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people were declared rebels; and the governor was ordered to send abroad for trial all persons who should resist the officers.

27. In September THE SECOND COLONIAL CONGRESS assembled at Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented. One address was sent to the king; another to the English nation; and another to the people of Canada. A resolution was adopted to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain. Parliament retaliated by ordering General Gage to reduce the colonists by force. A fleet and ten thousand soldiers were sent to aid him.

28. Boston Neck was seized and fortified by the British. The stores at Cambridge and Charlestown were conveyed to Boston; and the general assembly was ordered to disband. Instead of doing so, the members voted to equip an army of twelve thousand men for defence. There was no longer any hope of a peaceable adjustment. The colonists were few and feeble; but they were men of iron wills who had made up their minds to die for liberty.

RECAPITULATION.

Importance of the Revolution.-The question decided by it.-The causes.Great Britain claims the right of arbitrary government.-France incites the rebellion. The disposition of the Americans encourages independence.-Public opinion. The king provokes a conflict.-Parliament passes oppressive acts.The question of taxation.-The Importation Act.-Its provisions.-Writs of Assistance are issued.-The sugar and wine duties.--A Stamp Act is proposed.-Indignation in the colonies.--The Stamp Act is passed.-Its provisions.-The news is received in America.-Scene in the House of Burgesses.-Passage of Henry's resolutions.-Other assemblies pursue a similar course.-The first Colonial Congress.-A Declaration of Rights is adopted.-Memorials to the king and Parliament.-The Stamp Act is resisted.-And the stamps destroyed.Suspension of business.-The Sons of Liberty.-The non-importation agreement.-Pitt defends the colonists.-Repeal of the Stamp Act.-Townshend secures the passage of a glass and tea-tax.-The Americans resist.-Circular of Massachusetts.-Seizure of a sloop at Boston.-Insurrection of the people.Gates takes possession of Boston.-Is ordered to arrest the patriots.-Rebellion of Virginia and North Carolina.-Conflict at New York.-The Boston massacre. --Repeal of the duties.-Passage of the Salary Act.-Burning of the Gaspee.Tea is shipped to America.-Is spoiled at Charleston.-Refused at New York and Philadelphia.-And poured overboard at Boston.-Passage of the Port Bill.-Opposition of the Burgesses.-The charter of Massachusetts is annulled.The people declared rebels.-The second Congress assembles.-A British army is ordered to America.--Boston Neck fortified.-Military stores removed.-The assembly refuses to disband.-War inevitable.

AS

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE BEGINNING.

S soon as the intentions of General Gage were known, the people of Boston, concealing their ammunition in carts, conveyed it to Concord. On the night of the 18th of April, Gage despatched eight hundred men to destroy the stores. The plan of the British was made with great secrecy; but the patriots discovered the movement. When the regiment, under command of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, set out for Concord, the people of Boston were roused by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons. William Dawes and Paul Revere rode with all speed, to Lexington and spread the alarm through the country.

2. At two o'clock in the morning a company of a hundred and thirty minute-men assembled on the common at Lexington. No enemy appeared until five o'clock, when the British, under command of Pitcairn, came in sight. The provincials were led by Captain Parker. Pitcairn rode up and exclaimed: "Disperse, Throw down your arms!" The minute-men stood still, and Pitcairn cried, "Fire!" The first volley of the Revolution whistled through the air, and sixteen of the patriots fell dead or wounded. The rest fired a few shots, and dispersed.

ye villains!

3. The British pressed on to Concord; but the inhabitants had removed the stores to a place of safety, and there was but little destruction. While the British were ransacking the town, the minute-men encountered a company of soldiers who were guarding the North Bridge. Here the Americans fired under orders of their officers, and two British soldiers were killed. The rest began a retreat through the town towards Lexington. the battle was kept up along the road. Hidden fences, and barns, the patriots poured a constant fire upon the

For six miles

behind trees,

ranks of the enemy. At one time it seemed that the whole British force would be obliged to surrender. The American loss was forty-nine killed, thirty-four wounded, and five missing; that of the enemy was two hundred and seventy-three.

4. The battle of Lexington fired the country. Within a few days an army of twenty thousand men gathered about Boston. A line of entrenchments was drawn from Roxbury to Chelsea. To drive Gage into the sea was the common talk. John Stark came down with the New Hampshire militia. Israel Putnam, with a leather waistcoat on, hurried to the nearest town, mounted a horse and rode to Cambridge, a distance of a hundred miles, in eighteen hours. Rhode Island sent her men under Nathaniel Greene. Benedict Arnold came with the provincials of New Haven.

