Chapter D: H. Montgomery (4)

128. Washington at the age of twenty-one; the French in the west; the governor of Virginia sends Washington to see the French commander.--By the time Washington was twenty-one he had grown to be over six feet in height. He was straight as an arrow and tough as a whip-lash. He had keen blue eyes that seemed to look into the very heart of things, and his fist was like a blacksmith's sledgehammer. He knew all about the woods, all about Indians, and he could take care of himself anywhere.

At this time the English settlers held the country along the seashore as far back as the Alleghany Mountains.[7] West of those mountains the French from Canada were trying to get possession of the land. They had made friends with many of the Indians, and they hoped, with their help, to be able to drive out the English and get the whole country for themselves.

In order to hold this land in the west, the French had built several forts[8] south of Lake Erie, and they were getting ready to build some on the Ohio River. The governor of Virginia was determined to put a stop to this. He had given young Washington the military title of major;[9] he now sent Major Washington to see the French commander at one of the forts near Lake Erie. Washington was to tell the Frenchman that he had built his forts on land belonging to the English, and that he and his men must either leave or fight.

Major Washington dressed himself like an Indian, and attended by several friendly Indians and by a white man named Gist,[10] who knew the country well, he set out on his journey through what was called the Great Woods.

The entire distance to the farthest fort and back was about a thousand miles. Washington could go on horseback part of the way, but there were no regular roads, and he had to climb mountains and swim rivers. After several weeks' travel he reached the fort, but the French commander refused to give up the land. He said that he and his men had come to stay, and that if the English did not like it, they must fight.

[Footnote 7: Alleghany (Al'le-ga'ni): see map in paragraph 127. (It is also spelled Allegheny.)]

[Footnote 8: Forts: see map in paragraph 127.]

[Footnote 9: Major (ma'jer): an officer in the army next above a captain, but below a colonel.]

[Footnote 10: Gist (Jist).]

129. The journey back; the Indian guide; how Washington found his way through the woods; the adventure with the raft.--On the way back, Washington had to leave his horses and come on foot with Gist and an Indian guide sent from the fort. This Indian guide was in the pay of the French, and he intended to murder Washington in the woods. One day he shot at him from behind a tree, but luckily did not hit him. Then Washington and Gist managed to get away from him, and set out to go back to Virginia by themselves. There were no paths through the thick forest; but Washington had his compass with him, and with that he could find his way just as the captain of a ship finds his at sea. When they reached the Alleghany River they found it full of floating ice. They worked all day and made a raft of logs. As they were pushing their way across with poles, Washington's pole was struck by a big piece of ice which he says jerked him out into water ten feet deep. At length the two men managed to get to a little island, but as there was no wood on it, they could not make a fire. The weather was bitterly cold, and Washington, who was soaked to the skin, had to take his choice between walking about all night, or trying to sleep on the frozen ground in his wet clothes.

130. Major Washington becomes Colonel Washington; Fort Necessity; Braddock's defeat.--When Major Washington got back to Virginia, the governor made him colonel. With a hundred and fifty men, Colonel Washington was ordered to set out for the west. He was to "make prisoners, kill or destroy," all Frenchmen who should try to get possession of land on the Ohio River. He built a small log fort, which he named Fort Necessity.[11] Here the French attacked him. They had five men to his one. Colonel Washington fought like a man who liked to hear the bullets whistle past his ears,--as he said he did,--but in the end he had to give up the fort.

Then General Braddock, a noted English soldier, was sent over to Virginia by the king to drive the French out of the country. He started with a fine army, and Washington went with him.[12] He told General Braddock that the French and the Indians would hide in the woods and fire at his men from behind trees. But Braddock paid no attention to the warning. On his way through the forest, the brave English general was suddenly struck down by the enemy, half of his army were killed or wounded, and the rest put to flight. Washington had two horses shot under him, and four bullets went through his coat. It was a narrow escape for the young man. One of those who fought in the battle said, "I expected every moment to see him fall"--but he was to live for greater work.

[Footnote 11: Fort Necessity: see map in paragraph 127.]

[Footnote 12: See map of Braddock's march in paragraph 127.]

131. End of the war with the French; what the king of England wanted to do; how the people here felt toward him.--The war with the French lasted a number of years. It ended by the English getting possession of the whole of America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. All this part of America was ruled by George the Third, king of England. The king now determined to send over more soldiers, and keep them here to prevent the French in Canada from trying to get back the country they had lost. He wanted the people here in the thirteen colonies[13] to pay the cost of keeping these soldiers. But this the people were not willing to do, because they felt that they were able to protect themselves without help of any kind. Then the king said, If the Americans will not give the money, I will take it from them by force,--for pay it they must and shall. This was more than the king would have dared say about England; for there, if he wanted money to spend on his army, he had to ask the people for it, and they could give it or not as they thought best. The Americans said, We have the same rights as our brothers in England, and the king cannot force us to give a single copper against our will. If he tries to take it from us, we will fight. Some of the greatest men in England agreed with us, and said that they would fight, too, if they were in our place.

