THE BOYS OF '76.
BATTLE OF LEXINGTON--OFFICERS CHOSEN--A YEAR OF DISCUSSION--DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE--SPIRIT OF ENGLISH NOBILITY--DEFEAT OF AMERICAN
FORCES--SUCCESS AT TRENTON AND PRINCETON--SUFFERINGS AT VALLEY
FORGE--WASHINGTON'S PRAYER--BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN--ARRIVAL OF LA
FAYETTE--ARNOLD'S TREASON--ANDRE'S DEATH--SIEGE OF YORKTOWN--CLOSE
OF THE WAR--TREATY OF PEACE--ARMY DISBANDED--WASHINGTON RESIGNS
HIS COMMISSION--CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION--WASHINGTON ELECTED
PRESIDENT--HIS DEATH--HIS TOMB.
With the battle of Lexington the war of the Revolution may be said
to commence. Henceforth the colonies were united. Georgia no longer
hesitated, but sent her delegates to the continental Congress.
Resolutions were unanimously passed to provide for the defense of
the country. But it was not till after the battle of Bunker Hill
that the people favored independence. When the tidings of the battle
arrived, Patrick Henry exclaimed: "This was needed to rouse the country
to action." On the same day Congress appointed George Washington
commander-in-chief of the colonial forces. On the day following it
elected its four major-generals. {174} From deference to Massachusetts,
for the noble part she had taken, the first of these was Artemas
Ward. The second was Charles Lee, the son of an English officer, the
third was Philip Schuyler, of New York; the fourth was Israel Putnam,
of Connecticut. Thus the country took up arms with only one general
officer, who drew to himself the trust and love of the country.
Washington immediately accepted the position and wrote to his brother:
"I bid adieu to every kind and domestic ease, and embark on a wide
ocean, boundless in its prospect, and in which, perhaps, no safe harbor
is to be found."
[Image: George Washington.]
Trumbull, the governor of Connecticut, wrote to him: "Now be strong and
very courageous; may the God of the armies of Israel give you wisdom
and fortitude and cover your head in the day of battle and danger." To
this Washington replied: "The cause of our common country calls us both
to an active and dangerous duty; divine Providence, which wisely orders
the affairs of men, will enable us to discharge it with fidelity and
success."
Such were the sentiments which animated the colonists in June, 1775.
A year of discussion and anxiety followed, during {175} which a
remarkable pamphlet was published, entitled, "Common Sense." The
writer, who embodied in words the vague longing of the people, mixed
with crude notions of his own, was Thomas Paine, the son of an English
Quaker, and, at that time, a little under forty years of age. In after
years he became a profligate and a reviler of the scriptures, yet, at
that time, his writings did much to prepare the American people for
self-government.
However, it was not until June, 1776, that the colonists gave up the
hope of reconciliation. At that time the Assembly of Virginia issued a
famous circular entitled, "The Rights of Man." The leading principles
which it taught were, that "government ought to be instituted for the
benefit of the people; that freedom of speech and of the press should
never be interfered with; and that religion can be directed only by
reason and conviction, not by fraud or violence." A month later,
July 4th, 1776, the continental Congress issued THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE. And for the support of this declaration they added: "With
a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually
pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
Thus the youthful nation, as it took its place among the powers
of the world, proclaimed its faith in the truth and reality and
unchangeableness of freedom, virtue and right. The heart of Jefferson,
in writing the declaration, and of Congress in adopting it, beat for
all humanity. The assertion of right was made for all nations and
for all coming generations. It was addressed to all mankind and was
destined to make the circuit of the world. As it passed by the despotic
countries of Europe, and the astonished people read with mingled
surprise and joy, that "all men are created equal," and have an equal
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they started as
from the sleep of years; like those, who have been exiles from their
native land from childhood, start up when they suddenly hear the dimly
remembered accents of their mother tongue.
When the news of the declaration of independence reached England the
spirit of the nobility was vehement against the Americans. Had the
decision of the conflict hung on the {176} strength of armies alone,
the colonists could not have gained the victory; but it involved the
interests of Europe's toiling millions, and brought into action ideas
which had hitherto no opportunity for expression, and forces which
until then had no sphere of action. The principles that gave life to
the new institutions pervaded history like a prophecy, and seemed
like the realizing of the golden age of which the poets dreamed. The
most profound thinkers and most intense lovers of the race saw in
America's future an opportunity for man's higher development; the
spiritual-minded saw in the history and circumstances of America the
wonder-working and controlling hand of Providence.
