Chapter XIII: Front Matter (13)

"On April 19, 1775, the Committees of safety could only count
up twelve field-pieces in Massachusetts; and there had been
collected in that colony 21,549 fire-arms, 17,441 pounds of
powder, 22,191 pounds of ball, 144,699 flints, 10,108
bayonets, 11,979 pouches, 15,000 canteens. There were also
17,000 pounds of salt fish, 35,000 pounds of rice, with large
quantities of beef and pork. Viewed as an evidence of the
forethought of the colonists, these statistics are remarkable;
but there was something heroic and indeed almost pathetic in
the project of going to war with the British government on the
strength of twelve field-pieces and seventeen thousand pounds
of salt fish. Yet when, on the night of the 18th of April,
1775, Paul Revere rode beneath the bright moonlight through
Lexington to Concord, with Dawes and Prescott for comrades, he
was carrying the signal for the independence of a nation. He
had seen across the Charles River the two lights from the
church-steeple in Boston which were to show that a British
force was going out to seize the patriotic supplies at
Concord; he had warned Hancock and Adams at Reverend Jonas
Clark's parsonage in Lexington, and had rejected Sergeant
Monroe's caution against unnecessary noise, with the
rejoinder, 'You'll have noise enough here before long—the
regulars are coming out.' As he galloped on his way the
regulars were advancing with steady step behind him, soon
warned of their own danger by alarm-bells and signal-guns.
When Revere was captured by some British officers who happened
to be near Concord, Colonel Smith, the commander of the
expedition, had already halted, ordered Pitcairn forward, and
sent back prudently for reinforcements. It was a night of
terror to all the neighboring Middlesex towns, for no one knew
what excesses the angry British troops might commit on their
return march. The best picture we have of this alarm is in the
narrative of a Cambridge woman, Mrs. Hannah Winthrop,
describing 'the horrors of that midnight cry,' as she calls
it. The women of that town were roused by the beat of drums
and ringing of bells; they hastily gathered their children
together and fled to the outlying farm-houses; seventy or
eighty of them were at Fresh Pond, within hearing of the guns
at Menotomy, now Arlington. The next day their husbands bade
them flee to Andover, whither the college property had been
sent, and thither they went, alternately walking and riding,
over fields where the bodies of the slain lay unburied. Before
5 A. M. on April 19, 1775, the British troops had reached
Lexington Green, where thirty-eight men, under Captain Parker,
stood up before six hundred or eight hundred to be shot at,
their captain saying, 'Don't fire unless you are fired on; but
if they want a war let it begin here.' It began there; they
were fired upon; they fired rather ineffectually in return,
while seven were killed and nine wounded. The rest, after
retreating, reformed and pursued the' British towards Concord,
capturing seven stragglers—the first prisoners taken in the
war. Then followed the fight at Concord, where four hundred
and fifty Americans, instead of thirty-eight, were rallied to
meet the British. The fighting took place between two
detachments at the North Bridge, where 'once the embattled
farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world.'
There the American captain, Isaac Davis, was killed at the
first shot—he who had said, when his company was placed at the
head of the little column, 'I haven't a man that is afraid to
go.' He fell and Major Buttrick gave the order, 'Fire! for
God's sake fire!' in return. The British detachment retreated
in disorder, but their main body was too strong to be
attacked, so they disabled a few cannon, destroyed some
barrels of flour, cut down the liberty-pole, set fire to the
court-house and then began their return march. It ended in a
flight; they were exposed to a constant guerilla fire;
minute-men flocked behind every tree and house; and only the
foresight of Colonel Smith in sending for reinforcements had
averted a surrender. At 2 P. M., near Lexington, Percy with
his troops met the returning fugitives, and formed a hollow
square, into which they ran and threw themselves on the ground
exhausted. Then Percy in turn fell back. Militia still came
pouring in from Dorchester, Milton, Dedham, as well as the
nearer towns. A company from Danvers marched sixteen miles in
four hours. The Americans lost ninety-three in killed, wounded
and missing that day; the British, two hundred and
seventy-three. But the important result was that every
American colony now recognized that war had begun."

_T. W. Higginson,
History of the United States of America,
chapter 10._

ALSO IN:
_R. Frothingham,
History of the Siege of Boston,
chapter 2._

_E. H. Goss,
Life of Paul Revere,
volume 1, chapter 7._

_J. L. Watson,
Paul Revere's Signal
(Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings,
November 1876)._

_P. Force, editor,
American Archives,
series 4, volume 2. _

_E. Phinney,
History of Battle at Lexington._

_C. Hudson,
History of Lexington,
chapters 6-8._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (April).
The first Provincial Convention in New York.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1775 (APRIL).

{3223}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (April-May).
The siege of Boston begun.

