THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
[Portrait: Tho.' Gage]
[Illustration: FOX AND BURKE DENOUNCING LORD NORTH
(_A contemporary caricature_)]
[Sidenote: Belief that the Americans would not fight]
The unfortunate measures of April, 1774, were not carried through
Parliament without earnest opposition. Lord Rockingham and his friends
entered a protest on the journal of the House of Lords, on the grounds
that the people of Massachusetts had not been heard in their own
defence, and that the lives and liberties of the citizens were put
absolutely into the hands of the governor and council, who were thus
invested with greater powers than it had ever been thought wise to
entrust to the king and his privy council in Great Britain. They
concluded, therefore, that the acts were unconstitutional. The Duke of
Richmond could not restrain his burning indignation. "I wish," said he
in the House of Lords,--"I wish from the bottom of my heart that the
Americans may resist, and get the better of the forces sent against
them." But that the Americans really would resist, very few people in
England believed. The conduct of the ministry was based throughout upon
the absurd idea that the Americans could be frightened into submission.
General Gage, as we have seen, thought that four regiments would be
enough to settle the whole business. Lord Sandwich said that the
Americans were a set of undisciplined cowards, who would take to their
heels at the first sound of a cannon. Even Hutchinson, who went over to
England about this time, and who ought to have known of what stuff the
men of Massachusetts were made, assured the king that they could hardly
be expected to resist a regular army. Such blunders, however, need not
surprise us when we recollect how, just before the war of secession, the
people of the southern and of the northern states made similar mistakes
with regard to each other. In 1860, it was commonly said by Southern
people that Northern people would submit to anything rather than fight;
and in support of this opinion, it was sometimes asked, "If the Northern
people are not arrant cowards, why do they never have duels?" On the
other hand, it was commonly said at the North that the Southern people,
however bravely they might bluster, would never enter upon a war of
secession, because it was really much more for their interest to remain
in the Federal Union than to secede from it,--an argument which lost
sight of one of the commonest facts in human life, that under the
influence of strong passion men are unable to take just views of what
concerns their own interests. Such examples show how hard it often is
for one group of men to understand another group, even when they are all
of the same blood and speech, and think alike about most matters that do
not touch the particular subject in dispute. Nothing could have been
surer, either in 1860, or in 1774, than that the one party to the
quarrel was as bold and brave as the other.
[Sidenote: Belief that Massachusetts would not be supported by the other
colonies]
Another fatal error under which the ministry laboured was the belief
that Massachusetts would not be supported by the other colonies. Their
mistake was not unlike that which ruined the plans of Napoleon III.,
when he declared war upon Prussia in 1870. There was no denying the fact
of strong jealousies among the American colonies in 1774, as there was
no denying the fact of strong jealousies between the northern and
southern German states in 1870. But the circumstances under which
Napoleon III. made war on Prussia happened to be such as to enlist all
the German states in the common cause with her. And so it was with the
war of George III. against Massachusetts. As soon as the charter of that
colony was annulled, all the other colonies felt that their liberties
were in jeopardy; and thence, as Fox truly said, "all were taught to
consider the town of Boston as suffering in the common cause."
[Sidenote: News of the Port Bill]
News of the Boston Port Bill was received in America on the 10th of May.
On the 12th the committees of several Massachusetts towns held a
convention at Faneuil Hall, and adopted a circular letter, prepared by
Samuel Adams, to be sent to all the other colonies, asking for their
sympathy and coöperation. The response was prompt and emphatic. In the
course of the summer, conventions were held in nearly all the colonies,
declaring that Boston should be regarded as "suffering in the common
cause." The obnoxious acts of Parliament were printed on paper with deep
black borders, and in some towns were publicly burned by the common
hangman. Droves of cattle and flocks of sheep, cartloads of wheat and
maize, kitchen vegetables and fruit, barrels of sugar, quintals of dried
fish, provisions of every sort, were sent overland as free gifts to the
people of the devoted city, even the distant rice-swamps of South
Carolina contributing their share. The over-cautious Franklin had
written from London, suggesting that perhaps it might be best, after
all, for Massachusetts to indemnify the East India Company; but Gadsden,
with a sounder sense of the political position, sent word, "Don't pay
for an ounce of the damned tea." Throughout the greater part of the
country the 1st of June was kept as a day of fasting and prayer; bells
were muffled and tolled in the principal churches; ships in the harbours
put their flags at half-mast. Marblehead, which was appointed to
supersede Boston as port of entry, immediately invited the merchants of
Boston to use its wharfs and warehouses free of charge in shipping and
unshipping their goods. A policy of absolute non-importation was
advocated by many of the colonies, though Pennsylvania, under the
influence of Dickinson, still vainly cherishing hopes of reconciliation,
hung back, and advised that the tea should be paid for. As usual, the
warmest sympathy with New England came from Virginia. "If need be," said
Washington, "I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own
expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston."
[Portrait: John Hancock]
[Sidenote: Samuel Adams at Salem]
To insure concerted action on the part of the whole country, something
more was required than these general expressions and acts of sympathy.
The proposal for a Continental Congress came first from the Sons of
Liberty in New York; it was immediately taken up by the members of the
Virginia House of Burgesses, sitting in convention at the Raleigh
tavern, after the governor had dissolved them as a legislature; and
Massachusetts was invited to appoint the time and place for the meeting
of the Congress. On the 7th of June the Massachusetts assembly was
convened at Salem by General Gage, in conformity with the provisions of
the Port Bill. Samuel Adams always preferred to use the ordinary means
of transacting public business so long as they were of avail, and he
naturally wished to have the act appointing a Continental Congress
passed by the assembly. But this was not easy to bring about, for upon
the first hint that any such business was to come up the governor would
be sure to dissolve the assembly. In such case it would be necessary for
the committees of correspondence throughout Massachusetts to hold a
convention for the purpose of appointing the time and place for the
Congress and of electing delegates to attend it. But Adams preferred to
have these matters decided in regular legislative session, and he
carried his point. Having talked privately with several of the members,
at last on the 17th of June--a day which a twelvemonth hence was to
become so famous--the favourable moment came. Having had the door
locked, he introduced his resolves, appointing five delegates to confer
with duly appointed delegates from the other colonies, in a Continental
Congress at Philadelphia on the 1st of September next. Some of the
members, astonished and frightened, sought to pass out; and as the
doorkeeper seemed uneasy at assuming so much responsibility, Samuel
Adams relieved him of it by taking the key from the door and putting it
into his own pocket, whereupon the business of the assembly went on.
Soon one of the Tory members pretended to be very sick, and being
allowed to go out, made all haste to Governor Gage, who instantly drew
up his writ dissolving the assembly, and sent his secretary with it.
When the secretary got there, he found the door locked, and as nobody
would let him in or pay any attention to him, he was obliged to content
himself with reading the writ, in a loud voice, to the crowd which had
assembled on the stairs. The assembly meanwhile passed the resolves by
117 to 12, elected Samuel and John Adams, Thomas Cushing, and Robert
Treat Paine as delegates, assessed the towns in the commonwealth for the
necessary expenses, passed measures for the relief of Boston, and
adjourned _sine die_. All the other colonies except Georgia, in the
course of the summer, accepted the invitation, and chose delegates,
either through their assemblies or through special conventions. Georgia
sent no delegates, but promised to adopt any course of action that
should be determined upon.
[Sidenote: Massachusetts nullifies the Regulating Act]
Before the time appointed for the Congress, Massachusetts had set the
Regulating Act at defiance. On the 16th of August, when the court
assembled at Great Barrington, a vast multitude of farmers surrounded
the court house and forbade the judges to transact any business. Two or
three of the councillors newly appointed on the king's writ of
_mandamus_ yielded in advance to public opinion, and refused to take
their places. Those who accepted were forced to resign. At Worcester
2,000 men assembled on the common, and compelled Timothy Paine to make
his resignation in writing. The councillor appointed from Bridgewater
was a deacon; when he read the psalm the congregation refused to sing.
