journals of the house. When Governor Dunmore ordered the members to their homes, they met in another place, and passed a recommendation for a general congress of the colonies. On the 20th of May the venerated charter of Massachusetts was annulled by act of Parliament. The people were declared rebels; and the governor was ordered to send abroad for trial all persons who should resist the royal officers. The colonial assembly made answer by adopting a resolution that the powers of language were not sufficient to express the impolicy, injustice, inhumanity and cruelty of the acts of Parliament.

In September THE SECOND COLONIAL CONGRESS assembled at Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented. It was unanimously agreed to sustain Massachusetts in her conflict with a wicked ministry. One address was sent to the king; another to the English nation; and another to the people of Canada. Before adjournment a resolution was adopted recommending the suspension of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain until the wrongs of the colonies should be redressed. Parliament immediately retaliated by ordering General Gage, who had been recently appointed governor of Massachusetts, to reduce the colonists by force. A fleet and an army of ten thousand soldiers were sent to America to aid in the work of subjugation.

In accordance with the governor's orders, Boston Neck was seized and fortified. The military stores in the arsenals at Cambridge and Charlestown were conveyed to Boston; and the general assembly was ordered to disband. Instead of doing so, the members resolved themselves into a provincial congress, and voted to equip an army of twelve thousand men for the defence of the colony. There was no longer any hope of a peaceable adjustment. The mighty arm of Great Britain was stretched out to smite and crush the sons of the Pilgrims. The colonists were few and feeble; but they were men of iron wills who had made up their minds to die for liberty. It was now the early spring of 1775, and the day of battle was at hand.

As

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE BEGINNING.

S soon as the intentions of General Gage were manifest, the people of Boston, concealing their ammunition in cart-loads of rubbish, conveyed it to Concord, sixteen miles away. Gage detected the movement, and on the night of the 18th of April despatched a regiment of eight hundred men to destroy the stores. Another purpose of the expedition was to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were supposed to be hidden at Lexington or Concord. The fact was that they were not hidden anywhere, but were abroad encouraging the people. The plan of the British general was made with great secrecy; but the patriots were on the alert, and discovered the movement.

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About midnight the regiment, under command of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, set out for Concord. The people of Boston, Charlestown and Cambridge were roused by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons. Two hours before, the vigilant Joseph Warren had despatched William Dawes and Paul Revere to ride with all speed to Lexington and to spread the alarm through the country. Against two o'clock in the morning the minute-men were under arms; and a company hundred and thirty had assembled on the common at Lexington. The patriots loaded their guns and stood ready; but no enemy appeared, and it was agreed to separate until the drum-beat should announce the hour of danger. At five o'clock the British van, under command of Pitcairn, came in sight. The provincials to the number of seventy reassembled ; Captain Parker was their leader. Pitcairn rode up and exclaimed: "Disperse, ye villains! Throw down your arms, ye rebels, and disperse!" The minute-men stood still; Pitcairn discharged his pistol at them, and with a loud voice cried, "Fire!" The first volley of the Revolution whistled through the air, and sixteen of the patriots, nearly a fourth of the whole number, fell dead or wounded. The rest fired a few random shots, and then dispersed.

The British pressed on to Concord; but the inhabitants had removed the greater part of the stores to a place of safety, and there was but little destruction. Two cannons were spiked, some artillery carriages

burned, and a small quantity of ammunition thrown into a mill-pond. While the British were ransacking the town the minute-men began to assemble from all quarters. Attempting to enter the village, the patriots encountered a company of soldiers who were guarding the North Bridge, over Concord River. Here the Americans, for the first time, fired under orders of their officers, and here two British soldiers were killed. The bridge was taken by the provincials, and the enemy began a retreat-first into the town, and then through the town on the road to Lexington. This was the signal for the minute-men to attack the foe from every side. For six miles the battle was kept up along the road. Hidden behind rocks, trees, fences and barns, the patriots poured a constant fire upon the thinned ranks of the retreating enemy. Nothing but good discipline and reinforcements which, under command of Lord Percy, met the fugitives just below Lexington, saved the British from total rout and destruction. The fight continued to the precincts of Charlestown, the militia becoming more and more audacious in their charges. At one time it seemed that the whole British force would be obliged to surrender. Such a result was prevented only by the fear that the fleet would burn the city. The American loss in this the first battle of the war was forty-nine killed, thirty-four wounded and five missing; that of the enemy was two hundred and seventy-three-a greater loss than the English army sustained on the Plains of Abraham.

