THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE BEGUN
LEXINGTON, 1775.--When the second Continental Congress met (May 10, 1775),
the mother country and her colonies had come to blows.
The people of Massachusetts, fearing that this might happen, had begun to
collect and hide arms, cannon, and powder. General Gage, the royal
governor of Massachusetts and commander of the British troops in Boston,
was told that military supplies were concealed at Concord, a town some
twenty miles from Boston (map, p. 168). Now it happened that in April,
1775, two active patriots, Samuel Adams [1] and John Hancock, were at
Lexington, a town on the road from Boston to Concord. Gage determined to
strike a double blow at the patriots by sending troops to arrest Adams and
Hancock and destroy the military stores. On the evening of April 18,
accordingly, eight hundred regulars left Boston as quietly as possible.
Gage hoped to keep the expedition a secret, but the patriots in Boston,
suspecting where the troops were going, sent off Paul Revere [2] and
William Dawes to ride by different routes to Lexington, rousing the
countryside as they went. As the British advanced, alarm bells, signal
guns, and lights in the villages gave proof that their secret was out.
[Illustration: JOHN HANCOCK'S BIBLE. Now in the Old Statehouse, Boston.]
[Illustration: ONE OF THE LANTERNS HUNG IN THE BELFRY. Now in the
possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society.]
The sun was rising as the first of the British, under Major Pitcairn,
entered Lexington and saw drawn up across the village green some fifty
minutemen [3] under Captain John Parker. "Disperse, ye villains," cried
Pitcairn; "ye rebels, disperse!" Not a man moved, whereupon the order to
fire was given; the troops hesitated to obey; Pitcairn fired his pistol,
and a moment later a volley from the British killed or wounded sixteen
minutemen. [4] Parker then gave the order to retire.
[Illustration: STONE ON VILLAGE GREEN AT LEXINGTON.]
THE CONCORD FIGHT.--From Lexington the British went on to Concord, set the
courthouse on fire, spiked some cannon, cut down the liberty pole, and
destroyed some flour. Meantime the minutemen, having assembled beyond the
village, came toward the North Bridge, and the British who were guarding
it fell back. Shots were exchanged, and six minutemen were killed. [5] But
the Americans crossed the bridge, drove back the British, and then
dispersed.
[Illustration: BOSTON, CHARLESTON, ETC.]
About noon the British started for Boston, with hundreds of minutemen, who
had come from all quarters, hanging on their flanks and rear, pouring in a
galling fire from behind trees and stone fences and every bit of rising
ground. The retreat became a flight, and the flight would have become a
rout had not reinforcements met them near Lexington. Protected by this
force, the defeated British entered Boston by sundown. By morning the
hills from Charlestown to Roxbury were black with minutemen, and Boston
was in a state of siege.
When the Green Mountain Boys heard of the fight, they took arms, and under
Ethan Allen [6] surprised and captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain
(map, p. 168).
THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.--On the day that Fort Ticonderoga was
captured (May 10, 1775), the Continental Congress met at Philadelphia. It
had been created, not to govern the colonies, nor to conduct a war, but
merely to consult concerning the public welfare, and advise what the
colonies should do. But war had begun, Congress was forced to become a
governing body, and after a month's delay it adopted the band of patriots
gathered about Boston, made it the Continental army, and appointed George
Washington (then a delegate to Congress from Virginia) commander in chief.
Washington accepted the trust, and left Philadelphia June 21, but had not
gone twenty miles when he was met by news of the battle of Bunker Hill.
BUNKER HILL, JUNE 17,1775.--Since the fight at Lexington and Concord in
April, troops under General Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and General Burgoyne
had arrived at Boston and raised the number there to ten thousand. Gage
now felt strong enough to seize the hills near Boston, lest the Americans
should occupy them and command the town. Learning of this, the patriots
determined to forestall him, and on the night of June 16 twelve hundred
men under Prescott were sent to fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown.
Prescott thought best to go beyond Bunker Hill, and during the night threw
up a rude intrenchment on Breeds Hill instead.
[Illustration: DRUM USED AT BUNKER HILL. Now in the possession of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, Boston.]