In Plymouth one of the most honoured citizens, George Watson, accepted a
place on the council; as he took his seat in church on the following
Sunday, the people got up and began to walk out of the house. Overcome
with shame, for a moment his venerable gray head sank upon the pew
before him; then he rose up and vowed that he would resign. In Boston
the justices and barristers took their accustomed places in the court
house, but no one could be found to serve as juror in a court that was
illegally constituted. Gage issued a proclamation warning all persons
against attending town meeting, but no one heeded him, and town meetings
were more fully attended than ever. He threatened to send an armed force
against Worcester, but the people there replied that he would do so at
his peril, and forthwith began to collect powder and ball. At Salem the
people walked to the town house under the governor's nose and in the
very presence of a line of soldiers. On the 1st of September a party of
soldiers seized two hundred kegs of powder at Charlestown and two
field-pieces at Cambridge, and carried them to Castle William. As the
news spread about the country, rumour added that the troops had fired
upon the people, and within forty-eight hours at least 20,000 men were
marching on Boston; but they turned back to their homes on receiving
word from the Boston committee that their aid was not yet needed.
[Portrait: Jos Warren]
[Sidenote: John Hancock and Joseph Warren]
During these stirring events, in the absence of Samuel Adams, who had
gone to attend the Congress at Philadelphia, the most active part in the
direction of affairs at Boston was taken by Dr. Joseph Warren. This
gentleman--one of a family which has produced three very eminent
physicians--was graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He had early
attracted the attention of Samuel Adams, had come to be one of his
dearest friends, and had been concerned with him in nearly all of his
public acts of the past seven years. He was a man of knightly bravery
and courtesy, and his energy and fertility of mind were equalled only by
his rare sweetness and modesty. With Adams and Hancock, he made up the
great Massachusetts triumvirate of Revolutionary leaders. The accession
of Hancock to the Revolutionary cause at an early period had been of
great help, by reason of his wealth and social influence. Hancock was
graduated at Harvard College in 1754. He was a gentleman of refinement
and grace, but neither for grasp of intelligence nor for strength of
character can he be compared with Adams or with Warren. His chief
weakness was personal vanity, but he was generous and loyal, and under
the influence of the iron-willed Adams was capable of good things. Upon
Warren, more than any one else, however, Adams relied as a lieutenant,
who, under any circumstances whatever, would be sure to prove equal to
the occasion.
[Illustration: SUFFOLK RESOLVES HOUSE AT MILTON]
[Illustration:
=BOSTON=, September, 27, 1774-
GENTLEMEN,
The committees of correspondence of this and several of the
neighbouring towns, having taken into consideration the vast
importance of withholding from the troops now here, labour, straw,
timber, slitwork, boards, and in short every article excepting
provisions necessary for their subsistance; and being under a
necessity from their conduct of considering them as real enemies,
we are fully satisfied that it is our bounden duty to withhold from
them everything but what meer humanity requires; and therefore we
must beg your close and serious attention to the inclosed resolves
which were passed unanimously; and as unanimity in all our measures
in this day of severe trial, is of the utmost consequence, we do
earnestly recommend your co-operation in this measure, as conducive
to the good of the whole.
We are,
Your Friends and Fellow Countrymen,
Signed by Order of the joint Committee,
William Cooper Clerk.
NOTICE OF THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
]
[Sidenote: The Suffolk County Resolves, Sept. 6, 1774]
On the 5th of September Gage began fortifying Boston Neck, so as to
close the only approach to the city by land. Next day the county assize
was to be held at Worcester; but 5,000 armed men, drawn up in regular
military array, lined each side of the main street, and the
unconstitutionally appointed judges were forbidden to take their seats.
On the same day a convention of the towns of Suffolk county was held at
Milton, and a series of resolutions, drawn up by Dr. Warren, were
adopted unanimously. The resolutions declared that a king who violates
the chartered rights of his people forfeits their allegiance; they
declared the Regulating Act null and void and ordered all the officers
appointed under it to resign their offices at once; they directed the
collectors of taxes to refuse to pay over money to Gage's treasurer;
they advised the towns to choose their own militia officers; and they
threatened the governor that, should he venture to arrest any one for
political reasons, they would retaliate by seizing upon the Crown
officers as hostages. A copy of these resolutions, which virtually
placed Massachusetts in an attitude of rebellion, was forwarded to the
Continental Congress, which enthusiastically indorsed them, and pledged
the faith of all the other colonies that they would aid Massachusetts in
case armed resistance should become inevitable, while at the same time
they urged that a policy of moderation should be preserved, and that
Great Britain should be left to fire the first shot.
[Sidenote: Provincial Congress in Massachusetts]
On receiving these instructions from the Congress, the people of
Massachusetts at once proceeded to organize a provisional government in
accordance with the spirit of the Suffolk resolves. Gage had issued a
writ convening the assembly at Salem for the 1st of October, but before
the day arrived he changed his mind, and prorogued it. In disregard of
this order, however, the representatives met at Salem a week later,
organized themselves into a provincial congress, with John Hancock for
president, and adjourned to Concord. On the 27th they chose a committee
of safety, with Warren for chairman, and charged it with the duty of
collecting military stores. In December this Congress dissolved itself,
but a new one assembled at Cambridge on the 1st of February, and
proceeded to organize the militia and appoint general officers. A
special portion of the militia, known as "minute men," were set apart,
under orders to be ready to assemble at a moment's warning; and the
committee of safety were directed to call out this guard as soon as Gage
should venture to enforce the Regulating Act. Under these instructions
every village green in Massachusetts at once became the scene of active
drill. Nor was it a population unused to arms that thus began to marshal
itself into companies and regiments. During the French war one fifth of
all the able-bodied men of Massachusetts had been in the field, and in
1757 the proportion had risen to one third. There were plenty of men
who had learned how to stand under fire, and officers who had held
command on hard-fought fields; and all were practised marksmen. It is
quite incorrect to suppose that the men who first repulsed the British
regulars in 1775 were a band of farmers, utterly unused to fighting.
Their little army was indeed a militia, but it was made up of warlike
material.
[Portrait: Peyton Randolph]
[Illustration: CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA]
[Sidenote: Meeting of the Continental Congress, Sept. 5, 1774]
While these preparations were going on in Massachusetts, the Continental
Congress had assembled at the Hall of the Company of Carpenters, in
Philadelphia, on the 5th of September. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was
chosen president; and the Adamses, the Livingstons, the Rutledges,
Dickinson, Chase, Pendleton, Lee, Henry, and Washington took part in the
debates. One of their first acts was to dispatch Paul Revere to Boston
with their formal approval of the action of the Suffolk Convention.
After four weeks of deliberation they agreed upon a declaration of
rights, claiming for the American people "a free and exclusive power of
legislation in their provincial legislatures, where their rights of
legislation could alone be preserved in all cases of taxation and
internal polity." This paper also specified the rights of which they
would not suffer themselves to be deprived, and called for the repeal of
eleven acts of Parliament by which these rights had been infringed.
Besides this, they formed an association for insuring commercial
non-intercourse with Great Britain, and charged the committees of
correspondence with the duty of inspecting the entries at all custom
houses. Addresses were also prepared, to be sent to the king, to the
people of Great Britain, and to the inhabitants of British America. The
10th of May was appointed for a second Congress, in which the Canadian
colonies and the Floridas were invited to join; and on the 26th of
October the Congress dissolved itself.
[Portrait: W. Howe]
[Sidenote: Debates in Parliament]
[Sidenote: William Howe]
The ability of the papers prepared by the first Continental Congress has
long been fully admitted in England as well as in America. Chatham
declared them unsurpassed by any state papers ever composed in any age
or country. But the king's manipulation of rotten boroughs in the
election of November, 1774, was only too successful, and the new
Parliament was not in the mood for listening to reason. Chatham,
Shelburne, and Camden urged in vain that the vindictive measures of the
last April should be repealed and the troops withdrawn from Boston. On
the 1st of February, Chatham introduced a bill which, could it have
passed, would no doubt have averted war, even at the eleventh hour.