The history of the military campaigns of 1776 and 1777, are too well
known to need repetition here. The Americans were beaten in every
attack made upon them, from the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775,
to the battle of Fort Mifflin, October 22, 1777. At Cambridge they
had no powder, yet their courage and perseverance held out. They lost
Long Island, New York, Fort Washington and more than three thousand
men. They fled through New Jersey followed by the victorious English.
The American army kept on dwindling and shrinking till it comprised
scarcely seven thousand men, ill armed, unpaid, ill clad and unfed.
During those two years and four months the only battles, that were
precursors of success and gave renewed hope and vigor to the patriot
cause, were the brilliant successes at Trenton and Princeton.
{177}
[Image: Washington Crossing the Delaware.]
It was the night before Christmas. The British lay waiting fur the
Delaware river to freeze over, that they might again pursue Washington
and his little band. Meanwhile the Americans collected all the boats
up and down the river for seventy miles. After dark they commenced to
cross the river. The night was dark and tempestuous, and the weather
so intensely cold that two of the soldiers were frozen to death. Yet
amidst the floating ice and gusts of wind they fearlessly rowed across
the river. At day-break Christmas morning they attacked the astonished
royalists. Three times as many prisoners were taken as the number of
the American troops engaged. The Americans then recrossed the river
taking the {178} prisoners with them. A week later, Washington made
another night march and surprised the British at Princeton, capturing
prisoners and making good his escape.
These exploits, inconsiderable as they may seem, greatly raised the
spirits of the American people. When triumphs like these were possible,
under circumstances so discouraging, there was no need to despair.
Though the British advanced on Philadelphia and took possession of it,
still there was a feeling of insecurity in the British army. They knew
not what moment they might be attacked.
Notwithstanding these successes many of the American officers left
the army in disgust. The nation could not pay her soldiers and made
no promise of future indemnity. The British had full possession of
New York, and were rioting and feasting at Philadelphia. Meanwhile
Washington with his little army had retreated to a secluded place among
the Pennsylvania hills, which was known by the name of Valley Forge.
As the men moved toward the spot selected for their winter
resting-place, they had no clothes to cover their nakedness, blankets
to lie on, nor tents to sleep under. For the want of shoes, their
marches through frost and snow might be traced by the blood from their
feet, and they were almost as often without provisions as with them.
An extract from one of Washington's letters to Congress may not be out
of place: "We have this day no less than two thousand eight hundred and
ninety-eight men unfit for duty, because they are barefoot or otherwise
naked. Our whole strength in continental troops amounts to no more than
eight thousand two hundred men. Since the fourth instant, owing to
hardships and exposures, our numbers have decreased nearly two thousand
men. Numbers are obliged to sit all night by the fires; or sleep on a
cold, bleak hill, under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."
All this time the British soldiers in Philadelphia were well
provided for; the officers were living in luxury at the expense
of the inhabitants. The days were spent in pastime, the nights in
entertainments.
{179} It was at this period of the war--the darkest through which
the nation ever passed--that the following incident occurred. It was
observed that each day after Washington had visited the hospital
tents and administered to the sick whatever necessities or comforts
he had in his power to bestow, he retired into the forest at some
distance from the camp. Curiosity prompted an individual, named Isaac
Pitts, to follow him. There, at the foot of a large tree, with head
uncovered, kneeling in the snow, was seen the commander-in-chief of
the American armies, engaged in prayer before God. With an anxious
and burdened mind--a mind conscious of its need of divine support and
consolation--Washington went and rolled those mighty burdens--too heavy
for him to bear unaided--upon the arm of Omnipotence. Isaac Pitts
related what he had seen and heard, and on a subsequent day at least
three persons beheld the venerated "father of his country," at prayer
before his God.
It is recorded in Matthew vi., 6: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly." May we not believe that the high moral courage which
dared greater perils than the whistling of bullets; that will of
mighty strength which having chosen the right, though unpopular, never
deviated from it; that calm self-command, which bore up under the
greatest reverses and still preserved its equanimity amidst the taunts
of enemies and censure of friends--may we not believe that these things
were among the open rewards of secret prayer?
