[12] The two regiments of British troops in Boston were now removed, on demand of the people, to a fort in the harbor. The soldiers who fired the shots were tried for murder and acquitted, save two who received light sentences.

[13] One of the vessels sent to stop smuggling was the schooner Gaspee. Having run aground in Narragansett Bay (June, 1772), she was boarded by a party of men in eight boats and burned. The Virginia legislature appointed a "committee of correspondence," to find out the facts regarding the destruction of the Gaspee and "to maintain a correspondence with our sister colonies." This plan of a committee to inform the other colonies what was happening in Virginia, and obtain from them accurate information as to what they were doing, was at once taken up by Massachusetts and other colonies, each of which appointed a similar committee. Such committees afterward proved to be the means of revolutionary organization. Read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. I, pp. 76-80.

[14] Parliament had given the company permission to do this. The company had long possessed the monopoly of trade with the East Indies, and the sole right to bring tea from China to Great Britain. Before 1773, however, it was obliged to sell the tea in Great Britain, and the business of exporting tea to the colonies had been carried on by merchants who bought from the company.

[15] Read "The Tea Party" in Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair.

[16] All the Intolerable Acts are referred to in the Declaration of Independence. See if you can find the references.



CHAPTER XIII

THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN

LEXINGTON, 1775.—When the second Continental Congress met (May 10, 1775), the mother country and her colonies had come to blows.

The people of Massachusetts, fearing that this might happen, had begun to collect and hide arms, cannon, and powder. General Gage, the royal governor of Massachusetts and commander of the British troops in Boston, was told that military supplies were concealed at Concord, a town some twenty miles from Boston (map, p. 168). Now it happened that in April, 1775, two active patriots, Samuel Adams [1] and John Hancock, were at Lexington, a town on the road from Boston to Concord. Gage determined to strike a double blow at the patriots by sending troops to arrest Adams and Hancock and destroy the military stores. On the evening of April 18, accordingly, eight hundred regulars left Boston as quietly as possible. Gage hoped to keep the expedition a secret, but the patriots in Boston, suspecting where the troops were going, sent off Paul Revere [2] and William Dawes to ride by different routes to Lexington, rousing the countryside as they went. As the British advanced, alarm bells, signal guns, and lights in the villages gave proof that their secret was out.



The sun was rising as the first of the British, under Major Pitcairn, entered Lexington and saw drawn up across the village green some fifty minutemen [3] under Captain John Parker. "Disperse, ye villains," cried Pitcairn; "ye rebels, disperse!" Not a man moved, whereupon the order to fire was given; the troops hesitated to obey; Pitcairn fired his pistol, and a moment later a volley from the British killed or wounded sixteen minutemen. [4] Parker then gave the order to retire.



THE CONCORD FIGHT.—From Lexington the British went on to Concord, set the courthouse on fire, spiked some cannon, cut down the liberty pole, and destroyed some flour. Meantime the minutemen, having assembled beyond the village, came toward the North Bridge, and the British who were guarding it fell back. Shots were exchanged, and six minutemen were killed. [5] But the Americans crossed the bridge, drove back the British, and then dispersed.



About noon the British started for Boston, with hundreds of minutemen, who had come from all quarters, hanging on their flanks and rear, pouring in a galling fire from behind trees and stone fences and every bit of rising ground. The retreat became a flight, and the flight would have become a rout had not reinforcements met them near Lexington. Protected by this force, the defeated British entered Boston by sundown. By morning the hills from Charlestown to Roxbury were black with minutemen, and Boston was in a state of siege.

When the Green Mountain Boys heard of the fight, they took arms, and under Ethan Allen [6] surprised and captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain (map, p. 168).

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.—On the day that Fort Ticonderoga was captured (May 10, 1775), the Continental Congress met at Philadelphia. It had been created, not to govern the colonies, nor to conduct a war, but merely to consult concerning the public welfare, and advise what the colonies should do. But war had begun, Congress was forced to become a governing body, and after a month's delay it adopted the band of patriots gathered about Boston, made it the Continental army, and appointed George Washington (then a delegate to Congress from Virginia) commander in chief.

Washington accepted the trust, and left Philadelphia June 21, but had not gone twenty miles when he was met by news of the battle of Bunker Hill.

BUNKER HILL, JUNE 17,1775.—Since the fight at Lexington and Concord in April, troops under General Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and General Burgoyne had arrived at Boston and raised the number there to ten thousand. Gage now felt strong enough to seize the hills near Boston, lest the Americans should occupy them and command the town. Learning of this, the patriots determined to forestall him, and on the night of June 16 twelve hundred men under Prescott were sent to fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown. Prescott thought best to go beyond Bunker Hill, and during the night threw up a rude intrenchment on Breeds Hill instead.



To allow batteries to be planted there would never do, so Gage dispatched Howe with nearly three thousand regulars to drive away the Americans and hold the hill. Coming over from Boston in boats, the British landed and marched up the hill till thirty yards from the works, when a deadly volley mowed down the front rank and sent the rest down the hill in disorder.

A little time elapsed before the regulars were seen again ascending, only to be met by a series of volleys at short range. The British fought stubbornly, but were once more forced to retreat, leaving the hillside covered with dead and wounded. Their loss was dreadful, but Howe could not bear to give up the fight, and a third time the British were led up the hill. The powder of the Americans was spent, and the fight was hand to hand with stones, butts of muskets, anything that would serve as a weapon, till the bayonet charges of the British forced the Americans to retreat. [7]

WASHINGTON IN COMMAND.—Two weeks later Washington reached Cambridge and took formal command of the army. For eight months he kept the British shut up in Boston, while he gathered guns, powder, and cannon, and trained the men.

To the Continental army mean time came troops from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and of course from the four New England colonies, commanded by men who were destined to rise to high positions during the war. There was Daniel Morgan of Virginia, with a splendid band of sharpshooters, and Israel Putnam of Connecticut, John Stark and John Sullivan of New Hampshire, Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, Henry Knox of Boston, Horatio Gates of Virginia, and Benedict Arnold and Charles Lee who later turned traitors.

THE HESSIANS.—When King George III heard of the fight at Bunker Hill, he issued a proclamation declaring the colonists rebels, closed their ports to trade and commerce, [8] and sought to hire troops from Russia and Holland. Both refused, whereupon he turned to some petty German states and hired many thousand soldiers who in our country were called Hessians. [9]



CANADA INVADED.—Now that the war was really under way, Congress turned its attention to Canada. It was feared that the British governor there might take Ticonderoga, enter New York, and perhaps induce the Indians to harry the New England frontier as they did in the old French wars. In the summer of 1775, therefore, two expeditions were sent against Canada. One under Richard Montgomery went down Lake Champlain from Ticonderoga and captured Montreal. Another under Benedict Arnold sailed from Massachusetts to the mouth of the Kennebec River, arid forced its way through the dense woods of Maine to Quebec. There Montgomery joined Arnold, and on the night of December 31, 1775, the American army in a blinding snowstorm assaulted the town. Montgomery fell dead while leading the attack on one side of Quebec, Arnold was wounded during the attack on the other side, and Morgan, who took Arnold's place and led his men far into the town, was cut off and captured. Though the attack on Quebec failed, the Americans besieged the place till spring, when they were forced to leave Canada and find shelter at Crown Point.

BOSTON EVACUATED.—During the winter of 1775-76, some heavy guns were dragged over the snow on sledges from Ticonderoga to Boston. A captured British vessel provided powder, and in March, 1776, Washington seized Dorchester Heights, fortified them, and by so doing forced Howe, who had succeeded Gage in command, to evacuate Boston, March 17.

WHIGS AND TORIES.—During the excitement over the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the tea tax, the people were divided into three parties. Those who resisted and—finally rebelled were called Whigs, or Patriots, or "Sons of Liberty." Those who supported king and Parliament were called Tories or Loyalists. [10] Between these two extremes were the great mass of the population who cared little which way the struggle ended. In New York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas the Tories were numerous and active, and when the war opened, they raised regiments and fought for the king.

FIGHTING IN THE CAROLINAS.—In January, 1776, Sir Henry Clinton sailed from Boston to attack North Carolina, and a force of sixteen hundred Tories marched toward the coast to aid. But North Carolina had its minutemen as well as Massachusetts. A body of them under Colonel Caswell met and beat the Tories at Moores Creek (February 27) and so large a force of patriots had assembled when Clinton arrived that he did not make the attack.