Besides repealing its vindictive measures, Parliament was to renounce
forever the right of taxing the colonies, while retaining the right of
regulating the commerce of the whole empire; and the Americans were to
defray the expenses of their own governments by taxes voted in their
colonial assemblies. A few weeks later, in the House of Commons, Burke
argued that the abstract right of Parliament to tax the colonies was not
worth contending for, and he urged that on large grounds of expediency
it should be abandoned, and that the vindictive acts should be repealed.
But both Houses, by large majorities, refused to adopt any measures of
conciliation, and in a solemn joint address to the king declared
themselves ready to support him to the end in the policy upon which he
had entered. Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion,
and acts were passed closing all the ports of New England, and
prohibiting its fishermen from access to the Newfoundland fisheries. At
the same time it was voted to increase the army at Boston to 10,000 men,
and to supersede Gage, who had in all these months accomplished so
little with his four regiments. As people in England had utterly failed
to comprehend the magnitude of the task assigned to Gage, it was not
strange that they should seek to account for his inaction by doubting
his zeal and ability. No less a person than David Hume saw fit to speak
of him as a "lukewarm coward." William Howe, member of Parliament for
the liberal constituency of Nottingham, was chosen to supersede him. In
his speeches as candidate for election only four months ago, Howe had
declared himself opposed to the king's policy, had asserted that no army
that England could raise would be able to subdue the Americans, and, in
reply to a question, had promised that if offered a command in America
he would refuse it. When he now consented to take Gage's place as
commander-in-chief, the people of Nottingham scolded him roundly for
breaking his word.
[Sidenote: Richard, Lord Howe]
It would be unfair, however, to charge Howe with conscious breach of
faith in this matter. His appointment was itself a curious symptom of
the element of vacillation that was apparent in the whole conduct of the
ministry, even when its attitude professed to be most obstinate and
determined. With all his obstinacy the king did not really wish for
war,--much less did Lord North; and the reason for Howe's appointment
was simply that he was a brother to the Lord Howe who had fallen at
Ticonderoga, and whose memory was idolized by the men of New England.
Lord North announced that, in dealing with his misguided American
brethren, his policy would be always to send the olive branch in company
with the sword; and no doubt Howe really felt that, by accepting a
command offered in such a spirit, he might more efficiently serve the
interests of humanity and justice than by leaving it open for some one
of cruel and despotic temper, whose zeal might outrun even the wishes of
the obdurate king. At the same time, his brother Richard, Lord Howe, a
seaman of great ability, was appointed admiral of the fleet for America,
and was expressly entrusted with the power of offering terms to the
colonies. Sir Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne, both of them in sympathy
with the king's policy, were appointed to accompany Howe as
lieutenant-generals.
[Portrait: Howe]
[Sidenote: Franklin returns to America]
The conduct of the ministry, during this most critical and trying time,
showed great uneasiness. When leave was asked for Franklin to present
the case for the Continental Congress, and to defend it before the House
of Commons, it was refused. Yet all through the winter the ministry
were continually appealing to Franklin, unofficially and in private, in
order to find out how the Americans might be appeased without making any
such concessions as would hurt the pride of that Tory party which was
now misgoverning England. Lord Howe was the most conspicuous agent in
these fruitless negotiations. How to conciliate the Americans without
giving up a single one of the false positions which the king had taken
was the problem, and no wonder that Franklin soon perceived it to be
insolvable, and made up his mind to go home. He had now stayed in
England for several years, as agent for Pennsylvania and for
Massachusetts. He had shown himself a consummate diplomatist, of that
rare school which deceives by telling unwelcome truths, and he had some
unpleasant encounters with the king and the king's friends. Now in
March, 1775, seeing clearly that he could be of no further use in
averting an armed struggle, he returned to America. Franklin's return
was not, in form, like that customary withdrawal of an ambassador which
heralds and proclaims a state of war. But practically it was the
snapping of the last diplomatic link between the colonies and the
mother-country.
[Sidenote: The middle colonies]
[Sidenote: Lord North's mistaken hopes of securing New York]
Still the ministry, with all its uneasiness, did not believe that war
was close at hand. It was thought that the middle colonies, and
especially New York, might be persuaded to support the government, and
that New England, thus isolated, would not venture upon armed resistance
to the overwhelming power of Great Britain. The hope was not wholly
unreasonable; for the great middle colonies, though conspicuous for
material prosperity, were somewhat lacking in force of political ideas.
In New York and Pennsylvania the non-English population was relatively
far more considerable than in Virginia or the New England colonies. A
considerable proportion of the population had come from the continent of
Europe, and the principles of constitutional government were not so
thoroughly inwrought into the innermost minds and hearts of the people,
the pulse of liberty did not beat so quickly here, as in the purely
English commonwealths of Virginia and Massachusetts. In Pennsylvania and
New Jersey the Quakers were naturally opposed to a course of action that
must end in war; and such very honourable motives certainly contributed
to weaken the resistance of these colonies to the measures of the
government. In New York there were further special reasons for the
existence of a strong loyalist feeling. The city of New York had for
many years been the headquarters of the army and the seat of the
principal royal government in America. It was not a town, like Boston,
governing itself in town meeting, but its municipal affairs were
administered by a mayor, appointed by the king. Unlike Boston and
Philadelphia, the interests of the city of New York were almost purely
commercial, and there was nothing to prevent the little court circle
there from giving the tone to public opinion. The Episcopal Church, too,
was in the ascendant, and there was a not unreasonable prejudice
against the Puritans of New England for their grim intolerance of
Episcopalians and their alleged antipathy to Dutchmen. The province of
New York, moreover, had a standing dispute with its eastern neighbours
over the ownership of the Green Mountain region. This beautiful country
had been settled by New England men, under grants from the royal
governors of New Hampshire; but it was claimed by the people of New
York, and the controversy sometimes waxed hot and gave rise to very hard
feelings. Under these circumstances, the labours of the ministry to
secure this central colony seemed at times likely to be crowned with
success. The assembly of New York refused to adopt the non-importation
policy enjoined by the Continental Congress, and it refused to choose
delegates to the second Congress which was to be held in May. The
ministry, in return, sought to corrupt New York by exempting it from the
commercial restrictions placed upon the neighbouring colonies, and by
promising to confirm its alleged title to the territory of Vermont. All
these hopes proved fallacious, however. In spite of appearances, the
majority of the people of New York were opposed to the king's measures,
and needed only an opportunity for organization. In April, under the
powerful leadership of Philip Schuyler and the Livingstons, a convention
was held, delegates were chosen to attend the Congress, and New York
fell into line with the other colonies. As for Pennsylvania, in spite of
its peaceful and moderate temper, it had never shown any signs of
willingness to detach itself from the nascent union.
News travelled with slow pace in those days, and as late as the middle
of May, Lord North, confident of the success of his schemes in New York,
and unable to believe that the yeomanry of Massachusetts would fight
against regular troops, declared cheerfully that this American business
was not so alarming as it seemed, and everything would no doubt be
speedily settled without bloodshed!
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE]
[Sidenote: Affairs in Massachusetts]
[Sidenote: Warren's oration at the Old South]
Great events had meanwhile happened in Massachusetts. All through the
winter the resistance to General Gage had been passive, for the lesson
had been thoroughly impressed upon the mind of every man, woman, and
child in the province that, in order to make sure of the entire sympathy
of the other colonies, Great Britain must be allowed to fire the first
shot. The Regulating Act had none the less been silently defied, and
neither councillors nor judges, neither sheriffs nor jurymen, could be
found to serve under the royal commission. It is striking proof of the
high state of civilization attained by this commonwealth, that although
for nine months the ordinary functions of government had been suspended,
yet the affairs of every-day life had gone on without friction or
disturbance. Not a drop of blood had been shed, nor had any one's
property been injured. The companies of yeomen meeting at eventide to
drill on the village green, and now and then the cart laden with powder
and ball that dragged slowly over the steep roads on its way to Concord,
were the only outward signs of an unwonted state of things. Not so,
however, in Boston. There the blockade of the harbour had wrought great
hardship for the poorer people. Business was seriously interfered with,
many persons were thrown out of employment, and in spite of the generous
promptness with which provisions had been poured in from all parts of
the country, there was great suffering through scarcity of fuel and
food. Still there was but little complaint and no disorder. The leaders
were as resolute as ever, and the people were as resolute as their
leaders. As the 5th of March drew near, several British officers were
heard to declare that any one who should dare to address the people in
the Old South Church on this occasion would surely lose his life. As
soon as he heard of these threats, Joseph Warren solicited for himself
the dangerous honour, and at the usual hour delivered a stirring oration
upon "the baleful influence of standing armies in time of peace." The
concourse in the church was so great that when the orator arrived every
approach to the pulpit was blocked up; and rather than elbow his way
through the crowd, which might lead to some disturbance, he procured a
ladder, and climbed in through a large window at the back of the pulpit.