[Footnote 13: Thirteen colonies: see footnote 4 at the end of paragraph 102.]

132. The king determines to have the money; the tea-ships, and the "Boston tea-party."--But George the Third did not know the Americans, and he did not think that they meant what they said. He tried to make them pay the money, but they would not. From Maine to Georgia, all the people were of one mind. Then the king thought that he would try a different way. Shiploads of tea were sent over to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, If the tea should be landed and sold, then every man who bought a pound of it would have to pay six cents more than the regular price. That six cents was a tax, and it went into the king's pocket. The people said, We won't pay that six cents. When the tea reached New York, the citizens sent it back again to England. They did the same thing at Philadelphia. At Charleston they let it be landed, but it was stored in damp cellars. People would not buy any of it any more than they would buy so much poison, so it all rotted and spoiled. At Boston they had a grand "tea-party." A number of men dressed themselves up like Indians, went on board the tea-ships at night, broke open all the chests, and emptied the tea into the harbor.

133. The king closes the port of Boston; Congress meets at Philadelphia; the names American and British; what General Gage tried to do.--The king was terribly angry; and orders were given that the port of Boston should be closed, so that no ships, except the king's war-ships, should come in or go out. Nearly all trade stopped in Boston. Many of the inhabitants began to suffer for want of food, but throughout the colonies the people tried their best to help them. The New England towns sent droves of sheep and cattle, New York sent wheat, South Carolina gave two hundred barrels of rice; the other colonies gave liberally in money and provisions. Even in England much sympathy was felt for the distressed people of Boston, and in London a large sum of money was raised to help those whom the king was determined to starve into submission.

The colonies now sent some of their best men to Philadelphia to consider what should be done. As this meeting was made up of those who had come from all parts of the country, it took the name of the General or Continental Congress.[14]

About this time, too, a great change took place; for the people throughout the country began to call themselves Americans, and to speak of the English troops that the king sent over here as British soldiers.

In Boston General Gage had command of these soldiers. He knew that the Americans were getting ready to fight, and that they had stored up powder and ball at Concord,[15] about twenty miles from Boston. One night he secretly sent out a lot of soldiers to march to Concord and destroy what they found there.

[Footnote 14: Congress: this word means a meeting or assembly of persons. The General or Continental Congress was an assembly of certain persons sent usually by all of the thirteen American colonies to meet at Philadelphia or Baltimore, to decide what should be done by the whole country. The first Congress met in 1774, or shortly before the Revolution began, and after that from time to time until near the close of the Revolution.]

[Footnote 15: Concord (Con'cord).]

134. Paul Revere;[16] the fight at Lexington and Concord; Bunker Hill.--But Paul Revere, a Boston man, was on the watch; and as soon as he found out which way the British were going, he set off at a gallop for Lexington, on the road to Concord. All the way out, he roused people from their sleep, with the cry, "The British are coming!"

When the king's soldiers reached Lexington, they found the Americans, under Captain Parker, ready for them. Captain Parker said to his men, "Don't fire unless you are fired on; but if they want a war, _let it begin here_." The fighting did begin there, April 19th, 1775; and when the British left the town on their way to Concord, seven Americans lay dead on the grass in front of the village church. At Concord, that same day, there was still harder fighting; and on the way back to Boston, a large number of the British were killed.

The next month, June 17th, 1775 a battle was fought on Bunker Hill in Charlestown, just outside of Boston. General Gage thought the Yankees wouldn't fight, but they did fight, in a way that General Gage never forgot; and though they had at last to retreat because their powder gave out, yet the British lost more than a thousand men. The contest at Bunker Hill was the first great battle of the Revolution; that is, of that war which overturned the British power in America, and made us a free people. Many Englishmen thought the king was wrong. They would not fight against us, and he was obliged to hire a large number of German soldiers to send to America. These Germans had to fight us whether they wanted to or not, for their king forced them to come.

[Footnote 16: Revere (Re-veer').]

135. Colonel Washington at Mount Vernon; Congress makes him General Washington, and sends him to take command of the American army.--At the time the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, Colonel George Washington was living very quietly at Mount Vernon. His brother Lawrence had died, and Mount Vernon was now his home. Washington was very well off: he had a fine estate and plenty of slaves to do the work on it; but when he died, many years later, he took good care to leave orders that all of his slaves should be set free as soon as it could be done.

Congress now made Colonel Washington general, and sent him to Cambridge, a town just outside of Boston, to take command of the American army. It was called the Continental Army because it was raised, not to fight for the people of Massachusetts, but for all the Americans on the continent, north and south. Washington took command of the army under a great elm, which is still standing. There, six months later, he raised the first American flag.[17]

[Footnote 17: See a picture of this and the other flags of the Revolution in paragraph 142.]

136. American sharpshooters;[18] Washington's need of cannon and powder; the attack on Canada; the British driven out of Boston.--Men now came from all parts of the country to join the Continental Army. Many of them were sharpshooters. In one case an officer set up a board with the figure of a man's nose chalked on it, for a mark. A hundred men fired at it at long distance, and sixty hit the nose. The newspapers gave them great praise for their skill and said, "Now, General Gage, look out for _your_ nose."