"Reinforcements of foreign troops and supplies were constantly
arriving in Boston. Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne came, as
generals, on the 25th of May. Bitterness, ridicule, and
boasting, with all the irritating taunts of a mercenary
soldiery, were freely poured on the patriots and on the 'mixed
multitude' which composed the germ of their army yet to be.
The British forces had cooped themselves up in Bos·ton, and
the provincials determined that they should remain there, with
no mode of exit save by the sea. The pear-shaped peninsula,
hung to the mainland only by the stem called the 'Neck,' over
which the tide-waters sometimes washed, was equally an
inconvenient position for crowding regiments in war-like
array, and a convenient one for the extemporized army which
was about to beleaguer them there. … The town of Charlestown,
which lay under the enemy's guns, had contained a population
of between two and three thousand. The interruption of all the
employments of peace, and the proximity of danger, had brought
poverty and suffering upon the people. They had been steadily
leaving the town, with such of their effects as they could
carry with them. It proved to be well for them that they had
acted upon the warning. It would seem that there were less
than 200 of its inhabitants remaining in it at the time of the
battle, when the flames kindled by the enemy and bombs from a
battery on Copp's Hill laid it in ashes. On the third day
after the affair at Concord, the Provincial Congress again
assembled, voted to raise at once 13,000 men, to rally at
Cambridge and the neighborhood, and asked aid from the other
provinces, to which Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New
Hampshire responded. The forts, magazines, and arsenals, such
as they then were, were secured for the country. … Of the
15,000 men then gathered, by the cry of war, at Cambridge and
Roxbury, all virtually, but not by formal investment, under
the command of General Ward, nearly 10,000 belonged to
Massachusetts, and the remainder to New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut. They have been designated since, at
various times and by different writers, under the extreme
contrast of terms, as an 'organized army,' and a 'mob.' Either
of these terms would be equally inappropriate. … Our troops
were 'minute-men' extemporized into fragmentary companies and
skeleton regiments. The officers, chosen on the village-green
or in its public-house, paying for the honor by a treat, or
perhaps because they kept the premises where the treat could
be most conveniently furnished, were not commissioned or
ranked as the leaders of an army for campaign service. The
yeomen of town and village had not come together at the
summons of a commander-in-chief through adjutant, herald, or
advertisement. They came unbidden, at an alarm from the bell
on their meeting-house, or from a post-rider, or from the
telegrams transmitted by tongue and ear. … And for the most
part they were as free to go away as they had been to come.
They were enlisted after a fashion, some prime conditions of
which were their own convenience or pleasure. … Such of them
as came from the seaboard might bring with them old sails for
tents, while the midsummer days made it scarcely a hardship to
many to have only the heavens for a roof. Generally their
towns were expected to keep them supplied with food. … The
forces then mustered at Cambridge as a central camp, and,
stretching from the left at Chelsea almost round to Dorchester
on the right, for nearly three quarters of a circle, were
indeed not organized, nor yet had they any characteristic of a
mere mob. They combined in fact four inde·pendent armies,
united in resistance to a foreign enemy. … Each of the
Provinces had raised, commissioned, and assumed the supply of
its respective forces, holding them subject to their several
orders. After the battle in Charlestown, the Committee of War
in Connecticut ordered their generals, Spencer and Putnam,
while they were on the territory of this Province, to regard
General Ward as the commander-in-chief, and suggested to Rhode
Island and New Hampshire to issue the same instructions to
their soldiers. … General Artemas Ward was a conscientious and
judicious patriot. In the French war he had earned some
military experience and fame. … On October 27, 1774, the
Provincial Congress, in which he was a delegate, appointed him
a general officer, and on May 19 following,
Commander-in-chief. As such he served at Cambridge till the
arrival of Washington. On the very day of the battle in
Charlestown, when the great chieftain was selected for his
high service, Ward was chosen by the Continental Congress as
its first major-general. Though he was only in his 48th year
when he was burdened with the responsibility of the opening
warfare, his body was infirm from disease and exposure.
Lieutenant-General Thomas, two years the senior of Ward, was
second in command. … General Israel Putnam preceded his
Connecticut troops in hurrying to the scene of war on the news
of the affair at Lexington and Concord. His men soon followed
him, with like enthusiasm. The New Hampshire troops, on their
arrival at Medford, made choice of Colonel John Stark as their
leader. Colonel Nathaniel Greene commanded a regiment from
Rhode Island. … A few days after the affair at Lexington, when
virtually the siege began, General Gage, the British
commander, at the solicitation of some of the leading citizens
assembled in Faneuil Hall, had, by a mutual understanding,
entered into an agreement that such of the inhabitants as
wished to depart from the town should be at liberty to do so,
if they would leave their arms behind them and covenant not to
engage in any hostility against his army. The agreement was
availed of by many of the suffering and frightened people. …
But the original freedom and fulness of this understanding, on
the part of General Gage, were soon reduced by a very strict
examination of those who sought to go out of the town, and by
a rigid search of the effects which they wished to take with
them. … Several of the inhabitants remained in it from
different motives: some as devoted loyalists; some as timid
neutrals; some as spies, to watch each hostile movement and to
communicate it to their friends outside. … After hostilities
commenced, General Gage, of course, regarded the citizens as
alike prisoners, either in the same sense in which he was
himself under restraint, or as abettors of those who were his
enemies. … The population of the town, independent of the
military, was then about 18,000. To all those who were not in
sympathy with them the British behaved in an insulting and
exasperating manner. … To show, as members of the English
Church establishment, their contempt of congregational places
of worship, they removed the pews and pulpit from the Old
South meeting-house, and, covering the floor with earth, they
converted it into a riding-school for Burgoyne's squadron of
cavalry.
{3224}
The two eastern galleries were allowed to remain, one for
spectators, the other for a liquor-shop, while the fire in the
stove was occasionally kindled by books and pamphlets from the
library of a former pastor, Dr. Prince, which were in a room
in the tower. … At the time of the skirmishes at Lexington and
Concord there were about 4,000 British troops in Boston and at
the Castle. The number was increased to more than 10,000
before the action in Charlestown."

_G. E. Ellis,
History of the Battle of Bunker's Hill,
pages 4-26._

ALSO IN:
_R. Frothingham,
History of the Siege of Boston,
chapter 3._

_George Washington,
Writings,
edited by W. C. Ford,
volume 3._

_Joseph Reed,
Life and Correspondence,
volume 1._

_C. Stedman [English],
History of the American War,
volume 1, chapters 1 and 5._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (April-June).
The spreading of revolt.
All the colonies in line with New England.