To allow batteries to be planted there would never do, so Gage dispatched
Howe with nearly three thousand regulars to drive away the Americans and
hold the hill. Coming over from Boston in boats, the British landed and
marched up the hill till thirty yards from the works, when a deadly volley
mowed down the front rank and sent the rest down the hill in disorder.
A little time elapsed before the regulars were seen again ascending, only
to be met by a series of volleys at short range. The British fought
stubbornly, but were once more forced to retreat, leaving the hillside
covered with dead and wounded. Their loss was dreadful, but Howe could not
bear to give up the fight, and a third time the British were led up the
hill. The powder of the Americans was spent, and the fight was hand to
hand with stones, butts of muskets, anything that would serve as a weapon,
till the bayonet charges of the British forced the Americans to retreat.
[7]
WASHINGTON IN COMMAND.--Two weeks later Washington reached Cambridge and
took formal command of the army. For eight months he kept the British shut
up in Boston, while he gathered guns, powder, and cannon, and trained the
men.
To the Continental army mean time came troops from Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and of course from the four New England colonies, commanded
by men who were destined to rise to high positions during the war. There
was Daniel Morgan of Virginia, with a splendid band of sharpshooters, and
Israel Putnam of Connecticut, John Stark and John Sullivan of New
Hampshire, Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, Henry Knox of Boston, Horatio
Gates of Virginia, and Benedict Arnold and Charles Lee who later turned
traitors.
THE HESSIANS.--When King George III heard of the fight at Bunker Hill, he
issued a proclamation declaring the colonists rebels, closed their ports
to trade and commerce, [8] and sought to hire troops from Russia and
Holland. Both refused, whereupon he turned to some petty German states and
hired many thousand soldiers who in our country were called Hessians. [9]
[Illustration: HESSIAN HAT. Now in Essex Hall, Salem.]
CANADA INVADED.--Now that the war was really under way, Congress turned
its attention to Canada. It was feared that the British governor there
might take Ticonderoga, enter New York, and perhaps induce the Indians to
harry the New England frontier as they did in the old French wars. In the
summer of 1775, therefore, two expeditions were sent against Canada. One
under Richard Montgomery went down Lake Champlain from Ticonderoga and
captured Montreal. Another under Benedict Arnold sailed from Massachusetts
to the mouth of the Kennebec River, arid forced its way through the dense
woods of Maine to Quebec. There Montgomery joined Arnold, and on the night
of December 31, 1775, the American army in a blinding snowstorm assaulted
the town. Montgomery fell dead while leading the attack on one side of
Quebec, Arnold was wounded during the attack on the other side, and
Morgan, who took Arnold's place and led his men far into the town, was cut
off and captured. Though the attack on Quebec failed, the Americans
besieged the place till spring, when they were forced to leave Canada and
find shelter at Crown Point.
BOSTON EVACUATED.--During the winter of 1775-76, some heavy guns were
dragged over the snow on sledges from Ticonderoga to Boston. A captured
British vessel provided powder, and in March, 1776, Washington seized
Dorchester Heights, fortified them, and by so doing forced Howe, who had
succeeded Gage in command, to evacuate Boston, March 17.
WHIGS AND TORIES.--During the excitement over the Stamp Act, the Townshend
Acts, and the tea tax, the people were divided into three parties. Those
who resisted and--finally rebelled were called Whigs, or Patriots, or
"Sons of Liberty." Those who supported king and Parliament were called
Tories or Loyalists. [10] Between these two extremes were the great mass
of the population who cared little which way the struggle ended. In New
York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas the Tories were numerous and active,
and when the war opened, they raised regiments and fought for the king.
FIGHTING IN THE CAROLINAS.--In January, 1776, Sir Henry Clinton sailed
from Boston to attack North Carolina, and a force of sixteen hundred
Tories marched toward the coast to aid. But North Carolina had its
minutemen as well as Massachusetts. A body of them under Colonel Caswell
met and beat the Tories at Moores Creek (February 27) and so large a force
of patriots had assembled when Clinton arrived that he did not make the
attack.
