almost wholly wanting. At the time of the battle of Bunker Hill the whole army had but twenty-seven half barrels of powder. The work of organization was at once begun. Four major-generals, one adjutant and eight brigadiers were appointed. The army was arranged in three divisions. The right wing, under General Ward, held Roxbury; the left, commanded by General Charles Lee, rested at Prospect Hill, near Charlestown Neck; the centre, under the immediate direction of the commander-in-chief, lay at Cambridge. Boston was regularly invested, and the siege was pressed with constantly increasing vigor.

During the summer and autumn of 1775, the king's authority was overthrown in all the colonies. The royal governors either espoused the cause of the people, were compelled to resign or were driven off in insurrections. Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, seized the public powder. Patrick Henry led the people, and demanded restitution. The governor was overawed, and paid the value of the powder. Fearing further aggression, he went on board a man-of-war, proclaimed freedom to the slaves, raised a force of loyalists, met the provincials at the village of Great Bridge near Norfolk, and was defeated. Obliged to retire from the country, he gratified his vindictive disposition by burning Norfolk.

The American colonies looked to Canada for sympathy and aid. It was believed that the Canadians would make common cause against Great Britain. In order to encourage such a movement and to secure possession of the Canadian government, an expedition was planned against the towns on the St. Lawrence. Generals Schuyler and Montgomery were placed in command of a division which was to proceed by way of Lake Champlain and the river Sorel to St. John and Montreal. The former fort was reached on the 10th of September, but the Americans, finding the place too strong to be carried by assault, fell back twelve miles to Isle-aux-Noix in the Sorel. This place General Schuyler fortified, and then returned to Ticonderoga for reinforcements. Sickness detained him there, and the whole command devolved on Montgomery. This gallant officer returned to St. John and captured the fortress. Fort Chambly, ten miles farther north, was also taken. Montreal was next invested, and on the 13th of November obliged to capitulate.

Leaving garrisons in the conquered towns, Montgomery proceeded with his regiment, now reduced to three hundred men, against Quebec. This stronghold was already threatened from another quarter. Late in the autumn, Colonel Benedict Arnold set out with a thousand men from Cambridge, passed up the Kennebec and urged his way through the wilderness to the Chaudiere, intending to descend that stream to Point Levi. The march was one of untold hardship and suffering. As winter came

on the men were brought to the verge of starvation. The daring leader pressed on in the hope of gathering supplies from some unguarded French village. Before his return the famishing soldiers had killed and devoured every dog that could be found. Then the brave fellows gnawed the roots of trees and ate their moose-skin moccasins until Arnold's return, when the whole force proceeded to Quebec. Morgan, Greene and Meigs, all three noted leaders of the Revolution, and Aaron Burr, one day to become Vice-President of the United States, were in this company of suffering heroes.

Arnold and his men, climbing to the Plains of Abraham, as Wolfe had done sixteen years previously, offered battle. But the English garrison of Quebec remained in their fortifications awaiting an assault which the Americans were not strong enough to make. Conscious of his weakness, Arnold withdrew his men to Point aux Trembles, twenty miles up the river, and there awaited the approach of Montgomery. When the latter arrived, he assumed command of the whole force, which did not exceed nine hundred effective men. Quebec was defended by greatly superior numbers, well fortified and warmly quartered. For three weeks, with his handful of men, Montgomery besieged the town, and then, relying only on the courageous valor of his men, determined to stake everything on an assault.

It was the last day of December, 1775. Before daybreak the little army was divided into four columns. The first division, under Montgomery, was to pass down the St. Lawrence and attack the Lower Town in the neighborhood of the citadel. The second column, led by Arnold, was to sweep around the city to the north, attack by way of the St. Charles, and join Montgomery in order to storm the Prescott Gate. The other two divisions were to remain in the rear of the Upper Town, making feigned attacks to draw the attention of the garrison. Montgomery's column reached the point from which the charge was to begin. A battery lay just before, and it was thought that the gunners had not discovered the assailants. "Men of New York," said the brave Montgomery, "you will not fear to follow where your general leads! Forward!" There were masses of ice and clouds of blinding snow, and broken ground and the cold gray light of morning. As the Americans were rushing forward, all of a sudden the battery burst forth with a storm of grape-shot. At the first discharge Montgomery and both of his aids fell dead. The column was shattered. The men were heartbroken at the death of their beloved general. They staggered a moment, then fell back, and returned to Wolfe's Cove, above the city.

