ceased. The American
ammunition was exhausted. The British charged over the ramparts
with fixed bayonets. The patriots gallantly resisted with clubbed
muskets, but were soon driven from the field.

[Footnote: General Warren was among the last to leave. As he was
trying to rally the troops, a British officer, who knew him, seized
a musket and shot him. Warren had just received his commission as
major-general, but had crossed Charlestown Neel in the midst of
flying balls, reached the redoubt, and offered himself as a
volunteer. He was buried near the spot where he fell. By his death
America lost one of her truest sons. Gage is reported to have said
that his fall was worth that of five hundred ordinary rebels.]

_The effect_ upon the Americans of this first regular battle
was that of a victory. Their untrained farmer soldiers had put to
flight the British veterans. All felt encouraged, and the
determination to fight for liberty was intensified.

CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA (May 10).--Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold
led a small company of volunteers to surprise this fortress. As
Allen rushed into the sally-port, a sentinel snapped his gun at him
and fled. Making his way to the commander's quarters, Allen, in a
voice of thunder, ordered him to surrender. "By whose authority?"
exclaimed the frightened officer. "In the name of the Great Jehovah
and the Continental Congress!" shouted Allen. No resistance was
attempted. Large stores of cannon and ammunition, just then so much
needed by the troops at Boston, fell into the hands of the
Americans, without the loss of a single man. Crown Point was soon
after as easily taken. (Map opp p. 120.)

[Footnote: Ethan Allen was a native of Connecticut. With several of
his brothers he emigrated to what is now known as Vermont. At that
time a dispute had arisen between the colony of New York, on the
one hand, and the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut, on the other, with reference to the territory. The
governor of New Hampshire, regardless of the claims of New York,
issued grants of land so extensively that the region became known
as the _New Hampshire grants_. New York having obtained a
favorable decision of the courts, endeavored to eject the occupants
of the land. Ethan Allen became conspicuous in the resistance that
ensued. The "Green Mountain Boys" made him their colonel, and he
kept a watchful eye on the officers from New York, who sought by
form of law to dispossess the settlers of farms which had been
bought and made valuable by their own labor. The Revolutionary War
caused a lull in these hostilities, and the Green Mountain Boys
turned their arms upon the common enemy. Allen afterward aided
Montgomery in his Canadian expedition, but, in a fool-hardy attempt
upon Montreal, was taken prisoner and sent to England. After a long
captivity he was released, and returned home. Generous and frank, a
vigorous writer, loyal to his country and true to his friends, he
exerted a powerful influence on the early history of Vermont.]

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (May 10) met at Philadelphia in the
midst of these stirring events. It voted to raise twenty thousand
men, and appointed General Washington commander-in-chief. A
petition to the king was also prepared, which he refused to
receive. This destroyed all hope of reconciliation.

[Illustration: RUINS OF FORT TICONTEROGA.]

CONDITION OF THE ARMY--On Washington's arrival before Boston, he
found the army to number but fourteen thousand men. Few of them
were drilled; many were unfit for service; some had left their
farms at the first impulse, and were already weary of the hardships
of war; all were badly clothed and poorly armed, and there were
less than nine cartridges to each soldier. Washington at once made
every exertion to relieve their wants, and in the meantime kept
Gage penned up in Boston.

EXPEDITION AGAINST CANADA--Late in the summer General Montgomery,
leading an army by way of Lake Champlain, captured St. John's and
Montreal, and then appeared before Quebec. Here he was joined by
Colonel Arnold with a crowd of half-famished men, who had ascended
the Kennebec and then struck across the wilderness.

_Attack upon Quebec_.--Their united force was less than one
thousand effective men. Having besieged the city for three weeks it
was at last decided to hazard an assault. In the midst of a
terrible snow-storm they led their forces to the attack. Montgomery
advancing along the river, lifting with his own hands at the huge
blocks of ice, and struggling through the drifts, cheered on his
men. As they rushed forward a rude blockhouse appeared through the
blinding snow. Charging upon it, Montgomery fell at the first fire,
and his followers, disheartened, fled. Arnold, mean while,
approached the opposite side of the city. While bravely fighting he
was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Morgan, his successor,
pressed on the attack, but at last, unable either to retreat or
advance against the tremendous odds, was forced to surrender. The
remnant of the army, crouching behind mounds of snow and ice,
maintained a blockade of the city until spring. At the approach of
British reinforcements the Americans were glad to escape, leaving
all Canada in the hands of England.

1776.

EVACUATION OF BOSTON (March 17).--Washington, in order to force the
British to fight or run, sent a force to fortify Dorchester Heights
by night. In the morning the English were once more astonished by
seeing intrenchments which overlooked the city. A storm prevented
an immediate attack; a delay which was well improved by the
provincials. General Howe, who was then in command, remembering the
lesson of Bunker Hill, decided to leave, and accordingly set sail
for Halifax with his army, fleet, and many loyalists. The next day
Washington entered Boston amid great rejoicing. For eleven months
the inhabitants had endured the horrors of a siege and the
insolence of the enemy. Their houses had been pillaged, their shops
rifled, and their churches profaned.

[Footnote: The boys of Boston were wont to amuse themselves in
winter by building snow-houses and by skating on a pond in the
Common. The soldiers having disturbed them in their sports,
complaints were made to the inferior officers, who only ridiculed
their petition. At last a number of the largest boys waited on
General Gage. "What!" said Gage, "have your fathers sent you here
to exhibit the rebellion they have been teaching you?" "Nobody sent
us," answered the leader, with flashing eye; "we have never injured
your troops, but they have trampled down our snow-hills and broken
the ice of our skating-pond. We complained, and they called us
young rebels, and told us to help ourselves if we could. We told
the captain, and he laughed at us. Yesterday our works were
destroyed for the third time, and we will bear it no longer." The
British commander could not restrain his admiration. "The very
children," said he, "draw in a love of liberty with the air they
breathe. Go, my brave boys, and be assured, if my troops trouble
you again, they shall be punished."]

ATTACK ON FORT MOULTRIE (June 28).--Early in the summer an English
fleet appeared off Charleston, and opened fire on Fort Moultrie.

[Footnote: This fort was built of palmetto logs, which are so soft
that balls sink into them without splitting the wood. Here floated
the first republican flag in the South. In the early part of the
action the staff was struck by a ball, and the flag fell outside
the fort. Sergeant Jasper leaped over the breastwork, caught up the
flag, and springing back, tied it to a sponge-staff (an instrument
for cleaning cannon after a discharge), and hoisted it again to its
place. The next day Governor Rutledge offered him a sword and a
lieutenant's commission. He refused, saying, "I am not fit for the
company of officers; I am only a sergeant."]

