FIRST IN WAR--FIRST IN PEACE.
The first thing George Wash-ing-ton was heard to ask when news
came of this fight was, "Did our men stand fire?" And when he
was told that they did, he said, "Then the rights of our land
are safe." From this day our men took heart and were of good
cheer. The Brit-ish lost one in four of their men in that fight;
and on our side we did not lose half as much. In Eng-land men
did not know what to make of so great a loss to their troops
from so small a force as ours.
In this land there was a call for more troops, and George Wash-ing-ton
was put at their head. He had shown that he was a brave and
true man. He came from Vir-gin-ia, his home, and met the rest
'neath a great elm tree in Cam-bridge. This tree is known as
the "Wash-ing-ton Elm" to this day. All felt a wish to see this
brave man, who had no small fame; they came from all sides to
greet him, and saw a man more than six feet tall, with a broad
chest, large hands and feet, a fine face, a clear eye, and the
air of one born to rule. He wore a blue coat, with buff small
clothes, and a black plume in his hat.
Wash-ing-ton saw, in his turn, a crowd of men of all sorts and
kinds, rude and rough in their looks, and with odd kinds of
arms, no two of which were alike, in their hands. Some were
in old coats, some in their shirt sleeves. No state suits or
gold bands or fine plumes were there. And when Gen-er-al Wash-ing-ton
went round to the camp, he found things were in a bad state.
Some had straight lines of tents, neat and nice, but most were
in small huts made of boards or stones or turf. The food was
rough and scarce, and the men had not the first means for war;
not as much as would load their guns more than a few times.
It would not have been strange if Wash-ing-ton had felt his
heart sink at such a sight. But he went to work in a brave way
to do the best he could. Some store ships of food fell, by good
luck, in the hands of our men, who had been sent out to get
what they could; so that food was not so scarce. But still they
had no food for their guns, and could not march on the foe.
The Brit-ish troops still held Bos-ton; but could not get food
and wood for fires. The small-pox, too, broke out in their midst.
They had to pull down an old house now and then and burn it
to keep warm; and they sent crowds out of the town to be fed.
They put troops in each church, and made a play house of the
Town Hall. At times they would send out play bills to Wash-ing-ton
and his men. They did not want them to know that things were
so hard with them.
Once in this hall they had a play on the times. It was meant
to show how they were shut in by the foe, and of course to make
fun at the same time. In one part, a man in a dress like Wash-ing-ton,
with a great wig, and a long sword all rust, came on the stage.
By his side was a green lad, with an old gun. This was done
to cast a slur on our men. But just then there was a cry, "The
Yan-kees are on Bunk-er Hill." At first this was thought to
be a part of the play; but when Gen-er-al Howe said, in a loud
voice, "Men, to your posts!" there was great fright. Men ran,
their wives fell in a faint, and all felt there was no fun in
such a scare. In a short time the Eng-lish left Bos-ton; for
they could not be safe from the fire that came down on them
from all the hills round.
But they did not give up the fight. When the King and his court
heard of Bunk-er Hill, they made up their minds they would rule
this land, let it cost what it would. So they cut off our trade
as far as they could, and they brought in all the men they could
find from all lands which would give them help. So you may be
sure they had a great crowd to come on us and try to bend us
to their will. But our folk kept up a stout heart in the face
of all. They felt they had gone too far to go back.
[Illustration: Benjamin Franklin.]
There were some wise men who were known as the "Con-gress,"
who had met in Phil-a-del-phia. They gave it as their mind that
"These States are and of right ought to be free;" and they stuck
to this text. The troops had to fight, and it was the part of
Con-gress to raise the men, the pay, and the arms. It would
seem that they had the worst part to do. To be sure, when they
thought of the past, they might take heart. In the face of such
a foe, it must be said, our men had done well. Doc-tor Frank-lin
felt that way; but there were some rich men who thought it would
be death to the States to make war.
So Con-gress met to see if it were best that they should strike
the blow at once that would make them free. They had more than
one talk on this, and at first the time did not seem ripe. They
were to break all ties with Eng-land, to pay no more tax, and
to try to find help if they could, in their fight to be free.
Some great men wrote out the plan, and you can still see it
in the Hall in Phil-a-del-phia. This sheet is called the "Dec-la-ra-tion
of In-de-pend-ence." It meant that they were bound to be free,
and so they wrote it down. It was made Ju-ly 4th, 1776, and
that is why you hear the noise of fire works and see signs of
joy on each Fourth of Ju-ly since that day.
[Illustration: JOHN HAN-COCK'S RES-I-DENCE, BOS-TON.]
When the men came to sign this Dec-la-ra-tion, the one who wrote
his name first, said, "We must be one; we must all pull the
same way; we must hang side by side." "Or we shall hang with
none at our side," said Frank-lin. But no doubt there were sad
hearts that day, though these words did raise a laugh.
[Illustration: IN-DE-PEND-ENCE HALL.]
They did not change this dec-la-ra-tion much from the way they
wrote it first. There was one clause on the slave trade which
the men from the South did not like; so it was struck out. There
were twelve States--though they did not call them States in those
days--that gave their vote for it. New York would not vote at
all. The bell of the State House was to ring if the "Dec-la-ra-tion"
should pass. This bell had been put up years since, and one
might read on it, though these are not just the words, "Let
all the land be free." So the old man who was wont to ring this
bell, put his boy at the door of the hall where the men met.
When at last the Dec-la-ra-tion should pass, the man who kept
the door was to make a sign to the boy. You may think how all
hearts beat when this boy ran out with a cry of "Ring, ring;"
and what a peal of joy rang out from the bell! Then the Dec-la-ra-tion
was read to each of the troops, and there were loud cheers on
cheers from all sides. That night the form of George the Third,
on horse-back, which had been wrought in stone, and stood in
one of the squares, was laid low in the dust by the crowd.
Yet for all this brave show, the men were sad at heart. They
knew how poor they were, and how few, and the true state of
the troops, and all that could be brought to put them down.
They set out to make a flag of their own; for they had all sorts
of flags at this time. One had a pine tree on a white ground,
and was known as the "pine tree flag." On this flag were words
which meant, "Call to God for help."
When Wash-ing-ton came to take the head of the troops, he had
a new flag made with stripes of red and white, as now; but on
one end was a red and white cross, like that which marks the
Brit-ish flag. This flag went with our troops in Bos-ton, when
the Brit-ish took up their march out of that place. But, by
vote of Con-gress, a change was made, and it was said that our
flag must have red and white stripes, and white stars on a blue
ground--a star and a stripe for each State. Now when they make
a new State, they put a new star on our flag. Count them and
see how strong we are.
The first man to hoist the new flag was Cap-tain Paul Jones.
He was at the head of a man-of-war, and from that ship it was
first flung out on the breeze. This is the flag that now waves
in town and camp, and on our ships to all the ports of the land.
We have more stars now, but the stripes stay the same.