"On the 23d of April, the day after the dissolution of the
provincial Congress of New York, the news from Lexington burst
upon the city. Though it was Sunday, the inhabitants speedily
unloaded two sloops which lay at the wharfs, laden with flour
and supplies for the British at Boston, of the value of
£80,000. … The royal government lay hopelessly prostrate.
Isaac Sears concerted with John Lamb to stop all vessels going
to Quebec, Newfoundland, Georgia, or Boston, where British
authority was still supreme. The people shut up the
custom-house, and the merchants whose vessels were cleared out
dared not let them sail. In the following days the military
stores of the city of New York were secured, and volunteer
companies paraded in the streets. … On the 1st of May the
people, at the usual places of election, chose for the city
and county a new general committee of one hundred, who
'resolved in the most explicit manner to stand or fall with
the liberty of the continent.' All parts of the colony were
summoned to send delegates to a provincial convention, to
which the city and county of New York deputed one-and-twenty
as their representatives. … On the 2d of May the New Jersey
committee of correspondence called a provincial congress for
the 23d at Trenton. To anticipate its influence, the governor
convened the regular assembly eight days earlier at
Burlington, and laid before them the project of Lord North
[adopted by the British parliament in February, offering to
each colony freedom from taxation on its making satisfactory
provision for the general defense and for support of
government]. The assembly could see in the proposition no
avenue to reconciliation, and declared their intention to
'abide by the united voice of the continental congress.' Such,
too, was the spirit of Pennsylvania. 'Let us not have it said
of Philadelphia that she passed noble resolutions and
neglected them,' were the words of Mifflin, youngest of the
orators who on the 25th of April addressed the town-meeting
called in that city on receiving the news from Lexington.
Thousands were present, and agreed 'to associate for the
purpose of defending with arms their lives, their property,
and liberty.' Thomas Paine from that day 'rejected the sullen
Pharaoh of the British throne forever.' … In Philadelphia,
thirty companies, with 50 to 100 in each, daily practiced the
manual exercise of the musket. One of them was raised from the
Quakers. … The Pennsylvania assembly, which met on the first
day of May, rejecting the overtures of the governor, 'could
form no prospect of lasting advantages for Pennsylvania but
from a communication of rights and property with the other
colonies.' … On the 5th Franklin arrived, after a voyage over
the smoothest seas, and the next morning was unanimously
elected a deputy to the congress. … In Maryland, at the
request of the colonels of militia, Eden, at Annapolis, gave
up the arms and ammunition of the province to the freemen of
the county. Pleased with his concession, the provincial
convention distinguished itself by its moderation; and its
delegates to congress determined to labor for a
reconciliation. In Virginia [where, in the night of April
20th, Governor Dunmore had carried off the gunpowder stored in
the colony's magazine at Williamsburg, and where, as a
consequence, the excited people were already in arms, though
no further action had yet been taken], on the 2d of May, at
the cry from Lexington, the independent company of Hanover and
its county committee were called together by Patrick Henry.
The soldiers, most of them young men, elected him their chief,
and marched for Williamsburg, on the way greatly increasing in
numbers. Alarmed by the 'insurrections,' Dunmore convened the
council, and in a proclamation of the 3d pretended that he had
removed the ammunition, lest it should be seized by slaves.
Message after message could not arrest the march or change the
purpose of Henry. … At sunrise on the 4th the governor's
messenger met Henry at New Kent, and, as a compensation for
the gunpowder taken out of the magazine, paid him £330, for
which he was to account to the convention of Virginia. The sum
was found to be more than the value of the powder, and the
next Virginia convention directed the excess to be paid back.
… In twelve or thirteen days the message from Lexington was
borne to Newbern, in North Carolina, where it 'wrought a great
change.' The governor, in his panic, ordered the cannon in the
town to be dismounted; and, after a remonstrance made in the
name of the inhabitants by Abner Nash, 'the oracle of their
committee and a principal promoter of sedition,' he shipped
his wife to New York and fled to Fort Johnston, where a
sloop-of-war had its station. In South Carolina, Charles
Pinckney, on learning the inflexibility of parliament, using
power intrusted to him by the provincial congress, appointed a
committee of five to place the colony in a state of defence;
on the 21st of April, the very night after their organization,
men of Charleston, without disguise, under their direction,
seized all the powder in the public magazines, and removed 800
stand of arms and other military stores from the royal
arsenal. The tidings from Lexington induced the general
committee to hasten the meeting of the provincial congress,
whose members, on the 2d of June, Henry Laurens being their
president, associated themselves for defence against every
foe; 'ready to sacrifice their lives and fortunes to secure
her freedom and safety.' They resolved to raise two regiments
of infantry and a regiment of rangers. … The people of
Charleston are as mad as they are here in Boston,' was the
testimony of Gage. The skirmish at Lexington became known in
Savannah on the 10th of May, and added Georgia to the union.
At that time she had about 17,000 white inhabitants and 15,000
Africans. Her militia was not less than 3,000.
{3225}
Her frontier, which extended from Augusta to St. Mary's, was
threatened by the Creeks, with 4,000 warriors; the Chickasas,
with 450; the Cherokees, with 3,000; the Choctas, with 2,500.
But danger could not make her people hesitate. On the night of
the 11th, Noble Wimberley Jones, Joseph Habersham, Edward
Telfair, and others, broke open the king's magazine in the
eastern part of the city, and took from it over 500 pounds of
powder. To the Boston wanderers they sent 63 barrels of rice
and £122 in specie; and they kept the king's birthday by
raising a liberty-pole."