The next attempt was against South Carolina. Late in June, Clinton with his fleet appeared before Charleston, and while the fleet opened fire on Fort Moultrie (mol'try) from the water, Clinton marched to attack it by land. But the land attack failed, the fleet was badly damaged by shot from the fort, and the expedition sailed away to New York. [11]

INDEPENDENCE NECESSARY.—Prior to 1776 many of the colonies denied any desire for independence, [12] but the events of this year caused a change. After the battle of Moores Creek, North Carolina bade her delegates in Congress vote for independence. Virginia, in May, ordered her delegates to propose that the United Colonies be declared free and independent. South Carolina and Georgia instructed their delegates to assent to any measure for the good of America. Rhode Island dropped the king's name from state documents and sheriffs' writs, and town after town in Massachusetts voted to uphold Congress in a declaration of independence.

Thus encouraged, Congress, in May, resolved that royal authority must be suppressed, and advised all the colonies to establish independent governments. Some had already done so; the rest one by one framed written constitutions of government, and became states. [13]

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED.—To pretend allegiance to the king any longer was a farce. Congress, therefore, appointed Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to write a declaration of independence, and on July 2, 1776, resolved: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." [14] This is the Declaration of Independence. The document we call the Declaration contains the reasons why independence was declared. It was written by Jefferson, and after some changes by Congress was adopted on July 4, 1776, [15] and copied were ordered to be sent to the states.



SUMMARY

1. Governor Gage, hearing that the people of Massachusetts were gathering military stores, sent troops to destroy the stores.

2. The battles at Lexington and Concord followed, and Boston was besieged.

3. The militia from the neighboring colonies gathered about Boston. They were formed into a Continental army by Congress, and Washington was appointed commander in chief.

4. The battle of Bunker Hill, meantime, took place (June, 1775).

5. King George III now declared the colonists rebels, shut their ports, and sent troops from Germany to subdue them.

6. An expedition of the patriots for the conquest of Canada failed (1775- 76).

7. But the British were forced to leave Boston (March, 1776).

8. British attacks on North Carolina and South Carolina came to naught.

9. July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.



FOOTNOTES

[1] Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722, graduated from Harvard College, and took so active a part in town politics that he has been called "the Man of the Town Meeting." From 1765 to 1774 he was a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, and for some years its clerk. He was a member of the committee sent to demand the removal of the soldiers after the massacre of 1770, and of that sent to demand the resignations of the men appointed to receive the tea, and presided over the town meeting that demanded the return of the tea ships to England. He was a member of the Continental Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence. After the Revolution he was lieutenant governor and then governor of Massachusetts, and died in 1803.

[2] Revere went by way of Charlestown (map, p. 160), first crossing the river from Boston in a rowboat. As there was danger that his boat might be stopped by the British warships, two lanterns were shown from the belfry of the North Church as a signal to his friends in Charlestown; and when he landed there at midnight, he found the patriots astir, ready to give the alarm if he had not appeared. Read "Paul Revere's Ride" in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn.

[3] In 1774 the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts ordered one quarter of all the militiamen to be enlisted for emergency service. They came to be known as minutemen, and in 1775 the Continental Congress recommended "that one fourth part of the militia in every colony, be selected for minutemen ... to be ready on the shortest notice, to march to any place where their assistance may be required."

[4] Just before the fight began Adams and Hancock left Lexington and set out to attend the Congress at Philadelphia.

[5] Read Emerson's Concord Hymn; also Cooper's admirable description of the day's fighting in Lionel Lincoln.

[6] Ethan Allen was born in Connecticut in 1737, and went to Vermont about 1769. Vermont was then claimed by New York and New Hampshire, and when New York tried to enforce her authority, the settlers in "New Hampshire Grants" resisted, and organized as the "Green Mountain Boys" with Allen as leader. At Fort Ticonderoga Allen found the garrison asleep. The British commandant, awakened by the noise at his door, came out and was ordered to surrender the fort. "By what authority?" he asked. "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," said Allen.

[7] Read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. I, pp. 136-146, and Holmes's Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill. The British lost 1054 and the Americans 449. Among the British dead was Pitcairn, who began the war at Lexington. Among the American dead was Dr. Warren, an able leader of the Boston patriots. While the battle was raging, Charlestown was shelled and set on fire and four hundred houses burned. Later, in October, a British fleet entered the harbor of Falmouth (now Portland in Maine), and burned three fourths of the houses. January 1, 1776, Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, set fire to Norfolk, the chief city of Virginia. The fire raged for three days and reduced the place to ashes. These acts are charged against the king in the Declaration of Independence: "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."

[8] This is made a charge against the king in the Declaration: "He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us." And again, "For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world."

[9] The Duke of Brunswick, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and four other princes furnished the men. Their generals were Riedesel (ree'de-zel), Knyp-hausen (knip'hou-zen), Von Heister, and Donop. The employment of these troops furnishes another charge against the king in the Declaration: "He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny." The first detachment of German troops landed on Staten Island in New York Bay on August 15, 1776. Before the war ended, the six petty German princes furnished 29,867, of whom 12,550 never returned. Some 5000 of these deserted.

[10] Before fighting began, the Tories were denounced and held up as enemies to their country; later their leaders were mobbed, and if they held office, were forced to resign. After the battle of Bunker Hill, laws of great severity were enacted against them. They were disarmed, forced to take an oath of allegiance, proclaimed traitors, driven into exile, and their estates and property were confiscated. At the close of the war, fearing the anger of the Whigs, thousands of Tories fled from our country to Jamaica, Bermuda, Halifax in Nova Scotia, and Canada. Some 30,000 went from New York city in 1782-83, and upward of 60,000 left our country during and after the war.

[11] While the battle was hottest, a shot carried away the flagstaff of Fort Moultrie. The staff and flag fell outside the fort. Instantly Sergeant William Jasper leaped down, fastened the flag to the ramrod of a cannon, climbed back, and planted this new staff firmly on the fort. A fine monument now commemorates his bravery.

[12] However, many leaders in New England, as Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry; in Pennsylvania, as Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin; in Delaware, as Thomas McKean; as Chase of Maryland; Lee, Henry, Jefferson, Washington, of Virginia; and Gadsden of South Carolina, favored independence. In this state of affairs Thomas Paine, in January, 1776, wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense, in which independence was strongly urged. The effect was wonderful. Edition after edition was printed in many places. "Common Sense," says one writer, "is read to all ranks; and as many as read, so many become converted."

[13] Rhode Island and Connecticut did not abandon their charters, for in these colonies the people had always elected their governors and had always been practically independent of the king. Connecticut did not make a constitution till 1818, and Rhode Island not till 1842.

[14] This resolution had been introduced in Congress, in June, by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. For a fine description of the debate on independence read Webster's Oration on Adams and Jefferson. Why did John Dickinson oppose a declaration of independence? Read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. I, pp. 190-192.

[15] A few copies signed by Hancock, president of Congress, and Thomson, the secretary, were made public on July 5; and on July 8 one of these was read to a crowd of people in the Statehouse yard at Philadelphia. The common idea that the Declaration was signed at one time is erroneous. The signing did not begin till August 2. Of those who signed then and afterward, seven were not members of Congress on July 4, 1776. Of those signers who were members on July 4, it is known that five were absent on that day. Seven men who were members of Congress on July 4 were not members on August 2, and never signed.



CHAPTER XIV

THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE STATES AND ON THE SEA

BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.—When Howe sailed from Boston (in March, 1776), he went to Halifax in Nova Scotia. But Washington was sure New York would be attacked, so he moved the Continental army to that city and took position on the hills back of Brooklyn on Long Island.

He was not mistaken, for to New York harbor in June came General Howe, and in July Clinton from his defeat at Charleston, and Admiral Howe [1] with troops from England. Thus reinforced, General Howe landed on Long Island in August, and drove the Americans from their outposts, back to Brooklyn. [2] Washington now expected an assault, but Howe remembered Bunker Hill and made ready to besiege the Americans, whereupon two nights after the battle Washington crossed with the army to Manhattan Island. [3]

WASHINGTON'S RETREAT.—Washington left a strong force under Putnam in the heart of New York city, and stationed his main army along Harlem Heights. Howe crossed to Manhattan and landed behind Putnam, [4] who was thus forced to leave his guns and tents, and flee to Harlem Heights, where Howe attacked Washington the next day and was repulsed.