The next attempt was against South Carolina. Late in June, Clinton with
his fleet appeared before Charleston, and while the fleet opened fire on
Fort Moultrie (mol'try) from the water, Clinton marched to attack it by
land. But the land attack failed, the fleet was badly damaged by shot from
the fort, and the expedition sailed away to New York. [11]
INDEPENDENCE NECESSARY.--Prior to 1776 many of the colonies denied any
desire for independence, [12] but the events of this year caused a change.
After the battle of Moores Creek, North Carolina bade her delegates in
Congress vote for independence. Virginia, in May, ordered her delegates to
propose that the United Colonies be declared free and independent. South
Carolina and Georgia instructed their delegates to assent to any measure
for the good of America. Rhode Island dropped the king's name from state
documents and sheriffs' writs, and town after town in Massachusetts voted
to uphold Congress in a declaration of independence.
Thus encouraged, Congress, in May, resolved that royal authority must be
suppressed, and advised all the colonies to establish independent
governments. Some had already done so; the rest one by one framed written
constitutions of government, and became states. [13]
INDEPENDENCE DECLARED.--To pretend allegiance to the king any longer was a
farce. Congress, therefore, appointed Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to write a declaration
of independence, and on July 2, 1776, resolved: "That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and
ought to be, totally dissolved." [14] This is the Declaration of
Independence. The document we call the Declaration contains the reasons
why independence was declared. It was written by Jefferson, and after some
changes by Congress was adopted on July 4, 1776, [15] and copied were
ordered to be sent to the states.
[Illustration: THE COMMITTEE ON DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. From an old
print.]
SUMMARY
1. Governor Gage, hearing that the people of Massachusetts were gathering
military stores, sent troops to destroy the stores.
2. The battles at Lexington and Concord followed, and Boston was besieged.
3. The militia from the neighboring colonies gathered about Boston. They
were formed into a Continental army by Congress, and Washington was
appointed commander in chief.
4. The battle of Bunker Hill, meantime, took place (June, 1775).
5. King George III now declared the colonists rebels, shut their ports,
and sent troops from Germany to subdue them.
6. An expedition of the patriots for the conquest of Canada failed (1775-
76).
7. But the British were forced to leave Boston (March, 1776).
8. British attacks on North Carolina and South Carolina came to naught.
9. July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Samuel Adams was born in Boston in 1722, graduated from Harvard
College, and took so active a part in town politics that he has been
called "the Man of the Town Meeting." From 1765 to 1774 he was a member of
the Massachusetts Assembly, and for some years its clerk. He was a member
of the committee sent to demand the removal of the soldiers after the
massacre of 1770, and of that sent to demand the resignations of the men
appointed to receive the tea, and presided over the town meeting that
demanded the return of the tea ships to England. He was a member of the
Continental Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence. After
the Revolution he was lieutenant governor and then governor of
Massachusetts, and died in 1803.
[2] Revere went by way of Charlestown (map, p. 160), first crossing the
river from Boston in a rowboat. As there was danger that his boat might be
stopped by the British warships, two lanterns were shown from the belfry
of the North Church as a signal to his friends in Charlestown; and when he
landed there at midnight, he found the patriots astir, ready to give the
alarm if he had not appeared. Read "Paul Revere's Ride" in Longfellow's
_Tales of a Wayside Inn_.
[3] In 1774 the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts ordered one quarter
of all the militiamen to be enlisted for emergency service. They came to
be known as minutemen, and in 1775 the Continental Congress recommended
"that one fourth part of the militia in every colony, be selected for
minutemen ... to be ready on the shortest notice, to march to any place
where their assistance may be required."
[4] Just before the fight began Adams and Hancock left Lexington and set
out to attend the Congress at Philadelphia.
[5] Read Emerson's _Concord Hymn_; also Cooper's admirable description of
the day's fighting in _Lionel Lincoln_.
[6] Ethan Allen was born in Connecticut in 1737, and went to Vermont about
1769. Vermont was then claimed by New York and New Hampshire, and when New
York tried to enforce her authority, the settlers in "New Hampshire
Grants" resisted, and organized as the "Green Mountain Boys" with Allen as
leader. At Fort Ticonderoga Allen found the garrison asleep. The British
commandant, awakened by the noise at his door, came out and was ordered to
surrender the fort. "By what authority?" he asked. "In the name of the
Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," said Allen.
