THE SIEGE OF BOSTON

[Illustration: Logo]

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGOATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO. , LIMITED

LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA

MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. 

TORONTO

[Illustration: OLD STATE HOUSE]

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON

BY

ALLEN FRENCH

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1911

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1911. 

Norwood PressJ. S. Cushing Co. --Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass. , U. S. A. 

TO C. E. S. 

PREFACE

In writing this book I have endeavored to produce a brief and readableaccount of the Siege of Boston, and of the events which brought itabout. These were, of course, parts of a larger history, the connectionwith which I have carefully indicated. My main endeavor, nevertheless, has been to treat my subject as a single organic series of events. Toselect the more interesting and significant masses of detail, andproperly to coördinate them, has not been an easy task. The minorincidents were conditioned by the scale of the book; the result, I hope, is fluency and a more evident connection between the larger events. 

So far as possible, I have relied upon contemporary statements. But nowriter on the Siege can fail to acknowledge his deep obligations to the"History of the Siege" by Richard Frothingham. This acknowledgment Igladly make. Since 1849, however, the date of the publication of thebook, there has come to light interesting new material which I haveendeavored to incorporate here. The other authorities upon which I havechiefly depended will be found by referring to the footnotes. 

ALLEN FRENCH. 

CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, January, 1911. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

 I. BEGINNINGS AND CONDITIONS 1

 II. WRITS OF ASSISTANCE AND THE STAMP ACT 21

 III. CHARLES TOWNSHEND, SAM ADAMS, AND THE MASSACRE 41

 IV. THE TEA-PARTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 71

 V. THE OCCUPATION OF BOSTON 91

 VI. THE POWDER ALARM AND THE WINTER OF 1774-1775 123

 VII. MILITARY PREPARATIONS 161

VIII. THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL 187

 IX. BOSTON BELEAGUERED 216

 X. THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 256

 XI. WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND 288

 XII. EVENTS IN BOSTON FROM JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1775 331

XIII. WASHINGTON'S DIFFICULTIES 361

 XIV. THE WINTER IN BOSTON 392

 XV. THE EVACUATION 415

ILLUSTRATIONS

OLD STATE HOUSE _Frontispiece_

 PAGETHE HUTCHINSON HOUSE 35

FANEUIL HALL _facing_ 58

SAMUEL ADAMS _facing_ 69

THE INVESTMENT OF BOSTON _facing_ 127

REVERE'S PICTURE OF BOSTON IN 1768 175

THE OLD NORTH CHURCH _facing_ 181

THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON _facing_ 193

PLAN OF THE SIEGE 235

THE MINUTE MAN _facing_ 303

THE OLD NORTH BRIDGE _facing_ 303

WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS _facing_ 374

DORCHESTER TOWER 407

GOLD MEDAL COMMEMORATING WASHINGTON'S VICTORY 434

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON

CHAPTER I

BEGINNINGS AND CONDITIONS

The Siege of Boston was the culmination of a series of events which willalways be of importance in the history of America. From the beginning ofthe reign of George the Third, the people of the English colonies in thenew world found themselves at variance with their monarch, and nowheremore so than in Massachusetts. Since the New England people were fittedby their temperament and history to take the lead in the struggle, attheir chief town naturally took place the more important incidents. These, which were often dramatic, had nevertheless a political cause andsignificance which link them in a rising series that ended in a violentoutbreak and the eleven months' leaguer. 

As to the siege itself, it varies an old situation, for Boston was besetby its own neighbors in defence of the common rights. Previously theking's troops, though regarded as invaders, had been but half-heartedoppressors; it was the people themselves who persistently provokeddifficulties. The siege proper is of striking military interest, for itshostilities begin by the repulse of an armed expedition into a communityof farmers, continue with a pitched battle between regular troops and amilitia, produce a general of commanding abilities, and end with astrategic move of great skill and daring. It is the first campaign of agreat war, and precedes the birth of a nation. Politically, the cause ofthe struggle is of enduring consequence to mankind. Socially, the siegeand its preliminaries bring to view people of all kinds, some weak, somebase, some picturesque, some entirely admirable. The period shows thebreaking up of an old society and the formation of a new. A study ofthe siege is therefore of value. 

It will be observed that the siege cannot satisfactorily be consideredas a distinct series of military or semi-military events, abruptlybeginning and still more abruptly ending. Such a view would reduce thesiege to a mere matter of local history, having little connection withthe larger movements of the American Revolution, and appearing almost asan accident which might have happened at any other centre of sufficientpopulation. [1] On the contrary, neither the siege nor the Revolutionwere accidents of history. That the Revolution was bound to come about, and that its beginnings were equally bound to be at Boston, these wereconditioned in the nature, first of the colonists in general, and secondof the New Englanders in particular. However striking were certain ofthe occurrences, they were of less importance than their causes andconsequences. 

Accordingly I shall consider as an organic series the more important ofthose events which happened in Boston during the reign of George theThird, and which ended when the last of his redcoats departed from thetown. In fact, in order to be perfectly intelligible I must first devotea few pages to a consideration of previous conditions. 

"Any one, " wrote George E. Ellis in the "Memorial History of Boston, "[2]"who attempts to trace the springs, the occasions, and the directingforces of the revolt . .. Cannot find his clew a year short of the datewhen the former self-governed Colony of Massachusetts Bay became a RoyalProvince. " He is right in pointing out that in 1692 the struggle tookopen form. Yet even then the controversy was not new. In other form ithad been carried on for more than half a century previous. Its ultimateorigin lay in the fact that the very charter under which the colony wasplanted differed from all other documents granted by any English king. 

This difference lay in the omission of the condition, usual in suchcharters, that its governing board should meet in London practically forthe purpose of supervision by the king. That the omission of thiscondition was the result of wisdom on the part of the founders, andstupidity on the part of the officers of the king, seems undeniable. Thefounders, unhappy and alarmed at the political and religious situationin England under Charles the First, were seeking to provide forthemselves and their families a refuge from his oppressions. Secure intheir charter, they presently left England for good. When they sailedfor America they did all that could be done to cut themselves off frominterference by the crown. 

At intervals, extremely valuable for the future of America, theMassachusetts colony certainly was free of all restraint. Charles'sbenediction seems to have been "Good riddance!" From the crown thecolonists received no assistance whatever, and it was long both theirboast and their plea that they had planted the colony "at their ownexpense. " They were left to work out their own salvation. [3] As aresult, their passionate desire for freedom from interference by theking grew into the feeling that they had earned it as a right. Englishmen they were still, and subjects of the king; but to theprivileges of Englishmen they had added the right to manage their ownaffairs. The English king and the English law were to help them in theirdifficulties and to settle cases of appeal. In return they would grantmoney and fight for the king when necessary; but in the meantime theywould live by themselves. 

Taking advantage of the clause in their charter which authorized them"to ordain and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, laws, statutes, and ordinances, " they speedily took to themselveseverything but the name of independence. They instituted courts for allpurposes, set up their legislative government, raised their own taxes, whether general or local, and perfected that wonderful instrument ofresistance to oppression, New England town government. They even coinedmoney. And, different from most of the other colonies, they chose theirgovernor from among their own number. 

Distance and home difficulties--for the Stuart kings usually had theirhands full of trouble with their subjects--favored the non-interferencewhich the colonists craved. When, however, the Stuarts had any leisureat all, they at once devoted it to quarrelling with their subjects inNew England. Even to the easy-going Charles II the cool aloofness of thecolonists was a bit too strong; to his father and brother it wasintolerable. 

The invariable methods of the colonists, when facing a demand from theking, were evasion and delay. "Avoid or protract" were Winthrop's ownwords in 1635. In 1684 the General Court wrote advising their attorney, employed in England in defending the charter, "to spin out the case tothe uttermost. "[4] Once and once only until the Revolution--in the caseof the seizing of Andros--did the men of Massachusetts proceed toaction. Their habitual policy was safe, and, on the whole, successful. Slow communication (one voyage of commissioners from Boston to Englandtook three months), and the existence in England of a strong party offriends, helped powerfully to obscure and obliterate the issues. YetCharles I in 1640, and James II in 1689, made preparations to reduce thecolony to proper subjection, by force if necessary. 

It was doubtless well for Massachusetts that both Charles and James werepresently dethroned, for against the power of England no successfulresistance could then have been made. New England, indeed, might havebeen united against the king, but it is very unlikely that the othercolonies would have given their help. Some generations more were neededbefore the aristocrats of Virginia could feel themselves at one with thePuritans of New England. 

Yet it is interesting to notice the spirit of Massachusetts. On the newsof Charles's intentions the colony prepared for resistance. In James'stime it went a step further. When the news came of the expedition ofWilliam of Orange, Massachusetts cast in its lot with him. Withoutwaiting to learn the result of the struggle, Boston rose against James'sunpopular governor, and imprisoned him in the Castle. The act washeroic, for the Bloody Assizes had taught the world what punishment thecowardly king meted out to rebels. 

It will be noticed that the political status of Massachusetts wasalready changed. After many delays Charles II had abrogated the charter. His death followed almost immediately, and Andros had been appointed atthe head of a provisional government. Doubtless the resistance to himhad been inspired by the hope that the old charter might be restored. Instead, William, when once secure on the throne, issued a new charter. Under its provisions the colony, now a province, lived until theRevolution. In order that the events leading up to the siege may beunderstood, it will be well to consider the provisions of the newgovernmental machinery. 

At the head of the province were to be a governor and alieutenant-governor, both appointed by the king. Their powers wereexecutive, with the right of veto over legislation, and also overcertain appointments by the legislature. Laws passed by this legislatureand not vetoed by the governor or the king were to go in force threeyears after their enactment. The legislature had two houses, the lower apopular chamber, called the Assembly, elected by the towns. The upperbranch was called the Council. The first Council was appointed by theking; later members were to be nominated by the Assembly for theapproval of the governor. The Assembly and Council formed together theGreat and General Court. Judges were to be chosen by the governor andCouncil, but all officers were to be paid by the General Court. As willbe seen later, in the case of the Writs of Assistance, appeal could betaken to the English courts. 

And now for the first time became evident the fact that threegenerations of practical independence had bred in America a race ofmen--or it may be better to say had fostered a school of thought--thatnever could agree in submitting to a distant and arbitrary authority. Inthe seventy years which followed, New England showed this spirit in manyways. The most prominent cause of disagreement was the question of thegovernor's prerogatives, resulting in constant bickerings with thecrown. 

The principle, of course, lay deeper still. On the one side weresovereigns whose powers were not yet definitely restricted, and whowere likely to resent any apparent tendency to make them less. On theother side was a people who had progressed far in self-government, andwho resisted any limitation of their rights. It is not the purpose ofthis book to trace the earlier unification of the colonies underpressure from without. By the year 1760 that process was approachingcompletion; there was, therefore, in America a stronger feeling thanever, while across the water was that new ruler into whose youthful earshis mother had continually dinned the words, "George, be king!"

It is well to understand the status of a colony in those days, and thedifficulties with which its inhabitants struggled. Yet it is hard forthe modern man to conceive the restrictions upon freedom. From earliestdays there had been discontent with the king's claim to the finest treesin the public forests, the "mast trees" which, reserved for the king'snavy, no man might lawfully cut. [5] Exportation of lumber, except toEngland and the British West Indies, was long illegal. Trade with theFrench and Spanish islands was prohibited entirely, and trade in manyproducts of home manufacture (tobacco, sugar, wool, dye-stuffs, furs, are prominent examples) was forbidden "to any place but GreatBritain--even to Ireland. "[6] Certain merchandise might be imported atwill, subject to duty; but most articles could be bought, and sold, onlythrough Great Britain. 

Further, internal commerce and manufacture were severely hampered. Nowool or woollen product might be carried from one province to another. The Bible might not be printed. The making of hats was almost entirelysuppressed. The manufacture of iron, on a scale sufficient to competewith English wares, was practically prohibited--as a "nuisance. "[7]

Under all these restrictions the colonies were not as yet restive. To besure there were smuggling and illicit trade, and grievances in plenty;yet the stress of colonial life, the continual danger from the north andwest, had kept the provincials satisfied as a body. And now, at theopening of the reign of George III, with the French driven out of Canadaand the Mississippi Valley, and the Indians subdued, there should havebeen concord between the colonists and the king. 

The comparison between the two is very striking, while at the same timeit is not easily brought home to the city dweller of to-day. Citygovernment gives the individual a chance to bury himself in the mass, and to avoid his duties; further, our cities are now many, and verylarge, while we are notoriously patient under misrule. In 1760, on theother hand, few towns had as yet adopted city government. Boston was thelargest town, and its population was little more than fifteen thousand. So well did its enemies understand one reason for its truculence, thatthey even considered means to force upon the town a city charter. Thequestion came, however, to no definite proposition. The town thereforeproceeded with its open discussion of all public questions, with itsright of free speech in town meetings extended even to strangers, andwith its _viva voce_ vote letting each man know where his neighborstood. "The town" was an entity of which each man felt himself a part. As a whole, its self-consciousness was like that of an individual: itcould feel a trespass on its privileges as quickly as could thehaughtiest monarch of the old world. And all New England was filled withtowns whose feelings, on all essential points, were one and the same. 

Against the town-meetings of America stood George III, as determined toassert his prerogatives as was any member of the house of Stuart. Stillcomparatively young, he had not yet learned that there are limitationsof power, even to a king. And it was to the misfortune of his empirethat there were few in England to teach him. 

For the old Puritan middle class of the Stuart days was gone. Its fibrehad softened; the class itself had disappeared in the easier-goingmasses of a more prosperous day. For seventy-five years England had hadno internal dissensions, and her foreign wars had added to her wealthand contentment. To her well-wishers it seemed as if the people hadgiven itself to sloth and indulgence. "I am satisfied, " wrote Burke, "that, within a few years, there has been a great change in the nationalcharacter. We seem no longer that eager, inquisitive, jealous, fierypeople which we have been formerly, and which we have been a very shorttime ago. "[8] England was the country of Tom Jones, hearty and healthy, but animated by no high principles and keyed to no noble actions. Itneeded the danger of the Napoleonic wars to bring out once more thesturdy manliness of the nation. Through all the earlier reign of GeorgeIII there was, to be sure, a remainder of the old high-minded spirit. Chatham and Rockingham, Burke, Barre, and others, spoke in public andprivate for the rights of the colonists, to whom their encouragementgave strength. But the greater part of the English people was soindifferent to the moral and political significance of the quarrel thatthe king was practically able to do as he pleased. 

He proceeded on the assumption that every man had his price. Theassumption was unhappily too correct, for he was able to gather roundhim, in Parliament or the civil service, his own party, the "King'sFriends, " who served him for the profit that they got. No tale of moderncorruption can surpass the record of their plundering of a nation. Withthis goes a story of gambling, drinking, and general loose living which, while the attention is concentrated on it, rouses the belief that thenation was wholly degenerate, until the recollection of the remnant, Chatham and the party of the Earl of Rockingham, gives hope of thesalvation of the country. 

At any rate, for more than fifteen years of his reign the king was inthe ascendant. There was no party to depose him, scarcely one strongenough to curb him, even at times of popular indignation. He was, therefore, as no other king had been before him, able to force the issueupon the colonies, in spite of the protests of the few friends ofliberty. In complete ignorance of the strength of the colonists, both inresources and in purpose, he proceeded to insist upon his rights. Whenit is remembered that those rights, according to his interpretation ofthem, were to tax without representation, to limit trade andmanufactures, and to interfere at will in the management of colonialaffairs, it will be seen that he was playing with fire. 

The danger will appear the greater if it is considered that thepopulation of the colonies had not progressed, like that of England, todays of easy tolerance. The Americans, and especially the NewEnglanders, were of the same stuff as those who had beheaded Charles I, and driven James II from his kingdom. They had among their militaryofficers plenty of such men as Pomeroy, who, destined to fight at BunkerHill, wrote from the siege of Louisburg: "It looks as if our campaignwould last long; but I am willing to stay till God's time comes todeliver the city into our hands. "[9] Many besides himself wrote, andeven spoke, in Biblical language. There were still heard, in NewEngland, the echoes of the "Great Awakening"; the preaching ofWhitefield and others had everywhere roused a keen religious feeling, and the people were as likely as ever to open town-meeting with prayer, and to go into battle with psalms. 

Such, then, were the contestants in the struggle. On the one side wasthe king with his privileges, backed by his Parliamentary majority, andhaving at command an efficient army and navy, and a full treasury. Therewas at hand no one to resist him successfully at home, none to whosewarnings he would listen. And on the other side were the colonists, quite capable of fighting for what they knew to be the "rights ofEnglishmen. " Both hoped to proceed peaceably. In ignorance, each washoping for the impossible, for the king would not retreat, and thecolonists would not yield. As soon as each understood the other's fullintention, there would be a rupture. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It may appear to a hasty consideration that Frothingham's "Siege ofBoston" treats the siege as an isolated military event. It must, however, be remembered that Mr. Frothingham had treated previous eventsin a preliminary volume, his "Life of Joseph Warren. "

[2] "Memorial History of Boston, " ii, 31. 

[3] "They nourished by your indulgence? They grew up by your neglect ofthem!" Barre's speech in Parliament, February, 1765. 

[4] "Memorial History of Boston, " i, 340, 376. 

[5] See, on this point, Sabine's "American Loyalists, " 7. 

[6] Bancroft's "United States, " ed. 1855, v, 265. References to Bancroftwill at first be to this edition. 

[7] Bancroft's "United States, " v, 266. 

[8] Trevelyan, "American Revolution, " Part i, 21. 

[9] "Memorial History of Boston, " ii, 116. 

CHAPTER II

WRITS OF ASSISTANCE AND THE STAMP ACT

The men who, whether in America or England, took sides with the king orthe colonies as Tories and Whigs, or as "prerogative men" and "friendsof liberty, " fall naturally into two classes. A line of cleavage couldbe seen at the time, and can even be traced now, among the supporters ofeither side, according as they followed principle or self-interest. There were those who sought profit in supporting the colonies, as wellas those who knowingly faced loss in defending the king. It is well forAmericans to remember, therefore, that while many sided with the kingfor what they could get, there were others whose minds could notconceive a country without a king, or a subject with inalienable rights. The best of the Tories honestly believed the Whig agitation to be"unnatural, causeless, wanton, and wicked. "[10] Such Americans were, inthe inevitable struggle, truly martyrs to their beliefs. 

Nevertheless, just as there was naturally more profit or prominence (andthe two were often the same) on the king's side, so his party had themore self-seekers. "The cause is not worth dying for, " said Ingersoll, facing the Connecticut farmers, and spoke the sentiment of all thestamp-officers who resigned their positions at the demand of the people. The cause, however, did seem worth working for. There were many, inEngland and America, who, like those whom Otis saw around him, "builtmuch upon the fine salaries they should receive from the plantationbranch of the revenue. " Position, pay, and the chance to exploit therevenues as this was done in England, were the temptations which broughtmany to the side of the king, and which made men unite to urge upon himthe acts which he desired for less selfish reasons. 

Urged by principle, then, or excited by self-interest, the proposers ofnew measures were strong. The earliest act of the king's reign showedwhat could and what would be done, and brought upon the Boston stage thefirst of the actors in the drama. On the one hand were the governor, thejustices, and the minor officials, on the other the people'sself-appointed--but willingly accepted--leaders. 

Francis Bernard was the first Massachusetts governor under George III. Bernard arrived August 2, 1760; the old king died on October 25; and inNovember the customs officials, stimulated by orders from home toenforce the provisions of the Sugar Act of 1733, petitioned for "writsof assistance, " to empower them to summon help in forcible entries insearch of smuggled goods. Now there can be no doubt that there wassmuggling in the colony, even in Boston itself. On the other hand, theofficials were inquisitorial and rapacious. Once they were armed withwrits of assistance, no dwelling would be safe from entry by them. Thestruggle was at once begun, and in the council chamber of the old TownHouse was fought out before the eyes of the province. 

The scene is pictured on the walls of the modern State House. Chiefamong the justices sat Thomas Hutchinson, a man of property andeducation, and an excellent historian, but the very type ofoffice-holder, and by prejudice and interest a partisan of the king. Against him stood James Otis, the first of the Massachusetts orators ofliberty, a man of good family, and, like so many of the patriot leaders, a lawyer. His speech was the first definite pronouncement for a neworder of things. 

"I am determined, " he said, "to sacrifice estate, ease, health, applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of my country. " He referredto the "kind of power, the exercise of which cost one king of Englandhis head and another his throne. " Such language, publicly spoken, wasnew. His argument was, to Englishmen, irrefutable. No precedent, noEnglish statute, could stand against the Constitution. "This writ, ifdeclared legal, totally annihilates" the privacy of the home. "Custom-house officers might enter our houses when they please, and wecould not resist them. Upon bare suspicion they could exercise thiswanton power. .. . Both reason and the Constitution are against thiswrit. .. . Every act against the Constitution is void. "[11] The speech, continued for four hours, was a brilliant example of keen logic combinedwith burning eloquence. 

This is Otis's great service to the cause of the Revolution. Fiery andmagnetic, but moody and eventually unbalanced, he gave place in thepublic confidence to men perhaps of lesser talents, but with equal zealand steadier purpose. Yet his service was invaluable. His speechexpressed for his countrymen the indignation of the hour, and it pointedthe way to younger men. To one at least of his hearers, John Adams, itwas "like the oath of Hamilcar administered to Hannibal. "[12] To many itwas the final appeal that settled them in their patriotism. For historythe scene has been called the beginning of the Revolution. 

Yet it had no immediate results, for Hutchinson--and the service wasforgotten by neither his friends nor his opponents--secured delay ofjudgment in the case until the English courts could uphold him againsthis wavering associates. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that thepublic indignation secured moderate measures on the part of the customsofficials, since we hear of few complaints. And the affair had itsinfluence on the public attitude toward the Stamp Act, five years later. 

The Stamp Act was the first definite assertion of the right to taxAmerica. In 1763 the Sugar Act had been reënacted, but its provisions, taxing only importations from foreign colonies, yielded little revenue. The king's treasury was already feeling the drains upon it, and a packof eager office-seekers was clamoring to be let loose upon the revenuesof the colonies. Together the king and his friends pushed throughParliament the legislation which was to secure their purposes. To meetany such danger as in the recent French and Indian wars, ten thousandsoldiers were to be quartered on the colonies, which were to pay fortheir maintenance. Certain sops to public sentiment were given, in theshape of concessions, yet new restrictions were laid on foreign trade. And finally and most important, a stamp-tax, the easiest to collect, waslaid on business and legal formalities of all kinds. After its passageno land title might be passed, no legal papers issued, no ship mightclear from a home port, without a stamp affixed to the necessarydocuments. Not even inheritances might be transferred, nor marriages belegalized. 

This was the first internal taxation laid by England on America. A wordis necessary as to the meaning of the phrase in those days. An externaltax, perhaps merely an export duty, was levied and paid in England; itseffect was seen in higher prices in the colonies. Internal taxationwould include all taxes actually paid in America on goods coming fromEngland. The provisions of the Sugar Act were regarded as "traderestrictions, " and not as intended to raise an English revenue. 