About forty British officers were present, some of whom sat on the
pulpit steps, and sought to annoy the speaker with groans and hisses,
but everything passed off quietly.
[Illustration: OLD NORTH CHURCH, IN WHICH SIGNAL WAS HUNG]
[Sidenote: Attempt to corrupt Samuel Adams.]
The boldness of Adams and Hancock in attending this meeting was hardly
less admirable than that of Warren in delivering the address. It was no
secret that Gage had been instructed to watch his opportunity to arrest
Samuel Adams and "his willing and ready tool," that "terrible
desperado," John Hancock, and send them over to England to be tried for
treason. Here was an excellent opportunity for seizing all the patriot
leaders at once; and the meeting itself, moreover, was a town meeting,
such as Gage had come to Boston expressly to put down. Nothing more
calmly defiant can be imagined than the conduct of people and leaders
under these circumstances. But Gage had long since learned the temper of
the people so well that he was afraid to proceed too violently. At first
he had tried to corrupt Samuel Adams with offers of place or pelf; but
he found, as Hutchinson had already declared, that such was "the
obstinate and inflexible disposition of this man that he never would be
conciliated by any office or gift whatsoever." The dissolution of the
assembly, of which Adams was clerk, had put a stop to his salary, and he
had so little property laid by as hardly to be able to buy bread for his
family. Under these circumstances, it occurred to Gage that perhaps a
judicious mixture of threat with persuasion might prove effectual. So he
sent Colonel Fenton with a confidential message to Adams. The officer,
with great politeness, began by saying that "an adjustment of the
existing disputes was very desirable; that he was authorized by Governor
Gage to assure him that he had been empowered to confer upon him such
benefits as would be satisfactory, upon the condition that he would
engage to cease in his opposition to the measures of government, and
that it was the advice of Governor Gage to him not to incur the further
displeasure of his Majesty; that his conduct had been such as made him
liable to the penalties of an act of Henry VIII., by which persons could
be sent to England for trial, and, by changing his course, he would not
only receive great personal advantages, but would thereby make his peace
with the king." Adams listened with apparent interest to this recital
until the messenger had concluded. Then rising, he replied, glowing with
indignation: "Sir, I trust I have long since made my peace with the King
of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the
righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of
Samuel Adams to him no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated
people."
[Signature: F: Smith Lt Coln]
[Illustration: REV. JONAS CLARK'S HOUSE]
[Sidenote: Orders to arrest Adams and Hancock]
[Sidenote: Paul Revere's ride.]
Toward the end of the winter Gage received peremptory orders to arrest
Adams and Hancock, and send them to England for trial. One of the London
papers gayly observed that in all probability Temple Bar "will soon be
decorated with some of the patriotic noddles of the Boston saints." The
provincial congress met at Concord on the 22d of March, and after its
adjournment, on the 15th of April, Adams and Hancock stayed a few days
at Lexington, at the house of their friend, the Rev. Jonas Clark. It
would doubtless be easier to seize them there than in Boston, and,
accordingly, on the night of the 18th Gage dispatched a force of 800
troops, under Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith, to march to Lexington,
and, after seizing the patriot leaders, to proceed to Concord, and
capture or destroy the military stores which had for some time been
collecting there. At ten in the evening the troops were rowed across
Charles river, and proceeded by a difficult and unfrequented route
through the marshes of East Cambridge, until, after four miles, they
struck into the highroad for Lexington. The greatest possible secrecy
was observed, and stringent orders were given that no one should be
allowed to leave Boston that night. But Warren divined the purpose of
the movement, and sent out Paul Revere by way of Charlestown, and
William Dawes by way of Roxbury, to give the alarm. At that time there
was no bridge across Charles river lower than the one which now connects
Cambridge with Allston. Crossing the broad river in a little boat, under
the very guns of the Somerset man-of-war, and waiting on the farther
bank until he learned, from a lantern suspended in the belfry of the
North Church, which way the troops had gone, Revere took horse and
galloped over the Medford road to Lexington, shouting the news at the
door of every house that he passed. Reaching Mr. Clark's a little after
midnight, he found the house guarded by eight minute-men, and the
sergeant warned him not to make a noise and disturb the inmates.
"Noise!" cried Revere. "You'll soon have noise enough; the regulars are
coming!" Hancock, recognizing the voice, threw up the window, and
ordered the guard to let him in. On learning the news, Hancock's first
impulse was to stay and take command of the militia; but it was
presently agreed that there was no good reason for his doing so, and
shortly before daybreak, in company with Adams, he left the village.
[Portrait: Paul Revere]
[Signature: John Parker]
[Illustration: JONATHAN HARRINGTON'S HOUSE]
[Sidenote: Pitcairn fires upon the yeomanry, April 19, 1775]
Meanwhile, the troops were marching along the main road; but swift and
silent as was their advance, frequent alarm-bells and signal-guns, and
lights twinkling on distant hilltops, showed but too plainly that the
secret was out. Colonel Smith then sent Major Pitcairn forward with six
companies of light infantry to make all possible haste in securing the
bridges over Concord river, while at the same time he prudently sent
back to Boston for reinforcements. When Pitcairn reached Lexington, just
as the rising sun was casting long shadows across the village green, he
found himself confronted by some fifty minute-men under command of
Captain John Parker,--grandfather of Theodore Parker,--a hardy veteran,
who, fifteen years before, had climbed the heights of Abraham by the
side of Wolfe. "Stand your ground," said Parker. "Don't fire unless
fired upon; but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."
"Disperse, ye villains!" shouted Pitcairn. "Damn you, why don't you
disperse?" And as they stood motionless he gave the order to fire. As
the soldiers hesitated to obey, he discharged his own pistol and
repeated the order, whereupon a deadly volley slew eight of the
minute-men and wounded ten. One of the victims, Jonathan Harrington, was
just able to stagger across the green to his own house (which is still
there), and to die in the arms of his wife, who was standing at the
door. At this moment the head of Smith's own column seems to have come
into sight, far down the road. The minute-men had begun to return the
fire, when Parker, seeing the folly of resistance, ordered them to
retire. While this was going on, Adams and Hancock were walking across
the fields toward Woburn; and as the crackle of distant musketry reached
their ears, the eager Adams--his soul aglow with the prophecy of the
coming deliverance of his country--exclaimed, "Oh, what a glorious
morning is this!" From Woburn the two friends went on their way to
Philadelphia, where the second Continental Congress was about to
assemble.
[Illustration: The Minute-Man[3]]
[Illustration: THE OLD MANSE AT CONCORD]
[Portrait: Percy.]
[Sidenote: The troops repulsed at Concord.]