So fearful was the response from Moultrie's guns, that at one time
every man but Admiral Parker was swept from the deck of his vessel.
General Clinton, who commanded the British land troops, tried to
attack the fort in the rear, but the fire of the southern riflemen
was too severe. The fleet was at last so badly shattered that it
withdrew and sailed for New York. This victory gave the colonists
great delight, as it was their first encounter with the boasted
"Mistress of the Seas."

The simple-hearted Sergeant Jasper died grasping the banner
presented to his regiment at Fort Moultrie. D'Estaing refused to
give further aid; thus again deserting the Americans when help was
most needed.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4, 1776).--During the session of
Congress this summer, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved that
"_The United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent
states._" This was passed by a majority of one colony. A
committee was appointed to draw up a DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
At two o'clock on the fourth of July, its report was adopted.

[Footnote: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger
Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, composed this committee.]

[Footnote: During the day the streets of Philadelphia were crowded
with people anxious to learn the decision. In the steeple of the
old State House was a bell on which, by a happy coincidence, was
inscribed, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
inhabitants thereof." In the morning, when Congress assembled, the
bell-ringer went to his post, having placed his boy below to
announce when the Declaration was adopted, that his bell might be
the first to peal forth the glad tidings. Long he waited, while the
deliberations went on. Impatiently the old man shook his head and
repeated, "They will never do it! They will never do it!" Suddenly
he heard his boy clapping his hands and shouting, "Ring! Ring!"
Grasping the iron tongue, he swung it to and fro, proclaiming the
glad news of liberty to all the land. The crowded streets caught up
the sound. Every steeple re-echoed it. All that night, by shouts,
and illuminations, and booming of cannon, the people declared their
joy.]

CAMPAIGN NEAR NEW YORK.--General Howe, after evacuating Boston,
went to Halifax, but soon set sail for New York. Thither also came
Admiral Howe, his brother, with reinforcements from England, and
General Clinton from the defeat at Fort Moultrie. The British army
was thirty thousand strong. Washington, divining Howe's plans, now
gathered all his forces at New York to protect that city. He had,
however, only about seven thousand men fit for duty.

[Footnote: Parliament authorized the Howes to treat with the
insurgents. By proclamation they offered pardon to all who would
return to their allegiance. This document was published by
direction of Congress, that the people might see what England
demanded. An officer was then sent to the American camp with a
letter addressed to "George Washington, Esq." Washington refused to
receive it. The address was afterward changed to "George
Washington, &c., &c." The messenger endeavored to show that this
bore any meaning which might be desired. But Washington understood
the sophistry and refused any communication which did not
distinctly recognize his position as commander of the American
army.]

BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND (Aug. 27).--The British army landed on the
southwest shore of Long Island. General Putnam, with about nine
thousand men, held a fort at Brooklyn and defences on a range of
hills south of the city. The English advanced in three divisions.
Two of these attacked the defences in front, while General Clinton,
by a circuitous route, gained the rear. The patriots were fighting
gallantly, when, to their dismay, they heard firing behind them.
They attempted to escape, but it was too late. Out of five thousand
Americans engaged, two thousand were lost.

[Footnote: Many of the captives were consigned to the Sugar House
on Liberty Street, and the prison-ships in Wallabout Bay. Their
hard lot made the fate of those who perished in battle to be
envied. During the course of the war, over 11,000 American
prisoners died in these loathsome hulks. Their bodies were buried
in the beach, whence, for years after, they were washed out from
the sand by every tide. In 1808, the remains of these martyrs were
interred with suitable ceremonies near the Navy Yard, Brooklyn;
and, in 1878, they were finally placed in a vault at Washington
Park.]

(Map opposite p. 120.)

Had Howe attacked the fort at Brooklyn immediately, the Americans
would have been destroyed. Fortunately he delayed for the fleet to
arrive. For two days the patriots lay helpless, awaiting the
assault. On the second night after the battle, there was a dense
fog on the Brooklyn side, while in New York the weather was clear.
At midnight the Americans moved silently down to the shore and
crossed the river. In the morning, when the sun scattered the fog,
Howe was chagrined to find his prey escaped.

[Footnote: The Americans embarked at a place near the present
Fulton Ferry. A woman sent her negro servant to the British to
inform them of the movements of the Americans. He was captured by
the _Hessians_, who were Germans from Hesse Cassel, hired to
fight by the British government. These, not being able to
understand a word of English, detained him until the morning. His
message was then too late.]

WASHINGTON'S RETREAT.--The British, crossing to New York, moved to
attack Washington, who had taken post on _Harlem Heights_. Finding the
American position too strong, Howe moved up the Sound in order to gain
the rear. Washington then withdrew to _White Plains_. Here Howe came
up and defeated a part of his army. Washington next retired into a
fortified camp at _North Castle_. Howe, not daring to attack him,
returned to New York and sent the Hessians to take _Fort Washington_,
which they captured after a fierce resistance (Nov. 16).

[Footnote: Washington desiring to gain some knowledge of Howe's
movements, sent Captain Nathan Hale to visit the English camps on
Long Island. He passed the lines safely, but on his way back was
recognized by a tory relative, who arrested him. He was taken to
Howe's headquarters, tried, and executed as a spy. No clergyman was
allowed to visit him; even a Bible was denied him, and his farewell
letters to his mother and sister were destroyed. The brutality of
his enemies did not, however, crush his noble spirit, for his last
words were, "I regret only that I have but one life to give to my
country."]

FLIGHT THROUGH NEW JERSEY.--Washington had now retired into New
Jersey in order to prevent the British from marching against
Philadelphia. Cornwallis, with six thousand men, hurried after him,
and for three weeks pursued the flying Americans. Many of the
patriots had no shoes, and left their blood-stained foot-prints on
the frozen ground. Oftentimes the van of the pursuing army was in
sight of the American rear-guard. At last Washington reached the
Delaware, and all the boats having been secured, crossed into
Pennsylvania. Howe resolved to wait until the river should freeze
over, and then capture Philadelphia, meanwhile quartering his
troops in the neighboring villages.

[Footnote: During this retreat, Washington repeatedly sent orders
to General Lee, who was then at North Castle, to join him. Lee
hesitated, and at last moved very slowly. Five days after this,
while quartered in a small tavern at Baskingridge, remote from his
troops, he was taken prisoner by the English cavalry. His capture
was considered a great misfortune by the Americans, who thought him
the best officer in the army. The British were greatly rejoiced,
and declared they had taken the "American Palladium."]

CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.--It was a time of deep despondency. The
patriot army was a mere handful of ragged, disheartened fugitives.
Many people of wealth and influence went over to the enemy. New
York and Newport--the second city in size in New England--were
already in the hands of the British, and they were likely soon to
seize Philadelphia.