There is perhaps no better place to discuss the justice of theRevolution than right here. Even to-day the illegality, the utterwrongfulness of the American position, is occasionally raised among usby those who see the great obligations to the mother country under whichthe colonies lay, and who recall the needless hardships suffered by thewretched Tories, the martyrs of a lost cause. Doubtless wrongs wereinflicted in the course of the struggle, and the great expenditures ofEngland were in large part unrequited. But it must be remembered thatthe world had not yet reached the point where the losers in a war weregently treated, and that no amount of financial obligation will evercompel to the acceptance of political servitude. By habit of mind andforce of circumstances America had developed a political theorypuzzlingly novel to the old world and as yet not thoroughly understoodby the new. It was upon this unformulated theory that all futuredifferences were to arise. It interfered in all affairs in which thequestion arose: Should the colonies be governed, and especially shouldthey be taxed, without a voice in their own affairs?

No one in England doubted that Parliament had a right to tax Americawithout its consent. Customs restrictions were long familiar. As tointernal taxation, why, it was asked, should the colonies have a voicein Parliament? Birmingham and Manchester, great centres of population, were not represented, while that uninhabited heap of stones, Old Sarum, sent a member to the Commons. Resting on these abuses, even Pitt andBurke were content to argue that taxation of America was just. For themit was a question whether that right should be exercised. 

With the best will in the world to be on good terms with the mothercountry, America could not agree in such reasoning. The case had nothingto do with obligations. As for these, the colonists knew that Englandwould never have won against the French in Canada without their aid. Butthat was not the question. Should those who for a hundred andthirty-five years had paid no tax to England pay one now? Were thepeople who for seventy years had drawn a fine distinction between payingtheir governor of their own accord and paying him at the command of theking, and who in every year of royal governorship had made theircontention plain--were they to be satisfied to pay taxes becauseBirmingham did?

Undoubtedly there were other causes for discontent. "To me, " saysSabine, in the preface to his "American Loyalists, " "the documentaryhistory, the state papers of the period teach nothing more clearly thanthis, namely, that almost every matter brought into discussion waspractical, and in some form or other related to LABOR, to some branchof COMMON INDUSTRY. " He reminds us that twenty-nine laws limitedindustry in the colonies, and concludes that "the great object of theRevolution was to release LABOR from these restrictions. " Undoubtedlythese restrictive laws had their effect upon the temper of the people. Undoubtedly also there was much fear lest there should be established inthe colonies a bureaucracy of major and minor officials, corruptly, asin England, winning fortunes for themselves. Yet the question oftaxation, a matter of merely theoretical submission, which produced nohardship and would not impoverish the country, was the main cause oftrouble. The two branches of the race had long unconsciously partedtheir ways, and the realization of it was upon them. 

Upon the proposal of the Stamp Act the colonies did everything in theirpower to prevent the passage of the bill. They urged that internaltaxation had never been levied before. Protests, arguments, andpetitions were sent across the water, but in vain. The Commons fellback upon its custom "to receive no petition against a money bill, " andwould listen to nothing. "We have the power to tax them, and we will taxthem. "[13] And following this utterance of one of the ministry, the billwas passed. 

It is interesting to note that no resistance to the tax was expected. Its operation was automatic; there was no hardship in its provisions; ofcourse the colonists would yield. Even Franklin, who should have knownhis countrymen better, expected submission. "The sun is down, " he wrote, but "we may still light candles. Frugality and industry will go a greatway toward indemnifying us. " His correspondent, Charles Thomson, had inthis case the truer foresight, and predicted the works of darkness. [14]

Throughout the colonies there was not only sorrow, but anger. When evenHutchinson had protested against the Stamp Act, it can be seen how theWhigs would feel. Non-importation agreements were widely signed, andpeople accustomed to silks and laces prepared to go into homespun. Butthe act, passed in February, 1765, was not to go into effect untilNovember. Before that date, much could be done. 

What was done came from the lower as well as the upper classes. Thepeople acted promptly. One colony after another sent crowds to those whohad accepted, in advance, the positions of stamp-officers. One by one, under persuasion or intimidation, the officers resigned until none wereleft. In New York the governor fled to the military for protection, andfrom the parapet of the fort looked helplessly on while the people burntbefore his eyes his own coach, containing images of himself and thedevil. But before this happened, Boston, first of all the capitals totake a positive stand, began to draw upon itself the particularresentment of the king. 

Early in August came to Boston the news of the nomination of itsstamp-collector, Andrew Oliver, long prominent upon the Tory side. Thelower class of the inhabitants, after a week of delay, stirred itself toaction. On the 14th the image of Oliver was seen hanging on the bough ofa large elm, then known as the Great Tree. Hutchinson ordered the imagedown, but as the sheriff did not act, Bernard summoned his council, anduntil evening fruitlessly endeavored to urge them to action. Then thepopulace, having themselves removed the image, came to the Town House, and, passing directly through it, shouted to the council, still sittingupstairs, "Liberty, property, and no stamps!" Proceeding with perfectorder, the crowd next tore down the frame of a building which Oliver wassuspected of raising to use as his office, and, carrying the beams toFort Hill, burnt them and the image before Oliver's house. 

Hutchinson, who never lacked personal courage, called on the militiacolonel to summon his men and disperse the crowd, but the colonelreplied that his drummers were in the mob. Hutchinson then went withthe sheriff to order the crowd to disperse, but was himself forced todepart in order to escape violence. The next day Bernard, the governor, whose courage left him at the very thought of another such night, fledto Castle William, behind whose ancient walls he considered himselfsafe. Oliver hastily resigned his office, lest the mob should visit himagain. 

[Illustration: THE HUTCHINSON HOUSE]

The people were not satisfied with the conduct of Hutchinson, who, although he had actually opposed the passage of the Stamp Act, wasunder suspicion of secretly abetting and profiting by it. After twelvedays there was a second outbreak; the mob began by burning the recordsof the vice-admiralty court, went on to invade the house of thecomptroller of customs, and finally, worked to the usual pitch of amob's courage, attacked Hutchinson's house. With his family he escaped, but the mob broke into the handsome mansion, and sacked it thoroughly. His library, with priceless manuscripts concerning the history of thecolony, was scattered in the mud of the street. 

This was the most disgraceful event that happened in Boston during allthe long period preceding the Revolution. It was due to popular feeling, wrongly directed; and to new working-men's organizations, not as yetunderstanding the task that was before them. These organizations, as yetalmost formless, and never so important that records were kept, calledthemselves the Sons of Liberty, after a phrase used by Isaac Barre, in aspeech in Parliament opposing the Stamp Act. The tree on which they hadhung the image of Oliver was from this time called Liberty Tree. 

The better class of Boston citizens at once, in a town meeting calledthe following morning, declared their "detestation of these violentproceedings, " and promised to suppress them in future. We shall see thatone more such outbreak, and one only, was made by a Boston mob. There ishere suggested an unwritten, perhaps never to be written, chapter of thehistory of this time. By what means did the Boston leaders, Samuel Adamschief among them, manage to control the Boston workmen? However it wasdone, by what conferences and through what reasoning, it is safe to saythat the loose organizations of the Sons of Liberty, and still anotherset of clubs, the caucuses which met in various parts of the town, wereutilized to control the lower classes. We know the names of a few of theleaders of the workmen: Edes the printer, Crafts the painter, and, mostnoted of them all, Paul Revere the silversmith. These sturdy men, andothers in different trades, were the means of transmitting to theartisans of Boston the thoughts and desires of the upper-class Whigs. The organization was looser than that of a political party of to-day, but as soon as it was completed, it produced a subordination, secrecy, and self-control which cannot be paralleled in modern times. 

The opposition to the Stamp Act continued. More formidable than mobswere the actions of the town meetings and legislatures. Protests anddeclarations were solemnly drawn up; for the first time was heard thethreat of disaffection. Representatives from nine provinces met in theStamp Act Congress, and passed resolutions against the new taxation. 

It was impossible for England to ignore the situation. Reluctantly--itwas an act which the king never forgot nor forgave--more than a yearafter its passage, when it was proved that its enforcement wasimpossible, the Stamp Act was repealed. 

This was the time for England to change her whole policy. Not Bostonalone, but all America, had declared against American taxation. Theprinciples of liberty had again and again been clearly pointed out. Further, there would have been no disgrace in admitting a mistake. Thewhole colonial question was new in human history, for Roman practice wasinadmissible. "The best writers on public law, " reasoned Otis, "containnothing that is satisfactory on the natural rights of colonies. .. . Theirresearches are often but the history of ancient abuses. "[15] The naturalrights of man should have been allowed to rule, as in the course oftime, with England's other colonies, they came to do. 

But, for better or for worse, sides had been taken. Few thought ofturning back. In England there were no breaks in the ranks of the king'ssupporters; in America the office-holding class, the "best families, "the people of settled income and vested rights, were as a rule, selfishly or unselfishly, for the king. Already "mobocracy, " "thefaction, " "sedition, " were familiar terms among them. England was readyto take, and the American Tories were ready to applaud, the next step. And Boston was being marked down as the most obnoxious of the towns ofAmerica. [16]

FOOTNOTES:

[10] The adjectives are those of _Massachusettensis_, the ablest Torypamphleteer, as quoted in Frothingham's "Siege, " 33. 

[11] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 5. 

[12] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 7. 

[13] Bancroft's "United States, " v, 247. 

[14] Fiske, "American Revolution, " illustrated edition, i, 17. 

[15] Bancroft's "United States, " v, 203. 

[16] The Castle, or Castle William, referred to in this chapter, was theold fort on Castle Island. It was never put to any other use than as abarracks and magazine. 

CHAPTER III

CHARLES TOWNSHEND, SAM ADAMS, AND THE MASSACRE

Unfortunately, when the Stamp Act was repealed, the way had been leftopen for future trouble. The Rockingham ministry, the most liberal whichcould then be assembled, even in repealing the Stamp Act thought itincumbent upon them to assert, in the Declaratory Act, the right to taxAmerica. The succeeding ministry, called together under the failingPitt, was the means of reasserting the right. Pitt, too ill to supportthe labor of leading his party in the Commons, entered the House ofLords as Earl of Chatham, thus acknowledging the eclipse of fame andabilities which in the previous reign had astounded Europe. It wasduring one of his periods of illness, when he was unable to attend topublic affairs, that a subordinate insubordinately reversed his publicpolicy by proceeding once more to tax America. 

Charles Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was he who hadurged the reënactment of the Sugar Act in 1763, and he now sawopportunity to put through a more radical policy. In violation of allimplied pledges, disdaining restraint from his colleagues, thisbrilliant but unstable politician introduced into Parliament a new billfor raising an American revenue. "I am still, "[17] he declared, "a firmadvocate of the Stamp Act. .. . I laugh at the absurd distinction betweeninternal and external taxation. .. . It is a distinction without adifference; if we have a right to impose the one, we have a right toimpose the other; the distinction is ridiculous in the sight ofeverybody, except the Americans. "

"Everybody, except the Americans!" The phrase, from an important speechat a critical moment, marks the fact that a world of thought dividedthe two parts of the Empire more truly than did the Atlantic. But not asyet so evidently. It is only in unconscious acknowledgments such asthese that we find the English admitting the new classification. Instudying the years before and after this event we find the Americansoften called Puritans and Oliverians, while the possible rise of aCromwell among them is admitted. Yet the parallel, though unmistakablyapt, and containing a serious warning, was never taken to heart, even inAmerica. 

Americans were very slow in approaching the conclusion that colonistshad irrefragable rights. Caution and habit and pride in the name ofEnglishman kept them from it; the colonist, visiting England for thefirst time, still proudly said that he was going "home. " There was noreason why this feeling should ever change, if only the spirit ofcompromise, the basis of the British Constitution, had been kept in mindby Parliament. But the times were wrong. Hesitate as the colonists mightbefore the syllogism which lay ready for completion, its minor andmajor premises were already accepted. That they were Englishmen, andthat Englishmen had inalienable rights, were articles of faith amongthem. The conclusion would be drawn as soon as they were forced to it. And Townshend was preparing to force them. 

Townshend proposed small duties on lead, paints, glass, and paper. Besides this, he withdrew the previous export duty, one shilling perpound, on tea taken from England to America, and instead of this he laidan import duty of threepence per pound. This was ingeniously new, beinginternal taxation in a form different from that of the Stamp Act. At thesame time was abandoned the ancient contention that customs duties werebut trade regulations. The new taxes were obviously to raise an Englishrevenue. For the execution of the new laws provision was made in eachcolony for collectors to be paid directly by the king, but indirectly bythe colonies. The head of these collectors was a board of Commissionersof the Customs, stationed at Boston. It will be seen that thus werebegun new irritations for the colonies, in the shape of duties for thebenefit of England, and of a corps of officials whose dependence on thecrown made sure that they would be subservient tools. 

While this was done, no change was made in the plan to maintain inAmerica an army at colonial expense. Indeed, New York was punished forrefusing to supply to the troops quartered in the city supplies that hadbeen illegally demanded. Its assembly was not allowed to proceed withpublic business until the supplies should be voted. Thus every othercolony was notified what to expect. 

The Revenue Acts were passed in July, 1767. Upon receiving the news thecolonies expressed to each other their discontent. Concerning theCustoms Commissioners Boston felt the greatest uneasiness. "We shallnow, " wrote Andrew Eliot, "be obliged to maintain in luxury sycophants, court parasites, and hungry dependents. " The strongest expression uponthe general situation was in Dickinson's "Farmer's Letters. "[18]"This, " said he, "is an INNOVATION, and a most dangerous innovation. Webeing obliged to take commodities from Great Britain, special dutiesupon their exportation to us are as much taxes as those imposed by theStamp Act. Great Britain claims and exercises the right to prohibitmanufactures in America. Once admit that she may lay duties upon herexportations to us, for the purpose of levying money on us only, shewill then have nothing to do but to lay those duties on the articleswhich she prohibits us to manufacture, and the tragedy of Americanliberty is finished. "

There was but one way to meet the situation. In October the town ofBoston resolved, through its town meeting, to import none of thedutiable articles. The example was followed by other towns until all thecolonies had entered, unofficially, into a non-importation agreement. The question arose, What further should be done? Otis was beginning hismental decline. It was now that Samuel Adams, or Sam Adams, as Bostonbetter loves to call him, came into the leadership which he ever afterexercised. 

He was a man of plain Boston ancestry, whose father had interestedhimself in public affairs, and who, like his son, was of doubtfulbusiness ability. Sam Adams's interests were evident from his boyhood, and when in 1743 he took his degree of Master of Arts at Harvard, hepresented a thesis on the subject: "Whether it be Lawful to resist theSupreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved. "Although he inherited a little property from his father, and althoughfrom the year 1753 he served constantly in public offices, up to theyear 1764 he had scarcely been a success. His patrimony had largelydisappeared; further, as tax-collector he stood, with his associates, indebted to the town for nearly ten thousand pounds. The reason for thisis not clear; the fact has been used to his disadvantage by Toryhistorians, the first of them being Hutchinson, who calls the situationa "defalcation. " But in order to feel sure that the state of affairswas justified by circumstances, we need only to consider that in thesame year Adams was chosen by the town on the committee to "instruct"its representatives, and a year later was himself made a legislator. From that time on, his influence in Boston and Massachusetts politicssteadily grew. 

His political sentiments were never in doubt. In his "instructions" of1764 are found the words: "If Taxes are laid upon us in any shapewithout our having a legal representative where they are laid, are wenot reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable Stateof tributary Slaves?"[19] Throughout the Stamp Act agitation he wasactive in opposing the new measures. He was found to be ready with histongue, but especially so with his pen. For this reason he wasconstantly employed by the town and the Assembly to draft theirresolutions, and some of the most momentous documents of the periodremain to us in his handwriting. When at last, at the beginning of 1768, some one was needed to express the opinion of Massachusetts upon theTownshend Acts, Samuel Adams was naturally looked to as the man for thework. 

He drafted papers which were, one after the other, adopted by theMassachusetts Assembly. The first was a letter of remonstrance, addressed to the colony's agent in London, and intended to be madepublic. It protested, in words seven times revised by the Assembly, against the proposed measures. Similar letters were sent to members ofthe ministry and leaders of English opinion. Another letter wasaddressed to the king. Of the success of this, Adams apparently hadlittle hope, for when his daughter remarked that the paper might betouched by the royal hand, he replied, "More likely it will be spurnedby the royal foot. " The final one of these state papers was a circularletter addressed to "each House of Representatives or Burgesses on thecontinent. " This expressed the opinion of Massachusetts upon the newlaws, and invited discussion. That nothing in this should be consideredunderhanded, a copy of the circular letter was sent to England. 

It is significant that at the same time the new revenue commission senta secret letter to England, protesting against New England townmeetings, "in which the lowest mechanics discussed the most importantpoints of government with the utmost freedom, "[20] and asking fortroops. 

This begins the series of misrepresentations and complaints which, constantly sent secretly to England, became a leading cause of trouble. The working of the old colonial system is here seen in its perfection. Believing in the right to tax and punish, the Ministry appointedofficers of the same belief. These men, finding themselves in hot waterin Boston, were annoyed and perhaps truly alarmed, and constantly urgedharsher measures and the sending of troops. The ministry, listening toits own supporters, and disbelieving the assertions of the AmericanWhigs, more and more steadily inclined toward severity. 

Perhaps no falser idea was created than that Boston was riotous. SaysFiske: "Of all the misconceptions of America by England which broughtabout the American Revolution, perhaps this notion of the turbulence ofBoston was the most ludicrous. " One of the most serious also. The chiefcause was in the timorousness of Bernard, the governor. On the occasionof the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, when, as Hutchinsonsaid, "We had only such a mob as we have long been used to on the Fifthof November, " Bernard wrote that there was "a disposition to the utmostdisorder. " As a crowd reached his house, "There was so terrible a yellit was apprehended they were breaking in. It was not so; however, itcaused the same terror as if it had been so. " That such a letter shouldhave any effect on home opinion is, as Fiske says, ludicrous. Yet themischief caused by these reports is incalculable. "It is the baretruth, " says Trevelyan, "that his own Governors andLieutenant-Governors wrote King George out of America. "[21]

Another little series of incidents at this time shows the officialdisposition to magnify reports of trouble. For some weeks the ship ofwar _Romney_ had lain in the harbor, summoned by the commissioners ofcustoms. That the ship should be summoned was in itself an offence tothe town; but the conduct of the captain, in impressing seamen in thestreets of Boston, was worse. Bad blood arose between the ship's crewand the longshoremen; one of the impressed men was rescued, but thecaptain angrily refused to accept a substitute for another. Trouble wasbrought to a head by the seizure, on the order of the commissioners ofcustoms, of John Hancock's sloop, the _Liberty_, on alleged violation ofregulations. Irritated by the seizure, and by the fact that the sloopwas moored by the side of the _Romney_, a crowd threatened the customshouse officers, broke the comptroller's windows, and, taking a boatbelonging to the collector, after parading with it through the streets, burnt it on the Common. 

This was the second disturbance in Boston which can be called a riot. But it was of small size and short duration; the influence of the Whigleaders, working through secret channels, quieted the mob, and there wasno further trouble. Nevertheless, four of the commissioners of thecustoms seized the occasion to flee to the _Romney_, and to request ofthe governor protection in the Castle, declaring that they dared notreturn. But the remaining commissioner remained undisturbed on shore, and a committee of the council, examining into the matter, found thatthe affair had been only "a small disturbance. " A committee from theBoston town meeting, going in eleven chaises to Bernard at his countryseat, secured from him a promise to stop impressments, and a statementof his desire for conciliation. Nevertheless Bernard, Hutchinson, andthe various officers of the customs, used the incident in their lettershome to urge that troops were needed in Boston. 

This was but an interlude, though an instructive one, in the main courseof events. Massachusetts had protested against the new Acts. The nextissue arose when the Assembly was directed, by the new colonialsecretary, Lord Hillsborough, to rescind its Remonstrance and CircularLetter. The debate on the question was long and important; the demandwas refused by a vote of seventeen to ninety-two. The curious can stillsee, in the Old State House, the punch-bowl that Paul Revere wascommissioned to make for the "Immortal Ninety-two;" and there stillexist copies of Revere's caricature of the Rescinders, with TimothyRuggles at their head, being urged by devils into the mouth of hell. These are indications of the feelings of the times. The immediate resultwas that in June, 1768, Bernard dissolved the house, and Massachusettswas "left without a legislature. " Upon the news reaching England, itwas at last resolved to send troops to Boston. The crisis inMassachusetts was now serious. Against the governor and the expectedtroops stood only the council, with slight powers. Some machinery mustbe devised to meet the emergency, and the solution of the difficulty wasfound by Samuel Adams. His mind first leaped to the ultimate remedy forall troubles, and then found the way out of the present difficulty. 

The ultimate solution was independence. Though in moments of despondencyand exasperation the word had been used by both parties, until now noone had considered independence possible except Samuel Adams. From thisperiod he worked for it, in secret preparing men's minds for the grandchange. According to a Tory accusation made in a later year, Adams"confessed that the independence of the colonies had been the greatobject of his life; that whenever he met a youth of parts he hadendeavored to instil such notions into his mind, and had neglected noopportunity, either in public or in private, of preparing the way forindependence. "[22]

Another Tory source, a deposition gathered when the Tories werepreparing an accusation against Adams, shows the agitator at work. During the affair of the sloop _Liberty_, "the informant observedseveral parties of men gathered in the street at the south end of thetown of Boston, in the forenoon of the day. The informant went up to oneof the parties, and Mr. Samuel Adams, then one of the representatives ofBoston, happened to join the same party near about the same time, trembling and in great agitation. .. . The informant heard the said SamuelAdams then say to the same party, 'If you are men, behave like men. Letus take up arms immediately, and be free, and seize all the king'sofficers. We shall have thirty thousand freemen to join us from thecountry. '"

The statement of the deposition is crude and overdone, yet there can beno doubt that from this time Adams did work for the one great end. Atfirst he was alone, yet he recognized the temper of the continent, andsaw the way that the political sentiments of the country were tending. The methods which he followed were not always open; for never did heavow his true sentiments, while often protesting, on behalf of the townor the province, loyalty to the crown. Doubtless he did train the youngmen up as he saw them inclined. In one case we know that he failed. "Samuel Adams used to tell me, " said John Coffin, a Boston Tory, "'Coffin, you must not leave us; we shall have warm work, and wantyou. '"[23] But in other cases Adams succeeded: one by one John Hancock, Josiah Quincy, Jr. , John Adams, and Joseph Warren were by him broughtinto prominence. And at the same time he began to accustom men's mindsto new methods of political activity. 

This Adams did in the present difficulty, when, in default of theAssembly, he yet needed an expression of the opinion of the province. Through his means was called a convention of the towns of Massachusetts, which met in Faneuil Hall, on the 22d of September, 1768. 

The convention was self-restrained. It called upon the governor toconvene the Assembly, and approved all the acts which had caused theAssembly's dismissal; it resolved to preserve order, and quietlydissolved itself. "I doubt, " said the British Attorney-General, "whetherthey have committed an overt act of treason, but I am sure they havecome within a hair's breadth of it. "

Immediately afterwards arrived the ships with troops. These were landedwith much parade, to find a peaceful town, yet one which from the firstwas able to annoy them. Demand was made for quarters for the soldiers;the Selectmen and Council replied by referring to the law which forbadesuch a requisition until the barracks at Castle William should befilled. By neither subtlety nor threats could the town be induced toyield; the troops camped on the Common until, at great expense, thecrown officials were forced to hire quarters. It was but the beginningof the discomfort of the troops, openly scorned in a town wherethree-quarters of the people were against them. Where few women excepttheir own camp-followers would have to do with the soldiers, where themen despised them and the boys jeered, where "lobster-back" was themildest term that was flung at them, there was no satisfaction inwearing the king's uniform. 