So matters stood for nearly a month, when Howe attempted to go around the east end of Washington's line, and thus forced him to retreat to White Plains. Baffled in an attack at this place, Howe went back to New York and carried Fort Washington by storm, taking many prisoners.

Washington meantime had crossed the Hudson to New Jersey, leaving General Charles Lee with seven thousand men in New York state. He now ordered Lee to join him [5]; but Lee disobeyed, and Washington, closely pursued by the British, retreated across New Jersey.

THE VICTORY AT TRENTON, DECEMBER 26, 1776.—On the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, Washington turned at bay, and having at last received some renforcements, he recrossed the Delaware on Christmas night in a blinding snowstorm, marched nine miles to Trenton, surprised a body of Hessians, captured a thousand prisoners, and went back to Pennsylvania.

Washington now proposed to follow up this victory with other attacks. But a new difficulty arose, for the time of service of many of the Eastern troops would expire on January 1. These men were therefore asked to serve six weeks longer, and were offered a bounty of ten dollars a man.



ROBERT MORRIS SENDS MONEY.—Many agreed to serve, but the paymaster had no money. Washington therefore pledged his own fortune, and appealed to Robert Morris at Philadelphia. [6] "If it be possible, Sir," he wrote, "to give us assistance, do it; borrow money while it can be done, we are doing it upon our private credit." Morris responded at once, and on New Year's morning, 1777, went from house to house, roused his friends from their beds to borrow money from them, and early in the day sent fifty thousand dollars.

BATTLE OF PRINCETON, JANUARY 3, 1777.—Washington crossed again to Trenton, whereupon Lord Cornwallis hurried up with a British army, and shut in the Americans between his forces and the Delaware. But Washington slipped out, went around Cornwallis, and the next morning attacked three British regiments at Princeton and beat them. He then took possession of the hills at Morristown, where he spent the rest of the winter.

THE ATTEMPT TO CUT OFF NEW ENGLAND.—The British plan for the campaign of 1777 was to seize Lake Champlain and the Hudson River and so cut off New England from the Middle States. To carry out this plan, (1) General Burgoyne was to come down from Canada, (2) Howe was to go up the Hudson from New York and join Burgoyne at Albany, and (3) St. Leger was to go from Lake Ontario down the Mohawk to Albany. [7]

ORISKANY.—Hearing of the approach of St. Leger, General Herkimer of the New York militia gathered eight hundred men and hurried to the relief of Fort Stanwix. Near Oriskany, about six miles from the fort, he fell into an ambuscade of British and Indians, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued, till the Indians fled and the British, forced to follow, left the Americans in possession of the field, too weak to pursue.

Just at this time the garrison of the fort made a sortie against part of the British army, captured their camp, and carried a quantity of supplies and their flags [8] back to the fort.



When news of Oriskany reached Schuyler, the patriot general commanding in the north, he called for a volunteer to lead a force to relieve Fort Stanwix. Arnold responded, and with twelve hundred men hurried westward, and by a clever ruse [9] forced St. Leger to raise the siege and flee to Montreal.



BENNINGTON.—Burgoyne set out in June, captured Ticonderoga, and advanced to the upper Hudson. As he came southward, the sturdy farmers of Vermont and New York began to gather on his flank, and collected at Bennington many horses and large stores of food and ammunition. As Burgoyne needed horses, he sent a force of Hessians to attack Bennington. But Stark, with his Green Mountain Boys and New Hampshire militia, met the Hessians six miles from town, surrounded them on all sides, beat them, and took seven hundred prisoners and quantities of guns and some cannon (August 16).

SARATOGA.—These defeats were serious blows to Burgoyne, around whose army the Americans had been gathering. He decided, however, to fight, crossed the Hudson, and about the middle of September attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights, and again on the same ground early in October. [10] He was beaten in both battles and on October 17 was forced to surrender at Saratoga.

BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.—What, meantime, had Howe been doing? He should have pushed up the Hudson to join Burgoyne. But he decided to capture Philadelphia before going north, and having put his army on board a fleet, he started for that city by sea. Not venturing to enter the Delaware, he sailed up Chesapeake Bay and two weeks after landing found Washington awaiting him on Brandywine Creek, where (September 11, 1777) a battle was fought and won by the British. Among the wounded was Marquis de Lafayette, [11] who earlier in the year had come from France to offer his services to Congress.

PHILADELPHIA OCCUPIED.—Two weeks later Howe entered Philadelphia in triumph. [12] Congress had fled to Lancaster, and later went to York, Pennsylvania. Washington now attacked Howe at Germantown (just north of Philadelphia), but was defeated and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where the patriots suffered greatly from cold and hunger. [13]



RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN.—The year's campaign was far from a failure. [14] The surprise at Trenton and the victory at Princeton showed that Washington was a general of the first rank. The defeats at Brandywine and Germantown did not dishearten the army. The victory at Saratoga was one of the decisive campaigns of the world's history; for it ruined the plans of the British [15] and secured us the aid of France.

HELP FROM FRANCE, 1778.—In 1776 Congress commissioned Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, and Silas Deane to go to France and seek her help. France, smarting under the loss of Louisiana and Canada (1763), would gladly have helped us; but not till the victories at Trenton, Princeton, Oriskany, and Saratoga could she feel sure of the ability of the Americans to fight. Then the French king recognized our independence, and in February, 1778, made with us a treaty of alliance and went to war with Great Britain.

The effect of the French alliance was immediate. France began to fit out a fleet and army to help us. Hearing of this, Clinton, who had succeeded Howe in command at Philadelphia, left that city with his army and started for New York.



MONMOUTH, JUNE 28, 1778.—Washington decided to pursue, and as Clinton, hampered by an immense train of baggage, moved slowly across New Jersey, he was overtaken by the Americans at Monmouth. Charles Lee [16] was to begin the attack, and Washington, coming up a little later, was to complete the defeat of the enemy. But Lee was a traitor, and having attacked the British, began a retreat which would have lost the day had not Washington come up just in time to lead a new attack. The battle raged till nightfall, and in the darkness Clinton slipped away and went on to New York.

Washington now crossed the Hudson, encamped at White Plains, and during three years remained in that neighborhood, constantly threatening the British in New York. [17]

BEGINNING OF THE NAVY.—More than three years had now passed since the fight at Lexington, and here let us stop and review what the Americans had been doing at sea. At the outset, the colonists had no warships at all. Congress therefore (in December, 1775) ordered thirteen armed vessels to be built at once, bought merchant ships to serve as cruisers, and thus created a navy of thirty vessels before the 4th of July, 1776. [18]

Eight of the cruisers were quickly assembled at Philadelphia, and early in January, 1776, Esek Hopkins, commander in chief, stepped on board of one of them and took command. As he did so, Lieutenant John Paul Jones hoisted a yellow silk flag on which was the device of a pine tree and a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't tread on me." This was the first flag ever displayed on an American man-of-war. Ice delayed the departure of the squadron; but in February it put to sea, went to the Bahama Islands, captured the forts on the island of New Providence, and carried off a quantity of powder and cannon.

CAPTAIN BARRY.—Soon afterward another cruiser, the sixteen-gun brig Lexington, Captain John Barry, [19] fell in with a British armed vessel off the coast of Virginia, and after a sharp engagement captured her. She was the first prize brought in by a commissioned officer of the American navy.

THE CRUISERS IN EUROPE.—In 1777 the cruisers carried the war into British ports and waters, across the Atlantic. The Reprisal (which had carried Franklin to France), under Captain Wilkes, in company with two other vessels, sailed twice around Ireland, made fifteen prizes, and alarmed the whole coast. [20] Another cruiser, the Revenge, scoured British waters, and when in need of repairs boldly entered a British port in disguise and refitted.

In 1778 John Paul Jones, [21] in the Ranger, sailed to the Irish Channel, destroyed four vessels, set fire to the shipping in a British port, fought and captured a British armed schooner, sailed around Ireland with her, and reached France in safety.

