MILITARY MEASURES.--AFFAIRS AT LEXINGTON.
The rumor, at the opening of Congress, of the cannonading of Boston
had been caused by measures of Governor Gage. The public mind in
Boston and its vicinity had been rendered excessively jealous and
sensitive by the landing and encamping of artillery upon the Common
and Welsh Fusiliers on Fort Hill, and by the planting of four large
field-pieces on Boston Neck, the only entrance to the town by land.
The country people were arming and disciplining themselves in every
direction, and collecting and depositing arms and ammunition in places
where they would be at hand in case of emergency. Gage, on the other
hand, issued orders that the munitions of war in all the public
magazines should be brought to Boston. One of these magazines was the
arsenal in the north-west part of Charlestown, between Medford and
Cambridge. Two companies of the king's troops passed silently in boats
up Mystic River in the night; took possession of a large quantity of
gunpowder deposited there, and conveyed it to Castle Williams.
Intelligence of this sacking of the arsenal flew with lightning speed
through the neighborhood. In the morning several thousands of patriots
were assembled at Cambridge, weapon in hand, and were with difficulty
prevented from marching upon Boston to compel a restitution of the
powder. In the confusion and agitation, a rumor stole out into the
country that Boston was to be attacked; followed by another that the
ships were cannonading the town, and the soldiers shooting down the
inhabitants. The whole country was forthwith in arms. Numerous bodies
of the Connecticut people had made some marches before the report was
contradicted.
Gage, on the 1st of September, before this popular agitation, had
issued writs for an election of an assembly to meet at Salem in
October; seeing, however, the irritated state of the public mind, he
now countermanded the same by proclamation. The people, disregarding
the countermand, carried the election, and ninety of the new members
thus elected met at the appointed time. They waited a whole day for
the governor to attend, administer the oaths, and open the session;
but as he did not make his appearance, they voted themselves a
provincial Congress, and chose for president of it John Hancock,--a
man of great wealth, popular, and somewhat showy talents, and ardent
patriotism; and eminent from his social position. This
self-constituted body adjourned to Concord, about twenty miles from
Boston; quietly assumed supreme authority, and issued a remonstrance
to the governor, virtually calling him to account for his military
operations in fortifying Boston Neck, and collecting warlike stores
about him, thereby alarming the fears of the whole province and
menacing the lives and property of the Bostonians.
General Gage, overlooking the irregularity of its organization,
entered into explanations with the Assembly, but failed to give
satisfaction. As winter approached, he found his situation more and
more critical. Boston was the only place in Massachusetts that now
contained British forces, and it had become the refuge of all the
"_tories_" of the province; that is to say, of all those devoted to
the British government. There was animosity between them and the
principal inhabitants, among whom revolutionary principles prevailed.
The town itself, almost insulated by nature, and surrounded by a
hostile country, was like a place besieged.
The provincial Congress conducted its affairs with the order and
system so formidable to General Gage. Having adopted a plan for
organizing the militia, it had nominated general officers, two of
whom, Artemas Ward and Seth Pomeroy, had accepted. The executive
powers were vested in a committee of safety. This was to determine
when the services of the militia were necessary; was to call them
forth,--to nominate their officers to the Congress,--to commission
them, and direct the operations of the army. Another committee was
appointed to furnish supplies to the forces when called out; hence,
named the Committee of Supplies. Under such auspices, the militia went
on arming and disciplining itself in every direction.
Arrangements had been made for keeping up an active correspondence
between different parts of the country, and spreading an alarm in case
of any threatening danger. Under the direction of the committees just
mentioned, large quantities of military stores had been collected and
deposited at Concord and Worcester.
This semi-belligerent state of affairs in Massachusetts produced a
general restlessness throughout the land. The weak-hearted apprehended
coming troubles; the resolute prepared to brave them. Military
measures, hitherto confined to New England, extended to the middle and
southern provinces, and the roll of the drum resounded through the
villages. Virginia was among the first to buckle on its armor. It had
long been a custom among its inhabitants to form themselves into
independent companies, equipped at their own expense, having their own
peculiar uniform, and electing their own officers, though holding
themselves subject to militia law. They had hitherto been
self-disciplined; but now they continually resorted to Washington for
instruction and advice; considering him the highest authority on
military affairs. He was frequently called from home, therefore, in
the course of the winter and spring, to different parts of the country
to review independent companies; all of which were anxious to put
themselves under his command as field-officer.