BATTLE OF TRENTON.--Washington thought it time to strike a daring
blow. On Christmas night, in a driving storm of sleet, amid
drifting ice, that threatened every moment to crush the boats, he
crossed the Delaware with twenty-four hundred picked men, fell upon
the Hessians at Trenton, in the midst of their festivities,
captured one thousand prisoners, slew their leader, and safely
escaped back to camp, with the loss of only four men--two killed
and two frozen to death. (Map opposite p. 120.)

[Illustration: WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE.]

[Footnote: Hunt, a trader with friends and foes, a neutral, had
invited Rall, the Hessian commander, to a Christmas supper.
Card-playing and wine-drinking were kept up all night long. A
messenger came in haste, at early dawn, with a note to the colonel.
It was sent by a tory to give warning of the approach of the
American forces. The negro servant refused admittance to the
bearer. Knowing its importance, he bade the negro to take the note
directly to the officer. The servant obeyed, but the colonel,
excited by wine and the play, thrust it unopened into his pocket.
Soon the roll of drums was heard, and before the pleasure-loving
officer could reach his quarters the Americans were in pursuit of
his fleeing soldiers.]

[Footnote: Before leaving Trenton, Washington and Greene visited
the dying Hessian. It had been a time of splendid triumph to the
American commander, but as he stood by the bedside, the soldier was
lost in the Christian, and the victorious general showed himself in
that hour only a sympathizing friend.]

_The effect_ of this brilliant feat was electrical. The fires
of patriotism were kindled afresh. New recruits were received, and
the troops whose term of enlistment was expiring, agreed to remain.
Howe was alarmed, and ordered Cornwallis, who was just setting sail
for England, to return and prepare for a winter's campaign.

1777.

BATTLE OF PRINCETON (Jan. 3).--Washington soon crossed the Delaware
again, and took post at Trenton. Just before sunset Cornwallis came
up. His first onset being repulsed, he decided to wait till
morning. Washington's situation was now most critical. Before him
was a powerful army, and behind, a river full of floating ice. That
night, leaving his camp-fires burning to deceive the enemy, he
swept by country roads around the British, fell upon the troops
near Princeton, routed them, took three hundred prisoners, and by
rapid marches reached Morristown Heights in safety. Cornwallis
heard the firing and hurried to the rescue, but he was too late.
The victory was gained, and the victors were beyond pursuit.

These exploits won for Washington universal praise, and he was
declared to be the saver of his country.

[Footnote: Washington had forty cannon. At night-fall the ground
was so soft that he could not move them; but, while the council was
in session, the wind changed, and in two hours the roads were as
hard as pavement. Erskine urged Cornwallis to attack the Americans
that night, but he said he could "catch the fox in the morning." On
the morrow the fires were still burning, but the army was gone.
None knew whither the patriots had fled. But at sunrise there was a
sound of firing in the direction of Princeton. The report of the
cannon through the keen frosty air could be distinctly heard, but
Cornwallis believed it to be distant thunder. Erskine, however,
exclaimed, "To arms, general! Washington has outgeneraled us. Let
us fly to the rescue at Princeton!"]

[Footnote: Frederick the Great of Prussia is said to have declared
that the achievements of Washington and his little band, during the
six weeks following Christmas, were the most brilliant recorded on
the pages of military history.]

CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA--Howe, having spent the next summer at New
York, where he was closely watched by Washington, finally took the
field, and manoeuvred to force the patriot army to a general fight.
Finding the "American Fabius" too wary for him, he suddenly
embarked eighteen thousand men on his brother's fleet, and set
sail. Washington hurried south to meet him. The patriot army
numbered only 11,000, but when Washington learned that the British
had arrived in the Chesapeake, he resolved to hazard a battle for
the defence of Philadelphia.

[Illustration: MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.]

BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE (Sept. ll).--The Americans took position at
Chad's Ford, on the Brandywine. Here they were attacked in front
while Cornwallis stole around in the rear, as Clinton did in the
battle of Long Island. Sullivan, Sterling, La Fayette, Wayne, and
Count Pulaski, in vain performed prodigies of valor. The patriots
were routed, Philadelphia was taken, and the British army went into
quarters there and at Germantown.

[Footnote: La Fayette's full name was Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves
Gilbert Motier, Marquis de la Fayette. At a banquet in honor of the
brother of the English king, he first heard the Declaration of
Independence. He was won by its arguments, and from that time
joined his hopes and sympathies to the American cause. Yet, how was
he to aid it? The French nobility, though disliking England, did
not endorse the action of her colonies. He was not yet twenty years
of age, he had just married a woman whom he tenderly loved, his
prospects at home for honor and happiness were bright, to join the
patriot army would take him from his native land, his wife, and all
his coveted ambitions, and lead him into a struggle that seemed as
hopeless as its cause was just. Yet his zeal for America overcame
all these obstacles. Other difficulties now arose. His family
objected, the British minister protested, the French king withheld
his permission. Still undaunted, he purchased a vessel fitted it
out at his own expense, and, escaping the officers sent to detain
him, crossed the ocean. As soon as he landed at Charleston, he
hastened to Philadelphia, and offering himself to Congress asked
permission to serve as a volunteer without pay. A few days after,
his acquaintance with Washington began, and it soon ripened into a
tender and intimate friendship. His valor won for him a commission
as major-general before he was twenty-one.]

[Footnote: The British army was sadly demoralized by the
festivities of their winter quarters. Franklin wittily said, "Howe
has not taken Philadelphia so much as Philadelphia has taken Howe."]

BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN (Oct. 4)--Washington would not let the enemies
of his country rest in peace. A few weeks after they had settled
down for the winter, he made a night march, and at sunrise fell
upon their troops at Germantown. At first the attack was
successful, but a few companies of British desperately defending a
stone house caused delay. The co-operation of the different
divisions was prevented by a dense fog, which also hid the
confusion of the enemy, so that the Americans retreated just at the
moment of victory.

[Footnote: One thousand of his men were barefoot at this time.]

CONCLUSION OF THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA.--After these battles,
Howe turned his attention to the forts on the Delaware, which
prevented his bringing supplies up to Philadelphia. The gallant
defenders were soon forced by a severe bombardment to evacuate.
Washington now retired to Valley Forge for winter quarters.

CAMPAIGN AT THE NORTH.--While the British had been thus successful
in Pennsylvania, their victories were more than counterbalanced by
defeats at the North. An attempt to cut off New England from New
York by an expedition along the old traveled French and Indian war
route up Lake Champlain, ended in disaster.