_G. Bancroft,
History of the United States
(Author's last revision),
volume 4, chapter 11._

ALSO IN:
_T. Jones,
History of New York during the Revolution,
volume 1, chapter 2._

_W. Wirt,
Life of Patrick Henry,
section 5._

_W. B. Stevens,
History of Georgia,
book 4, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

_Proceedings of New York Provincial Congress
(New York State Archives, volume 1)._

_W. H. Egle,
History of Pennsylvania,
chapter 8._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (May).
The surprising of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

"Early in the year 1775, as soon as it was made manifest by
the attitude assumed on the part of the British government
against the colonies, and by the conduct of General Gage in
Boston, that open hostilities must inevitably commence in a
short time, it began to be secretly whispered among the
principal politicians in New England that the capture of
Ticonderoga was an object demanding the first attention. In
the month of March, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, as
members of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, sent an
agent privately into Canada, on a political mission, with
instructions to ascertain the feelings of the people there in
regard to the approaching contest, and to make such reports as
his observations should warrant. … This agent sent back
intelligence from Montreal, and among other things advised,
that by all means the garrison of Ticonderoga should be seized
as quickly as possible after the breaking out of hostilities,
adding that the people of the New Hampshire Grants had already
agreed to undertake the task, and that they were the most
proper persons to be employed in it. This hint was given three
weeks anterior to the battle of Lexington, and how far it
influenced future designs may not be known; but it is certain
that, eight days after that event, several gentlemen at that
time attending the Assembly in Hartford, Connecticut,
concerted a plan for surprising Ticonderoga and seizing the
cannon in that fortress, for the use of the army then marching
from all quarters to the environs of Boston."

_J. Sparks,
Life of Ethan Allen
(Library of American Biographies, volume 1),
page 270._

The gentlemen above mentioned "borrowed of the Connecticut
Treasury some 1,800 dollars, and enlisted Mott and Phelps of
Hartford, and Blagden of Salisbury, to beat up recruits. With
these they went northward, and at Pittsfield got the
co-operation of Captains Easton and Brown. No time was to be
lost, and they pushed on with some forty men to find that
Vermont giant, Ethan Allen, at Bennington. Allen at once
agreed to go; he sought out Seth Warner, and roused the 'Green
Mountain Boys,' who were mostly Connecticut and Massachusetts
men; so that, in a few days, there gathered at Castleton (7th
of May, 1775) two hundred and seventy strong men. Allen was
their first leader, Easton second, and Warner third. Their
larger body was to cross the Lake in boats from Shoreham, and
surprise 'Ty.' Captain Herrick, with thirty men, was to seize
the pass of Skenesborough (now Whitehall) at the head of the
Lake, and Captain Douglass was to search for and seize all
boats and batteaux. While these things were in progress, the
ambitious, active, and daring Benedict Arnold heard of this
expedition, and at once got leave from the Committee of Safety
at Cambridge, to lead it. He rode post-haste through
Massachusetts to raise men, and, with a single follower,
reached Castleton, and claimed the command. These rough cubs
of the forest could not well understand why he should lead
them, for had they not Allen, and Warner, and Easton, and
Phelps, and Biggelow, and others? But they consented that he
should join Allen as an equal; and so forward they went. On
the 8th of May Captain Noah Phelps, disguised with rough
farmer clothes, and a long beard, blundered into the fort at
Ticonderoga, pretending he wanted to be shaved. He found the
gates open, and discipline loose; for no telegraph had carried
the Lexington news to them, nor had the winds wafted the smell
of blood, or the sounds of muskets there. When the darkness
was deepest on the night of the 9th, Allen and Arnold, with 83
men, pulled across the Lake, landed near the fort, and then
sent back the boats for Warner and his men. They had a boy,
Nathan Beman, for a guide, and were full of courage. Allen
formed his men, made them a little speech, and all was ready,
when the question arose as to who should have the honor of
entering the fort first. The dispute was warm between Arnold
and Allen, but was finally quieted; and, side by side, at
daylight, they rushed through the gate of the fort, defended
only by sleeping men. The sentinel snapped his musket, and
ran, giving the alarm; the garrison hastily turned out, to
find themselves in the face of superior numbers. Allen sought
and found the Commander's bed-room, and when Captain Delaplace
waked, he saw any thing but an Angel of Mercy with white
wings. Delaplace opened the door, with trowsers in hand, and
there the great gaunt Ethan stood, with a drawn sword in his
hand. 'Surrender!' said Ethan. 'To you?' asked Delaplace.
'Yes, to me, Ethan Allen.' 'By whose authority?' asked
Laplace. Ethan was growing impatient, and raising his voice,
and waving his sword, he said: 'In the name of the Great
Jehovah, and of the Continental Congress, by God!' Delaplace
little comprehended the words, but surrendered at once. Thus,
on the morning of 10th of May, the strong fortress of
Ticonderoga was taken by the border-men, and with it 44
prisoners, 120 iron cannon, with swivels, muskets, balls, and
some powder, without the loss of a single man. The surprise
was planned and paid for by Connecticut, and was led by Allen,
a Connecticut-born man, but was carried out by the 'Green
Mountain Boys.' Skenesborough (Whitehall) was surprised and
seized, while Major Skene was out shooting. Arnold at once
manned a schooner, taken at Skenesborough, and led an attack
against an armed sloop at St. John's; he took her and the
place, and returned in triumph to meet Allen, who, in
batteaux, was coming to sustain him. Warner led a party
against Crown Point, and took it, with its hundred cannon, and
small garrison of 12 men.