[Sidenote: Retreating troops rescued by Lord Percy]
Some precious minutes had been lost by the British at Lexington, and it
soon became clear that the day was to be one in which minutes could ill
be spared. By the time they reached Concord, about seven o'clock, the
greater part of the stores had been effectually hidden, and minute-men
were rapidly gathering from all quarters. After posting small forces to
guard the bridges, the troops set fire to the court-house, cut down the
liberty-pole, disabled a few cannon, staved in a few barrels of flour,
and hunted unsuccessfully for arms and ammunition, until an unexpected
incident put a stop to their proceedings. When the force of minute-men,
watching events from the hill beyond the river, had become increased to
more than 400, they suddenly advanced upon the North Bridge, which was
held by 200 regulars. After receiving and returning the British fire,
the militia, led by Major Buttrick, charged across the narrow bridge,
overcame the regulars by dint of weight and numbers, and drove them
back past the Old Manse into the village. They did not follow up the
attack, but rested on their arms, wondering, perhaps, at what they had
already accomplished, while their numbers were from moment to moment
increased by the minute-men from neighbouring villages. A little before
noon, though none of the objects of the expedition had been
accomplished, Colonel Smith began to realize the danger of his position,
and started on his retreat to Boston. His men were in no mood for fight.
They had marched eighteen miles, and had eaten little or nothing for
fourteen hours. But now, while companies of militia hovered upon both
their flanks, every clump of trees and every bit of rising ground by the
roadside gave shelter to hostile yeomen, whose aim was true and deadly.
Straggling combats ensued from time to time, and the retreating British
left nothing undone which brave men could do; but the incessant, galling
fire at length threw them into hopeless confusion. Leaving their
wounded scattered along the road, they had already passed by the village
green of Lexington in disorderly flight, when they were saved by Lord
Percy, who had marched out over Boston Neck and through Cambridge to
their assistance, with 1,200 men and two field-pieces. Forming his men
in a hollow square, Percy inclosed the fugitives, who, in dire
exhaustion, threw themselves upon the ground,--"their tongues hanging
out of their mouths," says Colonel Stedman, "like those of dogs after a
chase." Many had thrown away their muskets, and Pitcairn had lost his
horse, with the elegant pistols which fired the first shots of the War
of Independence, and which may be seen to-day, along with other
trophies, in the town library of Lexington.
[Illustration: PITCAIRN'S PISTOLS]
[Sidenote: Retreat continued from Lexington to Charlestown]
Percy's timely arrival checked the pursuit for an hour, and gave the
starved and weary men a chance for food and rest. A few houses were
pillaged and set on fire, but at three o'clock General Heath and Dr.
Warren arrived on the scene and took command of the militia, and the
irregular fight was renewed. When Percy reached Menotomy (now
Arlington), seven miles from Boston, his passage was disputed by a fresh
force of militia, while pursuers pressed hard on his rear, and it was
only after an obstinate fight that he succeeded in forcing his way. The
roadside now fairly swarmed with marksmen, insomuch that, as one of the
British officers observed, "they seemed to have dropped from the
clouds." It became impossible to keep order or to carry away the
wounded; and when, at sunset, the troops entered Charlestown, under the
welcome shelter of the fleet, it was upon the full run. They were not a
moment too soon, for Colonel Timothy Pickering, with 700 Essex militia,
on the way to intercept them, had already reached Winter Hill; and had
their road been blocked by this fresh force they must in all probability
have surrendered.
[Illustration: FANCIFUL PICTURE OF THE CONCORD-LEXINGTON FIGHT
(_From a contemporary French print_)]
[Sidenote: Rising of the country; the British besieged in Boston.]
On this eventful day the British lost 273 of their number, while the
Americans lost 93. The expedition had been a failure, the whole British
force had barely escaped capture, and it had been shown that the people
could not be frightened into submission. It had been shown, too, how
efficient the town system of organized militia might prove on a sudden
emergency. The most interesting feature of the day is the rapidity and
skill with which the different bodies of minute-men, marching from long
distances, were massed at those points on the road where they might most
effectually harass or impede the British retreat. The Danvers company
marched sixteen miles in four hours to strike Lord Percy at Menotomy.
The list of killed and wounded shows that contingents from at least
twenty-three towns had joined in the fight before sundown. But though
the pursuit was then ended, these men did not return to their homes, but
hour by hour their numbers increased. At noon of that day the alarm had
reached Worcester. Early next morning, Israel Putnam was ploughing a
field at Pomfret, in Connecticut, when the news arrived. Leaving orders
for the militia companies to follow, he jumped on his horse, and riding
a hundred miles in eighteen hours, arrived in Cambridge on the morning
of the 21st, just in time to meet John Stark with the first company from
New Hampshire. At midday of the 20th the college green at New Haven
swarmed with eager students and citizens, and Captain Benedict Arnold,
gathering sixty volunteers from among them, placed himself at their head
and marched for Cambridge, picking up recruits and allies at all the
villages on the way. And thus, from every hill and valley in New
England, on they came, till, by Saturday night, Gage found himself
besieged in Boston by a rustic army of 16,000 men.
[Portrait: Israel Putnam]
[Illustration: ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND[4]]
[Sidenote: Effects of the news]
When the news of this affair reached England, five weeks later, it was
received at first with incredulity, then with astonishment and regret.
Slight as the contest had been, it remained undeniable that British
troops had been defeated by what in England was regarded as a crowd of
"peasants;" and it was felt besides that the chances for conciliation
had now been seriously diminished. Burke said that now that the
Americans had once gone so far as this, they could hardly help going
farther; and in spite of the condemnation that had been lavished upon
Gage for his inactivity, many people were now inclined to find fault
with him for having precipitated a conflict just at the time when it was
hoped that, with the aid of the New York loyalists, some sort of
accommodation might be effected. There is no doubt that the news from
Lexington thoroughly disconcerted the loyalists of New York for the
moment, and greatly strengthened the popular party there. In a manifesto
addressed to the city of London, the New York committee of
correspondence deplored the conduct of Gage as rash and violent, and
declared that all the horrors of civil war would never bring the
Americans to submit to the unjust acts of Parliament. When Hancock and
Adams arrived, on their way to the Congress, they were escorted through
the city with triumphal honours. In Pennsylvania steps were immediately
taken for the enlistment and training of a colonial militia, and every
colony to the south of it followed the example.
[Sidenote: Mecklenburg County Resolves, May 31, 1775]
The Scotch-Irish patriots of Mecklenburg county, in North Carolina,
ventured upon a measure more decided than any that had yet been taken in
any part of the country. On May 31st, the county committee of
Mecklenburg affirmed that the joint address of the two Houses of
Parliament to the king, in February, had virtually "annulled and vacated
all civil and military commissions granted by the Crown, and suspended
the constitutions of the colonies;" and that consequently "the
provincial congress of each province, under the direction of the great
Continental Congress, is invested with all the legislative and executive
powers within their respective provinces, and that no other legislative
or executive power does or can exist at this time in any of these
colonies." In accordance with this state of things, rules were adopted
"for the choice of county officers, to exercise authority by virtue of
this choice and independently of the British Crown, until Parliament
should resign its arbitrary pretensions." These bold resolves were
entrusted to the North Carolina delegates to the Continental Congress,
but were not formally brought before that body, as the delegates thought
it best to wait for a while longer the course of events.
[Illustration: SIGNATURES OF MECKLENBURG COMMITTEE]
[Sidenote: Legend of the Mecklenburg "Declaration of Independence"]
Some twenty years later they gave rise to the legend of the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence. The early writers of United States history
passed over the proceedings of May 31st in silence, and presently the
North Carolina patriots tried to supply an account of them from memory.
Their traditional account was not published until 1819, when it was
found to contain a spurious document, giving the substance of some of
the foregoing resolves, decorated with phrases borrowed from the
Declaration of Independence. This document purported to have been drawn
up and signed at a county meeting on the 20th of May. A fierce
controversy sprang up over the genuineness of the document, which was
promptly called in question. For a long time many people believed in it,
and were inclined to charge Jefferson with having plagiarized from it
in writing the Declaration of Independence. But a minute investigation
of all the newspapers of May, 1775, throughout the thirteen colonies,
has revealed no trace of any such meeting on the 20th, and it is clear
that no such document was made public. The story of the Mecklenburg
Declaration is simply a legend based upon the distorted recollection of
the real proceedings of May 31st.