The next year (1779) Jones, in the Bonhomme Richard (bo-nom' re-shar'), fell in with the British frigate Serapis off the east coast of Great Britain, and on a moonlight night fought one of the most desperate battles in naval history and won it.

]

THE FRIGATES.—Of the thirteen frigates ordered by Congress in 1775, only four remained by the end of 1778. Some were captured at sea, some were destroyed to prevent their falling into British hands, and one blew up while gallantly fighting. Of the cruisers bought in 1775, only one remained. Other purchases at home and abroad were made, but three frigates were captured and destroyed at Charleston in 1779, and by the end of the year our navy was reduced to six vessels. During the war 24 vessels of the navy were lost by capture, wreck, or destruction. The British navy lost 102.

THE PRIVATEERS.—So far we have considered only the American navy—the warships owned by the government. Congress also (March, 1776) issued letters of marque, or licenses to citizens to fit out armed vessels and make war on British ships armed or unarmed; and the sea soon swarmed with privateers fitted out, not only by citizens but also by the states. The privateers were active throughout the war, and took hundreds of prizes.

SUMMARY

1. After the British left Boston, Washington moved his army to Long Island, where he was attacked by the British and driven up the Hudson to White Plains.

2. Later in the year (1776), Washington crossed the Hudson and retreated through New Jersey to Pennsylvania; then he turned about, won the battles of Trenton (December 26, 1776) and Princeton (January 3, 1777), and spent the rest of the winter in New Jersey.

3. The British plan for the campaign of 1777 was to cut off New England from the Middle States; Burgoyne was to come down from Canada and meet Howe, who was to move up the Hudson.

4. Burgoyne lost several battles, and was forced to surrender at Saratoga (October 17, 1777).

5. Howe put off going up the Hudson till too late; instead, he defeated Washington at Brandywine Creek (September 11, 1777), and captured Philadelphia. Washington then attacked Howe at Germantown, was defeated, and spent the winter at Valley Forge.

6. After Burgoyne's surrender, France recognized our independence (February, 1778) and joined us in the war.

7. Fearing a French attack on New York, the British left Philadelphia (June, 1778); Washington followed and fought the battle of Monmouth; but the British went on to New York, and for three years Washington remained near that city.

8. Congress, in December, 1775, created a little navy; but some of these vessels never got to sea; others under Hopkins and Barry won victories during 1776.

9. In 1777 the cruisers were sent to British waters and under Wilkes and others harried British coasts.

10. In 1778 Paul Jones sailed around Ireland and in 1779 he won his great victory in the Bonhomme Richard.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Admiral Howe now wrote to Washington, offering pardon to all persons who should desist from rebellion; he addressed the letter to "George Washington, Esq.," and sent it under flag of truce. The messenger was told there was no one in the army with that title. A week later another messenger came with a paper addressed "George Washington, Esq. etc. etc." This time he was received; and when Washington declined to receive the letter, explained that "etc. etc." meant everything. "Indeed," said Washington, "they might mean anything." He was determined that Howe should recognize him as commander in chief of the Continental army, and not treat him as the leader of rebels.

[2] Many of the prisoners taken in this and other battles were put on board ships anchored near Brooklyn. Their sufferings in these "Jersey prison ships" were terrible, and many died and were buried on the beach. From these rude graves their bones from time to time were washed out. At last in 1808 they were taken up and decently buried near the Brooklyn navy yard, and in 1873 were put in a vault in Washington Park, Brooklyn.

[3] While Washington was near New York, a young man named Nathan Hale volunteered to enter the British lines on Long Island to procure information greatly needed. As he was returning he was recognized by a Tory kinsman, was captured, tried as a spy, and hanged. His last words were: "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

[4] When Howe, marching across Manhattan Island, reached Murray Hill, Mrs. Lindley Murray sent a servant to invite him to luncheon. The army was halted, and Mrs. Murray entertained Howe and his officers for two hours. It was this delay that enabled Putnam to escape.

[5] Charles Lee was in general command at Charleston during the attack on Fort Moultrie, and when he joined Washington at New York, was thought a great officer. Lee was jealous, hoped to be made commander in chief, and purposely left Washington to his fate. Later Lee crossed to New Jersey and took up his quarters at Basking Ridge, not far from Morristown, where the British captured him (December 13, 1776).

[6] Robert Morris was born at Liverpool, England, but came to Philadelphia as a lad and entered on a business career, and when the Revolution opened, was a man of means and influence. He signed the non-importation agreement of 1765, and signed the Declaration of Independence, and at this time (December, 1776) was a leading member of Congress. A year later, when the army was at Valley Forge, he sent it as a gift a large quantity of food and clothing. In 1781 Morris was made Superintendent of Finance, and in order to supply the army in the movement against Yorktown, lent his notes to the amount of $1,400,000. In 1781 he founded the Bank of North America, which is now the oldest bank in our country. After the war Morris was a senator from Pennsylvania. He speculated largely in Western lands, lost his fortune, and from 1798 to 1802 was a prisoner for debt. He died in 1806.

[7] Read the story of Jane McCrea in Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. I, pp. 277-279.

[8] These flags were hoisted on the fort and over them was raised the first flag of stars and stripes ever flung to the breeze. Congress on June 14, 1777, had adopted our national flag. The flag at Fort Stanwix was made of pieces of a white shirt, a blue jacket, and strips of red flannel. The day was August 6.

[9] The story runs that several Tory spies were captured and condemned to death, but one named Cuyler was spared by Arnold on condition that he should go to the camp of St. Leger and say that Burgoyne was captured and a great American army was coming to relieve Fort Stanwix. Cuyler agreed, and having cut what seemed bullet holes in his clothes, rushed into the British camp, crying out that a large American army was at hand, and that he had barely escaped with life. The Indians at once began to desert, the panic spread to the British, and the next day St. Leger was fleeing toward Lake Ontario.

[10] The second battle is often called the battle of Stillwater. Shortly before this Congress removed Schuyler from command and gave it to Gates, who thus reaped the glory of the whole campaign. In both battles Arnold greatly distinguished himself. He won the first fight and was wounded in the second.

[11] Lafayette was a young French nobleman who, fired by accounts of the war in America, fitted out a vessel, and despite the orders of the French king escaped and came to Philadelphia, and offered his services to Congress. With him were De Kalb and eleven other officers. Two gallant Polish officers, Pulaski and Kosciusko, had come over before this time. Kosciusko had been recommended to Washington by Franklin, then in France; he was made a colonel in the engineer corps and superintended the building of the American fortifications at Bemis Heights. After the war he returned to Poland, and long afterward led the Poles in their struggle for liberty.

[12] An interesting novel on this period of the war is Dr. S. W. Mitchell's Hugh Wynne.

[13] At Valley Forge Baron Steuben joined the army. He was an able German officer who had seen service under Frederick the Great of Prussia, and had been persuaded by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to America and help to organize and discipline the army. He landed in New Hampshire late in 1777, and spent the dreadful winter at Valley Forge in drilling the troops, teaching them the use of the bayonet, and organizing the army on the European plan. After the war New York presented Steuben with a farm of 16,000 acres not far from Fort Stanwix. There he died in 1794.

[14] Certain officers and members of Congress plotted during 1777 to have Washington removed from the command of the army. For an account of this Conway Cabal read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. II, pp. 34-43.

[15] Great Britain now sent over commissioners to offer liberal terms of peace,—no taxes by Parliament, no restrictions on trade, no troops in America without consent of the colonial assemblies, even representation in Parliament,—but the offer was rejected. Why did the commissioners fail? Read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. II, pp. 4-17, 22-24.

[16] Lee had been exchanged for a captured British general, and came to Valley Forge in May. From papers found after his death we know that while a prisoner he advised Howe as to the best means of conquering the states. For his conduct in the battle and insolence to Washington after it, Lee was suspended from the army for one year, but when he wrote an insolent letter to Congress, he was dismissed from the army.

[17] A French fleet of twelve ships, under Count d'Estaing, soon arrived near New York. It might perhaps have captured the British fleet in the harbor; but without making the attempt D'Estaing went on to Newport to attempt the capture of a British force which had held that place since December, 1776. Washington sent Greene and Lafayette with troops to assist him, the New England militia turned out by thousands, and all seemed ready for the attack, when a British fleet appeared and D'Estaing went out to meet it. A storm scattered the vessels of the two squadrons, and D'Estaing went to Boston for repairs, and then to the West Indies.