{3226}

News of these things was carried to the Continental Congress,
reassembled at Philadelphia, which caused almost as much
surprise there, as Allen's demand did to Captain Delaplace,
and more exultation. They requested the Committees of Safety
of New York and Albany, to have an inventory made of the
stores, so that they might be returned 'when the restoration
of harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies' should
render it safe."

_C. W. Elliott,
The New England History,
volume 2, chapter 18._

ALSO IN:
_J. Fiske,
The American Revolution,
chapter 3 (volume 1)._

_W. C. Bryant and S. H. Gay,
Popular History of the United States,
volume 3, chapter 17._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (May).
The Mecklenburg Declaration.

See NORTH CAROLINA:. A. D. 1775 (MAY).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (May-August).
The Second Continental Congress and its work.
Its powers, theoretical and actual.
Its opportunity.
Its influence.
The New England Army adopted as the "Continental Army,"
and Washington made Commander-in-chief.

"The second General Congress assembled at Philadelphia on the
10th of May. Peyton Randolph was again elected as president;
but being obliged to return, and occupy his place as speaker
of the Virginia Assembly, John Hancock, of Massachusetts, was
elevated to the chair. … Many of those most active in
vindicating colonial rights, and Washington among the number,
still indulged the hope of an eventual reconciliation, while
few entertained, or, at least, avowed the idea of complete
independence. A second 'humble and dutiful' petition to the
king was moved, but met with strong opposition. John Adams
condemned it as an imbecile measure, calculated to embarrass
the proceedings of Congress. He was for prompt and vigorous
action. Other members concurred with him. Indeed, the measure
itself seemed but a mere form, intended to reconcile the
half-scrupulous; for subsequently, when it was carried,
Congress, in face of it, went on to assume and exercise the
powers of a sovereign authority. A federal union was formed,
leaving to each colony the right of regulating its internal
affairs according to its own individual constitution, but
vesting in Congress the power of making peace or war; of
entering into treaties and alliances; of regulating general
commerce; in a word, of legislating on all such matters as
regarded the security and welfare of the whole community. The
executive power was to be vested in a council of twelve,
chosen by Congress from among its own members, and to hold
office for a limited time. Such colonies as had not sent
delegates to Congress might yet become members of the
confederacy by agreeing to its conditions. Georgia, which had
hitherto hesitated, soon joined the league, which thus
extended from Nova Scotia to Florida. Congress lost no time in
exercising their federated powers. In virtue of them, they
ordered the enlistment of troops, the construction of forts in
various parts of the colonies, the provision of armies,
ammunition, and military stores; while, to defray the expense
of these, and other measures, avowedly of self-defence, they
authorized the emission of notes to the amount of $3,000,000,
bearing the inscription of 'The United Colonies'; the faith of
the confederacy being pledged for their redemption. A
retaliating decree was passed, prohibiting all supplies of
provisions to the British fisheries; and another, declaring
the province of Massachusetts Bay absolved from its compact
with the crown, by the violation of its charter; and
recommending it to form an internal government for itself. …
The situation of the New England army, actually besieging
Boston, became an early and absorbing consideration. It was
without munitions of war, without arms, clothing, or pay; in
fact, without legislative countenance or encouragement. Unless
sanctioned and assisted by Congress, there was danger of its
dissolution. … The disposition to uphold the army was general;
but the difficult question was, who should be
commander-in-chief? … The opinion evidently inclined in favor
of Washington; yet it was promoted by no clique of partisans
or admirers. More than one of the Virginia delegates, says
Adams, were cool on the subject of this appointment. … Adams,
in his diary, claims the credit of bringing the members of
Congress to a decision. … On the 15th of June, the army was
regularly adopted by Congress, and the pay of the
commander-in-chief fixed at $500 a month. Many still clung to
the idea, that in all these proceedings they were merely
opposing the measures of the ministry, and not the authority
of the crown, and thus the army before Boston was designated
as the Continental Army, in contradistinction to that under
General Gage, which was called the Ministerial Army. In this
stage of the business, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, rose, and
nominated Washington for the station of commander-in-chief.
The election was by ballot, and was unanimous. It was formally
announced to him by the president, on the following day, when
he had taken his seat in Congress. Rising in his place, he
briefly expressed his high and grateful sense of the honor
conferred on him, and his sincere devotion to the cause.
'But,' added he, 'lest some unlucky event should happen
unfavorable to my reputation, 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 honored with. As to pay, I beg leave to assure the Congress
that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to
accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my domestic
ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit on it. I
will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not,
they will discharge, and that is all I desire.'" Four
major-generals,—Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler and
Israel Putnam,—and eight brigadier-generals—Seth Pomeroy,
Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph
Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene—were
appointed. "At Washington's express request, his old friend,
Major Horatio Gates, then absent at his estate in Virginia,
was appointed adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier."

_W. Irving,
Life of Washington,
volume 1, chapter 39._

"The Congress of 1775 was not content with mere expression of
opinions. It took a large view of its powers. It realized that
its efficiency depended wholly upon the acceptance of its acts
by the principals of the different delegations; but, following
its judgment as to what the patriotism of the colonies would
approve and sustain, it initiated action of various kinds,
which, from the beginning, assumed the certainty of adoption
by the colonies, and derived all its energy from the
probability of such ratification.
{3227}
The Congress doubtless exceeded the letter of the instructions
received by a portion of its members; but this was not from
any misconception of those instructions. … In pointing out to
the colonies the direction which their preparations for
resistance ought to take, the Congress no more acted upon an
imagined authority to command the colonies than does the
lookout at the bow of the ship, when he reports the direction
of danger to the officer of the deck. The Congress
unquestionably enjoyed a prestige at this juncture which it
subsequently lost. The people, and even the provincial
conventions, occasionally addressed it in a tone which
indicated that they unconsciously attributed to it power which
it plainly did not possess."