[Illustration: PLAN
_of the FORT_
_at_
TICONDEROGA
at
_the HEAD of_
Lake Champlain;
1759
]
[Illustration: Ethan Allen]
[Sidenote: Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen]
[Sidenote: Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, May 10, 1775]
Meanwhile, in New England, the warlike feeling had become too strong to
be contented merely with defensive measures. No sooner had Benedict
Arnold reached Cambridge than he suggested to Dr. Warren that an
expedition ought to be sent without delay to capture Ticonderoga and
Crown Point. These fortresses commanded the northern approaches to the
Hudson river, the strategic centre of the whole country, and would be of
supreme importance either in preparing an invasion of Canada or in
warding off an invasion of New York. Besides this, they contained a vast
quantity of military stores, of which the newly gathered army stood in
sore need. The idea found favour at once. Arnold received a colonel's
commission from the Massachusetts Congress, and was instructed to raise
400 men among the Berkshire Hills, capture the fortresses, and
superintend the transfer of part of their armament to Cambridge. When
Arnold reached the wild hillsides of the Hoosac range, he found that he
had a rival in the enterprise. The capture of Ticonderoga had also been
secretly planned in Connecticut, and was entrusted to Ethan Allen, the
eccentric but sagacious author of that now-forgotten deistical book,
"The Oracles of Reason." Allen was a leading spirit among the "Green
Mountain Boys," an association of Vermont settlers formed for the
purpose of resisting the jurisdiction of New York, and his personal
popularity was great. On the 9th of May Arnold overtook Allen and his
men on their march toward Lake Champlain, and claimed the command of the
expedition on the strength of his commission from Massachusetts; but the
Green Mountain Boys were acting partly on their own account, partly
under the direction of Connecticut. They cared nothing for the authority
of Massachusetts, and knew nothing of Arnold; they had come out to fight
under their own trusted leader. But few of Arnold's own men had as yet
assembled, and his commission could not give him command of Vermonters,
so he joined the expedition as a volunteer. On reaching the lake that
night, they found there were not nearly enough row-boats to convey the
men across. But delay was not to be thought of. The garrison must not be
put on its guard. Accordingly, with only eighty-three men, Allen and
Arnold crossed the lake at daybreak of the 10th, and entered Ticonderoga
side by side. The little garrison, less than half as many in number, as
it turned out, was completely surprised, and the stronghold was taken
without a blow. As the commandant jumped out of bed, half awake, he
confusedly inquired of Allen by whose authority he was acting. "In the
name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" roared the
bellicose philosopher, and the commandant, seeing the fort already
taken, was fain to acquiesce. At the same time Crown Point surrendered
to another famous Green Mountain Boy, Seth Warner, and thus more than
two hundred cannon, with a large supply of powder and ball, were
obtained for the New England army. A few days later, as some of
Arnold's own men arrived from Berkshire, he sailed down Lake Champlain,
and captured St. John's with its garrison; but the British recovered it
in the course of the summer, and planted such a force there that in the
next autumn we shall see it able to sustain a siege of fifty days.
[Illustration: PLAN
_of the New_
_FORT AND REDOUBTS,_
_at_
NEW CROWN POINT
]
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF ETHAN ALLEN'S LETTER ANNOUNCING THE CAPTURE
OF TICONDEROGA]
Neither Connecticut nor Massachusetts had any authority over these posts
save through right of conquest. As it was Connecticut that had set
Allen's expedition on foot, Massachusetts yielded the point as to the
disposal of the fortresses and their garrisons. Dr. Warren urged the
Connecticut government to appoint Arnold to the command, so that his
commission might be held of both colonies; but Connecticut preferred to
retain Allen, and in July Arnold returned to Cambridge to mature his
remarkable plan for invading Canada through the trackless wilderness of
Maine. His slight disagreement with Allen bore evil fruit. As is often
the case in such affairs, the men were more zealous than their
commanders; there were those who denounced Arnold as an interloper,
and he was destined to hear from them again and again.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT THE AGE OF FORTY]
[Sidenote: Second meeting of the Continental Congress, May 10, 1775]
[Sidenote: Appointment of Washington to command the Continental army]
On the same day[5] on which Ticonderoga surrendered, the Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia. The Adamses and the Livingstons, Jay,
Henry, Washington, and Lee were there, as also Franklin, just back from
his long service in England. Of all the number, John Adams and Franklin
had now, probably, come to agree with Samuel Adams that a political
separation from Great Britain was inevitable; but all were fully agreed
that any consideration of such a question was at present premature and
uncalled for. The Congress was a body which wielded no technical legal
authority; it was but a group of committees, assembled for the purpose
of advising with each other regarding the public weal. Yet something
very like a state of war existed in a part of the country, under
conditions which intimately concerned the whole, and in the absence of
any formally constituted government something must be done to provide
for such a crisis. The spirit of the assembly was well shown in its
choice of a president. Peyton Randolph being called back to Virginia to
preside over the colonial assembly, Thomas Jefferson was sent to the
Congress in his stead; and it also became necessary for Congress to
choose a president to succeed him. The proscribed John Hancock was at
once chosen, and Benjamin Harrison, in conducting him to the chair,
said, "We will show Great Britain how much we value her proscriptions."
To the garrisoning of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by Connecticut, the
Congress consented only after much hesitation, since the capture of
these posts had been an act of offensive warfare. But without any
serious opposition, in the name of the "United Colonies," the Congress
adopted the army of New England men besieging Boston as the
"Continental Army," and proceeded to appoint a commander-in-chief to
direct its operations. Practically, this was the most important step
taken in the whole course of the War of Independence. Nothing less than
the whole issue of the struggle, for ultimate defeat or for ultimate
victory, turned upon the selection to be made at this crisis. For
nothing can be clearer than that in any other hands than those of George
Washington the military result of the war must have been speedily
disastrous to the Americans. In appointing a Virginian to the command of
a New England army, the Congress showed rare wisdom. It would well have
accorded with local prejudices had a New England general been appointed.
John Hancock greatly desired the appointment, and seems to have been
chagrined at not receiving it. But it was wisely decided that the common
interest of all Americans could in no way be more thoroughly engaged in
the war than by putting the New England army in charge of a general who
represented in his own person the greatest of the Southern colonies.
Washington was now commander of the militia of Virginia, and sat in
Congress in his colonel's uniform. His services in saving the remnant of
Braddock's ill-fated army, and afterwards in the capture of Fort
Duquesne, had won for him a military reputation greater than that of any
other American. Besides this, there was that which, from his early
youth, had made it seem right to entrust him with commissions of
extraordinary importance. Nothing in Washington's whole career is more
remarkable than the fact that when a mere boy of twenty-one he should
have been selected by the governor of Virginia to take charge of that
most delicate and dangerous diplomatic mission to the Indian chiefs and
the French commander at Venango. Consummate knowledge of human nature as
well as of wood-craft, a courage that no threats could daunt and a clear
intelligence that no treachery could hoodwink, were the qualities
absolutely demanded by such an undertaking; yet the young man acquitted
himself of his perilous task not merely with credit, but with splendour.
As regards booklore, his education had been but meagre, yet he possessed
in the very highest degree the rare faculty of always discerning the
essential facts in every case, and interpreting them correctly. In the
Continental Congress there sat many who were superior to him in learning
and eloquence; but "if," said Patrick Henry, "you speak of solid
information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the
greatest man upon that floor." Thus did that wonderful balance of
mind--so great that in his whole career it would be hard to point out a
single mistake--already impress his ablest contemporaries. Hand in hand
with this rare soundness of judgment there went a completeness of moral
self-control, which was all the more impressive inasmuch as Washington's
was by no means a tame or commonplace nature, such as ordinary power of
will would suffice to guide. He was a man of intense and fiery passions.
His anger, when once aroused, had in it something so terrible that
strong men were cowed by it like frightened children. This prodigious
animal nature was habitually curbed by a will of iron, and held in the
service of a sweet and tender soul, into which no mean or unworthy
thought had ever entered. Whole-souled devotion to public duty, an
incorruptible integrity which no appeal to ambition or vanity could for
a moment solicit,--these were attributes of Washington, as well marked
as his clearness of mind and his strength of purpose. And it was in no
unworthy temple that Nature had enshrined this great spirit. His lofty
stature (exceeding six feet), his grave and handsome face, his noble
bearing and courtly grace of manner, all proclaimed in Washington a king
of men.