Mount Vernon, therefore, again assumed a military tone as in former
days, when he took his first lessons there in the art of war. Two
occasional and important guests in this momentous crisis, were General
Charles Lee,{1} and Major Horatio Gates.{2} To Washington the visits
of these gentlemen were extremely welcome at this juncture, from their
military knowledge and experience, especially as much of it had been
acquired in America, in the same kind of warfare, if not the very same
campaigns in which he himself had mingled. Both were interested in the
popular cause. Lee was full of plans for the organization and
disciplining of the militia, and occasionally accompanied Washington
in his attendance on provincial reviews. He was subsequently very
efficient at Annapolis in promoting and superintending the
organization of the Maryland militia.
{Footnote 1: [General Charles Lee was an Englishman by birth, and a
highly cultivated production of European warfare. He was born in 1731,
and may almost be said to have been cradled in the army, for he
received a commission by the time he was eleven years of age. He
served in the French war of America; in 1762 obtained a colonel's
commission, and went with Burgoyne to Portugal. Having a caustic pen
he undertook to write on colonial questions, and thereby lost the
favor of the ministry. He then went to Poland; won the favor of King
Stanislaus; in 1769 obtained the rank of major-general in the Polish
army, and served in a campaign against the Turks. Leaving the Polish
army he led a restless life about Europe, and in 1773, coming to
America, openly espoused the colonial cause. He was a man of eccentric
habits, caustic humor, extensive military experience, and was
considered a prodigious acquisition to the patriot cause.]}
{Footnote 2: [Major Horatio Gates was an Englishman by birth. When
twenty he served as a volunteer under Cornwallis, governor of Halifax;
next as captain under Braddock; accompanied General Monckton as
aide-de-camp to the West Indies, gained credit at the capture of
Martinico, and was promoted to the rank of major. His promotion did
not equal his expectations, and went to England, and failing to attain
his desires, came to Virginia in 1772, and purchased an estate in
Berkeley County, where he settled. He was now forty-six years of
age.]}
In the month of March the second Virginia convention was held at
Richmond. Washington attended as delegate from Fairfax County. In this
assembly, Patrick Henry, with his usual ardor and eloquence, advocated
measures for embodying, arming and disciplining a militia force, and
providing for the defence of the colony. Washington joined him in the
conviction, and was one of a committee that reported a plan for
carrying those measures into effect. He was not an impulsive man to
raise the battle cry, but the executive man to marshal the troops into
the field and carry on the war.
While the spirit of revolt was daily gaining strength and
determination in America, a strange infatuation reigned in the British
councils. While the wisdom and eloquence of Chatham were exerted in
vain in behalf of American rights, an empty braggadocio, elevated to a
seat in Parliament, was able to captivate the attention of the members
and influence their votes by gross misrepresentations of the Americans
and their cause. This was no other than Colonel Grant, the same
shallow soldier who had been guilty of a foolhardy bravado before the
walls of Fort Duquesne, which brought slaughter and defeat upon his
troops. We are told that he entertained Parliament, especially the
ministerial side of the House, with ludicrous stories of the cowardice
of Americans. This taunting and braggart speech was made in the face
of the conciliatory bill of the venerable Chatham, devised with a view
to redress the wrongs of America. The councils of the arrogant and
scornful prevailed; and instead of the proposed bill, further measures
of a stringent nature were adopted, coercive of some of the middle and
southern colonies, but ruinous to the trade and fisheries of New
England.
At length the bolt, so long suspended, fell! The troops at Boston had
been augmented to about four thousand men. Goaded on by the
instigations of the tories, and alarmed by the energetic measures of
the whigs, General Gage now resolved to deal the latter a crippling
blow. This was to surprise and destroy their magazine of military
stores at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston. It was to be
effected on the night of the 18th of April by a force detached for the
purpose. Preparations were made with great secrecy. Boats for the
transportation of troops were launched, and moored under the sterns of
the men-of-war. Grenadiers and light infantry were relieved from duty
and held in readiness. On the 18th, officers were stationed on the
roads leading from Boston to prevent any intelligence of the
expedition getting into the country. At night orders were issued by
General Gage that no person should leave the town. About ten o'clock
from eight to nine hundred men, grenadiers, light infantry and
marines, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Smith, embarked in the boats
at the foot of Boston Common and crossed to Lechmere Point, in
Cambridge, whence they were to march silently and without beat of drum
to the place of destination.