[Illustration: FANEUIL HALL]

Eighteen months of this life wore upon the soldiers. The townsfolkbecame adepts at subtle irritations, against which there was not eventhe solace of interesting occupation; for except for daily drill therewas nothing to do. In time the more violent among the troops were ripefor any affray; while the lower classes among the inhabitants, stanchWhigs and sober livers, were sick of the noisy ribaldry which for solong had made unpleasant the streets of the town. Out of theseconditions grew what has been called the Boston Massacre. 

The best contemporary, and in fact the best general authority for thisevent is the "Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston. " Thiswas published by the town for circulation in England, and is stillextant in Doggett's reprint of 1849, and in Kidder's of 1870. In areport of a special committee the town rehearses both the events of theMassacre and the proceedings which followed it. Seventy-two pages ofdepositions are appended to the report of the committee: no other singleevent of those days is made so vivid to us. 

The Massacre was preceded by minor disturbances. On the second of March, 1770, insults having passed between a soldier and a ropemaker, theformer came to the ropewalk, "and looking into one of the windows said, _by God I'll have satisfaction!_ . .. And at last said he was not afraidof any one in the ropewalks. I"--thus deposes Nicholas Feriter, oflawful age, "stept out of the window and speedily knocked up his heels. On falling, his coat flew open, and a naked sword appeared, which oneJohn Willson, following me out, took from him, and brought into theropewalks. " The soldier returned a second and a third time, each timewith more men from his regiment. At the last they were "headed by a tallnegro drummer, with a cutlass chained to his body, with which, at firstrencounter, " says valiant Nicholas, "I received a cut on the head, butbeing immediately supported by nine or ten more of the ropemakers, armedwith their wouldring sticks, we again beat them off. "

For three days there was, among the two regiments stationed in the town, anger which the inhabitants endeavored to allay by the discharge of theropemaker who gave the original insult, and by agreements made with thecommanding officer, Colonel Dalrymple. But, as afterwards appeared, there were warnings of further trouble. Cautions were given to friendsof the soldiers not to go on the streets at night. The soldiers andtheir women could not refrain from dark hints of violence to come. It iseven possible that violence was concerted. On the night of the fifth anumber of soldiers assembled in Atkinson Street. "They stood very stilluntil the guns were fired in King Street, then they clapped their handsand gave a cheer, saying, 'This is all that we want'; they then ran totheir barracks and came out again in a few minutes, all with their arms, and ran toward King Street. " "I never, " so runs other testimony, "sawmen or dogs so greedy for their prey as these soldiers seemed to be. "

But the affray was of small proportions, and soon over. The actualoutbreak originated in a quarrel between a barber's boy and a sentry, stationed in King Street below the east end of the Town House. [24] Boysand men gathered, the sentry called out the guard, fire-bells were rung, and the crowd increased. The captain of the guard was not the man forthe emergency. Said Henry Knox, afterward general and Secretary of War, "I took Captain Preston by the coat and told him for God's sake to takehis men back again, for if they fired his life must answer for theconsequence; he replied he was sensible of it, or knew what he wasabout, or words to that purpose; and seemed in great haste and muchagitated. " The gathering still increased, there was crowding andjostling, snowballs and possibly sticks were thrown; the soldiers grewangry and the officer uncertain what to do. "The soldiers, " testifiedJohn Hickling, "assumed different postures, shoving their bayonetsfrequently at the people, one in particular pushing against my sideswore he would run me through; I laid hold of his bayonet and told himthat nobody was going to meddle with them. Not more than ten secondsafter this I saw something white, resembling a piece of snow or ice, fall among the soldiers, which knocked the end of a firelock to theground. At that instant the word 'Fire!' was given, but by whom I knownot; but concluded it did not come from the officer aforesaid, as I waswithin a yard of him and must have heard him had he spoken it, but amsatisfied said Preston did not forbid them to fire; I instantly leapedwithin the soldier's bayonet as I heard him cock his gun, which thatmoment went off. .. . I, thinking there was nothing but powder fired, stood still, till . .. I saw another gun fired, and the man since calledAttucks, fall. I then withdrew about two or three yards. .. . During thisthe rest of the guns were fired, one after another, when I saw two morefall. .. . I further declare that I heard no other affront given them thanthe huzzaing and whistling of boys in the street. "

After the firing, other soldiers were summoned to the spot, and moretownspeople appeared. The soldiers, says the official narrative, "weredrawn up between the State House and main guard, their lines extendedacross the street and facing down King Street, where the town peoplewere assembled. The first line kneeled, and the whole of the firstplatoon presented their guns ready to fire, as soon as the word shouldbe given. .. . For some time the appearance of things were dismal. Thesoldiers outrageous on the one hand, and the inhabitants justly incensedagainst them on the other: both parties seemed disposed to come toaction. "

Had the affair gone further, so that the soldiers fired again, or thetownspeople stormed the barracks, then the affray would have resembledthe riots not uncommon in Europe at that time, and known even inEngland. In such a case the turbulence of Boston might have been proved. But the good town was later able to claim that up to the actual breakingout of hostilities not one soldier or Tory had been harmed inMassachusetts. In the present case nothing further happened. Thestubborn people stood their ground, but the eager troops were restrainedand led away. The punishment of the offenders took place according tolaw, with John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr. , leaders of the Whigs, assuccessful defenders of the captain. 

The important consequences were political. Though the people dispersedthat night, they assembled on the morrow in a crowded town meeting, where Samuel Adams guided the actions of the assembly. Adjourning fromFaneuil Hall to the Old South, which itself could not accommodate themall, the throng passed the very spot of the Massacre and under thewindows of the State House, where the lieutenant-governor viewed them. This man was Hutchinson, acting governor in the absence of Bernard, andat last about to arrive at the goal of colonial ambition. 

Thomas Hutchinson has been too much condemned, and of late years almosttoo much commended. He had spent thirty years in the service of thecolony, holding more offices, and more at the same time, than any man ofhis generation. Now he was unpopular and misjudged, yet he was a man forhis day and party honest and patriotic; his end, in exile in England, was one of the tragedies of American loyalty. But though a braver manthan Bernard and more public-spirited, his methods were equallyunderhanded, and he fatally mistook the capacity of his countrymen togovern themselves. A man who could wish for less freedom of speech inEngland was not the man to sympathize with the spirit of Americans. 

He now, backed by a few councillors and officials, was to face Sam Adamsand the Boston town meeting. With a committee from the meeting, Adamscame to the State House to demand the withdrawal of the troops to theCastle. Hutchinson answered that he would withdraw one regiment, but hadnot the power to remove both. Retiring at the head of his committee, Adams passed through a lane of people on his way to the Old South. "Bothregiments or none!" he said right and left as he passed, and every onetook up the word. "Both regiments or none!" cried the meeting. Votinghis report unsatisfactory, it sent him back to the governor to repeathis demand. 

"Now for the picture, " wrote John Adams many years after. "The theatreand the scenery are the same with those at the discussion of the writsof assistance. The same glorious portraits of King Charles the Second, and King James the Second, to which might be added, and should be added, little miserable likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Governor Endicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in obscure corners ofthe room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, commander-in-chief in theabsence of the governor, must be placed at the head of thecouncil-table. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, commander of his majesty'smilitary forces, taking rank of all his majesty's councillors, must beseated by the side of the lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief ofthe Province. Eight-and-twenty councillors must be painted, all seatedat the council-board. Let me see, --what costume? What was the fashion ofthat day in the month of March? Large white wigs, English scarlet-clothcoats, some of them with gold-laced hats; not on their heads indeed inso august a presence, but on the table before them or under the tablebeneath them. Before these illustrious persons appeared SAMUEL ADAMS, amember of the House of Representatives and their clerk, now at the headof the committee of the great assembly at the Old South Church. "[25]

[Illustration: 1722--SAMUEL ADAMS 1803 By John Singleton Copley]

It is this moment that Copley chose to represent Adams. Facing thegovernor, the officers, and the councillors, Adams stood in his simple"wine-colored suit, " and appealed to the charter and the laws. "If youhave power to remove one regiment, you have power to remove both. It isat your peril if you do not. The meeting is composed of three thousandpeople. They are become very impatient. A thousand men are alreadyarrived from the neighborhood, and the country is in general motion. Night is approaching; an immediate answer is expected. "[26]

Hutchinson was a man learned in the history of the province and thepeople, and the occasion had impressed him already. As the meeting hadpassed under his windows on the way to the Old South, a friend at hisside had remarked that this was not the kind of men that had sacked hishouse. He had noted the resolute countenances of the best men of thetown, and had--to use his own words--judged their spirit to be asstrong, and their resolve as high, as those of the men who hadimprisoned Andros. Adams, narrowly watching him now, marked the tumultin Hutchinson's mind. 

"I observed his knees to tremble, " said Adams afterward; "I saw his facegrow pale; and I enjoyed the sight. "[27] For Hutchinson, poorlysupported and irresolute, the strain was too great. He temporized andparleyed, but he thought again of Andros, and gave way. It was acomplete triumph for the town. The troops, until their removal to theCastle could be effected, were virtually imprisoned in their barracks bya patrol of citizens. From that time they bore the name of the "SamAdams regiments. "

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Bancroft, vi, 48. 

[18] Farmer's Letters, quoted in Bancroft, vi, 105. 

[19] Hosmer, "Life of Samuel Adams, " 48. 

[20] Bancroft's "United States, " vi, 128. 

[21] "American Revolution, " Part 1, 43. 

[22] Hosmer's "Life of Adams. "

[23] Sabine's "Loyalists. "

[24] King Street is now State Street, and the Town House is the OldState House. 

[25] Hosmer's "Samuel Adams, " 172. 

[26] Bancroft, vi, 344. 

[27] Bancroft, vi, 345. 

CHAPTER IV

THE TEA-PARTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Step by step the mother country and its colonies were advancing to arupture. The first step was taken at the test concerning the writs ofassistance, the second at the passage of the Stamp Act and its repeal, the third resulted in the Massacre and the withdrawal of the troops fromBoston. Each time the colonies gained the practical advantages whichthey sought; each time the king's party, while yielding, became moreexasperated, and presently tested the strength of the colonies oncemore; and each time it was Boston that stood as the head and front ofopposition. The town was marked for martyrdom. 

In the case of the Townshend Acts, the victory of the colonists wastemporarily complete. The movement had come to a head at Boston in anactual outbreak, the Massacre, which obscured the greater issues;nevertheless the issues were won. America would not submit to the newrevenue laws. Very calmly it had avoided them by refusing to import fromEngland. A thorough test of nearly two years showed that from north tosouth the colonies were almost a unit in rejecting English and foreigngoods, and in relying on home manufactures. From importations of morethan a million and a quarter pounds, two-thirds fell clean away, [28] andthe merchants of England felt the pinch. There was but one thing to do, and England grudgingly did it. The withdrawal of the troops from Bostonwas acquiesced in, and the revenue acts, the cause of all the trouble, were repealed, except for a duty still maintained upon tea. 

The response was such that England was relieved. New York began toimport those articles which had been made free of duty. Thenon-importation agreement was broken, as the colonies perceived. "Youhad better send us your old liberty pole, " wrote Philadelphia scornfullyto New York, "since you clearly have no further use for it. "[29] Whigsand Tories both saw that, the agreement thus broken, other colonieswould follow the example of New York. 

The advantage was now clearly with the king, and he endeavored to makethe most of it, not by abiding in peace, but by taking a further step. He ordered that colonial judges should in future be paid from theEnglish treasury. No one in the colonies could fail to see that the blowwas aimed directly at the independence of the judiciary. 

Massachusetts was alarmed. Boston sent resolutions to the governor, butHutchinson, now at last in the chair, refused to listen to the townmeeting. In this moment of indignation, Samuel Adams conceived a schemewhich was the longest step yet taken toward independence. 

This was the idea of Committees of Correspondence, to be permanentlymaintained by each town and even by each colony. The idea of suchcommittees was not novel. It had been suggested years before by JonathanMayhew, and had more than once been used in emergencies. But permanentcommittees, watching affairs and at any time ready to act, were new. Naturally composed of the best men in each town, they would at all timesbe ready to speak, and to speak vigorously. The plan, when perfected, eventually enabled the colonies to act as a unit. From the first it gavestrength to the Americans; in the present instance it spread the news ofthe king's action and roused indignation, and before long it broughtabout an act which startled the English-speaking world. 

This was the Boston Tea-Party. The king had a hand in making the firehot. He had been vexed by his unsuccessful tariff, and was nowespecially irritated that his concessions had brought about no result inone important particular. 

Until the present every shipmaster had been a smuggler, and all theWhigs dealt in smuggled goods. This was according to old Englishpractice, but as a matter of fact illicit trade was more decorous inAmerica than in England. Whereas in Cornwall the forces of the smugglerswere so strong that they chased the revenue cutters into harbors andlanded their goods by bright moonlight, in America the appearances oflegality were gravely preserved. 

Nevertheless the result was the same, and in one quarter was actuallyserious. The recent tariff had brought to the royal treasury scarcelythree hundred pounds from tea. The situation was no better now that thetea-duty was the only one remaining. So completely did America, whilestill drinking tea in quantity, avoid the duly imported article, thatthe revenue of the East India Company fell off alarmingly. On patheticrepresentations of the financial state of the company, the king gavepermission, through a subservient Parliament, for the company to exporttea to America free even of the English duty. The company had losthundreds of thousands of pounds since the Townshend Acts went in force;now by favorable terms it was to be enabled to undersell in the colonialmarket even the smuggled teas. Taking advantage of this new ruling, teawas promptly shipped, in the autumn of 1773, to different consignees inBoston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. 

It was confidently expected that the colonies would buy the tea. No onein the government supposed that the Americans would be blind to theirown interests. This much, indeed, was admitted by the leaders among theWhigs, that once the tea was on sale Yankee principle might be sorelytempted by Yankee thrift. Indignant at the insidious temptation, determined that no such test should be made, and resenting theestablishment of a practical monopoly throughout the colonies, theleaders resolved that the tea should not be landed. 

It is an odd fortune that connected the Chinese herb so closely withthe struggle of principle in America. To this day, while the issues areobscured in the mind of the average American, he remembers the tax ontea, and that his ancestors would not pay it. Picturesque tales ofladies' associations depriving themselves of their favorite beverage, ofmen tarring and feathering unpopular tradesmen, have survived thehundred and thirty odd years which have passed since then; and theimpression is general that the colonists would not pay a tax which boreheavy on them. But it will be noticed by those who have attentively readthis account that the colonists were refusing to pay less, in order thatthey might have the satisfaction of paying more. They balked, not at theamount of the tax, but at its principle. 

In the case of the tea-ships the duty of action fell upon Boston. Charleston and Philadelphia had taken a positive stand resolving not toreceive the tea; but the ships were due at Boston first. The eyes ofthe continent were upon this one town. Boston made ready to act, yet ofthe preparations we know nothing. While the story as it is told isinteresting enough, there is no record of the secret meetings in whichthe events were prepared. Hints are dropped, and it is asserted thatwithin the Green Dragon tavern, a favorite meeting-place of the Whigs, were finally decided the means by which the workmen of the town shouldcarry out the plans of the leaders. But of these meetings nothing ispositively known; all we can say with certainty is that the plans workedperfectly, and that Sam Adams must have had a hand in their making. 

The Sons of Liberty took the first step toward forcing the consignees ofthe tea to resign. "Handbills are stuck up, " writes John Andrews, "calling upon Friends! Citizens! and Countrymen!" To Liberty Tree the"freemen of Boston and the neighboring towns" were invited, by placardand advertisement, "to hear the persons, to whom the tea shipped by theEast India Company is consigned, make a public resignation of theiroffice as consignees, upon oath. "[30]

But the consignees did not come, though the freemen did. Thetownspeople, forming themselves into a "meeting, " sent a committee tothe consignees, demanding that they refuse to receive the tea. But theconsignees believed themselves safe. They were merchants of family andproperty, the governor's sons were among them, and it was rumored thatHutchinson had a pecuniary interest in the success of the venture. Theyrefused to give the pledge. 

The official town meeting now took up the matter. Before the teaarrived, and again after the appearance of the first ship, the towncalled upon the consignees to resign. Each time the consignees refused. The second town meeting, after thus acting in vain, dissolved withoutthe customary expression of opinion. Hutchinson himself records that"this sudden dissolution struck more terror into the consignees than themost minatory resolves. " From that moment the matter was in the handsof the Boston Committee of Correspondence. 

By means of the committee, at whose head was Adams, communication washeld with the towns throughout Massachusetts. The province was greatlyexcited, and repeated demands for resignation were made upon theconsignees, but they clung to their offices and the hope of profit. Delays were skilfully secured, and the first ship was entered at thecustoms, after which according to law it must within twenty days eitherclear for England or land its cargo. The governor was resolved not togrant a clearance, and rejoiced over his opponents. "They findthemselves, " he said, "in invincible difficulties. "

But everything was prepared. To the last minute of the twenty days theWhigs were patient. Petition after petition, appeal after appeal, wentto the governor or the consignees. There was no success. On the lastday, the 16th of December, 1773, all three of the tea-ships were atGriffin's Wharf, watched by the patriots. A town meeting, the largest inthe history of Boston, crowded the Old South, and again resolved thatthe tea should not be landed. "Who knows, " asked John Rowe, "how teawill mingle with salt water?" The remark was greeted with cheers, yetone more legal step might be taken, and the meeting, sending Rotch, themaster of the first tea-ship, to the governor at Milton to ask for aclearance, patiently waited while he should traverse the fifteen milesof his journey. During the hours of his absence there was nodisturbance; when he returned, the daylight had gone, and the Old Southwas lighted with candles. Seven thousand people were silent to hear thereport. It was brief, and its meaning was clear: the governor hadrefused; the last legal step had been taken. Then Samuel Adams rose. 

"This meeting, " he declared, "can do nothing more to save the country. "

It was the expected signal. Immediately there was a shout from theporch, and the warwhoop sounded out of doors. The meeting poured out ofdoors and followed some fifty men in the garb of Indians, who suddenlyappeared in the street. They hurried to Griffin's Wharf. There theyposted guards, took possession of the tea-ships, and hoisting the chestsfrom the holds, knocked them open and emptied the tea into the water. Under the moon the great crowd watched in silence, there was nointerference from the troops or the war-ships, and in three hours thelast of the tea was overboard. Nothing remained except what had siftedinto the shoes of some of the "Indians, " to be preserved as mementoes ofthe day. 

"They say, " wrote John Andrews dryly two days later, "that the actorswere _Indians_ from _Narragansett_. Whether they were or not, to atransient observer they appear'd as _such_, being cloath'd in Blanketswith the heads muffled, and copper color'd countenances, being eacharm'd with a hatchet or axe, and pair pistols, nor was their _dialect_different from what I conceive these geniusses to _speak_, as theirjargon was unintelligible to all but themselves. Not the least insultwas offer'd to any person, save one Captain Conner, a letter of horsesin this place, not many years since remov'd from _dear Ireland_, who hadript up the lining of his coat and waistcoat under the arms, andwatching his opportunity had nearly fill'd 'em with tea, but beingdetected, was handled pretty roughly. They not only stripp'd him of hiscloaths, but gave him a coat of mud, with a severe bruising into thebargain; and nothing but their utter aversion to make _any_ disturbanceprevented his being tar'd and feather'd. "

Such was the Boston Tea-Party, "the boldest stroke, " said Hutchinson, "that had yet been struck in America. " Much has been written about it. It has been minimized into a riot and magnified into a deed of glory. Asa matter of fact, it was neither the one nor the other, yet if either itwas nearer the latter. Carried out by Boston mechanics, but doubtlessdirected by Boston leaders, it was a cool and deliberate law-breaking, the penalty for which, could the offenders but have been discovered, would have been severe. But none of the actors in the affair werebetrayed at the time, though hundreds in the town must have had positiveknowledge of their identity. Names, like those of the burners of the_Gaspee_ eighteen months before, were not given out until after theRevolution, and even to-day the list of them is not complete. 

The project of the king and the East India Company was a failure. In oneway or other the other three seaports either destroyed or sent backtheir tea. But Boston was the first and most violent offender. It was onher that punishment was to descend. 

The news of the Tea-Party came to England at a time when king andParliament were less amiably disposed than usual toward Massachusetts. Some weeks before had happened the affair of the Hutchinson letters. Benjamin Franklin, then Postmaster-General of England, and agent forMassachusetts, had secured possession of certain letters written byGovernor Hutchinson and by others in office in the colony. These lettersproved beyond doubt that the Massachusetts officials had been secretlyurging upon the home government repressive measures against the colony. This was but what Bernard had done, and what had been suspected of hissuccessor; yet the actual proof was too much for Franklin. He sent theletters, under pledge of secrecy, home to be read by the leaders amongthe Massachusetts Whigs. But the pledge of secrecy could not be kept. The letters were read in the Assembly and then published. "He hadwritten, " says Bancroft of Hutchinson, "against every part of theConstitution, the elective character of the Council, the annual choiceof the Assembly, the New England organization of the towns; had advisedand solicited the total dependence of the judiciary on the Crown, hadhinted at making the experiment of declaring Martial Law, and ofabrogating English liberty; had advised to the restraint of thecommerce of Boston and the exclusion of the Province from thefisheries. "[31] Hutchinson's defence was that he "had never wrote anypublic or private letter that tends to subvert the Constitution. " But hewas thinking of the Constitution rather than the Charter. The provincewas thoroughly roused, and sent to England a firm yet respectfulpetition demanding his dismissal. 

But Hutchinson had been serving the king as the king wished to beserved. The wrath of the government fell upon Franklin. In a crowdedmeeting of the Privy Council, with scant respect for the forms of law, Franklin was subjected to elaborate abuse. There were none to defend himwho could gain a respectful hearing; he stood immovable under thetongue-lashing of the Solicitor-General, and made no reply. "I havenever, " he said afterwards, "been so sensible of the power of a goodconscience, for if I had not considered the thing for which I have beenso much insulted, as one of the best actions of my life, and what Ishould certainly do again in the same circumstances, I could not havesupported it. "[32] The suit which he wore that day he put carefullyaway, and did not wear it again until as Commissioner for the UnitedStates he signed in Paris the treaty of alliance with France. 

Franklin was deprived of his office under the crown, and the king whodirected the punishment, the council who condemned him, and theParliament which cheered them both on, were not yet satisfied. When thenews of the Tea-Party came, they felt that their chance had come tostrike at the real culprit. The king consulted General Gage, who wasfresh from Boston, and listened eagerly to his fatally mistaken accountof the situation. "He says, " wrote the king to Lord North, "'They willbe lions while we are lambs; but if we take the resolute part they willundoubtedly prove very meek. ' Four regiments sent to Boston will, hethinks, be sufficient to prevent any disturbance. "[33] On such a basisthe king and his prime minister planned the laws which should punish thetown of Boston. 

The first act was the Boston Port Bill. It closed the port to allcommerce until the East India Company should be paid for its tea, andthe king satisfied that the town was repentant. Nothing except food andfuel was to be brought to the town in boats; in fact, as Lord Northpromised the Commons, Boston was to be removed seventeen miles from theocean. For Salem was made the port of entry, and there the governor andthe collector, the surveyor and the comptroller, and all underlings wereto go. It was planned to station war-ships in Boston Harbor to enforcethe law. 