Washington wanted to drive General Gage and the British soldiers out of Boston, but for months he could not get either cannon or powder. Benjamin Franklin said that we should have to fight as the Indians used to, with bows and arrows.

While Washington was waiting, a number of Americans marched against the British in Canada; but the cold weather came on, and they nearly starved to death: our men would sometimes take off their moccasins[19] and gnaw them, while they danced in the snow to keep their bare feet from freezing.

At last Washington got both cannon and powder. He dragged the cannon up to the top of some high land overlooking Boston harbor. He then sent word to General Howe, for Gage had gone, that if he did not leave Boston he would knock his ships to pieces. The British saw that they could not help themselves, so they made haste to get on board their vessels and sail away. They never came back to Boston again, but went to New York.

[Footnote 18: Sharpshooters: men who can fire and hit a small mark with a bullet at a long distance.]

[Footnote 19: Moccasins (mok'ka-sins): Indian shoes made of deerskin.]

137. The Declaration of Independence; "Down with the king!" Washington is driven from New York and across the Delaware River.--Washington got to New York first. While he was there, Congress,[20] on the 4th of July, 1776, declared the United States _independent_--that is, entirely free from the rule of the king of England. There was a gilded lead statue of King George the Third on horseback in New York. When the news of what Congress had done reached that city, there was a great cry of "Down with the king!" That night some of our men pulled down the statue, melted it up, and cast it into bullets.

The next month there was a battle on Long Island,[21] just across from New York City; the British gained the victory. Washington had to leave New York, and Lord Cornwallis, one of the British generals, chased him and his little army clear across the state of New Jersey. It looked at one time as though our men would all be taken prisoners, but Washington managed to seize a lot of small boats on the Delaware River[22] and get across into Pennsylvania: as the British had no boats, they could not follow.

[Footnote 20: Congress: see footnote 14 in paragraph 133.]

[Footnote 21: See map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 22: See map in paragraph 135.]

138. Washington's victory at Trenton, New Jersey.--Lord Cornwallis left fifteen hundred German soldiers at Trenton on the Delaware. He intended, as soon as the river froze over, to cross on the ice and attack Washington's army. But Washington did not wait for him. On Christmas night (1776) he took a large number of boats, filled them with soldiers, and secretly crossed over to New Jersey.[23] The weather was intensely cold, the river was full of floating ice, and a furious snow-storm set in. Many of our men were ragged and had only old broken shoes. They suffered terribly, and two of them were frozen to death.

The Germans at Trenton had been having a jolly Christmas, and had gone to bed, suspecting no danger. Suddenly Washington, with his men, rushed into the little town, and almost before they knew what had happened, a thousand Germans were made prisoners. The rest escaped to tell Lord Cornwallis how the Americans had beaten them. When Washington was driven out of New York, many Americans thought he would be captured. Now they were filled with joy. The battle of Trenton was the first battle won by the Continental Army.

[Footnote 23: See map in paragraph 135.]

139. Our victory at Princeton, New Jersey; the British take Philadelphia; winter at Valley Forge; Burgoyne beaten; the king of France agrees to help us.--Washington took his thousand prisoners over into Pennsylvania. A few days later he again crossed the Delaware into New Jersey. While Cornwallis was fast asleep in his tent, he slipped round him, got to Princeton,[24] and there beat a part of the British army. Cornwallis woke up and heard Washington's cannon. "That's thunder," he said. He was right; it was the thunder of another American victory.

But before the next winter set in, the British had taken the city of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. Washington's army was freezing and starving on the hillsides of Valley Forge,[25] about twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia.

But good news was coming. The Americans had won a great victory at Saratoga, New York,[26] over the British general, Burgoyne.[27] Dr. Franklin was then in Paris. When he heard that Burgoyne was beaten, he hurried off to the palace of the French king to tell him about it. The king of France hated the British, and he agreed to send money, ships, and soldiers to help us. When our men heard that at Valley Forge, they leaped and hurrahed for joy. Not long after that the British left Philadelphia, and we entered it in triumph.

[Footnote 24: Princeton: see map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 25: Valley Forge: see map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 26: Saratoga: see map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 27: Burgoyne (Bur'goin).]

140. The war at the South; Jasper; Cowpens; Greene and Cornwallis.--While these things were happening at the north, the British sent a fleet of vessels to take Charleston, South Carolina. They hammered away with their big guns at a little log fort under command of Colonel Moultrie. In the battle a cannon-ball struck the flag-pole on the fort, and cut it in two. The South Carolina flag fell to the ground outside the fort. Sergeant[28] William Jasper leaped down, and, while the British shot were striking all around him, seized the flag, climbed back, fastened it to a short staff, and raised it to its place, to show that the Americans would never give up the fort. The British, after fighting all day, saw that they could do nothing against palmetto logs[29] when defended by such men as Moultrie and Jasper; so they sailed away with such of their ships as had not been destroyed.