[7] Read Fiske's _American Revolution_, Vol. I, pp. 136-146, and
Holmes's _Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill_. The British lost 1054
and the Americans 449. Among the British dead was Pitcairn, who began the
war at Lexington. Among the American dead was Dr. Warren, an able leader
of the Boston patriots. While the battle was raging, Charlestown was
shelled and set on fire and four hundred houses burned. Later, in October,
a British fleet entered the harbor of Falmouth (now Portland in Maine),
and burned three fourths of the houses. January 1, 1776, Lord Dunmore,
royal governor of Virginia, set fire to Norfolk, the chief city of
Virginia. The fire raged for three days and reduced the place to ashes.
These acts are charged against the king in the Declaration of
Independence: "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."
[8] This is made a charge against the king in the Declaration: "He has
abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, and
waging war against us." And again, "For cutting off our trade with all
parts of the world."
[9] The Duke of Brunswick, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and four other
princes furnished the men. Their generals were Riedesel (ree'de-zel),
Knyp-hausen (knip'hou-zen), Von Heister, and Donop. The employment of
these troops furnishes another charge against the king in the Declaration:
"He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to
complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny." The first
detachment of German troops landed on Staten Island in New York Bay on
August 15, 1776. Before the war ended, the six petty German princes
furnished 29,867, of whom 12,550 never returned. Some 5000 of these
deserted.
[10] Before fighting began, the Tories were denounced and held up as
enemies to their country; later their leaders were mobbed, and if they
held office, were forced to resign. After the battle of Bunker Hill, laws
of great severity were enacted against them. They were disarmed, forced to
take an oath of allegiance, proclaimed traitors, driven into exile, and
their estates and property were confiscated. At the close of the war,
fearing the anger of the Whigs, thousands of Tories fled from our country
to Jamaica, Bermuda, Halifax in Nova Scotia, and Canada. Some 30,000 went
from New York city in 1782-83, and upward of 60,000 left our country
during and after the war.
[11] While the battle was hottest, a shot carried away the flagstaff of
Fort Moultrie. The staff and flag fell outside the fort. Instantly
Sergeant William Jasper leaped down, fastened the flag to the ramrod of a
cannon, climbed back, and planted this new staff firmly on the fort. A
fine monument now commemorates his bravery.
[12] However, many leaders in New England, as Samuel Adams, John Adams,
and Elbridge Gerry; in Pennsylvania, as Benjamin Rush and Benjamin
Franklin; in Delaware, as Thomas McKean; as Chase of Maryland; Lee, Henry,
Jefferson, Washington, of Virginia; and Gadsden of South Carolina, favored
independence. In this state of affairs Thomas Paine, in January, 1776,
wrote a pamphlet called _Common Sense_, in which independence was strongly
urged. The effect was wonderful. Edition after edition was printed in many
places. "_Common Sense_," says one writer, "is read to all ranks; and as
many as read, so many become converted."
[13] Rhode Island and Connecticut did not abandon their charters, for in
these colonies the people had always elected their governors and had
always been practically independent of the king. Connecticut did not make
a constitution till 1818, and Rhode Island not till 1842.
[14] This resolution had been introduced in Congress, in June, by Richard
Henry Lee of Virginia. For a fine description of the debate on
independence read Webster's _Oration on Adams and Jefferson_. Why did
John Dickinson oppose a declaration of independence? Read Fiske's
_American Revolution_, Vol. I, pp. 190-192.
[15] A few copies signed by Hancock, president of Congress, and Thomson,
the secretary, were made public on July 5; and on July 8 one of these was
read to a crowd of people in the Statehouse yard at Philadelphia. The
common idea that the Declaration was signed at one time is erroneous. The
signing did not begin till August 2. Of those who signed then and
afterward, seven were not members of Congress on July 4, 1776. Of those
signers who were members on July 4, it is known that five were absent on
that day. Seven men who were members of Congress on July 4 were not
members on August 2, and never signed.
[Illustration: THE NORTHERN COLONIES DURING THE REVOLUTION]