The second law was the "Bill for the better Regulating the Government ofthe Massachusetts Bay, " generally called the Regulating Act. Thisvirtually swept away the charter of Massachusetts. It provided firstthat the Council was to be appointed by the king, and next that withoutthe consent of the Council the governor might appoint or remove allofficers of justice, from judges to constables. By the provisions of thelaw even the jury lists could be controlled by appointive officers. Finally town meetings were made illegal throughout the province, exceptfor the election of town officers, and other necessary local business. 

The third proposal of the government was a bill "for the ImpartialAdministration of Justice, " in proposing which "it was observed thatLord North trembled and faultered at every word of his motion. " Itprovided that magistrates, officers, or soldiers might be tried for"murder, or any other capital offence, " in Great Britain. 

The fourth act made provision for quartering troops in Boston. 

The bills went through Parliament without much opposition. SaysTrevelyan, "Even after the lapse of a century and a quarter the debatesare not pleasant reading for an Englishman. "[34] It was assumed thatthe punishment was just, and that not only Boston but also the wholecontinent would take it meekly. A few voices were raised in protest, butas a rule even the Opposition was silent. One by one the bills becamelaw. One more step was taken toward separation. 

FOOTNOTES:

[28] Trevelyan, "American Revolution, " Part I, 104. 

[29] "A Card from the Inhabitants of Philadelphia, " Bancroft, vi, 366. 

[30] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 45. 

[31] Bancroft, vi, 461, 462. 

[32] Bancroft, vi, 498. 

[33] Avery, "History of the United States, " v, 190. 

[34] "American Revolution, " Part I, 181. 

CHAPTER V

THE OCCUPATION OF BOSTON

Early in May of 1774 Hutchinson, ostensibly called to England to advisethe king, gave up his offices in Massachusetts. His exile wasapproaching. Never again was he to see the fair hill of Milton, nor tolook from its top upon the town and harbor that he loved. The Whigsexulted over the fall of "the damn'd arch traitor;" yet surely, thoughas an official he failed in his task, and as a patriot misread thetemper and the capacity of his countrymen, he commands our pity. Amidthe booming of the cannon which welcomed his successor he prepared forhis departure. Except for his pathetic letters and journals he made nofurther mark upon his times or ours. His Milton estate remains, but hishouse is gone, and the very street that he lived on bears the name ofAdams, his most persistent enemy. 

Hutchinson's successor was Thomas Gage, the first governor sent toBoston with an army at his back. He was well known in the colonies, forhe had fought well at Braddock's defeat, had married an American wife, and was courteous and affable. It remained to be seen whether one of hishesitating temperament could meet the situation. With four regiments hehad undertaken to pacify Massachusetts. He had his four regiments andmore, yet he must occasionally have wondered why he found no more signsof weakness in the ranks of his opponents. 

At this time there were in Boston four chief classes of Whigs. The firstwere the ministers, and these for many years had been American to thecore. As the first settlers of Massachusetts, whether Puritan orPilgrim, had fled away from prelacy, so their spiritual descendantsstill hated the name of bishop. In fact, episcopacy in New England wasstill weak, and its greater part was concentrated in Boston itself. Some few of its ministers preached submission; but they either had tocontent themselves with Tory congregations, or lost their pulpits, orhad them boarded up against them. The wiser part was taken by most inavoiding politics. The sole Congregational minister who supported theking was Mather Byles, famed for his witticisms, and he likewisedeclined to bring into the pulpit any mention of the affairs of the day. "In the first place, " he told those who demanded an expression of hisopinion, "I do not understand politics; in the second place you all do, every man and mother's son of you; in the third place you have politicsall the week, so pray let one day in the seven be devoted to religion;in the fourth place I am engaged in work of infinitely greaterimportance. Give me any subject to preach on of more consequence thanthe truth I bring to you, and I will preach on it next Sabbath. "[35]

Gage's support from the pulpit was therefore weak, while at the sametime the opposition from the same source was strong. Those countryministers who were of the political creed of Sam Adams confessed it eachSabbath, and desisted not on week days from strengthening the wills oftheir congregations. More than that, like their predecessors in oldertimes, many held chaplaincies in the militia, and on training daysturned out, not only to approve by their presence the object of thedrill, but also to stir the spirit of the homespun soldiery by prayersto the God of Moses, and of Joshua, and of David. Those in Boston, underthe very nose of the general and in the presence of his soldiery, abatednothing of their zeal, but preached resistance as before. Gage, as helooked among them for signs of wavering, could have found very littlecomfort. 

The lawyers next, like the clergymen, had supplied the Whigs much oftheir strength. Surely, up to the present the patriot party had beendistinguished by pliancy and persistence. These characteristics had comefrom the lawyers, whose rejoinders and remonstrances, petitions, resolves, and appeals were familiar professional devices. Yet Gage mighthave found hope in these men. For the purpose of all their delays hadbeen compromise, and their hope was the avoidance of bloodshed. Thelawyers had showed, too, a love of fair play; for while they pressed theTories hard, they had also taken the lead in protesting against mobviolence. Again, leading Whig lawyers had defended--and acquitted--theperpetrators of the Massacre. Possibly such men might be made to seereason. 

A more numerous class than the lawyers was made up of the merchants, small and large. Some few of these men had made their own way in theworld, yet most of them may almost have been said to have heldhereditary positions in the provincial aristocracy. By far the largernumber of them were Whigs, some of considerable estate, others--likethat John Andrews from whose letters I have already quoted and shallquote more--were men of moderate means, shrewdly working for a"competency. " Gage, looking forward to the enforcement of the PortBill, could see that these men would be hard hit. While they had so farbeen firm in the colonial cause, the coming temptation to desert theirparty would be very strong. Income, security, and the favor of the kingawaited them. 

At the end of this series was the largest class of all, the mechanics. Until now these men had been eager in their demonstrations againsttechnical oppression--which yet was technical after all. No Boston Whighad ever known a tithe of the wrongs of the French peasant or theRussian serf. No laboring class on earth enjoyed or ever had enjoyedgreater freedom or less hampered prosperity. But with the enforcement ofthe Port Bill all this would change. Gage hoped, and the Toriesdeclared, that the mechanics, so soon as pressure was applied, would"fall away from the faction. "

The first results of the new régime were not promising. To begin with, on the news of the passage of the Port Bill the Committee ofCorrespondence of Boston called a meeting of the committees of theneighboring towns. This meeting scouted the idea of paying for the tea, and in a circular letter to the other colonies proposed a generalcessation of trade with Great Britain. Similarly the town meeting ofBoston discussed the situation, pronounced against the Port Bill, andappealed to all the sister colonies, entreating not to be left to sufferalone. In more homely language the merchants appealed to their friends. "Yes, Bill, " wrote John Andrews to his brother-in-law in Philadelphia, "nothing will save us but an entire stoppage of trade, both to Englandand the West Indies. .. . The least hesitancy on your part _to theSoutherd_, and the matter is over. "

There was little hesitancy. The suggestion made by the Boston Whigs wastaken up, and the maritime towns, which had been expected to takeadvantage of Boston's predicament, began to discontinue trade, notmerely with Great Britain, but also with the West Indies. Then Salem, which was to be the capital in place of Boston, formally repudiated theidea of profiting by the situation. The news spread to the othercolonies, and they began to act. New York proposed, and the sisterprovinces agreed in, a call for "a general Congress. " In less than amonth after the coming of the news of the Port Bill, Boston was assuredthat the continent would not leave her to suffer alone. 

But then, on the first of June, 1774, the Port Bill went into effect. Soliterally was it interpreted, that all carriage by boat in the harborwas forbidden. No owner of a pasture on the harbor islands might bringhis hay to the town; no goods might be brought across any ferry; noteven carriage by water from wharf to wharf in the town was allowed. Further, while food and fuel, according to the provisions of the act, might be brought to Boston by water, all vessels carrying them wereforced to go through troublesome formalities. They must report at thecustoms in Salem, unload, load again, and receive a clearance forBoston. Returning, they might carry enough provision to last them onlyto Salem. Besides all this, the Commissioners of Customs at Salemundertook to decide when Boston had enough provisions. The blockade, asenforced by them and the ships of war in Boston Harbor, was minutelycomplete and vexatious. 

Yet at their mildest its provisions were complete enough. Trade by seawith the town was stopped. Consequently, so maritime were the town'sactivities, prosperity was instantly checked. All the workersimmediately dependent on the sea for a living, sailors, wharfingers, longshoremen, and fishermen, were at once thrown out of employment. Thenby a severe interpretation of the act all ship-building was stopped, since the authorities declared that, on launching, any boat would beconfiscated. The shipyards shut down, the boats ready to launch werefilled with water "for their preservation, "[36] and ship-carpenters, calkers, rope-makers, and sailmakers were thrown out of work. Muchmisery to the unemployed would have been the result but for theforethought of the patriot leaders. 

These men, early realizing the threatened hardship, called for help fromthe rest of the country. The response was prompt. "A special chronicle, "says Bancroft, "could hardly enumerate all the generous deeds. " WhileLord North, fresh from an interview with Hutchinson, cheered the kingwith the belief that the province would soon submit, South Carolina wassending a cargo of provisions in a vessel offered for the purpose by theowner, and sailed without wages by the captain and her crew. Sheep weredriven into Boston from all New England; provisions of every kind werebrought in; wheat was sent by the French in Quebec; money was subscribedand sent from the more distant points. All supplies thus received wereput in the hands of a donation committee, who distributed the gifts tothe needy. 

Yet in spite of such relief as this, and though for a short timeemployment was given to workmen by permitting them to finish, launch, rig, and send away the ships then on the stocks, the situation was hardat best. It was felt not only by the lower classes, but by themerchants, whose profits ceased, and by all who depended for theirincome on the current trade and activity of the town. Gossipy JohnAndrews gives us the situation as it affected him. "If you'll believe me(though I have got near two thousand sterling out in debts and about asmuch more in stock), I have not received above eighty or ninety poundsLawful money from both resources for above two months past; thoughprevious to the port's being shut, I thought it an ordinary day's workif I did not carry home from twenty to forty dollars every evening. " Solittle ready money circulated in the town "that really, Bill, I thinkmyself well off to satisfy the necessary demands of my family, and youmay as well ask a man for the teeth out of his head as to request thepayment of money that he owes you (either in town or country, for weare alike affected), for you'll be as likely to get the one as theother. "[37]

Now was, indeed, the time to discover the weak points in the cause andorganization of the Americans. Even strong Whigs were at timesdiscontented, and chiefly among the middle class, without whom theleaders could have no strong support. Much of the distress of theshopkeepers and merchants came from the "Solemn League and Covenant"which, proposed on the first news of the Port Bill, was now in actualoperation. Andrews's case must have been typical of many. He hadcountermanded all goods on the news of the Port Bill, and acquiesced inthe non-importation agreement: "but upon y^e measure not being adoptedby the Southern Colonies, I embraced the first opportunity andre-ordered about one-fourth part of such goods as I thought would be inmost demand, and behold! in about three or four weeks after that, Iheard of y^e amazing progress the non-consumption agreement had madethrough y^e country; which, in my opinion, has serv'd rather to createdissensions among ourselves than to answer any valuable purpose. "

Many of the Tories held the same opinion. Could not the waverers, theyasked Gage, be induced to change their political faith, and especiallycould not the leaders be tempted?

Among these leaders the influence of Otis was waning. He had always beeneccentric and unreliable, and now his intellect was threatened. Anassault upon him had nearly ruined both his health and his reason. Buthis place had been taken by others. Samuel Adams, John Adams, JosephWarren, and John Hancock were the men whose names were oftenestmentioned. Sinister rumors were frequent that Gage had been directed toseize them and deport them to England. Whether or not more evidenceagainst them was needed, no arrest was as yet attempted. Instead, in atleast three quarters there was some hope of corruption. 

Warren the general left untempted; it is no small tribute to thepatriot's character that there could be no doubt of his integrity. Warren was not yet thirty-five years old, was of good social position, had an excellent practice and an assured future. His temperament wasfrank and manly, and so enthusiastic as to be fiery. Once already, onthe anniversary of the Massacre in 1772, he had addressed the townmeeting in condemnation of the government measures; on many otheropportunities, before and since, he had either spoken in public orexpressed his opinions through the press. While no advocate of violence, he was unreservedly a Whig, and nothing could be made of him. So far asis known, no attempt was made to corrupt him. 

The case of John Adams was different, at least to Tory eyes. He wasambitious: no one who knew him could doubt that he was conscious of hisown ability. Further, he was poor, with a growing family to support; hewas known, with the troubled times which he clearly foresaw, to beanxious for his children's future. Surely there was a possibility thatAdams might be wise, and be tempted to the safer course; and fortunatelythere was at hand an instrument to induce him to become a Tory. Adamswas the close personal friend of Jonathan Sewall, the king'sattorney-general for the province, and an admirable character. Thechance of distinction, the certainty of prosperity, and theimportunities of such a friend, might in the end persuade Adams. 

Of John Hancock it was often argued among the Tories that he mightalmost be left to himself. If Adams was ambitious, Hancock was more so;known to be vain, he was believed to be jealous by nature. With theseweaknesses, he was also instinctively an aristocrat. How long, asked theTories, would he continue to consort with men of low social position?How soon would he rebel at being led by the nose by the wily Adams?Position and influence were ready for him as soon as he chose to goover to the king. The bait was always plain, and he might be counted oneventually to take it. 

Even Samuel Adams, so reasoned the advisers of Gage, might be bought. For Adams was poor. In his devotion to public affairs he had let hisbusiness go to ruin, had seen his money melt away, had even sold offparts of his own house-lot. His sentiments were, no better known inBoston than his threadbare clothes. His sole income was from his salaryas clerk of the house of representatives, only a hundred pounds a year. To the new governor it was the most natural thing in the world tosuppose that the discontent of such a man could soon be removed. Heforgot Hutchinson's words: "Such is the obstinacy and inflexibledisposition of the man, that he never would be conciliated by any officeor gift whatever. "[38]

Gage sent, therefore, Colonel Fenton to Adams with offers which wouldtempt any man that had a price. No definite knowledge of theinducements has come down to us: money, place, possibly even a patent ofnobility. We know, however, that they were coupled with a threat in theform of advice to make his peace with the king. And we can imagine Adamsas, rising from his seat, and standing with the habitual nervous tremorof head and hands which often led his adversaries to mistake his mettle, he delivered his fearless reply. 

"Sir, I trust I have long since made my peace with the King of kings. Nopersonal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause ofmy country. Tell Governor Gage that it is the advice of Samuel Adams tohim no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people!"[39]

And this was in the face of a situation the like of which had never beenknown in America. "Notwithstanding which, " wrote John Andrews, "thereseems to be ease, contentment, and perfect composure in the countenanceof almost every person you meet in the streets, which conduct very muchperplexes the Governor and others, our lords and masters, that they aregreatly puzzled, and know not what to do or how to act, as they expectedvery different behaviour from us. "

There is but one explanation of such a state of mind in the Whigs, inthe face of the evidently approaching trial. Their consciences wereclear. This revolution, when finally it came about, was quite within thespirit of the British Constitution. The Whigs believed they were right, and had no fear of the consequences. No testimony to their virtues, asthe backbone of a new nation, will speak louder than their presentattitude. External testimony is not hard to quote. "The people of Bostonand Massachusetts Bay, " wrote Thomas Hollis but a few weeks before thistime, "are, I suppose, take them as a body, the soberest, most knowing, virtuous people at this time upon earth. " Other English opinion to thesame effect, and French admiration by the chapter, might be quoted. Yeta truer proof of the quality of the people is to be found in the calmself-confidence which "very much perplexed" the governor. 

One more comment may safely be ventured here. Before two years were overit was known that Gage, and perhaps even Hutchinson during hisadministration, had had the most complete information of the secretdoings of the Whig leaders. In fact, even the deliberations of theworkmen's caucuses must have been known to Gage. That no arrests weremade can mean but one thing: that the Whigs were honest in theirendeavor to work their ends by legal means. Samuel Adams may haveforeseen the eventual outcome, and knowing it to be inevitable may havestriven to make it speedy and complete. But there was no general schemefor independence, no plot for a revolt. "The Father of the Revolution"laid his plans in silence, and waited for the ripening of the times. 

Gage and his advisers, "greatly puzzled, " also watched the crystallizingof opinion. Of the temper of the Bostonians, although oppressed by thePort Bill, there could presently be no doubt. Emboldened by the presenceof troops in the town, the Tories called town meetings, first to resolveto pay for the tea, and then to dismiss the Committee of Correspondence. These two actions, if taken, would have totally changed the situation. The meetings were crowded, every courtesy was shown the Tories, and inthe second meeting, since Adams was absent, the Whigs had to be contentwith the leadership of Warren. But there was no hesitation in eithercase. The first meeting rejected the proposal to pay for the tea. In thesecond the discretion of Warren proved equal to his zeal, his managementof the meeting was perfect, and the vote upheld the Committee ofCorrespondence by a large majority. 

The next action explains the absence of Adams from Boston at such animportant time. According to the new laws, the Assembly met at Salem, under the eye of the governor and in the presence of his troops. Gageknew very well that a call had been sent throughout the colonies for anelection of delegates to a general Congress which should deliberate onthe present situation. He had no intention that delegates should beelected from Massachusetts. He had partisans in the Assembly, and aninformant on the committee to introduce legislation. Every move wasreported to him. Never did Sam Adams dissemble more cleverly. So dulland spiritless did public matters seem, that Gage's informant thought itsafe to go home on private business. Then Adams acted. Quietly layinghis plans, on the morning of the seventeenth of June, 1774, he lockedthe door of the chamber and proposed that the Assembly elect delegatesto the Continental Congress. A Tory pleaded sickness and hurried to Gagewith the news; but the door was again locked, and the businessproceeded. Though the governor sent his secretary with a messagedissolving the Assembly, the secretary knocked in vain. The doors werenot opened until delegates had been elected to the Congress, a tax laidto pay their expenses, and resolutions passed exhorting the province tostand firm. 

One of the delegates-elect was John Adams. For years he had declined tohold public office, and had even avoided town meetings. There was now anatural Tory hope that he might refuse this office; there was even alast chance to wean him from the Whig cause, for he was presently toride on circuit, and there would meet his friend Sewall. When the twomet, the Tory reasoned earnestly, pointing out the irresistible power ofGreat Britain. But Adams was ready with his answer. "Sink or swim, liveor die, survive or perish with my country is my unalterabledetermination. "[40] And so went another hope of the Tories. 

The summer of 1774 wore along, with no improvement in the situation. Rather it became worse. So much time had elapsed without definite newsof the passing of the Regulating Act, that there was hope that themeasure had failed. But early in August came news of its passage, andwith it a list of appointments for the new Council. The appointees wereall chosen from among the Tories, or from those inclined to the king'sside. "It is apprehended, " wrote Andrews, "that most of 'em willaccept. "

Now at last it was natural to suppose that the Whigs had come to the endof their resources. Their Assembly was dissolved, a Tory held eachappointive position, Boston was filled with soldiers, and the harbor wasguarded by ships of war. Active opposition to the troops would have beenmadness, and it seemed impossible to conduct even the ordinary businessof the town, for now town meetings might legally be called only for thepurpose of electing officers. Yet when Gage called the selectmen beforehim, and graciously indicated his willingness to allow meetings forcertain harmless purposes, the reply surprised him. There was no need, said the selectmen, to ask his permission for a meeting: they had onein existence already. In fact they had two, the May meeting and the Junemeeting, each legally called before the enforcement of the RegulatingAct, and each legally "adjourned" until such time as it was needed. Thetechnical subterfuge was too much for Gage, and the adjournmentscontinued in spite of the law. 

As the Massachusetts delegates prepared for their journey toPhiladelphia, where the Congress was to be held, there occurred, if wecan believe the story told by John Andrews--it was certainly believed inBoston at the time--a demonstration of affection for Samuel Adams. "Fornot long since some persons (their names unknown) sent and ask'd hispermission to build him a new barn, the old one being decay'd, which wasexecuted in a few days. A second sent to ask leave to repair his house, which was thoroughly effected soon. A third sent to beg the favor of himto call at a taylor's shop and be measur'd for a suit of cloaths andchuse his cloth, which were finish'd and sent home for his acceptance. A fourth presented him with a new whig, [41] a fifth with a new Hatt, asixth with a pair of the best silk hose, a seventh with six pair of finethread ditto, a eighth with six pair shoes, and a ninth modestlyinquired of him whether his finances want rather low than otherways. Hereply'd it was true that was the case, but he was very indifferent aboutthese matters, so that his _poor_ abilities was of any service to thePublick; upon which the Gentleman obliged him to accept of a pursecontaining about 15 or 20 Johannes. " It is possible that theseattentions to Adams grew out of the desire that he, so well known inBoston that his shabbiness meant nothing, should appear well at theCongress, where his dress might prejudice others against him. True ornot, this little story has its significance, for, says Andrews to hiscorrespondent, "I mention this to show you how much he is esteem'd here. They value him for his _good_ sense, _great_ abilities, _amazing_fortitude, _noble_ resolution, and _undaunted_ courage: being firm andunmov'd at all the various reports that were propagated in regard to hisbeing taken up and sent home, [42] notwithstanding he had repeatedletters from his _friends_, both in England as well as here, to keep outof the way. "

If the governor desired to arrest Adams, he had plenty of opportunity. There was even a public occasion to take all the delegates together, when they left the town on their way to Philadelphia. "A veryrespectable parade, " wrote Andrews, "in sight of five of the Regimentsencamp'd on the Common, being in a coach and four, preceded by two whiteservants well mounted and arm'd, with four blacks behind in livery, twoon horseback and two footmen. " Perhaps Gage breathed a sigh of reliefwith the "brace of Adamses" away, but his real troubles were onlybeginning. 

Massachusetts would have nothing to do with the newly appointedofficers. The thirty-six councillors, appointed under writ of mandamus, excited the most indignation. Of the Boston nominees thirteen accepted, two declined, and four took time to consider; throughout the provincethe proportion was about the same. But those who wavered and those whoaccepted presently heard from their neighbors. Leonard of Taunton, hearing of a surprise party mustering from the neighboring towns, departed hastily for Boston. His father, by promises that he would urgehis son to resign, with difficulty prevailed on the disgusted neighborsto leave the councillor's property unharmed. In Worcester, Timothy Painewas taken to the common, and, in the presence of two thousand standingin military order, he read his declination of his appointment. Rugglesof Hardwick was warned not to return home; his neighbors swore that heshould never pass the great bridge of the town alive. Murray of Rutland, like Leonard of Taunton, escaped the attentions of his townspeople, whoscorned the threat of confiscation and death, and demanded hisresignation. "This, " wrote his brother to him, "is not the language ofthe common people only: those that have heretofore sustained the fairestcharacter are the warmest in this matter; and, among the many friendsyou have heretofore had, I can scarcely mention any to you now. "

The people did not always act with violence, but the compulsion whichthey put upon their fellow-townsmen was strong. Watson of Plymouth, longrespected in the town, had been appointed by the king to the Council, and had intended to accept. But when he appeared in church on thefollowing Sunday, his friends rose and left the meeting-house. In theface of their scorn he bowed his head over his cane, and resolved toresign. [43]

More than twenty of the thirty-six councillors either declined theirappointment, or resigned. The rest could find no safety except inBoston, under the protection of the troops. Even the courts wereprevented from sitting, in one case by the ingenious method of packingthe court-room so solidly with spectators that judge and sheriff couldnot enter. Only among the garrison at Boston was there comfort for theTory officials. 