A. W. Small,
The Beginnings of American Nationality
(Johns Hopkins University Studies, 8th series, 1-2)
page 73.

"With the energy and recklessness of a French revolutionary
body it might have blotted out the distinctions between
colonies, and established a centralized government, to be
modified in time by circumstances. In fact, it took no such
direction. It began its course by recommendations to the new
colonial governments; it relied on them for executive acts;
and, as soon as the new colonies were fairly under way, they
seized on the power of naming and recalling the delegates to
the Congress. From that time the decadence of the Congress was
rapid; the national idea became dimmer; and the assertions of
complete sovereignty by the political units became more
pronounced."

_A. Johnston,
The United States: its History and Constitution,
sections 63-66 (chapter 3)._

ALSO IN:
_R. Frothingham,
The Rise of the Republic,
chapter 10._

_H. von Holst,
Constitutional and Political History of the United States,
volume 1, chapter 1._

_P. Force,
American Archives,
volume 2._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (June).
End of Royal Government in New Hampshire.

See NEW HAMPSHIRE: A. D. 1775-1776.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (June).
The end of Royal Government In Virginia.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1775.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (June).
The Battle of Bunker Hill.

"British reinforcements, under three generals, Howe, Clinton,
and Burgoyne, arrived at Boston soon after the fight at
Lexington. Gage had now about 10,000 men. These occupied the
town of Boston, which lay on a peninsula covering the middle
of the harbor. Around them, on the hills of the mainland,
there were about twice their number of undisciplined and
poorly-armed Americans, without cannon and almost without
food. Just north of Boston, another peninsula ran out into the
harbor. On it there were several hills, and the Americans
determined to seize and fortify one of them, called Bunker
Hill. About 1,000 men, under Colonel Prescott, were sent into
the peninsula for this on a suitable night. For some reason,
they passed beyond Bunker Hill, and seized Breed's Hill, much
closer to Boston. Breed's Hill is now usually called Bunker
Hm, and the Bunker Hill monument is erected upon it. The
American fortification was continued silently and swiftly
through the night. In the morning of June 17, 1775, the
British in Boston woke to see a long line of intrenchments
running across the hill above them, and an American
working-party busily strengthening it. For a time, the British
frigates in the harbor kept up a slow and distant fire, to
which the working-party paid no attention; but at noon the
work was stopped, for the British troops were coming across
the harbor in boats. Three thousand well armed, uniformed, and
drilled soldiers, who had never known defeat in equal fight,
landed near Charlestown, under General Howe. Here they formed
at the water-side, and in a long, steady line began to move
upward to scatter the 1,500 farmers who were watching them
from the top of the hill. From the roofs of the houses in
Boston, the rest of the British army and the townspeople were
watching, anxious to see 'whether the Yankees would fight.'
Most of the watchers expected to see the untrained soldiers in
the fort fire a few hasty shots at a safe distance, and run.
The fort held a threatening silence until the attacking column
was within 150 feet. Then, at the word, came a sheet of fire
from the marksmen within; and, when the smoke lifted, part of
the British line was lying dead or wounded, and the rest were
retreating hastily down the hill. The British were not
cowards: the officers re-formed the line at the bottom of the
hill, and, after setting fire to Charlestown, again advanced
to the attack. Again there was a steady silence in the fort, a
close and deadly fire, and the British line was driven down
the hill again. The British then moved up the hill for the
third time. The powder in the fort was now gone, and the
garrison fought for a few minutes with gun stocks and stones
against the British bayonets. But such a struggle was
hopeless, and the British gained the fort. They were too tired
to pursue the garrison, who escaped to the mainland."

_A. Johnston,
History of the United States for schools,
sections 195-197._

"As soon as Prescott saw the defence was hopeless, he ordered
a retreat, and friend and foe mingled together as they surged
out of the sally-port amid the clouds of dust which the
trampling raised, for a scorching sun had baked the new-turned
soil. It was now, while the confused mass of beings rocked
along down the rear slope of the hill, that Warren [who had
joined the defending force that morning as a volunteer] fell,
shot through the head. No one among the Americans knew
certainly that he was dead, as they left him. … Prescott did
not conceal his indignation at not having been better
supported, when he made his report at Ward's headquarters. He
knew he had fought well; but neither he nor his contemporaries
understood at the time how a physical defeat might be a moral
victory. Not knowing this, there was little else than
mortification over the result,—indeed, on both sides. … The
general opinion seems to be that the Americans had about 1,500
men engaged at one time, and that from 3,000 to 4,000 at
different times took some part in it. The British had probably
about the same numbers in all, but were in excess of the
Americans at all times while engaged. The conflict with small
arms lasted about ninety minutes."