[18] Six of the thirty never got to sea, but were captured or destroyed when the British took New York and Philadelphia. Our navy, therefore, may be considered at the outset to have consisted of 24 vessels, mounting 422 guns. Great Britain at that time had 112 war vessels, carrying 3714 guns, and 78 of these vessels were stationed on or near our coast.

[19] John Barry was a native of Ireland. He came to America at thirteen, and at twenty-five was captain of a ship. At the opening of the war he offered his services to Congress, and in February, 1776, was given command of the Lexington. After his victory Barry was transferred to the 28-gun frigate Effingham, and in 1777 (while blockaded in the Delaware), with 27 men in four boats captured and destroyed a 10-gun schooner and four transports. For this he was thanked by Washington. When the British captured Philadelphia, Barry took the Effingham up the river to save her; but she was burned by the British. At different times Barry commanded several other ships, and in 1782, in the Alliance, fought the last action of the war. In 1794 he was senior captain of the navy, with the title of commodore. He died in 1803.

[20] When these ships returned to France with the prizes, the British government protested so vigorously that the Reprisal and the Lexington were seized and held till security was given that they would leave France. The prizes were ordered out of port, were taken into the offing, and then quietly sold to French merchants. The Reprisal on her way home was lost at sea. The Lexington was captured and her men thrown into prison. They escaped by digging a hole under the wall, and were on board a vessel in London bound for France, when they were discovered and sent back to prison. A year later one of them, Richard Dale, escaped by walking past the guards in daylight, dressed in a British uniform. He never would tell how he got the uniform.

[21] John Paul, Jr., was born in Scotland in 1747. He began a seafaring life when twelve years old and followed it till 1773, when he fell heir to a plantation in Virginia on condition that he should take the name of Jones. Thereafter he was known as John Paul Jones. In 1775 Jones offered his services to Congress, assisted in founding our navy, and in December, 1775, was commissioned lieutenant. He died in Paris in 1792, but the whereabouts of his grave was long unknown. In 1905, however, the United States ambassador to France (Horace Porter) discovered the body of Jones, which was brought with due honors to the United States and deposited at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Porter's account of how the body was found may be read in the Century Magazine for October, 1905. Jones is the hero of Cooper's novel called The Pilot.

[22] The wording on the medal may be translated as follows: "The American Congress to John Paul Jones, fleet commander—for the capture or defeat of the enemy's ships off the coast of Scotland, Sept. 23, 1779."



CHAPTER XV

THE WAR IN THE WEST AND IN THE SOUTH

THE WEST.—After Great Britain obtained from France the country between the mountains and the Mississippi, the British king, as we have seen (p. 143), forbade settlement west of the mountains. But the westward movement of population was not to be stopped by a proclamation. The hardy frontiersmen gave it no heed, and, passing over the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, they hunted, trapped, and made settlements in the forbidden land.



TENNESSEE.—Thus, in 1769, William Bean of North Carolina built a cabin on the banks of the Watauga Creek and began the settlement of what is now Tennessee. The next year James Robertson and many others followed and dotted the valleys of the Holston and the Clinch with clearings and log cabins. These men at first were without government of any sort, so they formed an association and for some years governed themselves; but in 1776 their delegates were seated in the legislature of North Carolina, and next year their settlements were organized as Washington county in that state. Robertson soon (1779) led a colony further west and on the banks of the Cumberland founded Nashboro, now called Nashville.



KENTUCKY.—The year (1769) that Bean went into Tennessee, Daniel Boone, one of the great men of frontier history, entered what is now Kentucky. Others followed, and despite Indian wars and massacres, Boonesboro, Harrodsburg, and Lexington were founded before 1777. These backwoodsmen also were for a time without any government; but in December, 1776, Virginia organized the region as a county with the present boundaries of Kentucky. [1]

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.—In the country north of the Ohio were a few old French towns,—Detroit, Kaskaskia, Vincennes,—and a few forts built by the French and garrisoned by the British, from whom the Indians obtained guns and powder to attack the frontier. Against these forts and villages George Rogers Clark, a young Virginian, planned an expedition which was approved by Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia. Henry could give him little aid, but Clark was determined to go; and in 1778, with one hundred and eighty men, left Pittsburg in boats, floated down the Ohio to its mouth, marched across the swamps and prairies of south-western Illinois, and took Kaskaskia.

Vincennes [2] thereupon surrendered; but was soon recaptured by the British general at Detroit with a band of Indians. But Clark, after a dreadful march across country in midwinter, attacked the fort in the dead of night, captured it, and then conquered the country near the Wabash and Illinois rivers, and held it for Virginia. [3]

SPAIN IN THE WEST.—The conquest was most timely; for in 1779 Spain joined in the war against Great Britain, seized towns and British forts in Florida, and in January, 1781, sent out from St. Louis a band of Spaniards and Indians who marched across Illinois and took possession of Fort St. Joseph in what is now southwestern Michigan, occupied it, and claimed the Northwest for Spain.

THE SOUTH INVADED.—Near the end of 1778, the British armies held strong positions at New York and Newport, and the French fleet under D'Estaing was in the West Indies. The British therefore felt free to strike a blow at the South. A fleet and army accordingly sailed from New York and (December 29, 1778) captured Savannah. Georgia was then overrun, was declared conquered, and the royal governor was reestablished in office. [4]



THE AMERICANS REPULSED AT SAVANNAH.—Governor Rutledge of South Carolina now appealed to D'Estaing, who at once brought his fleet from the West Indies; and Savannah was besieged by the American forces under Lincoln and the French under D'Estaing. After a long siege, an assault was made on the British defenses (October, 1779), in which the brave Pulaski was slain and D'Estaing was wounded. The French then sailed away, and Lincoln fell back into South Carolina.

BRITISH CAPTURE CHARLESTON.—Hearing of this, Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis sailed with British troops from New York (December, 1779) to Savannah. Thence the British marched overland to Charleston. Lincoln did all he could to defend the city, but in May, 1780, was compelled to surrender. South Carolina was then overrun by the British, and Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command.

PARTISAN LEADERS.—South Carolina now became the seat of a bitter partisan war. The Tories there clamored for revenge. That no man should be neutral, Cornwallis ordered everyone to declare for or against the king, and sent officers with troops about the state to enroll the royalists in the militia. The whole population was thus arrayed in two hostile parties. The patriots could not offer organized opposition; but little bands of them found refuge in the woods, swamps, and mountain valleys, whence they issued to attack the British troops and the Tories. Led by Andrew Pickens, Thomas Sumter, and Francis Marion whom the British called the Swamp Fox, they won many desperate fights. [5]

CAMDEN.—Congress, however, had not abandoned the South. Two thousand men under De Kalb were marching south before the surrender of Charleston. After it, a call for troops was made on all the states south of Pennsylvania, and General Gates, then called "the Hero of Saratoga," was sent to join De Kalb and take command. The most important point in the interior of South Carolina was Camden, and against this Gates marched his troops. But he managed matters so badly that near Camden the American army was beaten, routed, and cut to pieces by the British under Cornwallis (August 16, 1780). [6]



THE WAR IN THE NORTH.—What meantime had happened in the North? The main armies near New York had done little fighting; but the British had made a number of sudden raids on the coast. In 1779 Norfolk and Portsmouth in Virginia, and New Haven and several other towns in Connecticut had been attacked, and ships and houses burned. In New York, Clinton captured Stony Point; but Anthony Wayne led a force of Americans against the fort, and at dead of night, by one of the most brilliant assaults in the world's military history, recaptured it (July, 1779). [7]



TREASON OF ARNOLD.—Stony Point was one of several forts built by order of Washington to defend the Hudson. The chief fort was at West Point, the command of which, in July, 1780, was given to Arnold. When the British left Philadelphia in 1778, Arnold was made military commander there, and so conducted himself that he was sentenced by court-martial to be reprimanded by Washington. This censure, added to previous unfair treatment by Congress, led him to seek revenge in the ruin of his country. To bring this about he asked for the command of West Point, and having received it, offered to surrender the fort to the British.