Boston itself was troublesome enough. When Gage, regarding himself as"personally affronted" by John Hancock, [44] removed him from command ofthe Cadets, the company sent a deputation to Salem and returned himtheir standard, declining longer to keep up their customary service asthe governor's body-guard. The governor, vexed, replied that had hepreviously known of their intentions, he would have dismissed themhimself. 

The town meetings troubled him also. Salem held one under his nose, inspite of a feint to interrupt them by the soldiers. When he summoned thecommittee of correspondence of the town to answer for the meeting, theywere stubborn and defiant, refused to give bail when arrested, and wereconsequently--released! Other towns held meetings to elect delegates toa county convention, and the governor was powerless to stop them. Although he had many more troops than the four regiments with which hefirst declared that he could do so much, he felt his helplessness, and, cursing the town meetings, waited for more soldiers. He summoned theremnant of his council to meet in Salem; but the members were afraid tocome, and, departing from his orders, he allowed them to sit in Boston. 

And now, as the weeks passed on, even Boston was rumbling with thethunder of the coming storm. Israel Putnam, having driven to Boston aflock of sheep, the gift to the poor of Boston from his Connecticuttown, became the lion of the day. Meeting on the Common some of his oldfriends in the regular army, they chaffed him on the military situation. Twenty ships and twenty regiments, they told him, were to be expected ifthe country did not submit. "If they come, " returned the stanch oldIndian fighter, "I am ready to treat them as enemies. "

At length the forms of law failed even in Boston. When the judgessummoned a jury, it not only refused to take oath, but presented awritten protest against the authority on which the court acted. Thejudges gave up the attempt in despair, and the governor and his advisersthought that matters were come to a pretty pass when a mere petit jurorcould declare "that his conscience would not let him take oath whilesPeter Oliver set upon the bench. "[45] There was apparently no punishmentto meet such obduracy. 

But at last news came to Gage on which he felt compelled to act. Muchpowder had been stored in the magazine at Quarry Hill in Charlestown. Hewas informed that during August the towns had removed their stock, untilthere remained only that which belonged to the province. This stock Gagedetermined to secure against possible illegal seizure, by seizing ithimself. On the morning of the first of September, by early daylight, detachments of troops in boats took the powder to the Castle, and alsosecured two cannon from Cambridge. Rumors of violence and bloodshedspread rapidly, and by nightfall half of New England was in motion, marching toward Boston. 

FOOTNOTES:

[35] Sabine's "Loyalists, " 190. 

[36] Andrews Letters. 

[37] The Andrews Letters, as already noted, are in the MassachusettsHistorical Society's Proceedings for the volume of 1864-1865. I shallrefer to them frequently without quoting pages. 

[38] Wells, "Life of Adams, " ii, 193. 

[39] Wells, "Adams, " ii, 193. 

[40] Bancroft, edition of 1876, iv, 344. Subsequent references toBancroft will be to this edition. 

[41] Sic!

[42] Note the use of the word, as meaning England. 

[43] I take these facts from Bancroft and the Andrews Letters. 

[44] Hancock seems to have practised upon Gage the subterfuge which heafterwards used with Washington, pretending to be too ill to wait uponhim. 

[45] Andrews Letters. 

CHAPTER VI

THE POWDER ALARM AND THE WINTER OF 1774-1775

Gage had by this time given up hope of winning to his side the leadersof the Whigs. If he still retained a doubt of the temper of the people, the events of the first and second of September would have made himcertain. Marching in companies, they converged upon Cambridge, whencethe Lieutenant-Governor, Andrew Oliver, hastily departed to Boston, toimplore Gage to send out no troops, lest not a man of them should returnalive. On his way in, Oliver passed Warren hastening out. But hisinfluence was not needed. The militia companies had already laid asidetheir weapons and were parading peacefully upon Cambridge common. Therethey were addressed by two of the Mandamus Council, who confirmed theirresignations and promised in no way to be concerned in the acts ofGage's government. Then the high-sheriff came under the attention of themeeting, and likewise promised to do nothing under the new laws. 

Hallowell, the Commissioner of Customs, escaped more serious handling. Passing by the common and its assemblage of Whigs, he "spoke somewhatcontemptuously of them. " They promptly sent some mounted men after hischaise. On seeing them coming he stopped his chaise, unhitched his horseand mounted, and ran his pursuers a close race to Boston Neck, where hefound safety with the guard. 

Oliver, returning to Cambridge with the governor's promise to send outno troops, was waited upon by the great assemblage. The Whigs demandedhis resignation as a councillor. This, after demurring, Oliver gave, andoffered to resign also from the lieutenant-governorship. But this thecompany allowed him to keep. Andrews records, "It is worthy remark thatJudge Lee remarked to 'em, after he had made his resignation, that henever saw so large a number of people together and preserve so peaceableorder before in his life. "

This orderly meeting, proceeding with parliamentary forms, passed aresolve that Gage was within his legal rights in removing the powderfrom the store-house. They then "voted unanimously their abhorrence ofmobs and riots, "[46] and with these lessons given for any one to learn, they peaceably turned toward their homes. On their way they turned backthose who, from further away, were eagerly coming to avenge the rumoreddeath of their countrymen and the bombardment of the town. Putnam, afterdisbanding his Connecticut company, wrote to urge the men ofMassachusetts to take better care of the remainder of their powder. 

The "Powder Alarm" stirred the country everywhere. At Philadelphia itsexaggerated reports greatly disturbed the Congress, but the response wassignificant. "When the horrid news was brought here of the bombardmentof Boston, " wrote John Adams, "which made us completely miserable fortwo days, we saw proofs both of the sympathy and the resolution of thecontinent. War! war! war! was the cry, and it was pronounced in a tonewhich would have done honor to the oratory of a Briton or a Roman. If ithad proved true, you would have heard the thunder of an AmericanCongress. "[47]

Gage now, for the first time, seems to have had a glimmer of an idea ofthe formidable forces that were against him. He began to consider themilitary situation, and the defence of the town against another suchrising. If on the next occasion the provincials should attempt to pursuea commissioner not merely to the Neck, but past it, there must be meansof stopping them. Gage gave orders to fortify the Neck, which was inthose days the single land approach to Boston. 

[Illustration: THE INVESTMENT OF BOSTON]

The modern city in no way resembles the old town. Now, between SouthBoston and Cambridge, a score of highways lead into the city. Bridgesand even tunnels give direct communication from South Boston, Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston. But in 1774 South Boston was amudflat; the Back Bay--at least at high water--was what its nameimplies; Chelsea was Winnisimit, with but half a dozen houses; and EastBoston was an island, having but two houses on it. Now the flats havebeen filled up, the mainland brought closer, and the approaches bridged. In Governor Gage's day Boston was still a peninsula, roughlypear-shaped, and connected with the mainland by a strip of land whichwas, at high tide, scarcely a hundred yards wide. 

Batteries commanding the road which crossed this isthmus seemed, at thetime, quite sufficient to defend the town. It was not till later thatGage began to consider the heights of Dorchester and Charlestown, which, to the south and north, threatened Boston. Now he set to work upon anearthwork at the Neck, brought cannon there, and began to buildblock-houses. It was reported that he was to cut a ditch across theNeck, and confine traffic to a narrow bridge; but at the objection ofthe selectmen such an idea, if he had considered it, was given up. Protest against the new earthworks was also lodged. The selectmen of thetown, and a committee from the convention for Suffolk County which thenhappened to sit, came to Gage with remonstrances. Warren, from theconvention, twice urged his demands. "Good God, gentlemen, " respondedthe harried governor, "make yourselves easy, and I will be so. "[48]

There was no more ease of mind for Governor Gage. Within the limits ofBoston and Charlestown were several cannon belonging to the militiaorganizations of the town. When the general tried to secure theCharlestown guns from secretion by the provincials, they disappeared. "Ever since, " wrote Andrews a fortnight later, "the General has ordereda double guard to y^e new and old gun houses, where y^e brass fieldpieces belonging to our militia are lodged: notwithstanding which . .. We'n'sday evening, or rather night, our people took these from the Oldhouse (by opening the side of the house) and carried away through FrankJohonnot's Garden. Upon which he gave it in orders the next day to theofficer on guard to remove those from the New house (which standsdirectly opposite the encampment of the 4th Regiment and in the middleof the street near the large Elm tree), sometime the next night into thecamp; and to place a guard at each end, or rather at both doors, tillthen. At the fixed hour the Officer went with a number of Mattrosses toexecute his orders, but behold, the guns were gone!" Lest the guns inthe North Battery should similarly be spirited away, the bewilderedgeneral ordered them to be spiked. 

His state of mind was not improved when he received, as he did early inSeptember, the resolutions passed by the Suffolk convention. The SuffolkResolves, as they are called, covered the whole of the existingsituation. Repudiating the king's claim to unconditional obedience, they declared the Regulating Act unconstitutional, and called on allofficers under it to resign their places. They advised that all taxesshould be withheld from the king's treasury, and suggested a provincialcongress to deal with the affairs of Massachusetts. The resolves furtherdeclared that the Americans had no intention of aggression, advisedpeaceful measures, but threatened to seize all crown officers if anypolitical arrest were made. Looking forward to the eventual rupture, theresolves advised the towns to choose their military officers with greatcare, and finally made provision to spread alarm or summon assistance ata moment's notice. 

Affairs had now reached a new phase. The barrier which Gage had erectedat the Neck had effectually cut him off from the province which he hadbeen sent to govern. From that time on he had no authority beyond therange of his batteries. 

Boston was his, to be sure. In spite of alarms (for once the field dayof the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, the pride of theprovince, aroused the fleet; and once the little navy was awake allnight against an attack that never came), in spite of such alarms, noattempt was made upon his army or his ships. The town was quiet, andTory ladies and gentlemen were at last at ease. On the Mall they mightdaily watch the parade of the troops, speak their minds about thefaction, and agree upon the cowardice of the provincials. Yet the Whigsof Boston made no submission. They were, as Warren wrote of them, "silent and inflexible. " At the same time they had everything at stake. Their leaders Hancock and Warren still lived openly among them, in theface of the threat of arrest. The artisans, too, at this period putbehind them a great temptation. For many months they had been idle; nowwithin a few weeks the governor had commenced building barracks for thetroops, upon which Boston workmen were engaged. For the first time sincethe Port Bill went into effect they were earning a comfortable living. But now they refused to work longer for the king. In vain Gage appealedto the selectmen and to Hancock. One and all the artisans withdrew, tosubsist, as before, upon the donations that still continued to come infrom the other towns and colonies. 

Outside the barrier at the Neck was an unparalleled state of affairs. InMassachusetts there was no legal government. The charter had beenabrogated, but the new system had been rejected by the people. Therewere no judges and no courts, no sheriffs; there was no treasury, and nomachinery of government whatever. Consequently there was a strikingopportunity for lawlessness. Yet the quiet in the province wasremarkable. In the absence of executive and judicial officers, theselectmen of the towns and the Committees of Correspondence took uponthemselves the work that was to be done, and did it quietly and well. There was no thievery, no murder, no repudiation of debts. So far astheir ordinary life was concerned, the people simply lived on in theirancient way. 

There was, nevertheless, plenty of lawlessness of the new kind. Just assoon as the people could catch the newly appointed officials, theyforced them to resign; and whenever the courts attempted to sit theywere made to adjourn. There continued the little migration of Toriestoward Boston, always in the expectation that the sojourn was to bebrief, and that presently Gage would have the situation in hand. Most ofthe refugees, however, never saw their homes again. As for Gage, he wassuspected of detaining the remaining councillors in Boston, lest heshould not have any left to him. Indeed, his position in Salem hadalready become so undignified and uncomfortable that early in September, with the Commissioners of Customs and all other officials, he returnedto Boston. There he also withdrew the two regiments with which he hadineffectually endeavored to sustain his prestige in Salem. Yet he hadnot been long in Boston before he was forced to watch the preparationsfor a new act of defiance. 

Already, unfortunately for him, he had convened the Assembly to meet atSalem. Now that he was in Boston he desired the legislators to meetthere also; yet he could not adjourn them until they met. This heplanned to do. The delegates, however, knew that if they came to Bostonthey must take their oaths of office before the Mandamus Council. Tothis the representatives would never submit, and accordingly plannedanother move. Boston carried out its part under the eye of the governor. The town elected its representatives, chief among whom were Hancock, Warren, and the absent Samuel Adams. The meeting then deliberately, reminding the delegates that they could not conscientiously dischargetheir duty under the conditions which the governor would impose, "empowered and instructed" them to join with the delegates from othertowns in a general provincial congress, to act upon public matters insuch a manner as should appear "most conducive to the true interest ofthis town and province, and most likely to preserve the liberties of allAmerica. "

Thus the town of Boston, inflexible but no longer silent, calmly ignoredthe governor and his troops. A strong governor would have imprisoned thedelegates and dissolved the meeting; Gage allowed it to proceed for therest of the day with illegal business, and did nothing. 

It was at this time that the conduct of affairs fell into the hands ofWarren. Adams was away at Philadelphia, and Hancock, though older thanWarren and an excellent figurehead, had neither Warren's wisdom nor hisfiery energy. It was Warren who corresponded with the Congress atPhiladelphia and with the Committees of Correspondence of theMassachusetts towns, and it was to him that the province naturallyturned. When we remember him as the hero of Bunker Hill, it is well alsoto recall him as the tried servant and the excellent adviser of thepublic. 

One act of his at this point is worth remembering. As we have seen, Episcopalians were not in good odor with the Massachusetts Whigs; thecolony had been founded as an asylum from "prelacy, " and still, afternearly two hundred and fifty years, the few members of the Englishchurch were chiefly supporters of the crown. Warren now took occasion toremind his brethren that to the south conditions were different, andthat "the gentlemen of the Established Church of England are men of themost just and liberal sentiments. " In a printed letter he requested fairtreatment of all Episcopalians, and ended by quoting from a letter ofSamuel Adams an account of the Episcopal chaplain of the PhiladelphiaCongress, whose first prayer moved many of the members to tears. Although this chaplain later turned his coat, the reminder was timelyand valuable, for many southern Whigs, among them Washington himself, were members of the Established Church. 

As to the proposed provincial congress, Gage now hastened to forestallthe consequences of his own action. He declared the convening of theAssembly inexpedient, and removed the obligation to attend. Neverthelessninety of the delegates came together, waited a day for the governor, then formed themselves into a provincial congress, and adjourned. On the11th of October they met again at Concord, this time with nearly twohundred more members, and in the old meeting-house began their sessionswith Hancock as their president, but with Warren as the most influentialmember of their body. 

His influence was thrown on the side of moderation. There were plenty inthe province ready to urge violence. They argued that the old chartershould be resumed; and as if the present acts were not sufficientlyrevolutionary, were ready to proceed to violent measures. But the timehad not yet come. Massachusetts sentiment, responding to persecution, was far in advance of the feelings of the rest of the country. No actioncould safely be taken until the other colonies were ready to supportNew England. In constant touch with Samuel Adams--for Paul Revere andother trusted couriers were always on the road with letters--Warren wasable to remind his colleagues of the need of patience, and to cool theirardor by his warnings that in open rebellion they would stand alone. Hisservices, and those of the steadfast band who supported him, wereinvaluable. In these days he rose to the full stature of politicalleadership, in guiding the actions of the provincial congress and inconstraining it to patience. 

And yet its acts were revolutionary enough. It must be remembered thatuntil this time the Whigs of Massachusetts had remained within theirconstitutional rights. Apart from the Tea-Party, no word or act of townmeeting or of legislature, or even of any prominent citizen, needed forjustification anything more than the ancient charter rights of theprovince. But now the provincial congress went beyond anything that hadever been done before. It appointed a Committee of Safety, which shouldprepare for equipping and raising an army. It appointed a Committee ofSupplies, which presently gathered together a few hundred spades andpickaxes, some muskets, a thousand wooden mess-bowls, four thousandflints, and a small supply of peas and flour--a pitiful attempt tocompete with the vast resources of Great Britain. More than this, itappointed a Receiver-General, to keep the public money of the province. It might be argued that all these acts were still within the charterrights, yet the Whig position was no longer so strong as on theoccasions when it had caused the crown lawyers to doubt. With atreasurer engaged in receiving the taxes which the towns willingly paidhim, and with generals appointed to command an army, it began to look asif Massachusetts were in rebellion. 

Gage was perplexed. His province was out of his control, and now camethe news that the Continental Congress, before adjourning, had votedapproval of the course of Massachusetts. In fact, Congress had votedits support. "Resolved, that this congress approve of the oppositionmade by the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution of thelate acts of Parliament; and, if the same shall be attempted to becarried into execution by force, in such case all America ought tosupport them in their opposition. " With such words in his mind, Gage hadto listen to the ringing of the church bells in welcome to Samuel Adamsas he returned from Philadelphia. Adams and Cushing, two of the Bostondelegates, now took their seats in the provincial congress, and theremaining two delegates were invited to attend. The public acts of thecongress continued bold and uncompromising, and every little while therecame to the harried governor some public letter of remonstrance, or somedelegation from an aggrieved town or county convention, to object, toexpostulate, or to demand. Never were people better trained to politicsthan the Americans at this moment. Gage was quite unfitted to cope withthem. Hutchinson would have been more vigorous, and even Bernard moreclever. The king fitly characterized his governor as "the mild general. "

Gage, in his perplexity, now made trouble by suggesting the recruitingof Indians against the day of rebellion, and called for more troops fromEngland. The disgusted king sought to replace him as commander-in-chiefby the one English soldier whom the Americans held in respect, in fact, as the hero of the French war, almost in reverence. But Sir JeffreyAmherst bluntly told the king that he would not serve against theAmericans, "to whom he had been so much obliged. " The king was forced tocontent himself by sending to Gage's support three major-generals, as ifin the hope that their divided counsels would bring about a uniformpolicy. 

Of these three men America was to hear a good deal in the next sevenyears. The least important of them was Sir Henry Clinton, of respectablemilitary skill. More striking in character was Sir John Burgoyne, poet, dramatist, parliamentarian, upon whom America will ever look with theindulgence which the victor feels for one who is signally and completelydefeated. "General Big-talk, " the Yankee balladist called him when oncethe siege was in progress. It is true that Burgoyne had an easy flow ofwords, and we shall before long find him doing his share to make Gageridiculous. But Burgoyne had his manly parts, and though he lackedgreatness, he commands at times our sympathy and our respect. He made aromantic marriage, which proved a happy one; and his real claim toliterary distinction lies in the letter in which, on his departure forAmerica, he commended his wife to the care of the king. Burgoyne, in astill brutal age, was a humanitarian, and was one of the first, not onlyto oppose flogging in the army, but also to advocate friendly personalrelations between officers and men. America seldom took Burgoyneseriously, but he is to us of to-day a pleasing and picturesquecharacter. 

The third of the new generals was Sir William Howe, whose chiefmisfortune was that fate had set him to oppose Washington. He came of afamily well known in American annals, for one brother was now an admiralpopular in the colonies, and another was still mourned in America forhis brilliant talents and magnetic personality. William Howe had gainedhis seat in Parliament by appeals to the memory of that brother, and bypromises to take no active military command against America. But onbeing offered the post under Gage, Howe asked if this were a request oran order. The adroit king returned the proper answer, and Howe, protesting that no other course was open to him, prepared to sail forBoston. 

Meanwhile Gage, alone, made various futile moves, at which the provincelooked with patience. From time to time his troops marched a few milesinto the country, and returned again. In January he sent a detachment toMarshfield, to occupy the village so that the loyal residents mightdrink their tea in peace. It was a comfort to him to think that therewas one town in the province in which a militia company was drilling forhis support, and with the king's muskets. A month later Gage sent troopsto Salem, in order to seize some cannon; but the commander, finding thecountry in arms to receive him, wisely withdrew his little forceafter--to use a term yet to be invented--"saving his face" by crossing abridge under promise of immediate return. 

The Reverend Jonas Clark, speaking of this event, adds an indignant noteto an equally indignant sermon. [49] "This unsuccessful expedition wasmade on Lord's day, Feb. 26, 1775. The party consisted of 200 or 300men; it was commanded by Lieut. Col. Leslie. The vessels which broughtthem to _Marblehead_, arrived in the harbour, on the morning of thesabbath; and the better to conceal their intentions, lay quietly, atanchor, near to the wharves, with but very few hands upon deck (thetroops being kept close) 'till the people of the town were assembledfor the services of religion. --While the inhabitants were thus engagedin their devotions to God, the party landed and made a speedy march toSalem. But all their precaution did not avail them for theaccomplishment of their enterprize. The _eagle-eyes_ of a watchful andwary people, justly jealous of every measure of their oppressors, arenot easily evaded. Their motions were observed, and such timely noticegiven, that such numbers were collected and such measures taken, beforethey arrived, as effectually frustrated their design and obliged them toreturn defeated and chagrined. "

So, throughout the winter, the garrison and its governor accomplishednothing--or less than nothing, if one considers that Gage proved to theprovincials the weakness of his character, while at the same time heangered them by issuing, when the provincial congress appointed a day ofprayer, a proclamation against hypocrisy. 

As the winter passed there was at times hope that the politicalsituation might be relieved by action of Parliament. Yet though theworst House of Commons in history had been dissolved, the one which tookits place was, at its beginning, little better. It learned wisdom onlyfrom the events of the war. To this Parliament Chatham and Burke nowappealed in vain; even Fox, at last definitely taking his stand with thesupporters of America, could not move it from its subservience to theking. When finally a bill was introduced to deprive America of itsfisheries, it began to seem that legislative oppression could go nofurther. 