[Footnote: Besides the capture of Burgoyne's army, of which we
shall now speak, several minor events occurred during the year,
which, though of little importance in themselves, served to
encourage the people.--(1.) Howe sent General Tryon with two
thousand men to destroy the American stores at Danbury, Conn. He
accomplished his work, and then set fire to the town. The next day
he began his retreat, plundering the people and devastating the
country on his way. But the militiamen under Wooster, Arnold, and
Silliman, handled his forces so roughly that they were glad to
reach their boats. General Wooster, who was mortally wounded in the
pursuit, was nearly seventy years of age, but fought with the vigor
of youth. Two horses were shot under Arnold, and he received the
fire of a whole platoon at a distance of thirty yards, yet escaped
uninjured.--(2.) Colonel Meigs avenged the burning of Danbury. With
about two hundred men he crossed in whale-boats to Long Island,
destroyed a great quantity of stores, including twelve ships at Sag
Harbor, took ninety prisoners, and escaped without losing a man.
--(3.) The Americans were extremely anxious to offset the capture
of General Lee, especially as they had no prisoner of equal rank to
exchange for him. At this time, General Prescott, who held command
in Rhode Island, finding himself surrounded by ships and a superior
British force, became very negligent. Accordingly Colonel Barton
formed a plan to capture him. Dexterously avoiding the enemy's
vessels, he rowed ten miles in whale-boats and with about forty
militia landed near Prescott's quarters. Seizing the astonished
sentinel who guarded his door, they hurried off the half-dressed
general. A soldier escaping from the house gave the alarm, but the
laughing guard assured him he had seen a ghost. They soon, however,
found it to be no jesting matter, and vainly pursued the exultant
Barton. This capture was very annoying to Prescott, as he had just
offered a price for Arnold's head, and his tyrannical conduct had
made him obnoxious to the people. General Howe readily parted with
Lee in exchange for Prescott. ]

[Illustration: CAMPAIGNS IN THE NORTH
   THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.]

[Illustration: CAMPAIGNS IN THE SOUTH.
   THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR]

BURGOYNE'S INVASION.--In June, Burgoyne marched south from Canada
with an army of ten thousand British and Indians. Forts Crown
Point, Ticonderoga, and Edward, and the supplies at Whitehall,
successively fell into his hands. General Schuyler, with the small
force at his command, could only obstruct his path through the
wilderness by felling trees across the road, and breaking down
bridges. The loss of so many strongholds caused general alarm.
Lincoln--with the Massachusetts troops, Arnold--noted for his
headlong valor, and Morgan--with his famous riflemen, were sent to
check Burgoyne's advance. Militiamen gathered from the neighboring
States, and an army was rapidly collected and drilled. So much
dissatisfaction, however, arose with Schuyler that he was
superseded by Gates just as he was ready to reap the results of his
well-laid schemes. With noble-minded patriotism he made known to
Gates all his plans, and generously assisted him in their
execution. The army was now stationed at Bemis's Heights, where
fortifications were thrown up under the direction of Kosciusko
(kos-se-us'-ko).

[Footnote: This general was a Pole of noble birth. While in France
he formed the acquaintance of Franklin, who recommended him to
Washington. He came to America and offered himself "to fight as a
volunteer for American independence." "What can you do?" asked the
commander. "Try me," was Kosciusko's laconic reply. Washington was
greatly pleased with him, and made him his aid. He became a colonel
in the engineer corps, and superintended the construction of the
works at West Point. After the war he returned home and led the
Poles in their struggles for independence. At Cracow is a mound of
earth, 150 feet high, raised in his memory. It is composed of earth
brought from the battle-fields on which the Poles fought for
liberty. In the new world, his name is perpetuated by a monument at
West Point.]

[Footnote: The outrages of the Indians along the route led many to
join the army. None of their bloody acts caused more general
execration than the murder of Jane McCrea. This young lady was the
betrothed of a Captain Jones of the British army. She lived near
Fort Edward in the family of her brother, who, being a whig,
started for Albany on Burgoyne's approach. But she, hoping to meet
her lover, lingered at the house of a Mrs. McNeil, a staunch
loyalist, and a cousin of the British general, Fraser. Early one
morning the house was surprised by Indians, who dragged out the
inmates and hurried them away toward Burgoyne's camp. Mrs. McNeil
arrived there in safety. A short time after, another party came in
with fresh scalps, among which she recognized the long glossy hair
of her friend. The savages, on being charged with her murder,
declared that she had been killed by a chance shot from a pursuing
party; whereupon they had scalped her to secure the bounty. The
precise truth has never been known. Captain Jones possessed himself
of the sad memento of his betrothed, and resigned. The government
refusing his resignation, he deserted, and for more than fifty
years lived remote from society, a heart-broken man.]

BURGOYNE'S DIFFICULTIES.--In the meantime, before Gates took
command, two events occurred which materially deranged the plans of
Burgoyne.

1. St. Leger had been sent to take Fort Schuyler, thence to ravage
the Mohawk Valley and join Burgoyne's army at Albany. General
Arnold being dispatched to relieve that fort, accomplished it by a
stratagem. A half-witted tory boy who had been taken prisoner, was
promised his freedom, if he would spread the report among St.
Leger's troops that a large body of Americans was close at hand.
The boy, having cut holes in his clothes, ran breathless into the
camp of the besiegers, showing the bullet-holes and describing his
narrow escape from the enemy. When asked their number, he
mysteriously pointed upward to the leaves on the trees. The Indians
and British were so frightened that they fled precipitately,
leaving their tents and artillery behind them.

[Footnote: Fort Stanwix, on the site of Rome, N. Y., in 1776 was
named after Gen. Schuyler.]

[Illustration: THE ALARM AT FORT SCHUYLER.]

2. Burgoyne sent a detachment under Colonel Baum to seize the
supplies the Americans had collected at Bennington, Vt. General
Stark with the militia met him there. As Stark saw the British
lines forming for the attack, he exclaimed, "There are the
red-coats; we must beat them today, or Molly Stark is a widow." His
patriotism and bravery so inspired his raw troops that they
defeated the British regulars and took about six hundred prisoners.

[Footnote: One old man had five sons in the patriot army at
Bennington. A neighbor, just from the field, told him that one had
been unfortunate. "Has he proved a coward or a traitor?" asked the
father. "Worse than that," was the answer, "he has fallen, but
while bravely fighting" "Ah," said the father, "then I am
satisfied."]

THE TWO BATTLES OF SARATOGA (Sept. 19 and Oct. 7).--Disappointed in
his expectation of supplies and reinforcements from both these
directions, Burgoyne now moved southward and attacked Gates's army
at Bemis's Heights near Saratoga. The armies surged to and fro
through the day, like the ebbing and flowing of the tide. The
strife did not cease until darkness closed over the battle-field.
For two weeks afterward, both armies lay in camp fortifying their
positions, and each watching for an opportunity to take the other
at a disadvantage.

[Footnote: The British camp was kept in continual alarm. Officers
and soldiers were constantly dressed and ready for action. One
night, twenty young farmers residing near the camp, resolved to
capture the enemy's advance picket-guard. Armed with
fowling-pieces, they marched silently through the woods until they
were within a few yards of the picket. They then rushed out from
the bushes, the captain blowing an old horse-trumpet and the men
yelling. There was no time for the sentinel's hail. "Ground your
arms, or you are all dead men!" cried the patriot captain. Thinking
that a large force had fallen upon them, the picket obeyed. The
young farmers led to the American camp, with all the parade of
regulars, over thirty British soldiers.]