From that time forward success seems to have attended the American
arms. Meanwhile the tidings of American heroism and suffering had
reached the old world and thrilled the hearts of the lovers of liberty
in Europe. Prominent among these was the Marquis de la Fayette, a young
French nobleman, then scarcely nineteen years of age, who offered to
serve in the American army, without pension or allowance. The king of
France dreaded the growth of civil and political liberty; yet he could
not withstand the temptation to wreak a terrible vengeance on England
for having wrested Canada from his {180} grasp. He sent a fleet and
army to America, which greatly aided the cause of Independence. Thus
did the rage of wicked men further the designs of Providence.
While Washington was still hemmed in among the hills of Pennsylvania,
the British general, Burgoyne, had marched from Canada into the heart
of New England. At his approach every man took down his musket from
the wall and hurried to the front. Little discipline had they, but a
resolute purpose and a sure aim. Difficulties thickened around the
fated army.
[Image: Scene of Burgoyne's Surrender.]
At length, Burgoyne found himself at Saratoga. It was now October.
Heavy rains fell. Provisions were growing scanty. Gradually it became
evident that the British were surrounded. Night and day a circle of
fire encompassed them. Burgoyne called his officers together. There
was but one thing to do and it was done. The British army surrendered.
Nearly six thousand brave men, in sorrow and in shame, laid down their
arms. The men who took them were mere peasants. No two of them were
dressed alike. These grotesque American {181} warriors behaved towards
their conquered enemies with true nobility. General Gates, the American
commander, kept his men strictly within their lines, that they might
not witness the piling of the British arms. No taunt was offered, no
look of disrespect was directed against the fallen. All were mute in
astonishment and pity.
[Image: Meeting Place of Andre and Arnold.]
One of the saddest incidents of the war, was the tragic fate of Major
Andre. The Americans had a strong fortress at West Point, on the
Hudson river. The English desired to {182} obtain this place, as its
possession would give them command of the Hudson river, up which their
ships might sail more than a hundred miles. But that fort, sitting
impregnably on rocks, two hundred feet above the river, was hard to
win. Benedict Arnold, a proud and ambitious American officer, was in
command of this post. Loving money more than duty, he determined to
sell this fortress to the English. He opened negotiations with Sir
Henry Clinton, then in command of the English at New York, who sent
Major Andre to arrange the terms of the transfer.
At midnight Major Andre landed from a British ship at a lonely place,
where Arnold awaited him. Their conference lasted so long, that it
was deemed unsafe for Andre to return to the ship. It was determined
that the next night he should attempt, in disguise, to reach New York
by land. The pass given to him by Arnold, permitted him to go through
the American lines. His danger might now be considered at an end, and,
under cover of the darkness, he rode cheerfully on his lonely journey,
till he came to a small stream. Thick woods on each side made the
darkness still more gloomy. Suddenly three men stepped from among the
trees and ordered him to halt. Thinking them to be friends, he told
them he was a British officer on very important business. Alas for
Andre! they were Americans. Andre was searched, and in his boots were
discovered Arnold's drawings of West Point. The men knew then that he
was a spy. He vainly offered them a large sum of money, but the men
nobly refused to sell their liberty and their country for gold. Andre
was tried, condemned, and, ten days after, executed.
His death caused deep sensation throughout the army and England. Men in
England began to inquire into the causes of this terrible, fratricidal
war.
While the British general, Clinton, was holding New York, Lord
Cornwallis was fortifying himself in Yorktown, Virginia. The French
fleet sailed for the Chesapeake bay, and Washington decided to act in
concert with the French, and lay siege to Yorktown. The bombarding
was carried on with extraordinary energy. In a few days the defenses
lay in utter ruins. Cornwallis determined to evacuate Yorktown and
join Clinton {183} at New York. One night he began to embark his men
in order to cross the York river and set out on his desperate march.
A violent storm arose and scattered his boats. All hope was now at an
end. In about a fortnight from the opening of the siege, the British
army, eight thousand strong, laid down its arms.
Well might the colonists rejoice for their long and bitter struggle was
about to close. Eight years had passed since the first blood was shed
at Lexington. The representatives of the English people had learned
the causes of the American revolution, and refused to continue the
fratricidal war. The independence of the United States was acknowledged
and the British forces were withdrawn.