And now to other Americans than Samuel Adams it became evident thatthere was no hope of concession from England. The second provincialcongress began its sittings. Warren was still on the Committee ofSafety. Preble, Ward, and Pomeroy were reappointed generals, and to themwere added Thomas and Heath. Supplies were voted for an army of fifteenthousand. There was still hope of conciliation, but, wrote Warren, "every day, every hour, widens the breach. "

The town of Boston knew how wide the breach was, and how different thepoints of view. The letters and diaries of the time show the constantlittle irritations which exasperated both sides. In those days, if theBritish soldier was not so sober as now, the British officer was farmore given to drink. From "the Erskine incident" until almost theoutbreak of hostilities, drunken officers made trouble with theinhabitants, and found them less submissive than the average Britishcitizen. Yankee burghers had an uncomfortable trick of arming themselveswith cudgels and returning to the attack; the watch occasionally lockedup Lieutenant This and Ensign That; and more dignified citizens, disdaining personal conflict, brought their complaints to the general, thus adding to his troubles. John Andrews tells the story of the schoolboys who, in the phrase of the day, "improv'd" the coast on SchoolStreet. "General Haldiman, improving the house that belongs to Old Cook, his servant took it upon him to cut up their coast and fling ashes uponit. The lads made a muster, and chose a committee to wait upon theGeneral, who admitted them, and heard their complaint, which was couch'din very genteel terms, complaining that their fathers before 'em hadimprov'd it as a coast from time immemorial, &ca. He ordered his servantto repair the damage, and acquainted the Governor with the affair, whoobserv'd that it was impossible to beat the notion of Liberty out of thepeople, as it was rooted in 'em _from their Childhood_. "

Gage did his best to be fair to the inhabitants, and they acknowledgedhis endeavor. But the officers, less experienced than he and with fewerresponsibilities, and also less acquainted with the spirit of thecolonists, were angry with him for what they called his subservience. They dubbed him Tommy, and confided their indignation to their diaries. "Yesterday, " wrote Lieutenant Barker of the King's Own, [50] "incompliance with the request of the Select Men, Genl Gage order'd thatno Soldier in future shou'd appear in the Streets with his side Arms. Query, Is this not encouraging the Inhabitants in their licentious andriotous disposition? Also orders are issued for the Guards to seize allmilitary Men found engaged in any disturbance, whether Agressors or not;and to secure them, 'till the matter is enquired into. By Whom? ByVillains that wou'd not censure one of their own Vagrants, even if Heattempted the life of a Soldier; whereas if a Soldier errs in the least, who is more ready to accuse than Tommy? His negligence on the other handhas been too conspicuous in the affair of Cn. Maginis to require afurther comment. "

Doubtless there is much to be said for the soldiers, both officers andprivates, since the Bostonians had not abandoned their irritating ways, even in the midst of an army. But the army was also very hard to livewith. On the first of January our discontented officer records, "Nothingremarkable but the drunkenness among the Soldiers, which is now got toa very great pitch; owing to the cheapness of the liquor, a Man may getdrunk for a Copper or two. " The officers, we have seen, did not settheir men a very good example; but even in their sober senses they werescarcely conciliatory. They formed burlesque congresses, and marched inmock procession in the streets, absurdly dressed to represent theleaders of the Whigs. On the queen's birthday a banquet was held, andfrom the balcony of the tavern the toasts were announced, while in thestreet a squad of soldiers fired salutes. Toasts to Lord North were notrelished in Boston, and reminders of Culloden were too significant forthose whom the army already called rebels. It is an interesting proof ofthe weakness of Gage's hold upon his own army that such childishnessshould have been permitted, or that such threats should have been madeto a town that still was within its legal rights. 

Beneath these petty quarrels we perceive the fundamental differences. Over these the more learned of both sides carried on a war of words. The newspapers teemed with letters, poems, essays, and dissertations;and Novanglus, Massachusettensis, Vindex, and other pseudo-Romansendeavored to convert each other, or else to point solemn warnings. "Remember, " writes a yeoman of Suffolk County, "the fate of Wat Tyler, and think how vain it is for Jack, Sam, or Will to war against GreatBritain, now she is in earnest!. .. Our leaders are desperate bankrupts!Our country is without money, stores, or necessaries of war, --withoutone place of refuge or defence! If we were called together, we should bea confused herd, without any disposition to obedience, without a generalof ability to direct and guide us; and our numbers would be ourdestruction! Never did a people rebel with so little reason; thereforeour conduct cannot be justified before God!. .. Rouse, rouse ye, Massachusetians, while it be yet time! Ask pardon of God, submit to ourking and parliament, whom we have wickedly and grievously offended. "[51]

This exclamatory appeal plainly shows a type of mind which often hassaved the British Empire, yet which at periods in history has come nearto ruining it. English conservatism has at most times been invaluable tothe country; but when, as repeatedly under the Stuart kings and againunder George III, it has forsaken its true task in order to supportabsolutism, it has brought the ship of state very near to wreck. Inreminding of the fate of Wat Tyler our Suffolk yeoman forgot, if indeedhe ever knew, the fate of Charles and James Stuart. The majority ofEnglishmen have never been willing to admit that in defending theirconstitutional rights they were guilty of impiety. Though such warningsand appeals were at this time frequent enough, the Whigs paid no regardto them. 

When we leave the Tories and turn to the soldiery we find one othercommon English failing--underrating an adversary. England had so longbeen victorious on land and sea that it was almost a natural assumptionthat she was superior to any force that could be brought against her. But that she was always right, or her opponents always cowards, werecorollaries that did not necessarily follow. Yet both of these wereimplicitly believed, not only by supporters at home, but also by thearmy in America. As to Yankee cowardice, many a Tory could, and laterdid, warn the troops against belief in it. But now, at any rate, thebelief was fully indulged. From it was an easy step to general contempt. Rascal and Scoundrel were common synonyms for Whig. Lord Percy was abrigadier-general and old enough to form his own conclusions, yet afterliving in the camp at Boston for a month, he gives us a completeanalysis of the American character--the summary, no doubt, of Britishmilitary opinion. "The People here, " he wrote home, "are the mostdesigning, Artfull Villains in the World. They have not the least Ideaof either Religion or Morality. Nor have they the least Scruple oftaking the most solemn Oath on any Matter that can assist theirPurpose, tho' they know the direct contrary can be clearly & evidentlyproved in half an Hour. "[52]

We see, then, the situation fully prepared: an inflexible people, a weakgovernor, a party of believers in divine right, and a contemptuoussoldiery. The next event, which all but ended in violence, showed thatthere needed but a little tenser situation in order to bring about therupture. 

Now occurred the annual oration on the Massacre. Since that tragedy, five years ago, there had been an annual commemoration of it in the formof a speech by one of the Whig leaders. This year the post was one ofevident responsibility and even of danger, but Warren, true to hischaracter, solicited the appointment. He announced his subject as "TheBaleful Influence of Standing Armies in Time of Peace. " On the fifth ofMarch the crowd that came to hear him filled the Old South to the doors. 

The chance was one which, had Gage received the orders which weresupposed to have been sent him, and had he been the man he ought tohave been, he never should have let slip. There in one building were, ofthe chiefs of the "faction, " Warren, Samuel Adams, Hancock, and manylesser men. They could be taken at one blow. Some forty British officerswere present, whether to effect a capture or merely to cause adisturbance was not known. At Samuel Adams' instance they were givenfront seats, or places on the steps of the pulpit. There they listenedquietly to Warren's words. 

The oration was, in the style of the day, florid; but it was full ofgenuine feeling. Warren spoke of the rise of the British Empire inAmerica, the hope of its future, the policy of the king, and theMassacre. Turning then to the present situation, he spoke in words whichno one could mistake, bolder, perhaps, than ever before had beenpublicly spoken in the presence of hostile soldiers. He reminded hiscountrymen of their martial achievements, he spoke of the criticalsituation, and, while disclaiming the desire for independence, encouraged the colonists to claim their rights. "An independence ofGreat Britain is not our aim. No: our wish is, that Britain and thecolonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and increase in strengthtogether. But, whilst the infatuated plan of making one part of theempire slaves to the other is persisted in, the interest and safety ofBritain as well as the colonies require that the wise measuresrecommended by the honorable, the Continental Congress be steadilypursued, whereby the unnatural contest between a parent honored and achild beloved may probably be brought to such an issue that the peaceand happiness of both may be established upon a lasting basis. But, ifthese pacific measures are ineffectual, and it appears the only way tosafety lies through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your facesfrom our foes, but will undauntedly press forward until tyranny istrodden under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess, Liberty, fast by a Brunswick's side, on the American throne. "[53]

These were fearless words, and full of meaning. Had there been men ofsense among the officers present, they must have been impressed by thesolemnity of the warning; in fact, they were silent until the end. Itwas not until after the oration, when the meeting was voting thanks tothe orator, that the officers endeavored to interrupt the proceedings. The cry of Fie! was mistaken for that of Fire, and there was a moment'spanic. We have opposing accounts of it. 

"It was imagined, " wrote our discontented Lieutenant of the King's Own, "that there wou'd have been a riot, which if there had wou'd in allprobability have proved fatal to Hancock, Adams, Warren, and the rest ofthose Villains, as they were all up in the Pulpit together, and themeeting was crowded with Officers and Seamen in such a manner that theycou'd not have escaped; however it luckily did not turn out so; it wou'dindeed have been a pity for them to have made their exit in that way, asI hope before long we shall have the pleasure of seeing them do it bythe hands of the Hangman. "

John Andrews looked at the matter differently. "The officers in generalbehave more like a parcel of children, of late, than men. Captain ----of the Royal Irish first exposed himself by behaving in a veryscandalous manner at the South meeting. .. . He got pretty decentlyfrighted for it. A woman, among the rest, attacked him and threatened towring his nose. " An outbreak may have been what the officers wanted. "But, " says Samuel Adams, who acted on his maxim that it is goodpolitics to put and keep the enemy in the wrong, "order was restored, and we proceeded regularly, and finished the business. I am persuaded, were it not for the danger of precipitating a crisis, not a man of themwould have been spared. "[54]

The whole was a type of the existing situation. Here were the officers, still causing petty disturbances; here too, no doubt, were Tories, contemptuous of the proceedings. Deeper still appears the realsignificance of the occasion. On the one side was the governor, unable, with all the power of the king, to prevent a meeting of the citizens tocondemn his presence in the town--for the meeting was the "Port Billmeeting, " adjourned from time to time since the previous May. And on theother side were the citizens, legally protesting and exasperatinglydefiant, evidently under perfect self-restraint, determined not tostrike the first blow. 

The officers took, as usual, a puerile revenge in the form of aburlesque. "A vast number" of them assembled at the Coffee House in KingStreet, and chose selectmen and an orator, "who deliver'd an orationfrom the balcony to a crowd of few else beside gaping officers. "[55]Others of them caught a countryman who had been decoyed into buying amusket from a soldier, and tarred and feathered him. 

But these were surface trivialities. Beneath them the true situation wasgrowing worse. Out in the country military stores were being collectedat Worcester and at Concord; and over in Parliament the fisheries bill, designed to deprive thousands in America of their living, was sure ofpassing. At last Franklin, who had stayed in London as long as thereseemed anything for him to accomplish, patiently bearing humiliation andinsults, on the 20th of March took ship for Philadelphia. It was thesign that there was no further hope of peace. 

FOOTNOTES:

[46] Bancroft. 

[47] Adams Letters, 39. 

[48] Andrews Letters. 

[49] A Sermon preached at Lexington, April 19, 1776, 26. 

[50] His diary is published in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for April and May, 1877, 384 and 544. I shall use it freely without further definitereference. 

[51] Frothingham's "Life of Warren, " 413

[52] Bulletin of Boston Public Library, x, No. 87, 320. 

[53] Frothingham's "Life of Warren, " 435-436. 

[54] Wells, "Life of Adams, " ii, 281. 

[55] Andrews Letters. 

CHAPTER VII

MILITARY PREPARATIONS

As the spring of 1775 advanced, matters took on a constantly morethreatening aspect. The governor's force in Boston was steadilyincreasing, and was approaching a total of four thousand men. Vessels ofwar were with equal steadiness being added to the little fleet in theharbor. With each budget of news from England it became evident thatParliament would not yield, and at last came word that Lord North hadoffered a joint resolution that New England was in a state of rebellion, which both houses pledged their lives and fortunes to suppress. Withsuch a military force at his command, and with such moral support fromKing and Parliament, Gage was in a position to take decided action. 

No one could doubt what that action would be. Since September theprovince had been gathering its meagre military supplies. It was butcommon sense to seize them before they could be used. Soon after the newyear Gage began his measures. "Genl. Orders, " writes disgruntledLieutenant Barker. "If any officers of the different Regts. Are_capable_ of taking sketches of a Country, they will send their names tothe Dep. Adj. Genl . .. That is an extraordinary method of wording theorder; it might at least have been in a more genteel way; at present itlooks as if he doubted whether there were any such. " However, there weresuch, and in February the governor chose Captain Brown and Ensign DeBerniere (or Bernicre, as the name is sometimes spelled) and sent themout to map the roads. 

The little expedition was somewhat absurd, for the disguise which theofficers wore was sufficient to conceal them only from their friends. When, at the first tavern at which they stopped, they remarked that itwas a very fine country, the black woman who waited on them answered, "So it is, and we have got brave fellows to defend it, and if you go anyhigher you will find it so. " "This, " admits Ensign De Berniere, whoseaccount of the expedition was left in Boston at the evacuation, and was"printed for the information and amusement of the curious, " "thisdisconcerted us a good deal. " From that time on, any one who took thetrouble to "eye them attentively" was in no doubt as to their realcharacter. 

They went first to Worcester, where it was possible that the governormight wish to send troops, to protect the courts as well as to seizestores. The weather was rough and snowy, and the officers' taskcorrespondingly difficult; the countrymen, by persevering sociability, kept them in an uneasy state of mind. After roughly mapping roadsconcerning which the general should long before have had accurateinformation, the two officers made their way to Sudbury, where theyhoped to rest with a sympathizer, after walking in a snow-storm forhours. But the town doctor, though long a stranger at the house, cameto call, and the townspeople showed their host various other undesirableattentions, so that in twenty minutes the two officers were glad toleave the place. They arrived again safely at Worcester, "very muchfatigued, after walking thirty-two miles between two o'clock andhalf-after ten at night, through a road that every step we sunk up tothe ankles, and it blowing and drifting snow all the way. "

In spite of this experience, the two officers, a month later, undertooka similar journey to Concord. In this they succeeded, returning with arough sketch of the roads, but bringing also their Concord host, who didnot think it safe to remain after entertaining them. They broughtinformation that in Concord there were "fourteen cannon (ten iron andfour brass) and two cohorns, " with "a store of flour, fish, salt, andrice; and a magazine of powder and cartridges. "

They might, in their two journeys, have brought better information thanthat the Concord Whigs "fired their morning gun, and mounted a guard often men at night. " The stores at Concord had far better protection thanthese, as the two officers should have learned at Framingham, where theywatched the drill of the militia company. "After they had done theirexercise, one of their commanders spoke a very eloquent speech, recommending patience, coolness, and bravery (which indeed they verymuch wanted), particularly told them they would always conquer if theydid not break, and recommended them to charge us coolly, and wait forour fire, and everything would succeed with them--quoted Cæsar andPompey, brigadiers Putnam and Ward, and all such great men; put them inmind of Cape Breton, and all the battles they had gained for his majestyin the last war, and observed that the regulars must have been ruinedbut for them. "

Had the two officers known it, every town in the province had just sucha militia company, which at set seasons met, and drilled, and listenedto good old-fashioned exhortations to valor. It would not take long, therefore, for the neighboring towns to send their companies toreinforce the guard of ten men which Concord set over its stores everynight. And yet the province was not satisfied with this ancient militiaorganization, for it had set up another to strengthen it. 

The militia was composed, as it had been since the foundation of thecolony, of the whole body of male inhabitants of proper military age. Insome cases even clergymen drilled in the ranks. More than once thismilitia had gathered to repel an expected attack of French or Indians;it had stood between the settlers and their foes from the days of MilesStandish down to the French and Indian War. The martial spirit stillprevailed among the youth of the colony, and each town took pride in itscompany. In 1774 John Andrews thus records his innocent delight in theappearance of the Boston trainbands:--

"Am almost every minute taken off with agreeable sight of our militiacompanies marching into the Common, as it is a grand field day withus. .. . They now vie with the best troops in his majesties service, beingdress'd all in blue uniforms, with drums and fifes to each companydress'd in white uniforms trim'd in y^e most elegant manner; with acompany of Grenadiers in red with every other apparatus, that equal anyregular company I ever saw both in appearance and discipline, having agrand band of musick consisting of eight that play nearly equal to thatof the 64th. What crowns all is the Cadet company, being perfectlycompleat and under the best order you can conceive of, with a band ofmusick likewise, that perform admirably well. What with these andPaddock's company of artillery make y^e completest militia in America;not a drummer, fifer, and scarcely a soldier but what are in compleatuniforms and thoroughly instructed in the military exercises. "

It was this Boston Cadet company that, at the affront to its leaderHancock had returned its standard to the governor and disbanded. Gageknew too well that others of the companies were thoroughly disaffected. In fact, many of the Boston young men left the town before hostilitiesbegan, and were ready to join with their country brethren in showingthat their military training was worth something. 

Yet early in the fall it was recognized in the colony that the militiasystem was not sufficient, being too slow of movement to meet any suchsudden expedition as that which Gage sent to seize the powder. It is notsurprising, therefore, to find John Andrews reporting on October 5 theexistence of a new body of troops, "which are call'd _minute men_, _i. E. _ to be ready at a minute's warning with a fortnight's provision, and ammunition and arms. " There is doubt of the origin of this body, butit was first officially accepted in Concord, where the town adopteddefinite terms of enlistment, the more important of which reads:--

"We will . .. To the utmost of our power and abilities, defend all andevery of our charter rights, liberties, and privileges; and will holdourselves in readiness at a minute's warning, with arms and ammunitionthus to do. "[56]

Tradition says that the terms of the enlistment were interpretedliterally, and that wherever the minute men went, to the field, theshop, or to church, gun and powder-horn and bullet-pouch were ready tohand. It is scarcely an exaggeration to suppose that, as represented byFrench's statue, the farmers actually left the plough in the furrow andsnatched up the ready rifle. 

One further preparation was also made. The rallying point was possiblyWorcester, where were the courts and some few stores; but it was moreprobably Concord. The shortest route to Concord, or to the road betweenConcord and Boston, was known to the captain of every company of minutemen within a hundred miles. But that the captains should be notified ofany emergency was essential. A complete system of couriers forspreading news was projected in September, and now was in good workingorder, so that, with Boston as a radiating point, the summons could besent over the province with the greatest rapidity. By virtue of hisefficiency, trustworthiness, and picturesque personality, Paul Revere isaccepted as the type of the men who stood ready for this service. 

This system, further, had been tested. The spontaneous response to thePowder Alarm in September had been ready enough, for the men ofConnecticut and New Hampshire were in motion before the next day. Butthrough the winter of 1774-1775 there had been minor alarms at eachlittle expedition on which Gage sent his soldiers. By these the newsystem was proved efficient. Whether the troops marched to Jamaica Pond, to the "punch bowl" in Brookline, or even went, by sea and land, as faras Salem, the militia of the surrounding towns showed a prompt curiosityas to the object of the excursion. These fruitless musters, far frommaking the minute men callous to alarms, served to prepare them to meetthe great occasion which they foresaw would finally come. For that theywere in excellent practice. 

As to Concord itself, it had become very important. The Congress, whichafter its first week in Concord had been sitting in Cambridge, nowreturned, and from the 22d of March until the 15th of April[57] satdaily in the meeting-house. The Committee of Safety remained stilllonger, busy with the gathering of supplies. It is within this periodthat Berniere and Brown came on their spying expedition to Concord, andwere directed by a woman to the house of Daniel Bliss. A threat of theWhigs to tar and feather her sent her to the officers for refuge, andword presently came to Bliss that the Whigs "would not let him go out ofthe town alive that morning. " This fate the officers and their hostavoided by leaving in the night. What became of the woman is not said, but we may be easy about her: no injury, and in fact no seriousindignity, was put upon a woman in New England at this period. Theofficers returned to Boston with a report of the stores in Concord. 

This may have increased the anxiety of the Committee of Safety. Alreadythey had voted, "requiring Colonel Barrett of Concord to engage asufficient number of faithful men to guard the Colony's magazines inthat town; to keep a suitable number of teams in constant readiness, byday and night, to remove the stores; and to provide couriers to alarmthe neighboring towns, on receiving information of any movements of theBritish troops. "[58] A watch was kept upon the British movements; andfinally, when, on the 15th, Warren sent Paul Revere from Boston withwarning of suspicious movements, the Committee felt that soon Gage muststrike. On the 18th it ordered the removal of some of the stores. "Thatvery night, " says Tolman, without knowledge of affairs in Boston, thework was begun. 

Meanwhile, in response to another vote of the committee, the British hadbeen under close observation. The vote was that "members of thisCommittee belonging to the towns of Charlestown, Cambridge, and Roxbury, be required at the Province expense to procure at least two men for awatch every night to be placed in each of these towns, and that saidmembers be in readiness to send couriers forward to the towns where themagazines are placed, when sallies are made by the army by night. " Inview of these preparations, it scarcely needs to be said that there wasnothing accidental about Concord fight. Some day Gage was bound tostrike at Concord, and for that day the Whigs were ready. 

It is now that Paul Revere comes prominently into the course of events. Revere was a Boston craftsman of Huguenot descent, who was and is wellknown as a silversmith, engraver, and cartoonist. His prints andarticles of silverware sell to-day for high prices, and his house inNorth Square has recently been fitted up as a public museum, chiefly onaccount of a single act at a critical moment. One is glad to know, however, that Revere's fame is not accidental. His pictures arehistorically interesting; we should be the poorer without his printswhich give views of Boston, and without his picture of the Massacre. Hissilver--we have mentioned his punch-bowl for the "immortalNinety-two"--is usually beautiful. From the foundry which he establishedlater in life came cannon, and church-bells which are in use to-day. Andfinally his famous ride, the object of which would have been broughtabout had Revere been stopped at the outset, was but one out of many. 

[Illustration: REVERE'S PICTURE OF BOSTON IN 1768. ]

"In the year 1773, " says Revere of himself, [59] "I was employed by theselectmen of the town of Boston to carry the account of the Destructionof the Tea to New York, and afterwards, 1774, to carry their despatchesto New York and Philadelphia for calling a Congress; and afterwards toCongress several times. " Revere does not mention the fact that he washimself a member of the Tea-Party. When he goes on to speak of stillmore important events, he suppresses the fact that he was one of theleaders, if not the chief leader, of the Boston artisans. 

"In the fall of 1774, and winter of 1775, I was one of upwards ofthirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves into a committee for thepurpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers, and gainingevery intelligence of the movements of the Tories. We held our meetingsat the Green Dragon Tavern. We were so careful that our meetings shouldbe kept secret, that every time we met, every person swore upon theBible that they would not discover any of our transactions but toMessrs. Hancock, Adams, Doctors Warren, Church, and one or two more. .. . In the winter, towards the spring, we frequently took turns, two andtwo, to watch the soldiers, by patrolling the streets all night. "

Such was the watch, then, kept upon the royalists, and such were thepreparations to receive the troops when they should march out. We knownow that Gage was informed of them, for among those whom Revere names asconfidants of the mechanics there was a traitor to the cause. Yet thoughGage knew of the organization of the Whigs, of its efficiency he hadapparently not the glimmer of an idea. It was with no expectation ofserious results that, when at last he learned that the resolutiondeclaring the colonies to be in rebellion had passed Parliament, heslowly put himself in motion to seize the stores of the provincials. 

The Americans were keenly aware of all his movements. There were twocommon methods of leaving the town, one by the Neck, the other overCharlestown ferry. But these routes lay through towns, either Roxburyor Charlestown, and to march so openly meant to give the alarm. TheAmericans were ready for Gage to take a third route: across the Charlesby means of boats, and then by unfrequented roads until striking thehighway at Cambridge Common. This way the Whigs suspected he mightchoose, and this they found he did. 

Gage's preparations were almost open. The boats of the men-of-war werehauled up and repaired at the foot of the Common. On the 14th, in thenight, they were launched, and moored at the sterns of the men-of-war. On the 15th was given out in general orders that "'The Grenadiers andLight Infantry in order to learn Grenadrs. Exercise and new evolutionsare to be off all duties till further orders. '--This, " remarksLieutenant Barker of the King's Own, "I suppose is by way of a blind. Idare say they have something for them to do. "

This "something" was either one or both of two objectives: the stores atConcord, and the persons of Adams and Hancock, then known to be stayingat the house of the Reverend Jonas Clark in Lexington. That this latterobjective was seriously considered, at least by the Americans, we shallsee from Revere's narrative. There never has been proof that Gageendeavored to seize either them or Warren. But in any case the storeswere in danger, and strict watch was kept. 