Burgoyne, finding that his provisions were low and that he must
either fight or fly, again moved out to attack the Americans.
Arnold, who had been unjustly deprived of his command since the
last battle, maddened by the sight of the conflict, rushed into the
thickest of the fight. Gates, fearing that he might win fresh
laurels, ordered Major Armstrong to recall him, but he was already
out of reach. He had no authority to fight, much less to direct;
but, dashing to the head of his old command, where he was received
with cheers, he ordered a charge on the British line. Urging on the
fight, leading every onset, delivering his orders in person where
the bullets flew thickest, he forced the British to their camp.
Here the Hessians, dismayed by these terrific attacks, fired one
volley and fled. Arnold, having forced an entrance, was wounded in
the same leg as at Quebec (p. 112), and borne from the field, but
not until he had won a victory while Gates stayed in his tent. . .

[Footnote: So fierce was the battle, that a single cannon was taken
and retaken five times. Finally, Colonel Cilly leaped upon it, waved
his sword, and "dedicating the gun to the American cause," opened
it upon the enemy with their own ammunition.]

[Footnote: General Fraser was the mind and soul of the British
army. Morgan soon saw that this brave man alone stood between the
Americans and victory. Calling to him some of his best men, he
said, "That gallant officer is General Fraser. I admire and honor
him; but he must die. Stand among those bushes and do your duty."
In five minutes Fraser fell, mortally wounded.]

_Effects of these Battles_.--Burgoyne now fell back to Saratoga.
Hemmed in on all sides, there was no hope of escape. Indians and
tories were constantly deserting. Provisions were low and water was
scarce, as no one, except the women, dared to go to the river for it.
The American batteries commanded the British camp. While a council of
war, held in Burgoyne's tent, was considering the question of
surrender, an 18-lb. cannon-ball passed over the table around which
the officers sat. Under these circumstances the decision was quickly
made. The entire army, nearly six thousand strong, laid down their
arms, and an American detachment marched into their camp to the tune
of Yankee Doodle. General Burgoyne handed his sword to General Gates,
who promptly returned it.

A shout of joy went up all over the land at the news of this
victory. From the despair caused by the defeats of Brandywine and
Germantown, the nation now rose to the highest pitch of confidence.

1778.

WINTER IN VALLEY FORGE.--The winter passed in Valley Forge was the
gloomiest period of the war. The continental paper money was so
depreciated in value that an officer's pay would not keep him in
clothes. Many, having spent their entire fortune in the war, were
now compelled to resign, in order to get a living. The men were
encamped in cold, comfortless huts, with little food or clothing.
Barefooted, they left on the frozen ground their tracks in blood.
Few had blankets, and straw could not be obtained. Soldiers, who
were enfeebled by hunger and benumbed by cold, slept on the bare
earth. Sickness followed. With no change of clothing, no suitable
food, and no medicines, death was the only relief. Amid this
terrible suffering the fires of patriotism burned brightly.
Washington felt that his cause was just, and inspired all around
him with his sublime faith.

[Footnote: During this winter Washington was quartered at the house
of Isaac Potts. One day, while Potts was on his way up the creek
near by, he heard a voice of prayer. Softly following its
direction, be soon discovered the General upon his knees, his
cheeks wet with tears. Narrating the incident to his wife, he added
with much emotion, "If there is any one to whom the Lord will
listen, it is George Washington, and under such a commander, our
independence is certain."--Besides all the perils of want and
famine which he shared with his soldiers, Washington was called
upon to suffer from envy and calumny. General Conway, a cunning,
restless intriguer, formed a cabal of officers against Washington.
Their plan was to wound his feelings so that he would resign. In
that event Gates, whose reputation was very high, would succeed to
the command. Pennsylvania sent to Congress a remonstrance censuring
Washington. The same was done by members from Massachusetts.
Fortunately, the army and the best citizens knew the inspiration of
the movement to be jealousy, and their indignation was unbounded.
Neither Conway nor Adams dared show himself among the soldiers, and
the attack recoiled on the heads of its instigators--Soon after
this, England sent commissioners with liberal proposals, which,
before the war commenced, would have been accepted; but that day
was now past. Next bribery was tried. Among those approached was
General Reed of Pennsylvania. He was offered ten thousand guineas
and distinguished honors if he would exert his influence to effect
a reconciliation. "I am not worth purchasing," said the honest
patriot, "but such as I am, the king of Great Britain is not rich
enough to buy me."]

[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT VALLEY FORGE.]

AID FROM FRANCE.--In the spring the hearts of all were gladdened by
the news that, through the efforts of Franklin, France had
acknowledged the Independence of the United States, and that a
fleet was on its way to help them in their struggle for
independence.

[Footnote: Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, 1706, N S; died in
Philadelphia, 1790. His father was a soap and candle maker, with
small means, and Benjamin, being the youngest of seventeen
children, had little opportunity to gratify his desire for
knowledge. By abstaining from meat for two years, he managed to buy
a few books, which he diligently studied. At seventeen years of age
he landed in Philadelphia with a silver dollar and a shilling in
copper. As, with his extra shirts and stockings stuffed in his
pockets, he walked along the streets, eating the roll of bread
which served for his breakfast, his future wife stood at her
father's door and smiled at his awkward appearance, little dreaming
of his brilliant future, or of its interest to her. He soon
obtained employment as a printer. Being induced by false
representations to go to England, he found himself almost penniless
in a strange land. With his usual industry he went to work, and
soon made friends and a good living. Returning to Philadelphia he
established a newspaper, and in 1732 commenced to publish "Poor
Richard's Almanac," which for twenty years was quite as popular in
Europe as in America. Its common-sense proverbs and useful hints
are household words to this day. Retiring from business with a fine
fortune, he devoted himself chiefly to science. His discoveries in
electricity are world-renowned. (See Steele's New Physics, pp. 228,
251.) Franklin was an unflinching patriot. While in England he
defended the cause of liberty with great zeal and ability. He
helped to draft the Declaration of Independence, and was one of its
signers. Having been appointed ambassador to France, he first
invested all his ready money, $15,000, in the continental loan, a
practical proof of his patriotism, since its repayment was
extremely improbable. His influence at the French court was
unbounded. He was revered for his wit, his genius, his dignity, and
his charming conversation. He became to the American cause in the
old world what Washington was in the new. On his return he was
elected president of Pennsylvania for three successive years. He
gave the whole of his salary, $30,000, to benevolent objects. In
his eighty-second year, he was a member of the Constitutional
Convetion. At his death twenty thousand persons assembled to do
honor to his memory.]