Several years later, Charleston was taken. Lord Cornwallis then took command of the British army in South Carolina. General Greene, of Rhode Island, had command of the Americans. He sent Daniel Morgan with his sharpshooters to meet part of the British army at Cowpens;[30] they did meet them, and sent them flying. Then Cornwallis determined to either whip General Greene or drive him out of the state. But General Greene worried Cornwallis so that at last he was glad enough to get into Virginia. He had found North and South Carolina like two hornets' nests, and the further he got away from those hornets, the better he was pleased.

[Footnote 28: Sergeant (sar'jent): a military officer of low rank.]

[Footnote 29: Palmetto logs: the wood of the palmetto tree is very soft and spongy; the cannon-balls, when they struck, would bury themselves in the logs, but would neither break them to pieces nor go through them.]

[Footnote 30: Cowpens: see map in this paragraph.]

141. Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold; Lafayette; Cornwallis shuts himself up in Yorktown.--When Lord Cornwallis got into Virginia he found Benedict Arnold waiting to help him. Arnold had been a general in the American army; Washington gave him the command of the fort at West Point, on the Hudson River,[31] and trusted him as though he was his brother. Arnold deceived him, and secretly offered to give up the fort to the British. We call a man who is false to his friends and to his country a traitor: it is the most shameful name we can fasten on him. Arnold was a traitor; and if we could have caught him, we should have hanged him; but he was cunning enough to run away and escape to the British. Now he was burning houses and towns in Virginia, and doing all that he could--as a traitor always will--to destroy those who had once been his best friends. He wanted to stay in Virginia and assist Cornwallis; but that general was a brave and honorable man: he despised Arnold, and did not want to have anything to do with him.

A young nobleman named Lafayette[32] had come over from France on purpose to help us against the British. Cornwallis laughed at him and called him a "boy"; but he found that General Lafayette was a "boy" who knew how to fight. The British commander moved toward the seacoast; Lafayette followed him; at length Cornwallis shut himself up with his army in Yorktown.[33]

[Footnote 31: West Point: see map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 32: Lafayette (Lah-fay-et').]

[Footnote 33: Yorktown: see map in paragraph 140.]

142. Washington marches against Yorktown, and takes it and the army of Cornwallis.--Washington, with his army, was then near New York City, watching the British there. The French king had done as he agreed, and had sent over warships and soldiers to help us; but so far they had never been able to do much. Now was the chance. Before the British knew what Washington was about, he had sent the French war-ships down to Yorktown to prevent Cornwallis from getting away by sea. Then, with his own army and some French soldiers besides, Washington quickly marched south to attack Yorktown by land.

When he got there he placed his cannon round the town, and began battering it to pieces. For more than a week he kept firing night and day. One house had over a thousand balls go through it. Its walls looked like a sieve. At last Cornwallis could not hold out any longer, and on October 19th, 1781, his army came out and gave themselves up as prisoners.

The Americans formed a line more than a mile long on one side of the road, and the French stood facing them on the other side. The French had on gay clothes, and looked very handsome; the clothes of Washington's men were patched and faded, but their eyes shone with a wonderful light--the light of victory. The British marched out slowly, between the two lines: somehow they found it pleasanter to look at the bright uniforms of the French, than to look at the eyes of the Americans.

]

[Footnote 34: The flag with the large crosses on it, on the left, is the English flag at the time of the American Revolution. The flag on the right is that which Washington raised at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 2d, 1776. He simply took the English flag, and added thirteen stripes to represent the union of the thirteen English colonies. The flag in the centre, with its thirteen stars and thirteen stripes representing the thirteen states, is the first American _national_ flag. It was adopted by Congress June 14th, 1777, not quite a year after we had declared ourselves independent of Great Britain. Beneath this flag is Washington's coat of arms with a Latin motto, meaning "The event justifies the deed." It is possible that the stars and stripes on our national flag came from the stars and stripes (or bars) on this ancient coat of arms, which may be seen on the tombstone of one of the Washington family, buried in 1583, in the parish church at Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England.]

143. How the news of the taking of Yorktown was carried to Philadelphia; Lord Fairfax.--People at a distance noticed that the cannon had suddenly stopped firing. They looked at each other, and asked, "What does it mean?" All at once a man appears on horseback. He is riding with all his might toward Philadelphia, where Congress is. As he dashes past, he rises in his stirrups, swings his cap, and shouts with all his might, "Cornwallis is taken! Cornwallis is taken!" Then it was the people's turn to shout; and they made the hills ring with, "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

Poor Lord Fairfax,[35] Washington's old friend, had always stood by the king. He was now over ninety. When he heard the cry, "Cornwallis is taken!" it was too much for the old man. He said to his negro servant, "Come, Joe; carry me to bed, for I'm sure it's high time for me to die."

[Footnote 35: See paragraph 126.]

144. Tearing down the British flag at New York; Washington goes back to Mount Vernon; he is elected President; his death; Lafayette visits his tomb.--The Revolutionary War had lasted seven years,--terrible years they were, years of sorrow, suffering, and death,--but now the end had come, and America was free. When the British left New York City, they nailed the British flag to a high pole on the wharf; but a Yankee sailor soon climbed the pole, tore down the flag of England, and hoisted the stars and stripes in its place. That was more than a hundred years ago. Now the English and the Americans have become good friends, and the English people see that the Revolution ended in the way that was best for both of us.