There was evidence enough of a coming expedition. As before theMassacre, there were soldiers' rumors that something was to happen, andthe name of Concord was whispered about. On the night of the 18th wordcame in from the country that parties of officers were riding here andthere. This same notice was sent by vigilant patriots to Hancock atLexington. In Boston itself different persons noticed that the troopswere astir. Word of all this came from various sources to Warren who, relinquishing for a while his sittings with the Committee of Safety, hadfor some days been working for it at the post of responsibility anddanger. Warren finally decided that he must act. He sent for the menwho had pledged themselves for this service, and gave them hisdirections. 

One of these men was William Dawes, of whom, except for his actions onthis night, we know little. Obeying his instructions, he took horse, androde across the Neck to go to Lexington by way of Roxbury and Watertown. 

"About ten o'clock, " writes Revere, "Dr. Warren sent in great haste forme, and begged that I would immediately set off for Lexington, whereMessrs. Hancock and Adams were, and acquaint them of the movement, andthat it was thought they were the objects. " Revere was ready. Inreturning on the 15th he had arranged signals to his friends inCharlestown to inform them what route the British would take; he knew, also, how he should cross--for the ferry was closed at nine o'clock--andwhere he should get his horse. From Warren's Revere went home, got his"boots and surtout, " and started. Two of his friends rowed him toCharlestown in a boat which was kept ready for the purpose, another wasalready despatched to make certain of the route the British would take. 

[Illustration: THE OLD NORTH CHURCH

(From which Paul Revere's signals were displayed. )]

Of the person and the actions of this other friend there has been muchdispute. The weight of evidence seems to show that on making sure of theroute of the British, he went to the Old North Church, still standing inSalem Street, and from its steeple displayed the signal. I make nopositive assertion that he spent any time in watching the British;Revere, knowing the route, may have signalled in order to make sure thatthe news crossed the river, even though he himself might fail. Theperson who displayed the signals seems to have been one Newman, thesexton of the church, rather than Captain Pulling, a friend of Revere's. At any rate, the signals were hung while Revere was crossing the riverto Charlestown. He passed unobserved not far from the _Somerset_man-of-war, and remarks that "it was then young flood, the ship waswinding, and the moon was rising. " On landing, his Charlestown friendstold him they had already seen the signals. Revere (if we still supposethat he needed to make sure of the route) himself must have taken a lookat the signal lanterns, as in Longfellow's poem. "Two if by sea. " Thispoetical language means merely that the troops were preparing to crossthe river in their boats. This is the traditional account of Revere'saction. A contemporary memorandum states, however, that on landingRevere "informed [us] that the T [troops] were actually in the boats. "

"I got a horse, " says Revere, "of Deacon Larkin, " which horse the deaconnever saw again. Before Revere started he again received warning thatthere were British officers on the road, but he was quite cool enough totake note of the beauty of the night, "about eleven o'clock and verypleasant. " Crossing Charlestown Neck, he started on the road forCambridge, when he saw before him two horsemen under a tree. As Reveredrew near, they pushed out into the moonlight, and he saw theiruniforms. One of them blocked the road, the other tried to take him, and Revere, turning back, galloped first for Charlestown and then"pushed for the Medford road. " Revere made the turn successfully; theofficer who followed, ignorant of the locality, mired himself in a claypond. Revere's road was now clear. He reached Medford, and roused thecaptain of the minute men; then, hastening on through Menotomy, nowArlington, and thence to Lexington, he "alarmed almost every house. " Hereached Lexington about midnight, and went directly to the house of theReverend Jonas Clark, where Hancock and Adams were sleeping under aguard of the militia. Revere asked admittance, and the sergeant informedhim that the family had requested that no noise be made. 

"Noise!" replied Revere in the phrase familiar to every schoolboy, "you'll have noise enough before long--the regulars are coming out!"[60]The family was accordingly at once aroused. 

Meanwhile the troops had actually started. "Between 10 and 11 o'clock, "says Lieutenant Barker, "all the Grenadiers and Light Infantry of theArmy, making about 600 Men, (under command of Lt. Coll. Smith of the10th and Major Pitcairn of the Marines, ) embarked and were landed on theopposite shore of Cambridge Marsh. " This phrasing is not immediatelyclear to one of to-day. In those days every regiment had two specialcompanies, the heavy-armed grenadiers, so called because they originallycarried hand-grenades, and the light-infantry company. These werefrequently detached for special duty, as the present, when the LightInfantry would be used for flanking purposes. Thus every regiment inBoston was represented in the expedition--and we may add in the list ofkilled and wounded on the following day. The number is generallyestimated at eight hundred. They were commanded by the colonel who hadbeen longest on duty in New England. Smith was in character too muchlike Gage himself. The general would have done better to send one ofhis brigadiers. 

One at least of the brigadiers was reasonably alert. According toStedman, Lord Percy was crossing the Common after learning from thegeneral that a secret expedition had just started. Perceiving a group ofmen talking together, the nobleman joined them in time to hear one say, "The British troops have marched, but have missed their aim. "

"What aim?" asked Lord Percy. 

The reply was, "The cannon at Concord. " Percy, in much perturbation, atonce returned to the general and told him that his secret was known. Poor Gage complained that his confidence had been betrayed, "for that hehad communicated his design to one person only besides his lordship. "

The student of the time sees in this story a side-thrust at Mrs. Gage, on whom, as an American, the officers were ready to blame the knowledgeof secrets which were gained by Yankee shrewdness alone. In this case wehave seen that it was Gage that betrayed himself to the eyes ofRevere's volunteer watch. The general hastily sent to order the guard atthe Neck to let no one leave the town. But he was too late: Dawes wasgone, Revere was on the water, and the news was out. 

The expedition was bungled at the very start. "After getting over theMarsh, where we were wet up to the knees, " says Lieutenant Barker, "wewere halted in a dirty road and stood there till two o'clock in themorning, waiting for provisions to be brought from the boats and to bedivided, and which most of the men threw away, having carried some with'em. " As they waited there they might have heard signal guns, andlearned that in a constantly widening circle of villages, "the bellswere rung backward, the drums they were beat. " The news had three hours'start of them. At last, at two on the 19th, having "waded through a verylong ford up to our middles, " wet, dirty, and loaded with the heavyequipment of the period, they started on their march. 

FOOTNOTES:

[56] Tolman, "The Concord Minute Man, " 12. 

[57] I take many facts in the following pages from the three pamphletsby George Tolman, "The Concord Minute Man, " "Preliminaries of ConcordFight, " and "Events of April Nineteenth. " These, published by theConcord Antiquarian Society, are invaluable to the student of thisperiod. 

[58] "Preliminaries, " 23-24. 

[59] After the Revolution, Revere wrote a narrative of the events inwhich he was concerned. It is to be found in several books, notablyGoff's "Life of Revere. "

[60] Most of these facts are from Frothingham's "Siege, " 57-59, and fromRevere's letter. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL

John Hancock never showed better in his life than on the morning of the19th of April. Many times the Tories had tried to win him over. Hutchinson himself had written: "At present, Hancock and Adams are atvariance. Some of my friends blow the coals, and I hope to see a goodeffect. " Yet Adams and Hancock were still enlisted in the same cause onthis morning when blood was to be shed. And Hancock, when roused fromhis sleep at midnight, was hot with the desire to take his musket andfight on Lexington Green. 

Adams and his friends--among them his sweetheart--dissuaded him. The twoWhig leaders finally took the road to Woburn, and in the succeeding dayspassed on to Worcester and Hartford, planned the taking of Ticonderoga, and, joining the other delegates from Boston, in May met with the secondContinental Congress. If Gage had meant to seize Hancock and Adams, hehad lost his chance. The outcome lay in the hands of the fighting men. 

Revere waited at Mr. Clark's house for about half an hour, when Dawesarrived. The two then set out for Concord, and were joined on the way by"a young Dr. Prescott, whom we found to be a high son of liberty. "[61]They began to rouse the farmers along the road, and had already gonehalfway when they saw in the road horsemen whom Revere knew at once tobe British officers. Revere and Prescott, blocked in front and rear, turned into a pasture; but this was a trap where other officers werewaiting. Prescott, knowing the country, put his horse at a fence and gotaway; Revere found himself surrounded by six horsemen who, with swordsand pistols ready, ordered him to dismount. There was nothing for him todo but comply. Dawes, who had been behind upon the road, turned to goback, and was pursued. He rode into a farmyard, shouted out as tofriends in waiting, and frightened off his pursuers. Both he andPrescott were useful in spreading the alarm farther. 

But Revere was caught. His chief captor examined him, and got slightsatisfaction. "I told him, and added that their troops had catchedaground in passing the river and that there would be five hundredAmericans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the country all theway up. " His anxious captors consulted together, and were conducting himback toward Lexington, "when the militia fired a volley of guns, whichseemed to alarm them very much. " They asked if there were any other roadto Cambridge, took Revere's horse, and left him. He hurried back toLexington, to give Hancock and Adams the news that sent them on theirway. Revere himself remained long enough to save a trunk of papersbelonging to Hancock. 

Meanwhile the militia of the town, alarmed by Revere, assembled andwaited for the troops. They sent two messengers toward Cambridge tobring certain news, but each of these blundered into the advancingregulars, and were seized and held. The militia waited for some hours, but on hearing no word they were finally dismissed, with a warning to beready to come together again instantly. Some went to their homes, someto the near-by tavern, to finish out the night. 

News came at last to Captain Parker that the British were scarcely amile away, and in such numbers that his company could not hope to opposethem. He called his men together, nevertheless, "but only with a view todetermine what to do, when and where to meet, and to dismiss anddisperse. "[62] The minute men were still standing in their ranks whenthe British suddenly appeared. 

The succeeding events caused much controversy at the time. Gage reported"that the troops were fired upon by the rebels out of themeeting-house, and the neighboring houses, as well as by those that werein the field; and that the troops only returned the fire, and passed ontheir way to Concord. "[63] But in number the little company of minutemen were, according to Revere, who had just passed through them, "aboutfifty"; the Reverend Jonas Clark says "fifty or sixty, or even seventy. "Had there been even the two or three hundred of the British reports, these men, drawn up without protection on an open green, are scarcelylikely to have attacked a force of more than twice their number. Thelogic of the situation seems against Gage. 

There is one more factor to consider. It is well enough known that boththe British officers, and the Americans as a whole, were underinstructions not to fire, and earnest to obey. But what of the Britishprivates? Their eagerness for blood at the time of the Massacre was sogreat as to account for that tragedy; it was now not likely to be less. There were even among the troops at Lexington two companies from one ofthe "Sam Adams regiments. " When we learn from Lieutenant Barker thatafter the skirmish "the Men were so wild they cou'd hear no orders, " wemay even suspect that, as at the Massacre, the men may have takenmatters into their own hands. 

"For, " says the minister of Lexington, "no sooner did they come in sightof our company, but one of them, supposed to be an officer of rank, washeard to say to the troops, 'Damn them, we will have them!'--Upon thisthe troops shouted aloud, huzza'd, and rushed furiously towards ourmen. --About the same time, three officers (supposed to be Col. Smith, Major Pitcairn and another officer) advanced, on horse back, to thefront of the body, and coming within five or six rods of the militia, one of them cried out, 'ye villains, ye Rebels, disperse; Damn you, disperse!' or words to this effect. One of them (whether the same, ornot, is not easily determined) said, 'Lay down your arms, Damn you, whydon't you lay down your arms!'--The second of these officers, aboutthis time, fired a pistol towards the militia, as they weredispersing. --The foremost, who was within a few yards of our men, brandishing his sword, and then pointing towards them, said, with a loudvoice, to the troops, 'Fire!--By God, fire!'--which was instantlyfollowed by a discharge of arms from the said troops, succeeded by avery heavy and close fire upon our party, dispersing, so long as any ofthem were within reach. --Eight were left dead upon the ground! Ten werewounded. "[64]

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON]

This is the best contemporary account which we have of the affair. It isevident from his careful language and semi-legal terms that the ReverendMr. Clark, though not on the ground until half an hour afterwards, tookall possible pains to gather the facts, and considered himself upon oathin reporting them. He was himself a witness of the exultation of thetroops at their victory, and expresses his indignation. 

Tradition gives Major Pitcairn, of the Marines, a prominent part in theaffair. "A good man, " says Stiles, "in a bad cause, " and adds that hadPitcairn ever been able to say that he was sure the Americans firedfirst, he would have believed him. Honest Major Pitcairn could onlystate his belief. 

So the first blood in the Revolution was spilt. The death of one of theAmericans, Jonathan Harrington, was pitiful: shot within sight of hishome, he crawled to the door, and expired at his wife's feet. To theheavy volleys they received, the Americans returned but a scatteringfire; some of them did not fire at all. [65] Two British privates werewounded, and Pitcairn's horse. 

The troops, as soon as they could be marshalled again, fired a volleyand gave three cheers, rested for a little while, and marched on towardConcord. There, since early morning, had gathered some of the militiafrom Bedford and Lincoln, and about sunrise the little company marchedout of town. "We thought, " says Amos Barrett quaintly, "we would go andmeet the British. We marched down towards Lexington about a mile or mileand a half, and we saw them coming. " But on seeing their numbers themilitia turned back, "and marched before them with our drums and fifesgoing, and also the British. We had grand musick. "[66] The provincialshalted once or twice on the hill that ran along the high road, and cameat last to the liberty pole, overlooking the town. "The Yankees, "records Lieutenant Barker of the King's Own, "had that hill but left itto us; we expected they wou'd have made a stand there, but they did notchuse it. " The militia, still withdrawing before superior numbers, retreated across the river, and the British occupied the town. 

In place of the five bridges which to-day, within a mile of themeeting-house, encircle Concord, the town in 1775 had but two. The firstof these was the South Bridge, on the present Main Street route toMarlborough and South Acton. The other was the North Bridge, on ahighway now abandoned, which in those days led to Acton, Carlisle, andBedford. Colonel Smith took possession of both these bridges, and whilehis men searched the town for stores, he sent a detachment across theNorth Bridge to the farm of Colonel Barrett, where it was known thatsupplies had been kept. Of our two British informants of the events ofthe day, Ensign Berniere guided the troops that went to the Barrettfarm, Lieutenant Barker remained with a detachment that stayed to guardthe bridge. Meanwhile, on a hillside beyond the river, almost withingunshot of the bridge, the militia watched the first detachment pass onits errand, and counted the numbers of the redcoats that held the nearerside of the passage. 

Colonel Smith speedily learned that his journey had been nearly in vain. As we have seen, already on the night before, without news from Boston, the removal of the stores had been begun. The alarm brought in by Dr. Prescott hastened the work. Men and boys, and even women and girls, werebusy in hiding the stores or carrying them away. Some of them wereskilfully secreted under the very eyes of the British. The troops foundlittle. In the town some few gun-carriages, barrels of flour, woodenmess-bowls, and wooden spoons were found and destroyed. At ColonelBarrett's, acknowledges Berniere, "we did not find so much as weexpected, but what there was we destroyed. " He was unaware that thecannon had been laid in a ploughed field, and concealed by turning afurrow over them, the work continuing even while the troops were insight. 

Of proceedings in the town we get the best picture from the petition ofMartha Moulton, "widow-woman, " who in her deposition "humbly sheweth:That on the 19th day of April, 1775, in the forenoon, the town ofConcord, wherein I dwell, was beset with an army of regulars, who, in ahostile manner, entered the town, and drawed up in form before the housein which I live; and there they continued on the green, feeding theirhorses within five feet of the door; and about fifty or sixty of themwas in and out of the house, calling for water and what they wanted, forabout three hours. " The neighbors had fled, and poor Mrs. Moulton wasleft with "no person near but an old man of eighty-five years, andmyself seventy-one years old, and both very infirm. It may easily beimagined what a sad condition your petitioner must be in. " But shecommitted herself to Providence, "and was very remarkably helpt with somuch fortitude of mind, as to wait on them, as they called, with what wehad, --chairs for Major Pitcairn and four or five more officers, --who satat the door viewing their men. At length your petitioner had, bydegrees, cultivated so much favor as to talk a little with them. Whenall on a sudden they had set fire to the great gun-carriages just by thehouse, and while they were in flames your petitioner saw smoke arise outof the Town House higher than the ridge of the house. Then yourpetitioner did put her life, as it were, in her hand, and ventured tobeg of the officers to send some of their men to put out the fire; butthey took no notice, only sneered. Your petitioner, seeing the TownHouse on fire, and must in a few minutes be past recovery, did yetventure to expostulate with the officers just by her, as she stood witha pail of water in her hand, begging them to send, &c. When they onlysaid, 'O, mother, we won't do you any harm!' 'Don't be concerned, mother, ' and such like talk. " But the widow Moulton persisted, until "atlast, by one pail of water and another, they did send and extinguish thefire. "[67] It is pleasant to know that the courageous old lady receivedthree pounds for her services, and that the smoke which rose higher thanthe Town House served only to give the signal for Concord fight. 

All this while the numbers of the militia had been growing. They werestationed on the slope of Punkatasset Hill, and from minute to minutesquads and companies came in from the neighboring towns. It has beenmade a reproach to Concord that so few of her men were there, but theywere engaged in the far more important duty of saving the stores. Nevertheless, one of her militia companies was on the ground, with thoseindividuals who were able to hurry back after putting the stores insafety. The Carlisle and Acton men had joined the waiting provincials, whose numbers at last became so threatening that the guard at thebridge, in full sight of them, became uneasy. 

The militia became uneasy also. Beyond the bridge, in the town, they sawmore smoke than seemed warranted by merely burning cannon wheels andspoons. The officers consulted, and Captain Smith, of Lincoln, urgedthat the bridge be forced. Davis of Acton, speaking of his company, said, "I haven't a man that's afraid to go!" The movement was decidedupon, and the militia, in double file, marched down toward the bridge. The Acton company had the lead, with Davis at its head; beside himmarched Major John Buttrick, of Concord, in command, withLieutenant-Colonel Robinson, of Westford, as a volunteer aid. As theprovincials drew near, the British hastily retreated across the bridge, and their commander awkwardly marshalled his three companies one behindthe other, so that only the first could fire. As some of the soldiersbegan to take up the planks of the bridge, the Americans hastened theirmarch, and presently the British fired. There is no question that theybegan the fight, with first a few scattering guns, "up the river, " andthen a volley at close range. 

The whole was seen by the Concord minister, William Emerson, from hisstudy in the Manse, close by. For a moment, he records, he feared thatthe fire was not to be returned; but he need not have doubted. TheBritish volley killed the Acton captain, Davis, and Hosmer, hisadjutant. Then Major Buttrick, leaping into the air as he turned to hismen, cried, "Fire, fellow-soldiers; for God's sake, fire!"

"We were then, " records Amos Barrett, of the second company, "allordered to fire that could fire and not kill our own men. " The returnfire, though from the awkward position of double file, was effective. Two of the British were killed outright, another fell wounded, and thewhole, apparently doubting their ability to hold the bridge, hastilyretreated upon the main body. "We did not follow them, " records Barrett. "There were eight or ten that were wounded and a-running and a-hobblingabout, looking back to see if we were after them. "

As reminders of the fight, besides the bridge which Concord, many yearsafter its disappearance, rebuilt on the centenary of the day, the townpoints to the graves of the two soldiers killed in the fight, who wereburied close by. Another memorial is seen in the bullet-hole in theElisha Jones house near at hand, at whose door the proprietor showedhimself as the regulars hastily retreated. On being fired at, Jonesspeedily removed himself from the scene, and from subsequent history. 

There were no further immediate consequences. The Americans crossed thebridge, and stationed themselves behind the ridge that overlooked thetown; the search-party that had gone to Colonel Barrett's returned. "They had taken up some planks of the bridge, " says Berniere of theAmericans, though the work was done by the British. "Had they destroyedit, we were most certainly all lost; however, we joined the main body. "Colonel Smith now had his force together, and had done all that could bedone, yet for two hours more he, by futile marchings andcountermarchings, "discovered great Fickleness[68] and Inconstancy ofMind. " The delay was serious; he had earlier sent to Gage forreinforcements, and he ought now to have considered that every minutewas bringing more Americans to the line of his retreat. When, aboutnoon, he started for Boston, the situation was very grave. 

The British left the town as they had come in, with the grenadiers onthe highway, the light infantry flanking them on the ridge. On thiselevation, above the house he later inhabited, Hawthorne laid the sceneof the duel between Septimius Felton and the British officer. AtMerriam's Corner the ridge ends. Here the flankers joined the main body, and together noted the approach of the Americans, who had dogged them. The regulars turned and fired, only to be driven onward by an accurateresponse. "When I got there, " says Amos Barrett, "a great many lay dead, and the road was bloody. " From that time ensued a scattering generalengagement along the line of the retreat. 

In this kind of fighting the odds were greatly with the Americans, asGage, with his memory of Braddock's defeat, might have foreseen. TheBritish complained with exasperation that the militia would not stand upto them. The provincials knew better than to do so. Lightly armed, carrying little besides musket or rifle, powder horn andbullet-pouch, --and all these smaller and lighter than the Britishequipment, --the farmers were able with ease to keep up with the troops, to fire from cover, to load, and then again to regain the distance lost. Every furlong saw their numbers increase. At Merriam's Corner came inthe Reading company; before long the survivors of the Lexington companyjoined the fight to take their revenge; and from that time on, fromnorth, from south, and from the east, the minute men and militia camehurrying up to join the chase. 

Before five miles were passed, the retreat had degenerated into a mererout. "We at first, " says Berniere, "kept our order and returned theirfire as hot as we received it, but when we arrived within a mile ofLexington, our ammunition began to fail, and the light companies were sofatigued with flanking they were scarce able to act, and a great numberof wounded scarce able to get forward, made a great confusion; Col. Smith (our commanding officer) had received a wound through his leg, anumber of officers were also wounded, so that we began to run ratherthan retreat in order. .. . At last, after we got through Lexington, theofficers got to the front and presented their bayonets, and told the menthat if they advanced they should die: Upon this they began to formunder a heavy fire. " There was, however, no hope for them unless theyshould be reinforced. 

In the nick of time the succor came. Early in the morning Gage hadreceived word that the country was alarmed, and started to send outreinforcements. There were the usual delays; among other mistakes, theywaited for Pitcairn, who was with the first detachment. The relief partyas finally made up comprised about twelve hundred men, with twosix-pounder field-pieces, under Lord Percy. Percy went out throughRoxbury with his band playing Yankee Doodle, and as he went aquick-witted lad reminded him of Chevy Chase. More than once beforenight Percy must have thought of the Whig youngster. He was momentarilydelayed at the Cambridge bridge, where the Committee of Safety had takenup the planks, but had frugally stored them in full view of the road. Percy relaid some of the planks and hurried on with his guns, leavingbehind his baggage train and hospital supplies, which were presentlycaptured by a company headed by a warlike minister. Percy was againdelayed on Cambridge Common for want of a guide; when again he was ableto push on he spared no time, and reached Lexington at the criticalmoment. He formed his men into a hollow square, to protect Smith'sexhausted men, who threw themselves down on the ground, "their tongueshanging out of their mouths like those of dogs after a chase. "[69] Percyturned on the militia his two field-pieces, "which our people, " grimlyremarks Mr. Clark, writing after Bunker Hill, "were not so wellacquainted with then, as they have been since. " Percy had thesatisfaction, which both Berniere and Barker express, of silencing theprovincials. 