The measures of General Gage had not been shrouded in all the secrecy
he imagined. Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the committee of safety, had
observed the preparatory disposition of the boats and troops, and
surmised some sinister intention. He sent notice of these movements to
John Hancock and Samuel Adams, both members of the provincial
Congress, but at that time privately sojourning with a friend at
Lexington. A design on the magazine at Concord was suspected, and the
committee of safety ordered that the cannon collected there should be
secreted and part of the stores removed. On the night of the 18th, Dr.
Warren sent off two messengers by different routes to give the alarm
that the king's troops were actually sallying forth. The messengers
got out of Boston just before the order of General Gage went into
effect, to prevent any one from leaving the town. About the same time
a lantern was hung out of an upper window of the north church, in the
direction of Charlestown. This was a preconcerted signal to the
patriots of that place who instantly despatched swift messengers to
rouse the country.
In the meantime, Colonel Smith set out on his nocturnal march from
Lechmere Point by an unfrequented path across marshes, where at times
the troops had to wade through water. He had proceeded but a few miles
when alarm guns, booming through the night air, and the clang of
village bells, showed that the news of his approach was travelling
before him, and the people were rising. He now sent back to General
Gage for a reinforcement, while Major Pitcairn was detached with six
companies to press forward and secure the bridges at Concord.
Pitcairn advanced rapidly, capturing every one that he met or
overtook. Within a mile and a half of Lexington, however, a horseman
was too quick on the spur for him, and galloping to the village, gave
the alarm that the redcoats were coming. Drums were beaten; guns
fired. By the time that Pitcairn entered the village about seventy or
eighty of the yeomanry, in military array, were mustered on the green
near the church. The sound of drum, and the array of men in arms,
indicated a hostile determination. Pitcairn halted his men within a
short distance of the church, and ordered them to prime and load. They
then advanced at double quick time. The major, riding forward ordered
the rebels, as he termed them, to disperse. The order was disregarded.
A scene of confusion ensued, with firing on both sides; which party
commenced it has been a matter of dispute. The firing of the Americans
was irregular and without much effect; that of the British was more
fatal. Eight of the patriots were killed and ten wounded, and the
whole put to flight. Colonel Smith soon arrived with the residue of
the detachment, and they all marched on towards Concord, about six
miles distant.
The alarm had reached that place in the dead hour of the preceding
night. The church bell roused the inhabitants. They gathered together
in anxious consultation. The militia and minute men seized their arms
and repaired to the parade ground near the church. Exertions were now
made to remove and conceal the military stores. A scout, who had been
sent out for intelligence, brought word that the British had fired
upon the people at Lexington and were advancing upon Concord. There
was great excitement and indignation. Part of the militia marched down
the Lexington road to meet them, but returned, reporting their force
to be three times that of the Americans. The whole of the militia now
retired to an eminence about a mile from the centre of the town, and
formed themselves into two battalions.
About seven o'clock the British came in sight. They entered in two
divisions by different roads. Concord is traversed by a river of the
same name, having two bridges, the north and the south. The grenadiers
and light infantry took post in the centre of the town, while strong
parties of light troops were detached to secure the bridges, and
destroy the military stores. Two hours were expended in the work of
destruction without much success, so much of the stores having been
removed, or concealed. During all this time the yeomanry from the
neighboring towns were hurrying in with such weapons as were at hand,
and joining the militia on the height, until the little cloud of war
gathering there numbered about four hundred and fifty. About ten
o'clock, a body of three hundred undertook to dislodge the British
from the north bridge. As they approached, the latter fired upon them,
killing two, and wounding a third. The patriots returned the fire with
spirit and effect. The British retreated to the main body, the
Americans pursuing them across the bridge.
By this time all the military stores which could be found had been
destroyed; Colonel Smith, therefore, made preparations for a retreat.
About noon he commenced his retrograde march for Boston. It was high
time. His troops were jaded by the night march and the morning's toils
and skirmishings.
The country was thoroughly alarmed. The yeomanry were hurrying from
every quarter to the scene of action. As the British began their
retreat, the Americans began the work of sore and galling retaliation.