5. Ethan Allen, with a company of two hundred and seventy patriots, advanced against Ticonderoga. Benedict Arnold joined the expedition as a private. On the evening of the 9th of May, the force reached the shore of Lake George, opposite Ticonderoga.

6. On the following morning, eighty-three men succeeded in crossing. With this mere handful, Allen made a dash and gained the gateway of the fort. The sentinel was driven in, closely followed by the patriot mountaineers. Allen rushed to the quarters of the commandant, and cried out: "Surrender this fort instantly!" "By what authority?" inquired the officer. “In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," said Allen, flourishing his sword. There was no alternative. The garrison were made prisoners and sent to Connecticut. By this daring exploit vast quantities of military stores fell into the hands of the Americans. Two days afterward Crown Point was also taken.

7. On the 25th of May, Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne arrived at Boston. The British army was augmented to more than ten thousand men. It was now rumored that Gage was about to sally out of Boston to burn the neighboring towns and devastate the country. The Americans determined to anticipate this movement by fortifying Bunker Hill, which commanded the peninsula of Charlestown.

8. On the night of the 16th of June, Colonel Prescott was sent with a thousand men to entrench the hill. The provincials reached

the eminence; but Prescott and his engineer, not liking the position, proceeded down the peninsula to Breed's Hill, within cannon range of Boston. On this summit a redoubt was thrown up during the night. The British ships

[graphic]

in the harbor were so near that the Americans could hear the sentinels repeating the night-call, "All is well."

9. As soon as it was light, General Gage ordered the ships in the harbor to cannonade the American position. The British batteries on Copp's Hill also opened fire. Just after noon, three thou

sand British veterans, com- SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 1775. manded by Generals Howe and Pigot, landed at Morton's Point. The Americans numbered about fifteen hundred. Generals Putnam and Warren served as privates in the trenches. Charlestown was burned by the British as they advanced. Thousands of spectators climbed to the house-tops in Boston to watch the battle. On came the British in a stately and imposing column.

10. The Americans reserved their fire until the advancing line was within a hundred and fifty feet. Then instantly from the breastworks every gun was discharged. The front rank of the British melted away, and the rest hastily retreated. Howe rallied his men and led them to the second charge. Again the American fire was withheld until the enemy was but a few rods distant. Then with steady aim volley after volley was poured upon the column until it was broken and driven into flight.

11. The vessels of the British fleet now changed position until the guns were brought to bear upon the American works. For the third time, the British soldiers charged with fixed bayonets up the hillside. The Americans had but three or four rounds of ammunition remaining. These were expended on the advancing enemy. Then there was a lull. The British clambered over the ramparts.

The provincials hurled stones at the assailants. It

was in vain; the defenders of liberty were driven out of their trenches at the point of the bayonet. The brave Warren gave his life for freedom. The loss of the British in the engagement was a thousand and fifty-four in killed and wounded. The Americans lost a hundred and fifteen killed, three hundred and five wounded, and thirty-two prisoners. Prescott and Putnam conducted the retreat to Prospect Hill.

12. The battle of Bunker Hill rather inspired than discouraged the colonists. The news was borne to the South, and a spirit of determined opposition was everywhere aroused. The people began to speak of THE UNITED COLONIES OF AMERICA. At Charlotte, North Carolina, the citizens ran together in a convention, and made a declaration of independence.

13. On the day of the capture of Ticonderoga, the colonial Congress assembled at Philadelphia. Washington was there, and John Adams and Samuel Adams, Franklin and Patrick Henry; Jefferson came soon afterward, A last appeal was addressed to the king; and he was told that the colonists had chosen war in preference to slavery. Early in the session John Adams made an address, in the course of which he noticed the necessity of appointing a commander-in-chief and the qualities requisite in that high officer. The speaker concluded by putting in nomination George Washington of Virginia. On the 15th of June, the nomination was confirmed by Congress; and the man who had saved the wreck of Braddock's army was called to build a nation. 14. GEORGE WASHINGTON was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 11th of February (Old Style), 1732. At the age of eleven he was left to the sole care of his mother. His education was limited to the common branches of learning. Surveying was his favorite study. At the age of sixteen he was sent by his uncle to survey a tract of land on the South Potomac. The important duties which he performed in the service of the Ohio Company and his campaign with Braddock have already been narrated. With great dignity he accepted the appointment of commander-in-chief, and set out to join the army at Cambridge.

15. Congress had voted to equip twenty thousand men, but the means of doing so were not furnished. Washington had a force

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