The choice of Washington for commander-in-chief was suggested and
strongly urged by John Adams, and when, on the 15th of June, the
nomination was formally made by Thomas Johnson of Maryland, it was
unanimously confirmed. Then Washington, rising, said with great
earnestness: "Since the Congress desire, I will enter upon the momentous
duty, and exert every power I possess in their service and for the
support of the glorious cause. But I beg it may be remembered by every
gentleman in the room that I this day declare, with the utmost
sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honoured
with." He refused to take any pay for his services, but said he would
keep an accurate account of his personal expenses, which Congress might
reimburse, should it see fit, after the close of the war.
[Portrait: Artemas Ward]
[Sidenote: Siege of Boston]
[Sidenote: Gage's proclamation]
[Sidenote: Americans occupy Bunker Hill]
While these things were going on at Philadelphia, the army of New
England men about Boston was busily pressing, to the best of its limited
ability, the siege of that town. The army extended in a great
semicircle of sixteen miles,--averaging about a thousand men to the
mile,--all the way from Jamaica Plain to Charlestown Neck. The
headquarters were at Cambridge, where some of the university buildings
were used for barracks, and the chief command had been entrusted to
General Artemas Ward, under the direction of the committee of safety.
Dr. Warren had succeeded Hancock as president of the provincial
congress, which was in session at Watertown. The army was excellent in
spirit, but poorly equipped and extremely deficient in discipline. Its
military object was to compel the British troops to evacuate Boston and
take to their ships, for as there was no American fleet, anything like
the destruction or capture of the British force was manifestly
impossible. The only way in which Boston could be made untenable for the
British was by seizing and fortifying some of the neighbouring hills
which commanded the town, of which the most important were those in
Charlestown on the north and in Dorchester on the southeast. To secure
these hills was indispensable to Gage, if he was to keep his foothold in
Boston; and as soon as Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne arrived, on the 25th
of May, with reinforcements which raised the British force to 10,000
men, a plan was laid for extending the lines so as to cover both
Charlestown and Dorchester. Feeling now confident of victory, Gage
issued a proclamation on June 12th, offering free pardon to all rebels
who should lay down their arms and return to their allegiance, saving
only those ring leaders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, whose crimes
had been "too flagitious to be condoned." At the same time, all who
should be taken in arms were threatened with the gallows. In reply to
this manifesto, the committee of safety, having received intelligence of
Gage's scheme, ordered out a force of 1,200 men, to forestall the
governor, and take possession of Bunker Hill in Charlestown. At sunset
of the 16th this brigade was paraded on Cambridge Common, and after
prayer had been offered by Dr. Langdon, president of the university,
they set out on their enterprise, under command of Colonel Prescott of
Pepperell, a veteran of the French war, grandfather of one of the most
eminent of American historians. On reaching the grounds, a consultation
was held, and it was decided, in accordance with the general purpose, if
not in strict conformity to the letter of the order, to push on farther
and fortify the eminence known as Breed's Hill, which was connected by a
ridge with Bunker Hill, and might be regarded as part of the same
locality. The position of Breed's Hill was admirably fitted for annoying
the town and the ships in the harbour, and it was believed that, should
the Americans succeed in planting batteries there, the British would be
obliged to retire from Boston. There can be little doubt, however, that
in thus departing from the strict letter of his orders Prescott made a
mistake, which might have proved fatal, had not the enemy blundered
still more seriously. The advanced position on Breed's Hill was not only
exposed to attacks in the rear from an enemy who commanded the water,
but the line of retreat was ill secured, and, by seizing upon
Charlestown Neck, it would have been easy for the British, with little
or no loss, to have compelled Prescott to surrender. From such a
disaster the Americans were saved by the stupid contempt which the enemy
felt for them.
[Signature: Wm Prescott]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Putnam, Stark, and Warren, June 17, 1775]
Reaching Breed's Hill about midnight, Colonel Prescott's men began
throwing up intrenchments. At daybreak they were discovered by the
sailors in the harbour, and a lively cannonade was kept up through the
forenoon by the enemy's ships; but it produced little effect, and the
strength of the American works increased visibly hour by hour. It was a
beautiful summer day, bathed in brightest sunshine, and through the
clear dry air every movement of the spadesmen on the hilltop and the
sailors on their decks could be distinctly seen from a great distance.
The roar of the cannon had called out everybody, far and near, to see
what was going on, and the windows and housetops in Boston were crowded
with anxious spectators. During the night General Putnam had come upon
the scene, and turned his attention to fortifying the crest of Bunker
Hill, in order to secure the line of retreat across Charlestown Neck. In
the course of the forenoon Colonel Stark arrived with reinforcements,
which were posted behind the rail fence on the extreme left, to ward off
any attempt of the British to turn their flank by a direct attack. At
the same time, Dr. Warren, now chief executive officer of Massachusetts,
and just appointed major-general, hastened to the battlefield; replying
to the prudent and affectionate remonstrance of his friend Elbridge
Gerry, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." Arriving at the redoubt,
he refused the command expressly tendered him, saying that he should be
only too glad to serve as volunteer aid, and learn his first lesson
under so well tried a soldier as Prescott. This modest heroism was
typical of that memorable day, to the events of which one may well apply
the Frenchman's dictum, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre!"
A glorious day it was in history, but characterized, on both the British
and the American sides, by heroism rather than by military skill or
prudence.
[Illustration: VIEW OF BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, FROM BEACON HILL[6]]
[Sidenote: Gage decides to try an assault]
[Sidenote: First assault repulsed]
During the forenoon Gage was earnestly discussing with the three new
generals the best means of ousting the Americans from their position on
Breed's Hill. There was one sure and obvious method,--to go around by
sea and take possession of Charlestown Neck, thereby cutting off the
Americans from the mainland and starving them out. But it was thought
that time was too precious to admit of so slow a method. Should the
Americans succeed, in the course of the afternoon, in planting a battery
of siege guns on Breed's Hill, the British position in Boston would be
endangered. A direct assault was preferred, as likely to be more
speedily effective. It was unanimously agreed that these "peasants"
could not withstand the charge of 3,000 veteran soldiers, and it was
gravely doubted if they would stay and fight at all. Gage accordingly
watched the proceedings, buoyant with hope. In a few hours the disgrace
of Lexington would be wiped out, and this wicked rebellion would be
ended. At noonday the troops began crossing the river in boats, and at
three o'clock they prepared to storm the intrenchments. They advanced in
two parties, General Howe toward the rail-fence, and General Pigot
toward the redoubt, and the same fate awaited both. The Americans
reserved fire until the enemy had come within fifty yards, when all at
once they poured forth such a deadly volley that the whole front rank of
the British was mowed as if by the sudden sweep of a scythe. For a few
minutes the gallant veterans held their ground and returned the fire;
but presently an indescribable shudder ran through the line, and they
gave way and retreated down the hillside in disorder, while the
Americans raised an exultant shout, and were with difficulty restrained
by their officers from leaping over the breastworks and pursuing.
[Sidenote: Second assault repulsed]
A pause now ensued, during which the village of Charlestown was set on
fire by shells from the fleet, and soon its four hundred wooden houses
were in a roaring blaze, while charred timbers strewed the lawns and
flower-beds, and the sky was blackened with huge clouds of smoke. If the
purpose of this wholesale destruction of property was, as some have
thought, to screen the second British advance, the object was not
attained, for a light breeze drove the smoke the wrong way. As the
bright red coats, such excellent targets for trained marksmen, were seen
the second time coming up the slope, the Americans, now cool and
confident, withheld their fire until the distance was less than thirty
yards. Then, with a quick succession of murderous discharges, such havoc
was wrought in the British lines as soon to prove unendurable. After a
short but obstinate struggle the lines were broken, and the gallant
troops retreated hastily, leaving the hillside covered with their dead
and wounded. All this time the Americans, in their sheltered position,
had suffered but little.