Clinton's agent in the matter was Major John Andr (an'dra), who one day in September, 1780, came up the river in the British ship Vulture, went ashore, and at night met Arnold near Stony Point. Morning came before the terms [8] of surrender were arranged, and the Vulture having been fired on dropped down the river out of range.

WEST POINT SAVED.—Thus left within the American lines, Andr crossed the river to the east shore, and started for New York by land, but was stopped by three Americans, [9] searched, and papers of great importance were found in his stockings. Despite an offer of his watch and money for his release, Andr was delivered to the nearest American officer, was later tried by court-martial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged as a spy.

The American officer to whom Andr was delivered, not suspecting Arnold, sent the news to him as well as to Washington. Arnold received the message first; knowing that Washington was at hand, he at once procured a boat, was rowed down the river to the Vulture, and escaped. From then till the end of the war he served as an officer in the British army.

The disasters at Charleston and Camden, and the narrow escape from disaster at West Point, made 1780 the most disheartening year of the war.

KINGS MOUNTAIN.—But the tide quickly turned. After his victory at Camden, Cornwallis began to invade North Carolina, and sent Colonel Ferguson into the South Carolina highlands to enlist all the Tories he could find. As Ferguson advanced into the hill country, the backwoodsmen and mountaineers rallied from all sides, and led by Sevier, Shelby, and Williams, surrounded him and forced him to make a stand on the summit of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780. Fighting in true Indian fashion from behind every tree and rock, they shot Ferguson's army to pieces, killed him, and forced the few survivors to surrender. This victory forced Cornwallis to put off his conquest of North Carolina.

COWPENS.—General Greene was now sent to replace Gates in command of the patriot army in the South. He was too weak to attack Cornwallis, but by dividing his army and securing the aid of the partisan bands he hoped to annoy the British with raids. Morgan, who commanded one of these divisions, was so successful that Cornwallis sent Tarleton with a thousand men against him. Morgan offered battle on the grounds known as the Cowpens, and there Tarleton was routed and three fourths of his men were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.



THE GREAT RETREAT.—This victory won, Morgan set off to join Greene, with Cornwallis himself in hot pursuit. When Greene heard the news, he determined to draw the British general far northward and then fight him wherever he would be at most disadvantage. [10] The retreat of the American army was therefore continued to the border of Virginia.

GUILFORD COURT HOUSE.—Having received reinforcements, Greene turned southward and offered battle at Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781). A desperate fight ensued, and when night came, Greene retired, leaving the British unable to follow him. Cornwallis had lost one quarter of his army in killed and wounded. He was in the midst of a hostile country, too weak to stay, and unwilling to confess defeat by retreating to South Carolina. Thus outgeneraled he hurried to Wilmington, where he could be aided by the British fleet.



Greene followed for a time, and then turned into South Carolina, drove the British out of Camden, and by the 4th of July had reconquered half of South Carolina. Late in August, he forced the British back to Eutaw Springs, where (September 8, 1781) a desperate battle was fought. [11] The British troops held their ground, but on the following night they set off for. Charleston, where they remained until the end of the war. [12]

YORKTOWN.—From Wilmington Cornwallis marched to southeastern Virginia, where a British force under Benedict Arnold joined him. He then set off to capture Lafayette, who had been sent to defend Virginia from Arnold. But Lafayette retreated to the back country, till reinforcements came. When Cornwallis could drive him no farther, the British army retreated to the coast, and fortified itself at Yorktown.

In August Washington received word that a large French fleet under De Grasse was about to sail from the West Indies to Chesapeake Bay. He saw that the supreme moment had come. Laying aside his plan for an attack on New York, he hurried southward, marched his army to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and then took it by ships to Yorktown. [13] The French fleet was already in the bay. Some French troops had joined Lafayette, and Cornwallis was already surrounded when Washington arrived. The siege was now pressed with overwhelming force, and Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.

END OF THE WAR.—Swift couriers carried the news to Philadelphia, where, at the dead of night, the people were roused from sleep by the watchman crying in the street, "Past two o'clock and Cornwallis is taken." In the morning Congress received the dispatches and went in solemn procession to a church to give thanks to God.

When the British prime minister, Lord North, heard the news, he exclaimed, "All is over; all is over!" The king alone remained stubborn, and for a while insisted on holding Georgia, Charleston, and New York. But his advisers in time persuaded him to yield, and (November 30, 1782) a preliminary treaty, acknowledging the independence of the United States, was signed at Paris. [14] The final treaty was not signed till September 3, 1783. [15]



In November the Continental army was disbanded, and in December, at Annapolis, where Congress was sitting, Washington formally surrendered his command, and went home to Mount Vernon. [16]

SUMMARY

1. Despite the king's proclamation in 1763, frontiersmen soon crossed the mountains and settled in what is now Kentucky and Tennessee.

2. In the region north of the Ohio were a few British forts, some of which George Rogers Clark captured in 1778 and 1779; but Fort St. Joseph in Michigan was captured by the Spanish.

3. At the end of 1778 the British began an attack on the Southern states by capturing Savannah.

4. Georgia was then overrun. The Americans, aided by a French fleet, attacked Savannah and were repulsed (1779).

5. In 1780, renforced by a fleet and army from New York, the British captured Charleston and overran South Carolina. The Americans under Gates were badly beaten at Camden; but a British force was destroyed at Kings Mountain.

6. In the same year Benedict Arnold turned traitor, and sought in vain to deliver West Point to the British.

7. In the following year (1781) our arms were generally victorious. Morgan won the battle of the Cowpens; Greene outgeneraled Cornwallis and then reconquered South Carolina. At the end of the year Charleston and Savannah were the only Southern towns held by the British.

8. Cornwallis marched into Virginia, and fortified himself at Yorktown. There Washington, aided by a French army and fleet, forced him to surrender (1781).

9. Peace was made next year, our independence was acknowledged, and by the end of 1783 the last British soldiers had left the country.



FOOTNOTES

[1] About this time the settlers on the upper Ohio River (in what is now West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania) became eager for statehood. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed their allegiance. They asked Congress, therefore, for recognition as the state of Westsylvania, the fourteenth province of the American Confederacy. Congress did not grant their prayer.

[2] Read Thompson's Alice of Old Vincennes.

[3] Farther east, meantime, a band of savages led by Colonel John Butler swept down from Fort Niagara, entered Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania, near the site of Wilkes-Barre, and perpetrated one of the most awful massacres in history (July 4, 1778). (Read Campbell's poem Gertrude of Wyoming). A little later another band, led by a son of Butler, burned the village of Cherry Valley in New York, and murdered many of the inhabitants—men, women, and children. Cruelties of this sort could not go unpunished. In the summer of 1779, therefore, General Sullivan with an army invaded the Indian country in central New York, burned forty Indian villages, destroyed their crops, cut down their fruit trees, and brought the Indians to the verge of famine.

[4] Congress now put Lincoln in command in the South; but when he marched into Georgia, the British set off to attack Charleston, sacking houses and slaughtering cattle as they went. This move forced Lincoln to follow them, and having been joined by Pulaski, he compelled the British to retreat.

[5] Four novels by Simms,—The Partisan, Mellichampe, Katharine Walton, and The Scout,—and Horseshoe Robinson, by Kennedy, are famous stories relating to the Revolution in the South. Read Bryant's Song of Marion's Men.

[6] A large number of men were killed, and a thousand taken prisoners. Among the dead was De Kalb. Among the living was Gates, who fled among the first and made such haste to escape that he covered two hundred miles in four days.

[7] The purpose of the attack on Stony Point was to draw the British from Connecticut. The capture had the desired result, and Stony Point was then abandoned. The fort stood on a rocky promontory with the water of the Hudson River on three sides. On the fourth was a morass crossed by a narrow road which at high tide was under water. The country between the British forces in New York and the American army on the highlands of the Hudson was known as the neutral ground, and is the scene of Cooper's great novel The Spy.

[8] The British were to come up the river and attack West Point. Arnold was to man the defenses in such a way that they could easily be taken, one at a time, and so afford an excuse for surrendering them, with the three thousand men under Arnold's command.

[9] The names of Andr's captors were John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart. Congress gave each a medal and a pension for life.