Arnold, ignorant of what had happened, fought his way into the

Lower Town on the north. While leading the charge he was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Captain Morgan, who succeeded him, led his brave band farther and farther along the narrow and dangerous streets until he was overwhelmed and compelled to surrender. Arnold retired with his broken remnant to a point three miles above the city. Reinforcements soon began to arrive; but the smallpox broke out in the camp, and active operations could not be resumed. As soon as the ice disappeared from the St. Lawrence, Quebec was strengthened by the arrival of fresh troops from England. Governor Carleton now began offensive movements; the Americans fell back from post to post, until, by the middle of the following June, Canada was entirely evacuated.

The worst calamity of the whole campaign was the death of General Richard Montgomery. He was one of the noblest of the many noble men who gave their lives in the cause of American liberty. Born of an illustrious Irish family, he became a soldier in his boyhood. He had shared the toils and the triumph of Wolfe. To the enthusiasm of a warm and affectionate nature he joined the highest order of military talents and the virtues of an exalted character. Even in England his death was mentioned with sorrow. New York, his adopted State, claimed his body, brought his remains to her own metropolis and buried them with tears. To after times the Congress of the nation transmitted his fame by erecting a noble monument.

AT

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE WORK OF '76.

T last came the king's answer to the appeal of Congress. It was such an answer as George III. and his ministers always made to the petitioners for human rights. The colonies were insulted and spurned; their petition was treated with contempt. The king of England did not know any such a body as the Continental Congress. The first thing necessary was to disband the army and to submit without conditions. Then the monarch would settle all questions with each colony separately. By this offensive and tyrannical answer the day of independence was brought nearer.

Meanwhile, General Howe had succeeded Gage in command of the

British troops in Boston. All winter long the city was besieged by Washington. By the middle of February the American army had increased to fourteen thousand men. The country became restless; and Congress urged the commander-in-chief to press the enemy with greater vigor. Washington, knowing the insufficiency of his supplies, and fearing the consequences of rashness more than the charge of inactivity, narrowed his lines, strengthened his works, and waited his opportunity. By the first day of spring, 1776, he felt himself strong enough to risk an assault; the officers of his staff thought otherwise, and a different plan was adopted.

On the north, Boston was commanded by the peninsula of Charlestown; on the south, by Dorchester Heights. Since the battle of Bunker Hill the former position had been held by the British; the latter was, as yet, unoccupied. Washington now resolved to take advantage of the enemy's oversight, to seize the Heights and drive Howe out of Boston. A strong entrenching party was prepared and put under command of General Thomas. For two days the attention of the British was drawn by a constant fire from the American batteries. Then, on the night of the 4th of March, the detachment set out under cover of the darkness, passed over Dorchester Neck, and reached the Heights unperceived. Through the night the Americans worked with an energy rarely equaled. The British, dis

tracted with the cannonade, noticed nothing unusual; and when morning dawned, they could hardly trust their senses. There was a line of formidable entrenchments frowning upon the city; cannon were mounted, and the Americans in force. Howe saw at a glance that he must immediately carry the threatening redoubts or himself abandon Boston. Enraged at being outgeneraled, he ordered Lord Percy to select a column of two thousand four hundred men and storm the American works before nightfall.

Percy put his men in order and proceeded as far as Castle Island, intending to make the assault in the afternoon. Washington visited the trenches and exhorted his men. It was the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, and the soldiers were eager to avenge the deaths of their coun