J. Winsor,
_The Conflict Precipitated
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 6, chapter 2). _

"How can we exaggerate the relative importance of this day's
action? Did it not, in fact, not only open, but make the
contest, dividing into two parties not only those determined
for the ministry or for enfranchisement, but also all timid,
hesitating, reluctant neutrals? It was impossible after this
to avoid taking a side. It rendered all reconciliation
impossible, till it should offer itself in the shape of
independence.
{3228}
It echoed the gathering cry that brought together our people
from their farms and workshops, to learn the terrible art
which grows more merciful only as it is more ferociously, that
is, skilfully, pursued. The day needs no rhetoric to magnify
it in our revolutionary annals. When its sun went down, the
provincials had parted with all fear, hesitation, and
reluctance. They found that it was easy to fight. … General
Gage's account of the battle, acknowledging the loss of 226
killed and 828 wounded, was received in London, July 25th.
While the ministry received with dismay this official
intelligence, and kept it back from publication, many private
letters accompanying it in its transit anticipated with
exaggerations its humiliating details."

_G. E. Ellis,
History of the Battle of Bunker's Hill,
pages 102-105._

ALSO IN:
_R. Frothingham,
History of the Siege of Boston,
chapters 4-7._

_R. Frothingham,
Life and Times of Joseph Warren,
chapter 16._

_I. N. Tarbox,
Life of Israel Putnam,
chapters 7-11._

_H. B. Dawson,
Bunker Hill
(Historical Magazine, June, 1868)._

_S. A. Drake,
Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex,
chapter 3._

_P. Force, editor,
American Archives,
series 4, volume 2._

_F. Moore, editor,
Diary of the American Revolution,
volume 1, pages 97-103._

_B. J. Lossing,
Field Book of the American Revolution,
volume 1._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (August-December).
Unsuccessful expedition to Canada.

"The exploits of Allen and Arnold at Ticonderoga … had invited
further conquests; but the Continental Congress hesitated to
take any steps which might seem to carry war across the line
till the Canadians had the opportunity of casting in their lot
with their neighbors. On the 1st of June, 1775, Congress had
distinctly avowed this purpose of restraint; and they well
needed to be cautious, for the Canadian French had not
forgotten the bitter aspersions on their religion which
Congress had, with little compunction, launched upon its
professors, under the irritation of the Quebec Act. Still
their rulers were aliens, and the traditional hatred of
centuries between races is not easily kept in abeyance. Ethan
Allen was more eager to avail himself of this than Congress
was to have him; but the march of events converted the
legislators, and the opportunity which Allen grieved to see
lost was not so easily regained when Congress at last
authorized the northern invasion. Arnold and Allen had each
aimed to secure the command of such an expedition, the one by
appealing to the Continental Congress, the other by
representations to that of New York. Allen had also gone in
person to Philadelphia, and he and his Green Mountain Boys
were not without influence upon Congress, in their quaint and
somewhat rough ways, as their exuberant patriotism later made
the New York authorities forget their riotous opposition to
the policy which that province had been endeavoring to enforce
in the New Hampshire Grants. Connecticut had already sent
forward troops to Ticonderoga to hold that post till Congress
should decide upon some definite action; and at the end of
June, 1775, orders reached Schuyler which he might readily
interpret as authorizing him, if the Canadians did not object,
to advance upon Canada. He soon started to assume command, but
speedily found matters unpromising. The Johnsons were arming
the Indians up the Mohawk and beyond in a way that boded no
good, and they had entered into compacts with the British
commanders in Canada. Arnold had been at Ticonderoga, and had
quarrelled with Hinman, the commander of the Connecticut
troops. Schuyler heard much of the Green Mountain Boys, but he
only knew them as the lawless people of the Grants, and soon
learned that Allen and Warner had themselves set to
quarrelling. … In August the news from Canada began to be
alarming. Richard Montgomery, an Irish officer who had some
years before left the army to settle on the Hudson and marry,
was now one of the new brigadiers. He urged Schuyler to
advance and anticipate the movement now said to be intended by
Carleton, the English general commanding in Canada. At this
juncture Schuyler got word from Washington that a coöperating
expedition would be dispatched by way of the Kennebec, which,
if everything went well, might unite with Schuyler's before
Quebec."

_J. Winsor,
The Conflict Precipitated
(Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 6)._

The two movements were made, from Ticonderoga and from the
Kennebec, with results which will be found related under
CANADA: A. D. 1775-1776. "No expedition during the American
Revolution had less elements of permanent value than those
which were undertaken against Canada during the year 1775.
Great results were anticipated, but none were realized. The
obstacles were too substantial, and failure was inevitable.
Wonderful endurance and great physical courage were
manifested, and these were accompanied by a prodigious amount
of faith, but there was neither ability nor opportunity for
works commensurate with the faith. Certain Acts of Parliament,
known as the Canadian Acts, were as offensive to Canadians as
other legislation was to Americans; but the former were not
pressed to the extremity of armed resistance. The people
themselves having no harmony of religious or political views,
were equally divided in language and race. Neither did the
Canadians invite the aid of the colonies. The hypothesis that
Canada would blend her destiny with that of New England, and
would unite in resistance to the crown, certainly involved
some identity of interest as well as of action. But the
characters of the two people were too unlike to be unified by
simple opposition to English legislation, and Canadians had no
antecedents such as would prompt a hearty sympathy with New
England and its controlling moral sentiment. Neither was there
such a neighborly relation as admitted of prompt and adequate
aid from one to the other, in emergencies calling for a
combined effort. As a base of operations for a British army
moving upon the colonies, Canada had the single advantage of
being less distant from England than an Atlantic base, and
many supplies could be procured without the expense and delay
of their transportation across the Atlantic; but between
Canada and the American colonies there was an actual
wilderness. Hence a British offensive movement from Canada
involved constant waste of men and materials, a deep line
through an uninhabited or hostile region, and such a constant
backing, as was both inconsistent with the resources of the
base, and with a corresponding support of armies resting upon
the sea coast. The British government was not ready for
operations so extensive and so exhaustive of men and treasure;
neither did it realize the necessity for that expenditure.
{3229}
There were two alternatives, one illustrated by General
Carleton's plan, viz., to hold the forts of Lake Champlain, as
advanced, defensive positions; and the other, that of
Burgoyne, to strike through the country and depend upon
support from the opposite base. The true defense of the
colonies from such expeditions depended upon the prompt
seizure and occupation of the frontier posts. An American
advance upon Canada was not only through a country
strategically bad, but the diversion of forces for that
purpose endangered the general issue, and entrusted its
interests to the guardianship of an army already insufficient
to meet the pressing demands of the crisis. The occupation of
New York in 1775, by an adequate British force, would have
infinitely outweighed all possible benefit from the complete
conquest of Canada. At the very time when Washington could
hardly hold the British garrison of Boston in check,—when he
had an average of but nine rounds of ammunition per man, he
was required to spare companies, ammunition, and supplies for
a venture, profitless at best,—with the certainty that
reinforcements could not be supplied as fast as the enemy
could draw veteran regiments from Great Britain and Ireland,
to defend or recover Canadian soil. In giving a rapid outline
of this first attempt of the colonies to enlarge the theatre
of active operations, it should be noticed that the initiative
had been taken before General Washington had been elected
commander-in-chief, and that Congress itself precipitated the
final movement."