When it was clear that there would be no more fighting, Washington went back to Mount Vernon. He hoped to spend the rest of his life there. But the country needed him, and a few years later it chose him the first President of the United States.

Washington was made President in New York City, which was the capital of the United States at that time. A French gentleman who was there tells us how Washington, standing in the presence of thousands of people, placed his hand on the Bible, and solemnly swore that with the help of God he would protect and defend the United States of America.

Washington was elected President twice. When he died many of the people in England and France joined America in mourning for him; for all men honored his memory.

Lafayette came over to visit us many years afterward. He went to Mount Vernon, where Washington was buried. There he went down into the vault, and, kneeling by the side of the coffin, covered his face with his hands, and shed tears of gratitude to think that he had known such a man as Washington, and that Washington had been his friend.

145. Summary.--George Washington, the son of a Virginia planter, became the leader of the armies of the United States in the war of the Revolution. At the close of the war, after he had made America free, he was elected our first President. His name stands to-day among those of the greatest men in the history of the world.

When and where was George Washington born? What did he learn at school? What did he write in one of his writing-books? Tell about his sports and games at school. What is said of "Captain George"? Tell the story about the colt. What did George's mother say? Tell about George's visit to his brother and to the Fairfaxes. What is said of Lord Fairfax? What did he hire Washington to do? Tell about his surveying and his life in the woods. Tell about the Indian war-dance. What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned? What is said of Washington at the age of twenty-one? Tell about his journey to the French forts and his return. What is said about the Indian guide? What about the raft? What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned? What did the governor order him to do? What about Fort Necessity? Tell about General Braddock, and about what happened to Washington. What is said about the end of the war? What did King George the Third determine to do? What did the king want the Americans to do? How did they feel? What did the king say? What did the Americans say to that? What did some of the greatest men in England say? What did the king then try to do? Tell about the tea-ships. What happened in Boston? What was done to Boston? What help did the people of Boston get? What did the colonies now do? What did the people now begin to call themselves? What did they call the English troops?

Who commanded the British soldiers in Boston? What did he do? What about Paul Revere? What did Captain Parker of Lexington say to his men? What happened at Lexington and at Concord? Tell about the battle of Bunker Hill. What did many Englishmen refuse to do? Where was Colonel Washington living? What did Congress do? Where did Washington take command of the army? Tell about the sharpshooters. Tell about the march to Canada. How did Washington take Boston? Where did the British go? Where did Washington go? What did Congress do on July 4th, 1776? What happened in New York? What about the battle of Long Island? What did Cornwallis do? Tell about the victory at Trenton. What happened at Princeton? What city did the British take? Where was Washington's army? What happened at Saratoga? What did the king of France do? What happened at the south? Tell about Sergeant Jasper. What is said about General Greene? What did Cornwallis do? Where did he go? What is said about Benedict Arnold? What about Lafayette? Where did Cornwallis shut himself up with his army? What did Washington do? Tell about the surrender of Cornwallis. How was the news carried to Philadelphia? What is said of Lord Fairfax? How long had the war lasted? What was done at New York? What is said of General Washington after the war? Tell how he was made President. What happened when he died? What is said of Lafayette?

DANIEL BOONE (1734-1820).

146. Daniel Boone; what the hunters of the west did; Boone's life in North Carolina.--Before Washington began to fight the battles of the Revolution in the east, Daniel Boone and other famous hunters were fighting bears and Indians in what was then called the west. By that war in the woods, these brave and hardy men helped us to get possession of that part of the country.

Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania.[1] His father moved to North Carolina,[2] and Daniel helped him cut down the trees round their log cabin in the forest. He ploughed the land, which was thick with stumps, hoed the corn that grew up among those stumps, and then,--as there was no mill near,--he pounded it into meal for "johnny-cake." He learned how to handle a gun quite as soon as he did a hoe. The unfortunate deer or coon that saw young Boone coming toward him knew that he had seen his best days, and that he would soon have the whole Boone family sitting round him at the dinner-table.

[Footnote 1: He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.]

[Footnote 2: He settled near Wilkesboro, on the banks of the Yadkin River. See map in paragraph 150.]

147. Boone's wanderings in the western forests; his bear tree.--When Daniel had grown to manhood, he wandered off with his gun on his shoulder, and crossing the mountains, entered what is now the state of Tennessee. That whole country was then a wilderness, full of savage beasts and still more savage Indians; and Boone had many a sharp fight with both.

More than a hundred and thirty years ago, he cut these words on a beech-tree, still standing in Eastern Tennessee,[3]--"D. Boon killed a bar on (this) tree in the year 1760." You will see if you examine the tree, on which the words can still be read, that Boone could not spell very well; but he could do what the bear minded a good deal more,--he could shoot to kill.

[Footnote 3: The tree is still standing on the banks of Boone's Creek, near Jonesboro, Washington County, Tennessee.]