The battle of Lexington fired the country. Within a few days an army of twenty thousand men had gathered about Boston. A line of entrenchments encompassing the city was drawn from Roxbury to Chelsea. To drive Gage and the British into the sea was the common talk in that tumultuous camp. And the number constantly increased. John Stark came down at the head of the New Hampshire militia. Israel Putnam, with a leather waistcoat on, was helping some men to build a stone wall on his farm when the news from Lexington came flying. Hurrying to the nearest town, he found the militia already mustered. Bidding the men follow as soon as possible, he mounted a horse and rode to Cambridge, a distance of a hundred miles, in eighteen hours. Rhode Island sent her quota under the brave Nathaniel Greene. Benedict Arnold came with the provincials of New Haven. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, made war in the other direction.

This daring and eccentric man was chosen colonel by a company of two hundred and seventy patriots who had assembled at Bennington. Before the battle of Lexington, the legislature of Connecticut had privately voted a thousand dollars to encourage an expedition against Ticonderoga. To capture this important fortress, with its vast magazine of

stores was the object of Allen and the audacious mountaineers of whom he was the leader. Benedict Arnold left Cambridge, and joined the expedition as a private. On the evening of the 9th of May, the force, whose movements had not been discovered, reached the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, opposite Ticonderoga.

Only a few boats could be procured; and when day broke on the following morning, but eighty-three men had succeeded in crossing. With this mere handful-for the rest could not be waited for-Allen, with Arnold by his side, made a dash, and gained the gateway of the fort. The sentinel was driven in, closely followed by the mountaineers, who set up such a shout as few garrisons had ever heard. Allen's men hastily faced the barracks and stood ready to fire; he himself rushed to the quarters of Delaplace, the commandant, and shouted for the incumbent to get up. The startled official thrust out his head. "Surrender this fort instantly," said Allen. "By what authority ?" inquired the astounded officer. "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress !”* said Allen, flourishing his sword. Delaplace had no alternative. The garrison, numbering forty-eight, were made prisoners and sent to Connecticut. A fortress which had cost Great Britain eight million pounds sterling was captured in ten minutes by a company of undisciplined provincials. By this daring exploit a hundred and twenty cannon and vast quantities of military stores fell into the hands of the Americans. Two days afterward Crown Point was also taken without the loss of life.

On the 25th of May, Generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne arrived at Boston. They brought with them powerful reinforcements from England and Ireland; the British army was augmented to more than ten thousand men. Gage, becoming arrogant, issued a proclamation, branding those in arms as rebels and traitors, offering pardon to all who would submit, but excepting Samuel Adams and John Hancock; these two were to suffer the penalty of treason-provided Gage could inflict it. It was now rumored-and the rumor was well founded-that the British were about to sally out of Boston with the purpose of burning the neighboring towns and devastating the country. The Americans determined to anticipate this movement by seizing and fortifying Bunker Hill, a height which commanded the peninsula of Charlestown.

On the night of the 16th of June the brave Colonel Prescott, grandfather of Prescott the historian, was sent with a thousand men to occupy and entrench the hill. Marching by way of Charlestown Neck,

* This saying will appear especially amusing when it is remembered that the "Continental Congress" referred to did not convene until about six hours after Ticonderoga was captured.

the provincials came about eleven o'clock to the eminence which they were instructed to fortify. Prescott and his engineer Gridley, not liking the position of Bunker Hill, proceeded down the peninsula seven hundred yards to another height, afterward called Breed's Hill. The latter was within easy cannon range of Boston. On this summit a redoubt eight rods square was planned by the engineer; and there, from midnight to day-dawn, the men worked in silence. The British ships in the harbor were so near that the Americans could hear the sentinels on deck repeating the night call, "All is well." The works were not yet completed when morning revealed the new-made redoubt to the astonished British of Boston.

"We must carry those works immediately," said General Gage to his officers. For he saw that Prescott's cannon now commanded the city. As soon as it was light, the ships in the harbor began to cannonade the American position. The British batteries on Copp's Hill also opened a heavy fire. But little damage was done in this way; and the Americans returned only an occasional shot; for their supply of ammunition was very limited. Just after noon a British column of about three thousand veterans, commanded by Generals Howe and Pigot, landed at Morton's Point. The plan was to carry Breed's Hill by assault. The Americans numbered in all about fifteen hundred. They were worn out with toil and hunger; but there was no quailing in the presence of the enemy. During the cannonade Prescott climbed out of the defences and walked leisurely around the parapet in full view of the British officers. Generals Putnam and Warren volunteered as privates, and entered the trenches. At three o'clock in the afternoon Howe ordered his column forward. At the same time every gun in the fleet and batteries was turned upon the American position. Charlestown was wantonly set on fire and four hundred buildings burned. Thousands of eager spectators climbed to the house-tops in Boston and waited to behold the shock of battle. On came the British in a stately and imposing column.

The Americans reserved their fire until the advancing line was within a hundred and fifty feet. "Fire!" cried Prescott; and instantly from breastwork and redoubt every gun was discharged. The front rank