On the 30th of November, 1782, a treaty of peace was signed at
Versailles, between the commissioners, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams
and John Jay, appointed by the Congress of the United States and those
of Great Britain. The treaty was not a compact imposed by force, but
a perpetual settlement of all that had been called in question. By
doing this act of justice to her former colonies, England rescued her
own liberties from imminent danger, and gave a pledge of liberty to
her other dependencies. That selfish colonial policy, which had led to
the cruel and unnatural war, was laid aside forever. Great Britain was
henceforth the mother of nations--the great colonizing power--destined
to found colonies in every quarter of the globe, and sow the islands of
the ocean with the seeds of freedom.
For the United States, the war which began on Lexington Green, ended
with the independence and possession of a country, which has increased
till it is now thirty times larger than the parent state.
"The boys of '76" had fought their last battle. December 4th, 1783,
Washington came to disband the army. Many of the soldiers had
been home by permission. They now came to bid farewell to their
commander-in-chief, and then return to their great work of building
a nation. Washington and his soldiers met for the last time. No more
beating of drums or roar of cannon; no more weary marches or the clash
of arms. They had fought side by side, and the memories of {184} those
conflicts could never be effaced. Washington said: "With a heart full
of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, most devoutly wishing,
that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former
ones have been glorious and honorable."
The officers then took his hand. There were tears upon his cheek, and
the officers felt a choking in their throats. They passed out of doors
down to the ferry. Washington stepped into a boat, took off his hat and
waved a farewell. The oars of the rowers soon bore him from New York to
the New Jersey side.
At noon on the 20th of December, he stood in the old hall of the state
house at Annapolis, in the presence of the Congress, which had called
him from his quiet home eight years before, to take command of the
armies of the United States. Now he was to resign it.
He said: "I commend the interests of our country to the protection
of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them to
His holy keeping. Having finished the work assigned me, and bidding
an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose order I
have so long acted, I here offer my commission and take leave of all
employments of public life."
Thus did Washington gladly return to his home on the Potomac.
The simple grandeur of his character was now revealed beyond the
possibility of misconception. Afterwards he was twice elected
president; yet never abused the trust reposed in him. There were many
who would have made him king. He trampled on their offer, and went back
to his fields of corn and quiet haunts at Mount Vernon. The grandest
act of his public life was to give up power; the most magnanimous deed
of his private life, was to liberate his slaves.
During the Revolution most of the states had adopted written codes
or constitutions on which all their civil laws were based. They were
virtually, at that time, thirteen independent states. Congress had but
little authority; could not enforce laws or collect taxes. A general
constitution was needed, which would fuse them into one nationality,
and control their conflicting interests.
{185}
[Image: Mount Vernon.]
In 1787, fifty-five delegates met in Philadelphia. They came together
to devise means for perpetuating the liberty they had so dearly won.
Washington was appointed to preside over the Convention; Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton and many other wise
men were there. Benjamin Franklin brought to this--his latest and
greatest task--the ripe experience of eighty-two years. There were
many perplexing questions to be settled. Some of the states were
large, others small: ought the small ones to have equal voice in the
government with the large ones? They decided that Congress should
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives--two senators from
each state, no matter what its size or number of population; but the
representatives were to be elected according to population. For four
months the delegates discussed the momentous issues that came before
them. They sat with closed doors; the world will never know how wise
or foolish, how eloquent or angry were their words. At {186} one time
it seemed impossible to reconcile their differences. Benjamin Franklin
proposed that the blessing of God should be asked upon their labors.
From that time forward, prayer was offered each morning, and greater
unanimity prevailed in counsel. A spirit of concession was manifest,
and a willingness to give up their private interests for the general
good. {187} Thus did the Spirit of God act on the hearts of the
founders of this nation.
[Image: The Tomb of Washington.]
At length they embodied their labors in a written constitution, which,
by a vote of the people, became, in 1789, the supreme law of the land.
With few amendments the original constitution remains in full force
now, receiving, as it increases in age, the growing reverence of right
minded people.
Washington was the first president. He took the oath of office April
30th, 1789, in the presence of a vast multitude. He served eight
years, and then retired again to Mount Vernon, where he died in the
sixty-eighth year of his age, December 15, 1799. His countrymen mourned
him with a sorrow, sincere and deep. Their reverence for him has not
diminished with the progress of the years. To this day the steamers,
which ply upon the Potomac, strike mournful notes as they sweep past
Mount Vernon, where Washington spent the happiest years of his life,
and where he now reposes.