Along the open road the former were harassed incessantly by rustic
marksmen, who took deliberate aim from behind trees or over stone
fences. It was in vain they threw out flankers and endeavored to
dislodge their assailants; each pause gave time for other pursuers to
come within reach and open attacks from different quarters. For
several miles they urged their way along woody defiles, or roads
skirted with fences and stone walls, the retreat growing more and more
disastrous. Before reaching Lexington, Colonel Smith received a severe
wound in the leg, and the situation of the retreating troops was
becoming extremely critical, when, about two o'clock, they were met by
Lord Percy, with a brigade of one thousand men and two field-pieces.
Opening his brigade to the right and left, he received the retreating
troops into a hollow square; where, fainting and exhausted, they threw
themselves on the ground to rest. His lordship showed no disposition
to advance upon their assailants, but contented himself with keeping
them at bay with his field-pieces, which opened a vigorous fire from
an eminence.
Hitherto the Provincials, being hasty levies, without a leader, had
acted from individual impulse, without much concert; but now General
Heath was upon the ground. He was one of those authorized to take
command when the minute men should be called out. Dr. Warren also
arrived on horseback, having spurred from Boston on receiving news of
the skirmishing. In the subsequent part of the day he was one of the
most active and efficient men in the field. His presence, like that of
General Heath, regulated the infuriated ardor of the militia and
brought it into system.
Lord Percy, having allowed the troops a short interval for repose and
refreshment, continued the retreat toward Boston. As soon as he got
under march, the galling assault by the pursuing yeomanry was
recommenced in flank and rear. The British soldiery, irritated in
turn, acted as if in an enemy's country. Houses and shops were burnt
down in Lexington; private dwellings along the road were plundered,
and their inhabitants maltreated. Their march became more and more
impeded by the number of their wounded. Lord Percy narrowly escaped
death from a musket-ball, which struck off a button of his waistcoat.
The provincials pressed upon him in rear, others were advancing from
Roxbury, Dorchester, and Milton; Colonel Pickering, with the Essex
militia, seven hundred strong, was at hand; there was danger of being
intercepted in the retreat to Charlestown. The field-pieces were again
brought into play to check the ardor of the pursuit; but they were no
longer objects of terror. The pursuit terminated a little after sunset
at Charlestown Common, where General Heath brought the minute men to a
halt.
In this memorable affair the British loss was seventy-three killed,
one hundred and seventy-four wounded and twenty-six missing. Among the
slain were eighteen officers. The loss of the Americans was forty-nine
killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five missing. This was the first
blood shed in the revolutionary struggle. The cry went through the
land. None felt the appeal more than the old soldiers of the French
war. It roused John Stark, of New Hampshire--a trapper and hunter in
his youth, a veteran in Indian warfare, a campaigner under Abercrombie
and Amherst. Within ten minutes after receiving the alarm, he was
spurring towards the sea-coast. Equally alert was his old comrade in
frontier exploits, Colonel Israel Putnam.{3} A man on horseback, with
a drum, passed through his neighborhood in Connecticut, proclaiming
British violence at Lexington. Putnam was in the field ploughing,
assisted by his son. In an instant the team was unyoked; the plough
left in the furrow; the lad sent home to give word of his father's
departure; and Putnam, on horseback in his working garb, urging with
all speed to the camp.
{Footnote 3: [Israel Putnam was a soldier of native growth. He had
served at Louisburg, Fort Duquesne, and Crown Point; had signalized
himself in Indian warfare: been captured by the savages, tortured, and
rescued from the stake at the eleventh hour. Since the peace he had
resided on his farm at Pomfret, in Connecticut.]}
The news reached Virginia at a critical moment. Lord Dunmore, obeying
a general order issued by the ministry to all the provincial
governors, had seized upon the military munitions of the province.
Here was a similar measure to that of Gage. The cry went forth that
the subjugation of the colonies was to be attempted. All Virginia was
in combustion. The standard of liberty was reared in every county;
there was a general cry to arms. Washington was looked to from various
quarters to take command. His old comrade in arms, Hugh Mercer, was
about marching down to Williamsburg at the head of a body of resolute
men, seven hundred strong, entitled "The friends of constitutional
liberty and America," whom he had organized and drilled in
Fredericksburg, and nothing but a timely concession of Lord Dunmore,
with respect to some powder which he had seized, prevented his being
beset in his palace.