[10] To accomplish this Greene sent the greater part of his army northward under General Huger, while he with a small guard hurried across country, and took command of Morgan's army. And now a most exciting chase began. Cornwallis destroyed his heavy baggage that he might move as rapidly as possible, and vainly strove to get near enough to Greene to make him fight. Greene with great skill kept just out of reach and for ten days lured the British farther and farther north. At Guilford Court House Greene and Morgan were joined by the main army. Cornwallis then proclaimed North Carolina conquered, and called on all Loyalists to join him.

[11] Two good works relating to these events are The Forayers and Eutaw, by Simms.

[12] While these things were happening in the South, a French army of 6000 men under Rochambeau arrived at Newport (1780), from which the British had withdrawn in 1779. There, for a while, the French fleet was blockaded by the British, and the troops remained to aid the fleet in case of necessity. The next year, however, this army marched across Connecticut and joined Washington's forces (July, 1781), and preparations were begun for an attack on New York.

[13] When Clinton realized that Washington was on the way to Yorktown, he sent Arnold on a raid into Connecticut, in hope of forcing Washington to return. Early in September Arnold attacked New London, carried one of its forts by storm, and set tire to the town, but was driven off by the minutemen.

[14] Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin (our minister in France), John Adams (in Holland), John Jay (in Spain), Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Laurens to negotiate the treaty. Jefferson's appointment came too late for him to serve; the other four signed the treaty of 1782, and Franklin, Adams, and Jay signed the treaty of 1783.

[15] After the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington returned with his army to the Hudson and made his headquarters at Newburgh. In April, 1783, a cessation of war on land and sea was formally proclaimed, and the British prepared to leave New York. Charleston and Savannah were evacuated in 1782, but November 25, 1783, came before the last British soldier left New York. When the troops under Washington entered New York city, they found a British flag nailed to the staff, the halyards gone, and the staff soaped. A sailor climbed the pole by nailing on cleats, pulled down the British flag, and reeved new halyards. The stars and stripes were then raised and saluted with thirteen guns.

[16] Washington refused to be paid for his services. Actual expenses during the war were all he would take, and these amounted to about $70,000.



CHAPTER XVI

AFTER THE WAR

OUR BOUNDARIES.—By the treaty of 1783 our country was bounded on the north by a line (very much as at present) from the mouth of the St. Croix River in Maine to the Lake of the Woods; on the west by the Mississippi River; and on the south by the parallel of 31 north latitude from the Mississippi to the Apalachicola, and then by the present south boundary of Georgia to the sea. [1]

But our flag did not as yet wave over every part of the country within these bounds. Great Britain, claiming that certain provisions in the treaty had been violated, held the forts from Lake Champlain to Lake Michigan and would not withdraw her troops. [2] Spain, having received the Floridas back from Great Britain by a treaty of 1783, held the forts at Memphis, Baton Rouge, and Vicksburg, and much of what is now Alabama and Mississippi. [3]

A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT.—From 1775 to 1781 the states were governed, so far as they had any general government, by the Continental Congress. During these years there was no written document fixing the powers of Congress and limiting the powers of the states. While the war was going on, Congress submitted a plan for a general government, called Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union; but nearly four years passed before all the states accepted it. The delay was caused by the refusal of Maryland to approve the Articles unless the states having sea-to-sea charters would give to Congress, for the public good, the lands they claimed beyond the mountains. [4]

Congress therefore appealed to the states to cede their Western lands. If they would do this, Congress promised to sell the lands, use the money to pay the debts of the United States, and cut the region into states and admit them into the Union at the proper time. New York, Connecticut, and Virginia at last agreed to give up their lands northwest of the Ohio River, and on March 1, 1781, the Maryland delegates signed the Articles and by so doing put them in force. [5]

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.—In the government set up by the Articles of Confederation there was no President of the United States, no Supreme Court, no Senate. Congress consisted of a single body to which each state sent at least two delegates, and might send any number up to seven. The members were elected annually, were paid by the states they represented, could not serve more than three years in six, and might be recalled at any time. Each state cast one vote, and nine affirmative votes were necessary to carry any important measure. Congress could make war and peace, enter into treaties with foreign powers, coin money, contract debts in the name of the United States, and call upon each state for its share of the general expenses.

THE STATES CEDE LANDS.—Although three states had tendered their Western lands when Maryland signed the Articles, the conditions of cession were not at once accepted by Congress, and some time passed before the deeds were delivered. By the year 1786, however, the claims northwest of the Ohio had been ceded by New York, Virginia, [6] Massachusetts, and Connecticut. [7] South of the Ohio, what is now West Virginia and Kentucky still belonged to Virginia. North Carolina offered what is now Tennessee to Congress in 1784, [8] but the conditions were not then accepted, and that territory was not turned over to Congress till 1790. The long, narrow strip of western land owned by South Carolina was ceded to Congress in 1787. South of this was a strip owned by Georgia, and farther south lands long in dispute between Georgia and Spain and Congress. Georgia did not accept her present western limits till 1802.

MIGRATION WESTWARD.—Into the country west of the mountains the people were moving in three great streams. One from New England was pushing out along the Mohawk valley into central New York; another from Pennsylvania and Virginia was pouring its population into Kentucky; the third from North Carolina was overrunning Tennessee.



For this movement the hard times which followed the Revolution were largely the cause. Compared with our time, the means of making a livelihood were few and far less remunerative. Great mills and factories each employing thousands of persons had no existence. The imports from Great Britain far surpassed in value our exports; the difference was settled in specie (coin) taken from the country. The people were poor, and as land in the West was cheap, they left the East and went westward.

ROUTES TO THE OHIO VALLEY.—New England people bound to the Ohio valley went through Connecticut to Kingston, New York, on across New Jersey to Easton, Pennsylvania, and thence to Bedford, where they struck the road cut years before by the troops of General Forbes, and by it went to Pittsburg (p. 194). Settlers from Maryland and Virginia went generally to Fort Cumberland in Maryland, and then on by Brad dock's Road to Pittsburg, or turned off and reached the Monongahela at Redstone, or the Ohio at Wheeling (map, p. 201).

Such was the rush to the Ohio valley that each spring and summer hundreds of boats and arks left Pittsburg and Wheeling or Redstone, and floated down the Ohio to Maysville, Louisville, and other places in Kentucky. [9] The flatboat was usually twelve feet wide and forty feet long, with high sides and a flat or slightly arched top, and was steered, and when necessary was rowed, by long oars or sweeps. Some were arranged to carry cattle as well as household goods.



THE OHIO COMPANY OF ASSOCIATES.—Meanwhile, some old soldiers of New England and New Jersey who had claims for bounty lands, [10] organized the Ohio Company of Associates, and in 1787 sent an agent (Manasseh Cutler) to New York, where Congress was sitting, and bade him buy a great tract of land northwest of the Ohio, on which they might settle.



THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.—When Cutler reached New York, he found Congress debating a measure of great importance. This was an ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, including the whole region from the Lakes to the Ohio, and from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi. When passed, this famous Ordinance of 1787 provided—

1. That until five thousand free white males lived in the territory, the governing body should be a governor and three judges appointed by Congress.

2. That when there were five thousand free white men in the territory, they might elect a legislature and send a delegate to Congress.

3. That slavery should not be permitted in the territory, but that fugitive slaves should be returned.

4. That the territory should in time be cut up into not more than five, or less than three, states.

5. That when the population of each division numbered sixty thousand, it should be admitted into the Union on the same footing as the original states.

OHIO SETTLED.—After the ordinance was passed, Cutler bought five million acres of land north of the Ohio River, and in the winter of 1787-88 a party of young men sent out by the Ohio Company made their way from New England to a branch of the Monongahela River. There they built a great boat, and when the ice broke up, floated down the Ohio to the lands of the Ohio Company, where they erected a few log huts and a fort of hewn timber which they called Campus Martius. The little settlement was called Marietta. [11]

Farther down the Ohio, on land owned by John Cleve Symmes and associates, Columbia and Losantiville, afterward called Cincinnati, were founded in 1788.

STATE BOUNDARIES.—The old charters which led to the conflicting claims to land in the West, caused like disputes in the East. Massachusetts claimed a strip of country embracing western New York, and did not settle the dispute till 1786. [12] A similar dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania was settled in 1782. [13] New York claimed all Vermont as having once been part of New Netherland; but Vermont was really an independent republic. [14] In Kentucky the people were insisting that their country be separated from Virginia and made a state.