148. Boone goes hunting in Kentucky; what kind of game he found there; the Indians; the "Dark and Bloody Ground."--Nine years after he cut his name on that tree, Boone, with a few companions, went to a new part of the country. The Indians called it Kentucky. There he saw buffalo, deer, bears, and wolves enough to satisfy the best hunter in America.

This region was a kind of No Man's Land, because, though many tribes of Indians roamed over it, none of them pretended to own it. These bands of Indians were always fighting and trying to drive each other out, so Kentucky was often called the "Dark and Bloody Ground." But, much as the savages hated each other, they hated the white men, or the "pale-faces," as they called them, still more.

149. Indian tricks; the owls.--The hunters were on the lookout for these Indians, but the savages practised all kinds of tricks to get the hunters near enough to shoot them. Sometimes Boone would hear the gobble of a wild turkey. He would listen a moment, then he would say, That is not a wild turkey, but an Indian, imitating that bird; but he won't fool me and get me to come near enough to put a bullet through my head.

One evening an old hunter, on his way to his cabin, heard what seemed to be two young owls calling to each other. But his quick ear noticed that there was something not quite natural in their calls, and what was stranger still, that the owls seemed to be on the ground instead of being perched on trees, as all well-behaved owls would be. He crept cautiously along through the bushes till he saw something ahead which looked like a stump. He didn't altogether like the looks of the stump. He aimed his rifle at it, and fired. The stump, or what seemed to be one, fell over backward with a groan. He had killed an Indian, who had been waiting to kill him.

150. Boone makes the "Wilderness Road," and builds the fort at Boonesboro'.--In 1775 Boone, with a party of thirty men, chopped a path through the forest from the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky River,[4] a distance of about two hundred miles. This was the first path in that part of the country leading to the great west. It was called the "_Wilderness Road_." Over that road, which thousands of emigrants travelled afterward, Boone took his family, with other settlers, to the Kentucky River. There they built a fort called Boonesboro'. That fort was a great protection to all the first settlers in Kentucky. In fact, it is hard to see how the state could have grown up without it. So in one way, we can say with truth that Daniel Boone, the hunter, fighter, and road-maker, was a state-builder besides.

[Footnote 4: See map in this paragraph.]

151. Boone's daughter is stolen by the Indians; how he found her.--One day Boone's young daughter was out, with two other girls, in a canoe on the river. Suddenly some Indians pounced on them and carried them off.

One of the girls, as she went along, broke off twigs from the bushes, so that her friends might be able to follow her track through the woods. An Indian caught her doing it, and told her that he would kill her if she did not instantly stop. Then she slyly tore off small bits of her dress, and dropped a piece from time to time.

Boone and his men followed the Indians like bloodhounds. They picked up the bits of dress, and so easily found which way the savages had gone. They came up with the Indians just as they were sitting down round a fire to eat their supper. Creeping toward them behind the trees as softly as a cat creeps up behind a mouse, Boone and his men aimed their rifles and fired. Two of the Indians fell dead, the rest ran for their lives, and the girls were carried back in safety to the fort.

152. Boone is captured by Indians; they adopt him as a son.--Later, Boone himself was caught and carried off by the Indians. They respected his courage so much that they would not kill him, but decided to adopt him; that is, take him into the tribe as one of their own people, or make an Indian of him.

They pulled out all his hair except one long lock, called the "scalp-lock," which they left to grow in Indian fashion. The squaws[5] and girls braided bright feathers in this lock, so that Boone looked quite gay. Then the Indians took him down to a river. There they stripped him, and scrubbed him with all their might, to get his white blood out, as they said. Next, they painted his face in stripes with red and yellow clay, so that he looked, as they thought, handsomer than he ever had before in his life. When all had been done, and they were satisfied with the appearance of their new Indian, they sat down to a great feast, and made merry.

[Footnote 5: Squaws: Indian women.]

153. Boone escapes, but the Indians find him again; what a handful of tobacco dust did.--After a time Boone managed to escape, but the Indians were so fond of him that they could not rest till they found him again. One day he was at work in a kind of shed drying some tobacco leaves. He heard a slight noise, and turning round saw four Indians with their guns pointed at him. "Now, Boone," said they, "we got you. You no get away this time." "How are you?" said Boone, pleasantly; "glad to see you; just wait a minute till I get you some of my tobacco." He gathered two large handfuls of the leaves: they were as dry as powder and crumbled to dust in his hands. Coming forward, as if to give the welcome present to the Indians, he suddenly sprang on them and filled their eyes, mouths, and noses with the stinging tobacco dust. The savages were half choked and nearly blinded. While they were dancing about, coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their eyes, Boone slipped out of the shed and got to a place of safety. The Indians were mad as they could be, yet they could hardly help laughing at Boone's trick; for cunning as the red men were, he was more cunning still.

154. Boone's old age; he moves to Missouri; he begs for a piece of land; his grave.--Boone lived to be a very old man. He had owned a good deal of land in the west, but he had lost possession of it. When Kentucky began to fill up with people and the game was killed off, Boone moved across the Mississippi into Missouri. He said that he went because he wanted "more elbow room" and a chance to hunt buffalo again.