[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN]

BATTLE OF MONMOUTH (June 28).--Howe having returned to England,
Clinton succeeded him. The British government, alarmed by the
sending of the French fleet, ordered Clinton to concentrate his
forces at New York. Washington rapidly followed the English across
New Jersey and overtook them at Monmouth. General Lee, who
conducted the attack, ordered a retreat. The men, entangled in a
swamp, were becoming demoralized as they retired from the field,
when Washington, riding up, bitterly rebuked Lee, by his personal
presence rallied the men, and sent them back against the enemy. The
fight lasted all that long sultry day. In the darkness of night
Clinton stole away with his men to New York.

[Footnote: Charles Lee, for his conduct at Monmouth, and his
disrespectful letters to Washington, and afterward to Congress, was
dismissed from the army. He retired to his estate in Virginia,
where he lived in a rude house whose only partitions were chalk
marks on the floor--an improvement upon walls on which he prided
himself--surrounded by his dogs, his only intimate companions.]

[Footnote: During the day an artilleryman was shot at his post. His
wife, Mary Pitcher, while bringing water to her husband from a
spring, saw him fall and heard the commander order the piece to be
removed from the field. Instantly dropping the pail, she hastened
to the cannon, seized the rammer, and with great skill and courage
performed her husband's duty. The soldiers gave her the nickname of
Major Molly. Congress voted her a sergeant's commission with
half-pay through life.]

CAMPAIGN IN RHODE ISLAND.--A combined attack on Newport was
arranged to be made by the French fleet under D'Estaing
(da-es-tang), and the American army under General Sullivan. Soon
after the French entered Narraganset Bay, Howe arrived off the
harbor with the English fleet. D'Estaing went out to meet him. A
storm came on, which so shattered both fleets that they were
compelled to put back for repairs. General Sullivan, being thus
deserted, retreated just in time to escape Clinton, who came up
from New York with reinforcements. The French gave no further aid
during the year.

THE WYOMING MASSACRE.--In July, a band of tories and Indians under
Butler, entered the beautiful valley of the Wyoming. Most of the
able-bodied men had gone to the war. The old men and the boys armed
for the defence. The women and children fled for refuge to a fort
near the present site of Wilkesbarre. Taking counsel of their
courage, and their helpless mothers, wives, and children, a handful
of men sallied out to meet the invaders, but were quickly defeated.
All that night the Indians tortured their prisoners in every way
that savage cruelty could devise. The fort having been surrendered
on promise of safety, Butler did his best to restrain his savage
allies, but in vain. By night the whole valley was ablaze with
burning dwellings, while the people fled for their lives through
the wilderness.

1779.

CAMPAIGN AT THE SOUTH.--At the close of the preceding autumn the
scene of conflict was transferred to Georgia. Savannah and Augusta
were captured, and soon the entire State was conquered (map opp. p.
121). The British governor being restored, England could once more
boast of a royal province among the colonies. Prevost now led the
British against Charleston, S.C. He had scarcely summoned the city
when he heard that Lincoln, his dreaded foe, was after him with the
militia, and he was glad to escape back to Savannah. In September,
D'Estaing joined Lincoln in an attack upon that city. After a
severe bombardment an unsuccessful assault was made, in which a
thousand lives were lost. Count Pulaski was mortally wounded.

[Footnote: Count Pulaski was a Polish patriot who, having lost his
father and brothers in the hopeless defence of his country, and
being himself outlawed, had come to fight for the freedom of
America. At first he served as a volunteer. He fought valiantly at
the battle of Brandywine. During the second year he commanded an
independent corps of cavalry, lancers, and light infantry, called
"Pulaski's Legion," with which he did effectual service. He was
buried in the Savannah River. The corner-stone of a monument raised
to his memory in Savannah, was laid by La Fayette while visiting
that city during his triumphal progress through the United States.]

[Footnote: The British, discouraged by their failure to subdue the
eastern and middle States, during the remainder of the war put
forth their principal strength at the South.]

CAMPAIGN AT THE NORTH.--Clinton did little except to send out
predatory parties. Norwalk, Fairfield, and New Haven, Conn., were
either burned or plundered. Tryon, who commanded the Connecticut
expedition, boasted of his clemency in leaving a single house
standing on the New England coast.

[Footnote: General Putnam was at Horse Neck when Tryon was in the
vicinity. Hastily gathering a few militia, he annoyed the British
as long as possible, and then, compelled to flee before the enemy's
overwhelming force, his men hid themselves in the adjacent swamp,
while he, spurring his spirited horse over a precipice, descended a
zigzag path, where the British dragoons did not dare to follow.]

THE CAPTURE OF STONY POINT by General Wayne, with only eight
hundred men, was one of the most brilliant exploits of the war. The
countersign, which, curiously enough, was "The fort is ours," was
obtained from a negro who was in the habit of selling strawberries
at the fort. He guided them in the darkness to the causeway leading
over the flooded marsh around the foot of the hill, on which the
fort was situated. The unsuspicious sentinel, having received the
countersign, was chatting with the negro, when he was suddenly
seized and gagged. Wayne's men passed over the causeway and reached
the base of the hill undiscovered. Forming in two divisions, with
unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, they commenced the ascent of
the steep and narrow path which led to the top. They had nearly
reached the picket before they were discovered. Fire was at once
opened upon them. Wayne was wounded, but commanded his aids to
carry him that he might die at the head of the column. The rush of
his men was irresistible. An instant more, and a deafening shout
told that the fort was won. The British lost in killed, wounded,
and prisoners, six hundred men.

[Illustration: GIVING THE COUNTERSIGN AT STONY POINT.]

GENERAL SULLIVAN'S EXPEDITION.--The atrocities of the Indians had
kept the inhabitants of the Wyoming and Mohawk valleys in continued
terror. In the summer, General Sullivan led an expedition into the
Genesee country. Near Elmira, N. Y., he fought a fierce battle with
the Indians and their tory allies. The latter being defeated, fled
in dismay, while Sullivan marched to and fro through that beautiful
region, laying waste their corn-fields, felling their orchards, and
burning their houses.

[Footnote: The Indians, in the fertile country of the Cayugas and
Senecas, had towns and villages regularly laid out, framed houses,
some of them well finished, painted, and having chimneys, and broad
and productive fields, with orchards of apple, pear, and peach
trees.]

NAVAL EXPLOITS.--No American successes caused more annoyance to the
British than those of the navy. In 1775, Washington fitted out
several vessels to cruise along the New England coast as
privateers. In the same year Congress established a naval
department. Swift sailing vessels, manned by bold seamen, infested
every avenue of commerce. Within three years they captured five
hundred ships. They even cruised among the British isles, and,
entering harbors, seized and burned ships lying at English wharves.

Paul Jones is the most famous of these naval heroes. While cruising
with a squadron of five vessels off the northeast coast of England,
he met the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough convoying a
fleet of merchantmen. At half-past seven in the evening of
September 23, he laid his own vessel, the Bon Homme Richard,
alongside the Serapis, and a desperate struggle ensued. In the
midst of the engagement he lashed the ships together.