TROUBLE WITH SPAIN.—Congress had trouble in trying to secure from foreign nations fair treatment for our commerce, and was involved in a dispute over the navigation of the Mississippi. Spain owned both banks at the mouth of the river, and denied the right of Americans to go in or out without her consent. The Spanish minister who came over in 1785 was ready to make a commercial treaty if the river was closed to navigation for twenty-five years, and the Eastern states were quite ready to agree to it. But the people of Kentucky and Tennessee threatened to leave the Union if cut off from the sea, and no treaty was made with Spain till 1795.

THE WEAKNESS OF THE CONFEDERATION.—The question of trade and commerce with foreign powers and between the states was very serious, and the weakness of Congress in this and other matters soon wrecked the Confederation.

1. In the first place, the Articles of Confederation gave Congress no power to levy taxes of any kind. Money, therefore, could not be obtained to pay the debts of the United States, or the annual cost of government. [15]

2. Congress had no power to regulate the foreign trade. As there were few articles manufactured in the country, china, glass, cutlery, edged tools, hardware, woolen, linen, and many other articles of daily use were imported from Great Britain. As Great Britain took little from us, these goods were largely paid for in specie, which grew scarcer and scarcer each year. Great Britain, moreover, hurt our trade by shutting our vessels out of her West Indies, and by heavy duties on American goods coming to her ports in American ships. [16] Congress, having no power to regulate trade, could not retaliate by treating British ships in the same way.

3. Congress had no power to regulate trade between the states. As a consequence, some of the states laid heavy duties on goods imported from other states. Retaliation followed, and the safety of the Union was endangered.

4. Congress did not have sole power to coin money and regulate the value thereof. There were, therefore, nearly as many kinds of paper money as there were states, and the money issued by each state passed in others at all sorts of value, or not at all. This hindered interstate trade.

5. Congress could not enforce treaties. It could make treaties with other countries, but only the states could compel the people to observe them, and the states did not choose to do so.



CONGRESS ASKS FOR MORE POWER.—Of the defects in the Articles of Confederation Congress was fully aware, and it asked the states to amend the Articles and give it more authority. [17] To do this required the assent of all the states, and as the consent of thirteen states could not be obtained, the additional powers were not given to Congress.

This soon brought matters to a crisis. With no regulation of trade, the purchase of more and more goods from British merchants made money so scarce that the states were forced to print and issue large amounts of paper bills. In Massachusetts, when the legislature refused to issue such currency, the debtors rose and, led by a Revolutionary officer named Daniel Shays, prevented the courts from trying suits for the recovery of debts. The governor called out troops, and several encounters took place before a bitter winter dispersed the insurgents. [18]

THE ANNAPOLIS TRADE CONVENTION.—In this condition of affairs, Virginia invited her sister states to send delegates to a convention at Annapolis in 1786. They were to "take into consideration the trade and commerce of the United States." Five states sent delegates, but the convention could do nothing, because less than half the states were present, and because the powers of the delegates were too limited. A request was therefore made by it that Congress call a convention of the states to meet at Philadelphia and "take into consideration the situation of the United States."

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.—Congress issued the call early in 1787, and delegates from twelve states [19] met at Philadelphia and framed the Constitution of the United States. Washington was made president of the convention, and among the members were many of the ablest men of the time. [20]



THE COMPROMISES.—In the course of the debates in the convention great difference of opinion arose on several matters.

The small states wanted a Congress of one house, and equality of state representation. The great states wanted Historical a Congress of two houses, with representation in proportion to population. This difference of opinion was so serious that a compromise was necessary, and it was agreed that in one branch (House of Representatives) the people should be represented, and in the other (Senate) the states.

The question then arose whether slaves should be counted as population. The Southern delegates said yes; the Northern, no. It was finally agreed that direct taxes and representatives should be apportioned according to population, and that three fifths of the slaves should be counted as population. This was the second compromise.

The convention agreed that Congress should regulate foreign commerce. But the Southern members objected that by means of this power Congress might pass navigation acts limiting trade to American ships, which might raise freights on exports from the South. Many Northern members, on the other hand, wanted the slave trade stopped. These two matters were therefore made the basis of another compromise, by which Congress could pass navigation acts, but could not prohibit the slave trade before 1808.

THE CONSTITUTION RATIFIED.—When the convention had finished its work (September 17, 1787), the Constitution [21] was sent to the old (Continental) Congress, which referred it to the states, and the states, one by one, called on the people to elect; delegates to conventions to ratify or reject the new plan of government. In a few states it was accepted without any demand for changes. In others it was vigorously opposed as likely to set up too strong a government. In Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia adoption was long in doubt. [22]

By July, 1788, eleven states had ratified, and the Constitution was in force as to these States. [23]

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.—The Continental Congress then appointed the first Wednesday in January, 1789, as the day on which electors of President should be chosen in the eleven states; the first Wednesday in February as the day on which the electors should meet and vote for President; and the first Wednesday in March (which happened to be the 4th of March) as the day when the new Congress should assemble at New York and canvass the vote for President.



WASHINGTON THE FIRST PRESIDENT.—When March 4 came, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives had a quorum, and a month went by before the electoral votes were counted, and Washington and John Adams declared President and Vice President of the United States. [24]

Some time now elapsed before Washington could be notified of his election. More time was consumed by the long journey from Mount Vernon to New York, where, on April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall, he took the oath of office in the presence of a crowd of his fellow-citizens.

SUMMARY

1. The treaty of peace defined the boundaries of our country; but Great Britain continued to hold the forts along the north, and Spain to occupy the country in the southwest.

2. Seven of the thirteen states claimed the country west of the mountains.

3. The other six, especially Maryland, denied these claims, and this dispute delayed the adoption of the Articles of Confederation till 1781.

4. By the year 1786 the lands northwest of the Ohio had been ceded to Congress.

5. In 1787, therefore, Congress formed the Northwest Territory.

6. Certain states, meantime, were settling disputes as to their boundaries in the east.

7. We had trouble with Spain over the right to use the lower Mississippi River, and with Great Britain over matters of trade.

8. Six years' trial proved that the government of the United States was too weak under the Articles of Confederation.

9. In 1787, therefore, the Constitution was framed, and within a year was ratified by eleven states.

10. In 1789 Washington and Adams became President and Vice President, and government under the Constitution began.



FOOTNOTES

[1] Both France and Spain had tried to shut us out of the Mississippi valley. Read Fiske's Critical Period of American History, pp. 17-25.

[2] By the treaty of 1783 Congress provided that all debts due British subjects might be recovered by law, and that the states should be asked to pay for confiscated property of the Loyalists. But the states would not permit the recovery of the debts nor pay for the property taken from the Loyalists. Great Britain, by holding the forts along our northern frontier, controlled the fur trade and the Indians, and ruled the country about the forts. These were Dutchman's Point, Point au Fer, Oswegatchie, Oswego, Niagara, Erie, Detroit, Mackinaw.

[3] To understand her conduct we must remember that in 1764, shortly after the French and Indian War, Great Britain made 32 28' north latitude (through the mouth of the Yazoo, p. 143) the north boundary of West Florida; and although Great Britain in her treaty with us made 31 the boundary between us and West Florida, Spain insisted that it should be 32 28'. Spain's claim to the Northwest, founded on her occupation of Fort St. Joseph (p. 183), had not been allowed; she was therefore the more determined to expand her claims in the South.

[4] The states claiming such lands by virtue of their colonial charters were Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. New York had acquired the Iroquois title to lands in the West. Her claim conflicted with those of Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The claims of Connecticut and Massachusetts covered lands included in the Virginia claim—Maryland denied the validity of all these claims, for these reasons: (1) the Mississippi valley belonged to France till 1763; (2) when France gave the valley east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763, it became crown land; (3) in 1763 the king drew the line around the sources of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and forbade the colonists to settle beyond that line (p. 143).

[5] The Articles were not to go into effect till every state signed. Maryland was the thirteenth state to sign.

[6] Virginia reserved ownership of a large tract called the Virginia Military Lands. It lay in what is now Ohio between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers (map, p. 201), and was used to pay bounties to her soldiers of the Revolution.