He now begged the state of Kentucky to give him a small piece of land, where, as he said, he could "lay his bones." The people of that state generously helped him to get nearly a thousand acres; but he appears to have soon lost possession of it. If he actually did lose it, then this brave old hunter, who had opened up the way for such a multitude of emigrants to get farms at the west, died without owning a piece of ground big enough for a grave. He is buried in Frankfort, Kentucky, within sight of the river on which he built his fort at Boonesboro'.

155. Summary.--Daniel Boone, a famous hunter from North Carolina, opened up a road through the forest, from the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky River. It was called the "Wilderness Road," and over it thousands of emigrants went into Kentucky to settle. Boone, with others, built the fort at Boonesboro', Kentucky, and went there to live. That fort protected the settlers against the Indians, and so helped that part of the country to grow until it became the state of Kentucky.

Tell about Daniel Boone. How did he help his father? Where did he go when he became a man? What did he cut on a beech tree? Where did he go after that? What is said of the Indians in Kentucky? Tell about Indian tricks. Tell about the two owls. Tell about the Wilderness Road. What is said of the fort at Boonesboro'? Tell how Boone's daughter and the other girls were stolen by the Indians. What happened next? Tell how Boone was captured by the Indians and how they adopted him. Tell the story of the tobacco dust. What did Boone do when he became old? What did Kentucky get for him? Where is he buried?

GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON AND GOVERNOR JOHN SEVIER[1] (1742-1814; 1745-1815).

156. Who James Robertson was; Governor Tryon; the battle of Alamance.[2]--When Daniel Boone first went to Kentucky (1769) he had a friend named James Robertson, in North Carolina[3] who was, like himself, a mighty hunter. The British governor of North Carolina at that time was William Tryon. He lived in a palace built with money which he had forced the people to give him. They hated him so for his greed and cruelty that they nicknamed him the "Great Wolf of North Carolina."

At last many of the settlers vowed that they would not give the governor another penny. When he sent tax-collectors to get money, they drove them back, and they flogged one of the governor's friends with a rawhide till he had to run for his life.

The governor then collected some soldiers and marched against the people in the west. A battle was fought near the Alamance River. The governor had the most men and had cannon besides, so he gained the day. He took seven of the people prisoners and hanged them. They all died bravely, as men do who die for liberty.

[Footnote 1: Sevier (Se-veer'): he was born in Rockingham County, Virginia.]

[Footnote 2: Alamance River (Al'a-mance): see map in paragraph 150.]

[Footnote 3: Robertson was born in Brunswick County, Virginia; he emigrated to North Carolina and settled in the neighborhood of Raleigh. See map in paragraph 150.]

157. James Robertson leaves North Carolina and goes west.--After the battle of Alamance James Robertson and his family made up their minds that they would not live any longer where Governor Tryon ruled. They resolved to go across the mountains into the western wilderness. Sixteen other families joined Robertson's and went with them. It was a long, hard journey; for they had to climb rocks and find their way through deep, tangled woods. The men went ahead with their axes and their guns; then the older children followed, driving the cows; last of all came the women with the little children, with beds, pots, and kettles packed on the backs of horses.

158. The emigrants settle on the Watauga River[4] in Tennessee.--When the little party had crossed the mountains into what is now the state of Tennessee, they found a delightful valley. Through this valley there ran a stream of clear sparkling water called the Watauga River; the air of the valley was sweet with the smell of wild crab-apples.

On the banks of that stream the emigrants built their new homes. Their houses were simply rough log huts, but they were clean and comfortable. When the settlers put up these cabins, they chopped down every tree near them which was big enough for an Indian to hide behind. They knew that they might have to fight the savages; but they had rather do that than be robbed by tax-collectors. In the wilderness Governor Tryon could not reach them--they were free; free as the deer and the squirrels were: that one thought made them contented and happy.

[Footnote 4: Watauga River (Wa-taw'ga): see map in paragraph 150.]

159. John Sevier goes to settle at Watauga; what he and Robertson did.--The year after this little settlement was made John Sevier went from Virginia to Watauga, as it was called. He and Robertson soon became fast friends--for one brave man can always see something to respect and like in another brave man. Robertson and Sevier hunted together and worked together.

After a while they called a meeting of the settlers and agreed on some excellent laws, so that everything in the log village might be done decently and in order; for although these people lived in the woods, they had no notion of living like savages or wild beasts. In course of time President Washington made James Robertson General Robertson, in honor of what he had done for his country.

Out of this settlement on the Watauga River grew the state of Tennessee. A monument in honor of John Sevier stands in Nashville, a city founded by his friend Robertson. Sevier became the first governor of the new state.

160. Summary.--James Robertson, of North Carolina, and John Sevier, of Virginia, emigrated across the mountains to the western wilderness. They settled on the Watauga River, and that settlement, with others made later, grew into the state of Tennessee, of which John Sevier became the first governor.