[Footnote: Jones had given this name (Goodman Richard) to his ship
in honor of Dr. Franklin, whose sayings as "Poor Richard" he warmly
admired.]

[Footnote: At this point the contest had been raging an hour, and
the ships had twice fallen foul of each other. The first time, the
Serapis hailed the Richard, asking if she had "struck her colors."
"I have not yet begun to fight," was the reply of Jones.]

The crews then fought hand to hand. The Richard was old and rotten.
Water poured into the hold. Three times both vessels were on fire.
At ten o'clock the Serapis surrendered. Meanwhile the Pallas, one
of his companions, captured the Countess of Scarborough, but the
other ships rendered him no aid. Indeed, the Alliance, Captain
Landis, repeatedly fired into the Richard, hoping to force Jones to
surrender, that Landis might then capture the Serapis and retake
the Richard. As Jones's vessel was already in a sinking condition,
he transferred his crew to the captured frigate, and sailed for the
Texel.

1780.

CAMPAIGN AT THE SOUTH.--Georgia having been subdued, the war was
now renewed in South Carolina. Charleston was attacked by land and
sea. General Lincoln, after enduring a siege of forty days and a
terrible bombardment, was forced to surrender. Marauding
expeditions were sent out which soon overran the whole State.
Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command.

[Footnote: One of these, under the command of the brutal Tarleton,
at _Waxhaw Creek_, over took a body of four hundred Continental troops
and a small party of cavalry under Colonel Buford. The British gave no
quarter, and after the Americans surrendered, mercilessly maimed and
butchered the larger portion of them.]

BATTLE AT CAMDEN (Aug. 16).--General Gates, "the conqueror of
Burgoyne," now taking command of the troops at the South, marched
to meet the enemy under Cornwallis near Camden. Singularly, both
generals had appointed the same time to make a night attack. While
marching for this purpose, the advance guards of the two armies
unexpectedly encountered each other in the woods. After some sharp
skirmishing, the armies waited for day. At dawn Cornwallis ordered
a charge. The militia, demoralized by the fighting in the night,
fled at the first fire, but De Kalb, with the continental regulars,
stood firm. At last he fell, pierced with eleven wounds. His brave
comrades for a time fought desperately over his body, but were
overwhelmed by numbers. The army was so scattered that it could not
be collected. A few of the officers met Gates eighty miles in the
rear with no soldiers. All organized resistance to British rule now
ceased in the South.

[Footnote: Lee met Gates on his way to join the southern army. His
well-worded caution, "Beware your northern laurels do not turn to
southern willows," seems almost prophetic of the Camden disaster.]

PARTISAN CORPS.--The Carolinas were full of tories. Many of them
joined the British army; others organized companies that
mercilessly robbed and murdered their whig neighbors. On the other
hand there were patriot bands which rendezvoused (ren-da-vood) in
swamps, and sallied out as occasion offered. These partisan corps
kept the country in continual terror. Marion, Sumter, Pickens, and
Lee, were noted patriot leaders. Their bands were strong enough to
cut off British detachments, and even successfully attack small
garrisons. The cruel treatment which the whigs received from the
British drove many to this partisan warfare. The issue of the
contest at the South was mainly decided by these bold citizen
soldiers.

[Footnote: A British officer sent to negotiate concerning an
exchange of prisoners, dined with Marion. The dinner consisted of
roasted potatoes. Surprised at this meagre diet, he made some
inquiries, when he found that this was their customary fare, and
that the patriot general served without pay. This devotion to the
cause of liberty so affected the officer that he resigned his
commission, thinking it folly to fight such men.]

[Footnote: At _Hanging Rock_ (Aug. 6) Sumter gained a victory
over a strong body of British and tories. He began the action with
only two rounds of ammunition, but soon supplied himself from the
fleeing tories. Frequently, in these contests, a portion of the
bands would go into a battle without guns, arming themselves with
the muskets of their comrades as they fell. At _King's Mountain_ (Oct.
7) a large body of independent riflemen, each company under its own
leader, attacked Ferguson, who had been sent out to rally the tories
of the neighborhood. Ferguson and one hundred and fifty of his men
were killed, and the rest taken prisoners.]

[Footnote: An event which occurred in Charleston aroused the
bitterest resentment. When that city was captured by the British,
Colonel Isaac Hayne, with others, was paroled, but was afterwards
ordered into the British ranks. At this time his wife and several
of his children lay at the point of death with small-pox. The
choice was given him to become a British subject or to be placed in
close confinement. Agonized by thoughts of his dying family, he
signed a pledge of allegiance to England, with the assurance that
he should never be required to fight against his countrymen. Being
afterward summoned by Lord Rawdon to join the British army, he
considered the pledge annulled, and raised a partisan band. He was
captured, and without being allowed a trial, was condemned to
death. The citizens of Charleston vainly implored pardon for him.
Lord Rawdon allowed him forty-eight hours in which to take leave of
his orphan children, at the end of which time he was hanged.]

[Illustration: SUMTER.]

CONTINENTAL MONEY had now been issued by Congress to the amount of
$200,000,000. At this time it was so much depreciated that $40 in
bills were worth only $1 in specie. A pair of boots cost $600 in
continental currency. A soldier's pay for a month would hardly buy
him a dinner. To make the matter worse, the British had flooded the
country with counterfeits, which could not be told from the
genuine. Many persons refused to take continental money. The
sufferings of the soldiers and the difficulty of procuring supplies
may be readily imagined.

[Footnote: In this crisis, Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, sent
three million rations. Soldiers' relief associations were organized
by the women of that city. They made twenty-two hundred shirts,
each inscribed with the name of the lady who sewed it.]

The Pennsylvania regiments in camp at Morristown, claiming that
their time had expired, demanded their discharge. At last, 1,300
strong, they set out for Princeton to secure redress at the point
of the bayonet, but a committee of Congress succeeded in satisfying
them.

[Footnote: Clinton's agents went among the troops offering large
rewards for desertion. The emissaries mistook their men, for the
soldiers gave them up as spies.]

[Illustration: CONTINENTAL MONEY.]