[Sidenote: Prescott's powder gives out]
[Sidenote: Third assault succeeds; the British take the hill]
So long a time now elapsed that many persons began to doubt if the
British would renew the assault. Had the organization of the American
army been better, such reinforcements of men and ammunition might by
this time have arrived from Cambridge that any further attack upon the
hill would be sure to prove fruitless. But all was confusion at
headquarters. General Ward was ill furnished with staff officers, and
wrong information was brought, while orders were misunderstood. And
besides, in his ignorance of the extent of Gage's plans, General Ward
was nervously afraid of weakening his centre at Cambridge. Three
regiments were sent over too late to be of any use, and meanwhile
Prescott, to his dismay, found that his stock of powder was nearly
exhausted. While he was making ready for a hand-to-hand fight, the
British officers were holding a council of war, and many declared that
to renew the attack would be simply useless butchery. On the other hand,
General Howe observed, "to be forced to give up Boston would be very
disagreeable to us all." The case was not so desperate as this, for the
alternative of an attack upon Charlestown Neck still remained open, and
every consideration of sound generalship now prescribed that it should
be tried. But Howe could not bear to acknowledge the defeat of his
attempts to storm, and accordingly, at five o'clock, with genuine
British persistency, a third attack was ordered. For a moment the
advancing columns were again shaken by the American fire, but the last
powder-horns were soon emptied, and by dint of bayonet charges the
Americans were slowly driven from their works and forced to retreat over
Charlestown Neck, while the whole disputed ground, including the summit
of Bunker Hill, passed into the hands of the British.
[Sidenote: British and American losses]
In this battle, in which not more than one hour was spent in actual
fighting, the British loss in killed and wounded was 1,054, or more than
one third of the whole force engaged, including an unusually large
proportion of officers. The American loss, mainly incurred at the
rail-fence and during the final hand-to-hand struggle at the redoubt,
was 449, probably about one fourth of the whole force engaged. On the
British side, one company of grenadiers came out of the battle with only
five of its number left unhurt. Every officer on General Howe's staff
was cut down, and only one survived his wounds. The gallant Pitcairn,
who had fired the first shot of the war, fell while entering the
redoubt, and a few moments later the Americans met with an irreparable
loss in the death of General Warren, who was shot in the forehead as he
lingered with rash obstinacy on the scene, loath to join in the
inevitable retreat. Another volunteer aid, not less illustrious than
Warren, fought on Bunker Hill that day, and came away scatheless. Since
the brutal beating which he had received at the coffee-house nearly six
years before, the powerful mind of James Otis had suffered well-nigh
total wreck. He was living, harmlessly insane, at the house of his
sister, Mercy Warren, at Watertown, when he witnessed the excitement and
listened to the rumour of battle on the morning of the 17th of June.
With touching eagerness to strike a blow for the cause in which he had
already suffered so dreadful a martyrdom, Otis stole away from home,
borrowed a musket at some roadside farmhouse, and hastened to the
battlefield, where he fought manfully, and after all was over made his
way home, weary and faint, a little before midnight.
[Portrait: M Warren]
[Sidenote: Excessive slaughter; significance of the battle]
Though small in its dimensions, if compared with great European
battles, or with the giant contests of our own civil war, the struggle
at Bunker Hill is memorable and instructive, even from a purely military
point of view. Considering the numbers engaged and the short duration of
the fight, the destruction of life was enormous. Of all the
hardest-fought fields of modern times, there have been very few indeed
in which the number of killed and wounded has exceeded one fourth of the
whole force engaged. In its bloodiness and in the physical conditions of
the struggle, the battle of Bunker Hill resembles in miniature the
tremendous battles of Fredericksburg and Cold Harbor. To ascend a rising
ground and storm well-manned intrenchments has in all ages been a
difficult task; at the present day, with the range and precision of our
modern weapons, it has come to be almost impossible. It has become a
maxim of modern warfare that only the most extraordinary necessity can
justify a commander in resorting to so desperate a measure. He must
manoeuvre against such positions, cut them off by the rear, or deprive
them of their value by some flanking march; but he must not, save as a
forlorn hope, waste precious human lives in an effort to storm them that
is almost sure to prove fruitless. For our means of destroying life have
become so powerful and so accurate that, when skilfully wielded from
commanding positions, no human gallantry can hope to withstand them. As
civilization advances, warfare becomes less and less a question of mere
personal bravery, and more and more a question of the application of
resistless physical forces at the proper points; that is to say, it
becomes more and more a purely scientific problem of dynamics. Now at
Bunker Hill though the Americans had not our modern weapons of
precision, yet a similar effect was wrought by the remarkable accuracy
of their aim, due to the fact that they were all trained marksmen, who
waited coolly till they could fire at short range, and then wasted no
shots in random firing. Most of the British soldiers who fell in the two
disastrous charges of that day were doubtless picked off as partridges
are picked off by old sportsmen, and thus is explained the unprecedented
slaughter of officers. Probably nothing quite like this had yet been
seen in the history of war, though the principle had been similar in
those wonderful trials of the long-bow in such mediæval battles as Crécy
and Dupplin Moor. Against such odds even British pluck and endurance
could not prevail. Had the Americans been properly supplied with powder,
Howe could no more have taken Bunker Hill by storm than Burnside could
take the heights of Fredericksburg.
[Sidenote: Its moral effect]
The moral effect of the battle of Bunker Hill, both in America and
Europe, was remarkable. It was for the British an important victory,
inasmuch as they not only gained the ground for which the battle was
fought, but by so doing they succeeded in keeping their hold upon Boston
for nine months longer. Nevertheless, the moral advantage was felt to be
quite on the side of the Americans. It was they who were elated by the
day's work, while it was the British who were dispirited. The belief
that Americans could not fight was that day dispelled forever. British
officers who remembered Fontenoy and Minden declared that the firing at
Bunker Hill was the hottest they had ever known, and, with an
exaggeration which was pardonable as a reaction from their former
ill-judged contempt, it was asserted that the regulars of France were
less formidable foes than the militia of New England. It was keenly felt
that if a conquest of a single strategic position had encountered such
stubborn resistance, the task of subjugating the United Colonies was
likely to prove a hard one. "I wish we could sell them another hill at
the same price," said General Greene. Vergennes, the French minister of
foreign affairs, exclaimed that with two more such victories England
would have no army left in America. Washington said there could now be
no doubt that the liberties of the people were secure. While Franklin,
taking extreme ground, declared that England had lost her colonies
forever.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] On the pedestal of this statue, which stands in front of the
North Bridge at Concord, is engraved the following quotation
from Emerson's "Concord Hymn:"--
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The poet's grandfather, Rev. William Emerson, watched the fight
from a window of the Old Manse.
[4] It was in this church on March 23, 1775, that Patrick Henry made
the famous speech in which he said, "It is too late to retire
from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and
slavery. The war is inevitable, and let it come! The next gale
that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of
resounding arms! I know not what course others may take, but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death."
[5] In the letter, of which a facsimile is here given, Allen gives
the date of the capture of Ticonderoga as the 11th, but a
minute survey of the contemporary newspaper and other sources
of information makes it clear that this must be a slip of the
pen. In his personal "Narrative," Allen gives the date
correctly as the 10th.
[6] This sketch was made on the spot for Lord Rawdon, who was then
on Gage's staff. The spire in the foreground is that of the Old
West Church, where Jonathan Mayhew preached; it stood on the
site since occupied by Dr. Bartol's church on Cambridge Street,
now a branch of the Boston Public Library. Its position in the
picture shows that the sketcher stood on Beacon Hill, 138 feet
above the water. The first hill to the right of the spire, on
the further side of the river, is Bunker Hill, 110 feet high.
The summit of Breed's Hill, 62 feet high, where Prescott's
redoubt stood, is nearly hidden by the flames of burning
Charlestown. At a sale of the effects of the Marquis of
Hastings, descendant of Lord Rawdon, this sketch was bought by
my friend Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet.
[Illustration]