_H. B. Carrington,
Battles of the American Revolution,
chapter 19._

ALSO IN:
_B. J. Lossing,
Life and Times of Philip Schuyler,
volume 1, chapters 19-29,
and volume 2, chapters 1-4._

_J. Armstrong,
Life of Richard Montgomery
(Library of American Biographies, volume 1)._

_J. Henry,
Account of Arnold's Campaign against Quebec,
by one of the Survivors._

_I. N. Arnold,
Life of Benedict .Arnold,
chapters 3-5._

_W. Irving,
Life of Washington.
volume 2, chapters 4-5, 8-9, 12, 15-16, 19-20._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (September).
Flight of Govern or Tryon from New York.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1775 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775-1776.
Washington in command at Cambridge.
The British forced out of Boston.

Washington "arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 2d of
July [1775], and on the following day presented himself at the
head of the army. His head-quarters remained at Cambridge,
till the evacuation of Boston by the royal forces on the 17th
of March, 1776. The position of affairs was one of vast
responsibility and peril. The country at large was highly
excited, and expected that a bold stroke would be struck and
decisive successes obtained. But the army was without
organization and discipline; the troops unused to obey, the
officers for the most part unaccustomed, some of them
incompetent, to command. A few of them only had had a limited
experience in the Seven Years' War. Most of the men had rushed
to the field on the first alarm of hostilities, without any
enlistment; and when they were enlisted, it was only till the
end of the year. There was no military chest; scarce anything
that could be called a commissariat. The artillery consisted
of a few old field-pieces of various sizes, served with a very
few exceptions by persons wholly untrained in gunnery. There
was no siege train, and an almost total want of every
description of ordnance stores. Barrels of sand, represented
as powder, were from time to time brought into the camp, to
prevent the American army itself from being aware of its
deficiency in that respect. In the autumn of 1775, an alarm of
small-pox was brought from Boston, and the troops were
subjected to inoculation: There was no efficient power, either
in the Provincial Assembly or the Congress at Philadelphia, by
which these wants could be supplied and these evils remedied.
Such were the circumstances under which General Washington
took the field, at the head of a force greatly superior in
numbers to the royal army, but in all other respects a very
unequal match. Meantime the British were undisputed masters of
the approaches to Boston by water. Washington's letters
disclose extreme impatience under the inaction to which he was
condemned; but the gravest difficulties attended the expulsion
of the royal forces from Boston. It could only be effected by
the bombardment and assault of that place; an attempt which
must in any event have been destructive to the large
non-combatant population, that had been unable to remove into
the country, and which would have been of doubtful success,
for the want of a siege train, and with troops wholly unused
to such an undertaking. Having in the course of the year
received some captured ordnance from Canada [from Fort
Ticonderoga], and a supply of ammunition taken by privateers
at sea, Washington was strongly disposed to assault the town,
as soon as the freezing of the bay on the western side of the
peninsula would allow the troops to pass on the ice. The
winter, however, remained open longer than usual, and a
council of war dissuaded this attempt. He then determined to
occupy Nook's Hill (an eminence at the extremity of Dorchester
'Neck,' as it was called, separated from Boston by a narrow
arm of the harbor), and Dorchester Heights, which commanded
Nook's Hill and the town itself. In this way the royal forces
would be compelled to take the risk of a general action, for
the purpose of dislodging the Americans, or else to evacuate
the town. The requisite preparations having been made with
secrecy, energy, and despatch, the heights were covered with
breastworks on the night of the 4th of March, 1776, as 'by
enchantment.' A partial movement, undertaken by the royal army
to dislodge the Americans, was frustrated by stress of
weather; and on the 17th of March, in virtue of an agreement
to that effect with the municipal government, the town and
harbor of Boston were evacuated by the British army and army
without firing a gun. Thus, without a battle and without the
destruction of a building in Boston, the first year of the war
was brought to a successful and an auspicious close."

_E. Everett,
Life of Washington,
chapter 5._

ALSO IN:
_G. Washington,
Writings; edited. by Ford,
volume 3._

_R. Frothingham,
History of the Siege of Boston,
chapters 8-13._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775-1776.
The beginning of the American Navy,
and the early fitting out of Privateers.