ARNOLD'S TREASON.--The English did little at the North, and the
condition of Washington's army prevented his making any movement.
Meanwhile the cause of liberty suffered a terrible blow from one
who had been its gallant defender. General Arnold, whose bravery at
Quebec and Saratoga had awakened universal admiration, was
stationed at Philadelphia while his wound was healing. He there
married a tory lady and lived in great extravagance. By various
acts of oppression, he rendered himself so odious that on one
occasion he was publicly mobbed. Charges being preferred against
him, he was convicted and sentenced to be reprimanded by the
commander-in-chief. Washington performed the duty very gently and
considerately; but Arnold, stung by the disgrace, and desperate in
fortune, resolved to gratify both his revenge and love of money by
betraying his country. He accordingly secured from Washington the
command of West Point, at that time the most important post in
America. He then proposed to Clinton, with whom he had previously
corresponded, to surrender it to the British. The offer was
accepted, and Major Andre appointed to confer with him. Andre
ascended the Hudson, and, on the night of September 21, went ashore
from the English ship Vulture to meet the traitor. Morning dawned
before they had completed their plans. In the meantime, fire having
been opened on the Vulture, she had dropped down the river. Andre,
now left within the American lines, was obliged to make his way
back to New York by land. He had reached Tarrytown in safety, when,
at a sudden turn in the road, his horse's reins were seized, and
three men sprang before him. His manner awakening suspicion, they
searched him, and finding papers which seemed to prove him a spy,
they carried him to the nearest American post. Arnold was at
breakfast, when he received a note announcing Andre's capture. He
called aside his wife and told her of his peril. Terrified by his
words, she fainted. Kissing his boy, who lay asleep in the cradle,
Arnold darted out of the house, mounted a horse, by an unfrequented
path reached the river, jumped into his boat, and was rowed to the
Vulture. He received, as the reward of his treachery, 6,315 pounds,
a colonelcy in the English army, and the contempt of everybody. The
very name, "Arnold the Traitor," will always declare his infamy.
Andre was tried and hung as a spy. Every effort was made to save
him, and his fate awakened universal sympathy.

[Footnote: The names of these men were Paulding, Van Wart, and
Williams. Andre offered them his horse, watch, purse, and any sum
they might name, if they would release him. The incorruptible
patriots declared that they would not let him go for ten thousand
guineas. Congress voted to each of them a silver medal and a
pension for life.]

[Footnote: Arnold was thoroughly despised by the British officers,
and often insulted. Many stories are told illustrative of English
sentiment toward him. A member of Parliament, about to address the
House of Commons, happening, as he rose, to see Arnold in the
gallery, said, pointing to the traitor, "Mr. Speaker, I will not
speak while that man is in the House." George the Third introduced
Arnold to Earl Barcarras, one of Burgoyne's officers at Bemis's
Heights. "Sire," said the proud old Earl as he turned from Arnold,
refusing his hand, "I know General Arnold, and abominate traitors."
When Talleyrand was about to come to America, he sought letters of
introduction from Arnold, but received the reply, "I was born in
America; I lived there to the prime of my life; but, alas! I can
call no man in America my friend."]

1781.

THE WAR AT THE SOUTH.--General Greene, who was appointed to succeed
General Gates, found the army to consist of only two thousand
half-clothed, half-starved men. A part of his force, under Morgan,
was attacked (January 17) at _Cowpens_ by Tarleton. The militia
fleeing, the continentals fell back to secure a better position. The
British mistook this for a retreat and were rushing on in confusion,
when the continentals suddenly faced about, poured in a deadly fire at
only thirty yards distance, and drove them in utter rout. Tarleton
fled to Cornwallis, who set out in hot haste, eager to punish the
victors and recapture the prisoners. Morgan started for Virginia, and
crossed the Catawba just before Cornwallis appeared in sight. Night
came on, and with it rain, which raised the river so high as to keep
the impatient Cornwallis waiting three days.

[Footnote: Colonel William A. Washington, in a personal combat in
this battle, wounded Tarleton. Months afterward, the British
officer while conversing with Mrs. Jones, a witty American lady,
sneeringly said, "That Colonel Washington is very illiterate. I am
told that he cannot write his name." "Ah, Colonel," replied she,
"you bear evidence that he can make his mark." Tarleton expressing,
at another time, his desire to see Colonel Washington, the lady
replied, "Had you looked behind you at Cowpens, you might have had
that pleasure."]

GREENE'S RETREAT.--General Greene now joined Morgan, and conducted
the retreat. At the Yadkin, just as the Americans had reached the
other side, it began to rain. When Cornwallis came up, the river
was so swollen that he could not cross. He, however, marched up the
stream, effected a passage, and was soon in full pursuit again. Now
came a race, on parallel roads, thirty miles per day, for the fords
of the Dan. Greene reached them first, and Cornwallis gave up the
chase. This signal deliverance of Greene's exhausted army awoke
every pious feeling of the American heart, and was a cause for
general thanksgiving.

[Footnote: During this retreat, General Greene, after a hard day's
ride in the rain, alighted at the door of Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, in
Salisbury, N. C., announcing himself as, "fatigued, hungry, cold,
and penniless." Quickly providing the honored guest with a warm
supper before a cheerful fire, this patriotic woman brought forth
two small bags of specie, her earnings for years. "Take these," she
said; "you will want them, and I can do without them." "Never,"
says his biographer, "did relief come at a more needy moment; the
hero resumed his dangerous journey that night with a lightened
heart." Another story illustrative of the patriotism of the
Southern women is told of Mrs. Motte. The British had taken
possession of her house, fortified and garrisoned it. On Colonel
Lee's advance, she furnished him a bow and arrows, by means of
which fire was thrown upon the shingled roof. Her mansion was soon
in flames. The occupants, to save their lives, surrendered.]

CAMPAIGN CLOSED.--Having rested his men, Greene again took the
field, harassing the enemy by a fierce partisan warfare. At
_Guilford Court-House_ (March 15) he hazarded a battle. The
militia fled again at the first fire, but the continental regulars
fought as in the time of De Kalb. The Americans at last retired,
but the British had bought their victory so dearly that Cornwallis
also retreated. Greene again pursuing, Cornwallis shut himself up
in Wilmington. Thereupon Greene turned his course to South
Carolina, and with the aid of Marion, Sumter, Lee, and Pickens,
nearly delivered this State and Georgia from the English. In the
battle of _Eutaw Springs_ (Sept. 8) the forces of the enemy
were so crippled that they retired toward Charleston. Cornwallis,
refusing to follow Greene into South Carolina, had already gone
north into Virginia, and though a fierce partisan warfare still
distracted the country, this engagement closed the long and
fiercely fought contest at the South.

[Footnote: Congress voted the highest honors to General Greene,
who, by his prudence, wisdom, and valor, had, with such
insignificant forces and miserable equipments, achieved so much for
the cause of liberty. He never gained a decided victory, yet his
defeats bad all the effect of successes, and his very retreats
strengthened the confidence of his men and weakened that of the
enemy.]

[Footnote: At the battle of Eutaw, Manning, a noted soldier of
Lee's legion, was in hot pursuit of the flying British, when he
suddenly found himself surrounded by the enemy and not an American
within forty rods. He did not hesitate, but seizing an officer by
the collar, and wresting his sword from him by main force, kept his
body as a shield while he rapidly backed off under a heavy fire
from the perilous neighborhood. The frightened British officer when