What friend did Boone have in North Carolina? Tell about Governor Tryon. What happened on the Alamance River? Where did Robertson and others go? Where did they settle? Why did they like to be there? Tell about John Sevier. What did he and Robertson do? What did Washington do for Robertson? What state grew out of the Watauga settlement? What did Sevier become? Where is his monument?

GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK (1752-1818).

161. The British in the west; their forts; hiring Indians to fight the settlers.--While Washington was fighting the battles of the Revolution in the east, the British in the west were not sitting still. They had a number of forts in the Wilderness,[1] as that part of the country was then called. One of these forts was at Detroit,[2] in what is now Michigan; another was at Vincennes,[3] in what is now Indiana; a third fort was at Kaskaskia,[4] in what is now Illinois.

Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, was determined to drive the American settlers out of the west. In the beginning of the Revolution the Americans resolved to hire the Indians to fight for them, but the British found that they could hire them better than we could, and so they got their help. The savages did their work in a terribly cruel way. Generally they did not come out and do battle openly, but they crept up secretly, by night, and attacked the farmers' homes. They killed and scalped the settlers in the west, burned their log cabins, and carried off the women and children prisoners. The greater part of the people in England hated this sort of war. They begged the king not to hire the Indians to do these horrible deeds of murder and destruction. George the Third was not a bad-hearted man; but he was very set in his way, and he had fully made up his mind to conquer the "American rebels," as he called them, even if he had to get the savages to help him do it.

[Footnote 1: See map in paragraph 187.]

[Footnote 2: Detroit (De-troit'): for these forts see map in this paragraph.]

[Footnote 3: Vincennes (Vin-senz').]

[Footnote 4: Kaskaskia (Kas-kas'ki-a).]

162. George Rogers Clark gets help from Virginia and starts to attack Fort Kaskaskia.--Daniel Boone had a friend in Virginia named George Rogers Clark,[5] who believed that he could take the British forts in the west and drive out the British from all that part of the country. Virginia then owned most of the Wilderness. For this reason Clark went to Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, and asked for help. The governor liked the plan, and let Clark have money to hire men to go with him and try to take Fort Kaskaskia to begin with.

Clark started in the spring of 1778 with about a hundred and fifty men. They built boats just above Pittsburg[6] and floated down the Ohio River, a distance of over nine hundred miles. Then they landed in what is now Illinois, and set out for Fort Kaskaskia.[7]

[Footnote 5: George Rogers Clark was born near Monticello, Virginia. See map in paragraph 140.]

[Footnote 6: Pittsburg: see map in paragraph 140.]

[Footnote 7: Fort Kaskaskia: see map in paragraph 161.]

163. The march to Fort Kaskaskia; how a dance ended.--It was a hundred miles to the fort, and half of the way the men had to find their way through thick woods, full of underbrush, briers, and vines. The British, thinking the fort perfectly safe from attack, had left it in the care of a French officer. Clark and his band reached Kaskaskia at night. They found no one to stop them. The soldiers in the fort were having a dance, and the Americans could hear the merry music of a violin and the laughing voices of girls.

Clark left his men just outside the fort, and, finding a door open, he walked in. He reached the room where the fun was going on, and stopping there, he stood leaning against the door-post, looking on. The room was lighted with torches; the light of one of the torches happened to fall full on Clark's face; an Indian sitting on the floor caught sight of him; he sprang to his feet and gave a terrific war-whoop. The dancers stopped as though they had been shot; the women screamed; the men ran to the door to get their guns. Clark did not move, but said quietly, "Go on; only remember you are dancing now under Virginia, and not under Great Britain." The next moment the Americans rushed in, and Clark and his "Long Knives," as the Indians called his men, had full possession of the fort.

164. How Fort Vincennes was taken; how the British got it back again; what Francis Vigo[8] did.--Clark wanted next to march against Fort Vincennes, but he had not men enough. There was a French Catholic priest[9] at Kaskaskia, and Clark's kindness to him had made him our friend. He said, I will go to Vincennes for you, and I will tell the French, who hold the fort for the British, that the Americans are their real friends, and that in this war they are in the right. He went; the French listened to him, then hauled down the British flag and ran up the American flag in its place.

The next year the British, led by Colonel Hamilton of Detroit, got the fort back again. When Clark heard of it he said, "Either I must take Hamilton, or Hamilton will take me." Just then Francis Vigo, a trader at St. Louis, came to see Clark at Kaskaskia. Hamilton had held Vigo as a prisoner, so he knew all about Fort Vincennes. Vigo said to Clark, "Hamilton has only about eighty soldiers; you can take the fort, and I will lend you all the money you need to pay your men what you owe them."

[Footnote 8: Vigo (Vee-go).]

[Footnote 9: The priest was Father Gibault (Zhe-bo').]

165. Clark's march to Fort Vincennes; the "Drowned Lands."--Clark, with about two hundred men, started for Vincennes. The distance was nearly a hundred and fifty miles. The first week everything went on pretty well. It was in the month of February, the weather was cold, and it rained a good deal, but the men did not mind that. They would get wet through during the day; but at night they built roaring log fires, gathered round them, roasted their buffalo meat or venison, smoked their pipes, told jolly stories, and sang jolly songs.