He knew too well, however, that the Americans were willing to be quietonly because they awaited their own reinforcements. Every minute ofdelay was dangerous, for now the American military leaders weregathering. If Hancock and Adams had left the field, Warren hastened toit. We know some of his sayings as he left Boston. "They have begunit, --that either party can do; and we'll end it, --that only one can do. "To the remark, "Well, they are gone out, " he replied, "Yes, and we willbe up with them before night. " Warren probably was present at a meetingof the Committee of Safety which was held that morning, but hisbiographer says: "I am unable to locate him until the afternoon, aboutthe time Lord Percy's column rescued Colonel Smith's party from entiredestruction, which was at two o'clock. "

Warren was no mere adviser. With General Heath he had been planning forthe work of the day, and when, after half an hour's rest, Percy's troopsmoved onward, the time came for the measures to be put into effect. Warren went with Heath to the scene of battle. Yet little could be donein organized form, at least in the open country, and the minute mencontinued to pick off the British. But when the troops were amonghouses, and in revenge for their losses began to plunder[70] and burn, the Americans for the first time began to close in. Many of them firedfrom barricaded houses, and were killed in consequence. The Danverscompany, the only one that tried to fight as a body, were caught betweenthe main column of the regulars and a strong flanking party, and manywere killed in an improvised enclosure. But even without defences theAmericans became very bold, and the fight fiercer. Warren, rashlyexposing himself, had a pin shot out of his hair. Percy, on the otherhand, lost a button from his waistcoat. Nothing can explain thecomparatively slight losses of the British except the rapidity of theirmarch to safety. As it was, the regulars were almost worn out with theirexertions when they saw ahead of them the hills of Charlestown, andlooking across the Back Bay, might perceive on the slopes of Beacon Hillhalf the population of Boston watching their disgrace. 

Boston had been in suspense since early morning. All the Whigs hadsuspected the meaning of Gage's preparations, and the town was no soonerastir than the news was abroad that the expedition had started. Nextcame word that an officer had come in haste with a message for Gage. Atabout eight came news of the death of five men in Lexington. AlreadyLord Percy's detachment was parading, waiting for the Marines, who inturn waited for their absent commander. Thousands of people were in thestreet, and even the schoolboys were running about, for Master Lovellhad dismissed his school with the words, "War's begun, and school'sdone. " Through the day came conflicting rumors. "About twelve o'clockit was gave out by the General's Aide camps that no person was kill'd, and that a single gun had not been fir'd, which report was variouslybeliev'd. "[71] Fairly correct accounts of the fight at Lexington beganto come in, embellished with the addition that men had been killed inthe meeting-house. In the afternoon people began to watch from the hillsfor the return of the troops, and before sunset the noise of firing washeard. 

Of the three British commanders, Lord Percy was the only one whodisplayed any military ability. He showed it in the route which he chosefor his retreat. From Cambridge Common, where at last he arrived, theroad to Boston was long, and was broken by the bridge whose difficultpassage in the morning he remembered. Therefore he avoided it--andwisely, for the planks of the bridge were up again, and this time in useas barricades, while the militia were ready for him. Instead, Percyshook off many of his waylayers, and saved some miles of march, bytaking the direct road to Charlestown. Yet even this route was hardbeset. "I stood upon the hills in town, " says Andrews, "and saw theengagement very plain. " Many a Whig exulted as he watched, many a Torycursed, at the sight of the weary regulars struggling forward, and ofred figures that dropped and lay still. Percy was barely in time. Hadthe men of Essex, whose strong regiment arrived just too late, beenquick enough to intercept them, and resolute enough to throw themselvesacross the retreat, it is more than likely that Percy must havesurrendered, for his ammunition was almost gone. The exasperation of theAmericans at losing their prey was later expressed in a court-martial ofthe Essex colonel. At any rate, Percy was not headed, and the regularsat last streamed across Charlestown Neck, to find protection under theguns of the fleet. 

"Thus, " grumbles Lieutenant Barker, "ended this expedition, which frombeginning to end was as ill plan'd and ill executed as it was possibleto be. .. . For a few trifling Stores the Grenadiers and Light Infantryhad a march of about 50 miles (going and returning) and in all humanprobability must every Man have been cut off if the Brigade had notfortunately come to their Assistance. "

Speaking for the reinforcing brigade, Lord Percy confessed that he hadlearned something. "Whoever looks upon them [the Americans] merely as anirregular mob will find himself much mistaken. They have men among themwho know very well what they are about, having been employed as rangersagainst the Indians and Arcadians. .. . Nor are several of their men voidof a spirit of enthusiasm, . .. For many of them concealed themselves inhouses, and advanced within ten yards to fire at me and other officers, though they were morally certain of being put to death. .. . For my part Inever believed, I confess, that they would have attacked the King'stroops, or have had the perseverance I found in them yesterday. "[72]

This was the day which Massachusetts now celebrates as Patriots' Day. Ofher sons forty-nine were killed, thirty-nine were wounded, and five weretaken prisoners. Berniere's figures of the British losses are 73 killed, 174 wounded, and 26 missing. The totals, for a day more important, assays Bancroft, than Agincourt or Blenheim, are very small. But thesignificance of the day was indeed enormous. Previously, said Warren, not above fifty persons in the province had expected bloodshed, and theties to England were still strong. Within ten weeks Warren himself hadwritten of England as "home. " After this day there was no turning backfrom bloodshed, and no American ever again spoke of Britain by theendearing name. 

And the military situation was entirely changed. In the morning Gage wasstill the nominal governor of the province, free to come and go atwill. At night he looked out upon a circle of hostile camp-fires. "Froma plentiful town, " says Berniere mournfully, "we were reduced to thedisagreeable necessity of living on salt provisions, and fairly blockedup in Boston. "

FOOTNOTES:

[61] Revere's narrative. 

[62] Clark's narrative. 

[63] Clark's narrative. 

[64] Clark's narrative. 

[65] Clark's narrative. 

[66] Letter of Amos Barrett, privately printed. 

[67] Frothingham's "Siege, " Appendix, 369-370. 

[68] "Feekelness, " Emerson's letter, "Source Book of the AmericanRevolution, " 146. 

[69] This quotation from Stedman, himself a British officer, is perhapsas well known as Revere's midnight remark, already given. 

[70] "The plundering was shameful, " says Lieutenant Barker indignantly. See also depositions in Frothingham's "Siege, " Appendices. 

[71] Andrews Letters. 

[72] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 102. 

CHAPTER IX

BOSTON BELEAGUERED

Gage and his army were at first surrounded by a mere collection ofmilitia companies. As the pursuit ceased on the evening of the 19th thebaffled Americans withdrew from the range of the guns of the fleet. Aswell as they could they gathered into their organizations and made somekind of a camp, sleeping either out of doors, or in convenient houses. Awatch was set at Charlestown Neck, and at Roxbury Prescott of Pepperelland his men stood on guard against a sortie. The circuit between thesepoints, comprising the whole sweep of the Charles River and the BackBay, was likewise occupied. Headquarters were at Cambridge. On thefollowing days men from the more distant towns came in, until beforelong the minute men and militia from the adjoining provinces, NewHampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, were upon the ground. 

Some of the records are striking. The men of Nottingham, New Hampshire, gathered by noon of the 20th and, after being joined by men of theneighboring towns, set out at two o'clock. "At dusk, " says Bancroft, "they reached Haverhill Ferry, a distance of twenty-seven miles, havingrun rather than marched; they halted in Andover only for refreshments, and, traversing fifty-five miles in less than twenty hours, by sunriseof the twenty-first paraded on Cambridge common. "[73]

Israel Putnam, working on his farm in Brooklyn, Connecticut, receivedthe news the morning after the fight at Concord. He left his work atonce, and, mounting a horse, started out to rouse the militia, who, uponmustering, chose him leader. As his idea of a leader was one who went infront, he set out at once for Boston, ordering them to follow. Hearrived in Cambridge at the time when the Nottingham men are reportedas parading, "having ridden the same horse a hundred miles in eighteenhours. "[74]

Others followed in similar haste. Among them, Benedict Arnold firstbegan to attract to himself public notice. Sabine says of him, "I aminclined to believe, that he was a finished scoundrel from early manhoodto his grave. " Nevertheless, his fiery nature kept him for a time withthe Americans, and at the very outset he showed his independent spirit, having characteristically refused to "wait for proper orders. " From NewHampshire came Stark, the hero of the frontier wars. And from all thetowns came the militia leaders, who, gathering their companies intoregiments, began the loose organization and crude subordination whichshould make of the crowd an army. 

In all this convergence of the militia toward Boston, there was one sidecurrent. This set toward Marshfield, where for some weeks had been adetachment of regulars. During this time there had been peace in thetown but strong feeling on both sides--Marshfield had already produceda general for the king, and now was about to give one to theprovincials. There had been one or two threatening demonstrations fromneighboring towns, which now were repeated in earnest. On hearing thenews from Lexington and Concord, the militia of the neighborhoodgathered for an attack on the regulars. But they came too late. TheBritish were embarking at Brant Rock, hastened by the signal guns of theMarshfield men from a neighboring hill. Yet though the regulars gotsafely away, they left behind them the three hundred muskets with whichthe Tory militia had drilled, and which presently formed a part of theequipment of the Whigs before Boston. That equipment, while mostirregular, was not to be despised. By the 22d a strong army covered allland approach to Gage, who began to consider himself between two fires. 

"The regulars encamped, " says one British account of the Concordexpedition, "on a place called Bunker's Hill. "[75] There, under theguns of the fleet, the tired troops found safety; and there, for allthat any one can see, it would have been wise of Gage to leave them. With Bunker Hill at his command, and with Dorchester Heights onceoccupied by his forces, Boston would be safe from all attack by theAmericans--and not till then. 

But on the next morning Gage withdrew the troops to Boston. As a matterof fact, he doubted his own strength, and greatly exaggerated the powerof the rebels, since his first sensation was a dread lest the townshould rise at his back, and his army be destroyed. Of this there was noreal chance at any time. Yet he drew in his men in order to make himselfsecure, and began with the selectmen negotiations looking to his safety. 

There were many in the town who were eager to leave it, and many outsideanxious to come in. The governor made the rule that for the purpose oftaking out family effects but thirty wagons might enter the town at atime. The ruling drew from Warren the following very characteristicletter. 

 CAMBRIDGE, April 20, 1775. 

 SIR:--The unhappy situation into which this colony is thrown gives the greatest uneasiness to every man who regards the welfare of the empire, or feels for the distresses of his fellow-men: but even now much may be done to alleviate those misfortunes which cannot be entirely remedied; and I think it of the utmost importance to us, that our conduct be such as that the contending parties may entirely rely upon the honor and integrity of each other for the punctual performance of any agreement that shall be made between them. Your Excellency, I believe, knows very well the part I have taken in public affairs: I ever scorned disguise. I think I have done my duty: some will think otherwise; but be assured, sir, as far as my influence goes, everything which can reasonably be required of us to do shall be done, and everything promised shall be religiously performed. I should now be very glad to know from you, sir, how many days you desire may be allowed for such as desire to remove to Boston with their effects, and what time you will allow the people in Boston for their removal. When I have received that information, I will repair to congress, and hasten, as far as I am able, the issuing a proclamation. I beg leave to suggest, that the condition of admitting only thirty wagons at a time into the town appears to me to be very inconvenient, and will prevent the good effects of a proclamation intended to be issued for encouraging all wagoners to assist in removing the effects from Boston with all possible speed. If Your Excellency will be pleased to take the matter into consideration, and favor me, as soon as may be, with an answer, it will lay me under a great obligation, as it so nearly concerns the welfare of my friends in Boston. I have many things which I wish to say to Your Excellency, and most sincerely wish that I had broken through the formalities which I thought due to your rank, and freely told you all I knew or thought of public affairs; and I must ever confess, whatever may be the event, that you generously gave me such opening, as I now think I ought to have embraced: but the true cause of my not doing it was the vileness and treachery of many persons around you, who, I supposed, had gained your entire confidence. 

 I am, &c. , JOSEPH WARREN. 

 His Excellency General Gage. [76]

In striking contrast to the manly regret expressed by Warren in thisletter is the scene enacted that afternoon at Cambridge, where theCommittee of Safety met. Doctor Benjamin Church, one of the trustedleaders of the Whigs, an orator on the Massacre, and a pamphleteer, wasa member of the committee, for which Warren had recently engaged PaulRevere as messenger. Revere writes, in the letter already quoted: "I wassitting with some, or near all that committee, in their room . .. InCambridge. Dr. Church, all at once, started up. 'Dr. Warren, ' said he, 'I am determined to go into Boston to-morrow. ' (It set them alla-staring. ) Dr. Warren replied: 'Are you serious, Dr. Church? They willhang you if they catch you in Boston. ' He replied: 'I am serious, and amdetermined to go at all adventures. ' After a considerable conversation, Dr. Warren said: 'If you are determined, let us make some business foryou. ' They agreed that he should go and get medicine for their and ourwounded officers. "[77]

Church was the first American traitor. Although possessed of all theWhig secrets, he had for some months, perhaps longer, been incommunication with Gage. His journey to town was for the purpose ofdelivering information, and for some time yet he managed to carry on thedouble rôle. Nevertheless his information, put in the hands of Gage, didno harm. It throws but one more light upon the incompetence of thegeneral that, with such information as Church now gave him, he blunderedso continually. 

We learn from John Andrews' letters of the agreement made between Gageand the town. "Yesterday, " he writes on the 24th, "we had town meetingsall day, and finally concluded to deliver up _all_ our arms to theSelectmen, on condition that the Governor would open the avenues to thetown. " In this agreement the townspeople were advised by the Committeeof Safety to join. Accordingly, there were delivered to the Selectmen, and lodged in Faneuil Hall, "1778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 978 bayonets, and 38 blunderbusses. "[78] These were marked with their owners' names, and were later to be restored. As soon as this delivery of arms waseffected, hundreds applied for passes to leave the town. Andrews musthave reflected the feelings of many when he wrote, "If I can escape withthe skin of my teeth, shall be glad. "

There were for a few days much hurry and bustle, both of egress and ofingress. At first as many as wished were allowed to go out, and thechief difficulty was one of transportation. It is to be supposed thatfor a while the admiral kept to his agreement to lend boats to therefugees. There was a very considerable exodus. "Near half theinhabitants, " wrote Andrews on May 6, "have left the town already, andanother quarter, _at least_, have been waiting for a week past. " Andrewsprobably exaggerated, yet hundreds of the better class went out, andabout five thousand of the poor. These latter were quartered among thedifferent towns at public expense. 

But the outflow from Boston was speedily checked. On the 6th Andrewswas still in Boston, and making up his mind to stay on account of hisproperty, but still anxious to secure a pass for his wife, whosepersonal fears--she was an æsthetic person, an amateur artist whoselandscapes Lord Percy had admired--were greater than her interest in herhusband's safety. She did safely get away, amid the miserable processionthat her husband describes. "You'll see parents that are lucky enough toprocure papers, with bundles in one hand and a string of children inanother, wandering out of the town (with _only_ a _sufferance_ of _one_day's permission) not knowing where they'll go. " Andrews' wife went outin a sailing vessel, but whether by land or by water she was one of thelast to go. 

This was because the Tories interfered in the general removal. Italarmed them to see so many leave: these Whigs, and especially those ofgood social position, were the best hostages for the safety of the townfrom assault. So they made vigorous expression of their discontent, andto them Gage yielded. They had already formed military organizations forhis support, and when they threatened to quit the town and seek refugein Canada or London, the threat was too much for him. Restrictions wereat once put upon the issuing of passes, and in a very short time theconditions imposed were so severe that it was practically impossible forpeople of the better class to leave the town. "There are but very few, "wrote Abigail Adams, "who are permitted to come out in a day; they delaygiving passes, make them wait from hour to hour, and their counsels arenot two hours together alike. One day, they shall come out with theireffects; the next day, merchandise is not effects. One day, theirhousehold furniture is to come out; the next, only wearing apparel; thenext, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, and he refuseth to hearken to them, and will not let the people go. "[79] Nevertheless the poor were stillwelcome to depart, and from time to time were even sent out in order torelieve Gage of the necessity of feeding them. [80]

During this period a number of Tories came to Boston. These were thefamilies of men already in the town, or were others who felt that, though until the present their homes had been safe for them, the futurewas too doubtful. They hastened to put the British defences between themand the Whigs. Among them the most notable was Lady Frankland ofHopkinton, who once had been Agnes Surriage, the barefooted serving-maidof the tavern at Marblehead. She now was a widow of nearly fifty, andcame down from Hopkinton only to be detained before the lines, and madethe subject of memoranda and petitions. The lieutenant who detained herperson was reprimanded, and by vote of the provincial congress she waspermitted to enter Boston with "seven trunks; all the beds with thefurniture to them; all the boxes and crates; a basket of chickens, and abag of corn; two barrels and a hamper; two horses and two chaises, andall the articles in the chaise, excepting arms and ammunition; onephaeton; some tongues, ham, and veal; and sundry small bundles. "[81]Evidently thinking that Lady Frankland's household was well enoughsupplied, the congress did not allow to pass her seven wethers and twopigs. 

There were others who left their homes, though not to go to Boston. Ofthese Judge Curwen of Salem is a type. He was considered--unjustly, heprotests--as a Tory, and finding his neighbors daily becoming "more andmore soured and malevolent against moderate men, " he left Massachusetts. In this case it was the wife who remained behind, "her apprehensions ofdanger from an incensed soldiery, a people licentious andenthusiastically mad and broken loose from all the restraints of law andreligion, being less terrible to her than a short passage on theocean. "[82] Curwen went to Philadelphia, but finding the situation thesame, proceeded to London and there lived out the war. Many others, likehim, repaired to the capital, and formed a miserable colony, living onhope, watching the news from home, pensioned or grudgingly maintained bythe government, and sadly feeling themselves strangers in a strangeland. 

Without doubt the times were very hard for men who, like Judge Curwen, wished to take no side, but to live at peace with all men. Of such menthere was a very large class, so large in fact that more than one Torysympathizer has claimed that the Revolution was fought by a minority ofthe people of the colonies, who were so virulent as to force themoderates into their ranks from dread of personal consequences. Such aclaim is weak upon its very face, and will not bear examination. Most ofthe moderates were but waiting to see how the cat would jump, and whenonce a preponderance of sentiment showed they speedily took sides. Hadthere been in the colonies a majority desirous of a return toallegiance, the Whig cause surely could not have survived the dark daysof the war. We can safely conclude the majority to have been in favor ofthe rights of the colonies, always understanding that they desirednothing more than they had always had since the accession of George theThird. A man of such a type is clearly seen in John Andrews, with hisoccasional fits of depression and doubt, and his impatient exclamationsagainst the radicals among the Whigs. Note, for instance, what he sayson the death of William Molineux, one of the prominent Boston Whigs, whose death was a loss to the cause. "If he was too rash, " remarkedAndrews, "and drove matters to an imprudent pitch, it was owing to hisnatural temper; as when he was in business, he pursued it with the sameimpetuous zeal. His loss is not much regretted by the more prudent andjudicious part of the community. " Yet though Andrews could thus expresshimself, he could again speak quite otherwise, as the remarks quoted inthis book have already shown. He doubted at times, and was petulantagainst the fortune that brought him discomfort and loss, but in themain he was stanch. Andrews was, then, a type of the moderate who threwin his lot with his country. Judge Curwen, on the other hand, was one ofthe smaller class which, in doubt and despair, withdrew to theprotection of the crown. Many of them were too old to fight; many hadnot the heart to lift their hands against their neighbors. Every countrysees such men at every war. Often they may live peaceably, anguishedwith doubt, and distressed for humanity. But in a civil war there isseldom a refuge for them. It was certainly so at the Revolution. A veryfew among the Tories, venerated by their neighbors, might remainneutral; the remainder must take sides, or go. The fighting men feltthat those who were not with them were against them, and among thestay-at-home Whigs were plenty who were willing to express the feeling. Hence the reproaches and menaces which drove Judge Curwen from his home, and hence the doubtful looks in Philadelphia which made him "fearfulwhether, like Cain, I had not a discouraging mark upon me, or a strongfeature of toryism. " Curwen crossed the water, and other moderatesslipped into Boston, to find themselves as unhappy within the town asthey had been outside, in spite of the strength which Gage was slowlygaining. 

This strength was, so far, purely defensive. Gage did not considerhimself ready to take the offensive. Those Tories who came to towninformed him of the numbers outside, and he saw very plainly the resultof sending an expedition against a militia which would melt before thehead of his column, only to attack it in flank and rear. So no actionwas considered, especially as the rebels offered, so far, nothing tostrike at. Gage made himself as strong as he could, and waitedreinforcements. 

His strength was partly, as we have seen, in the organization of theTories. Their men began at once to form themselves in companies, underthe general leadership of Timothy Ruggles, who had long been a politicaltower of strength, and was now assuming military importance. The newvolunteer companies were, as we have seen, of such value to Gage thatthey were able to make him break his promise to let the townspeopleleave Boston. Yet so far as is known they did nothing more in the siegethan to parade and mount guard. 

Gage's chief attention was directed to fortifying. His situation waseasily defensible at certain points, and of them he first made sure. Atthe south, across the passage to Roxbury, were the "lines" of which allcontemporary accounts speak. These Gage strengthened until by the 4th ofMay Lieutenant Barker records that the works were almost ready for tentwenty-four-pounders. From the Neck the western line of the peninsula ofBoston ran in a general northerly direction for about a mile and ahalf; it then ran east for nearly a mile; then turning south, it finallyswept inward to the Neck. The outline had three projections, each causedby a hill: Barton's Point at the northwest; Copp's Hill at thenortheast; and Fort Hill on the middle of the eastern side. Each ofthese was fortified as soon as possible. The four points were Gage'smain defences. 

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SIEGE]

When these forts were finished, the town was by no means secure. Theforts commanded most of the northerly and easterly sides, of which thewar-ships commanded the remainder; but the whole western side of thetown, along the Common and the foot of Beacon Hill, was open to attack. This was, roughly speaking, along the line of the present CharlesStreet, prolonged into Tremont Street. The Back Bay beyond thiswater-line was so shallow that no war-ship could anchor there; a nightattack, delivered in boats, might surprise the soldiers on the Common intheir barracks or their tents. In order to command the western shore, and also to quell a possible rising in the town, Gage erected a "smallwork" on Beacon Hill. Later in the siege every one of these points wasstrengthened; a low hill, near the present Louisburg Square, wasprotected; and redoubts were thrown up to defend the shore-line of theCommon. But the four main works, and the Beacon Hill fort, were all thatGage was able to accomplish before Bunker Hill battle. He managed, however, to put his army under strict military discipline, which beforethe 19th of April he had not imposed on them. 

From letters and diaries we get glimpses of the situation of the troops. They were short of fresh provision, disgusted with their situation, andat times not a little alarmed. What other unexpected qualities theYankees might show no one could predict. They were still, however, regarded as low in the scale of humanity. On the fifth of May LieutenantBarker records the discovery of a "most shocking" plot. "It was a schemeto cut off all the officers of the Garrison. Upon the 24th, the day wewere to keep St. George's day, the Rebels were to make a feint Attack atnight upon the Lines: a number of men were to be posted at the Lodgingsof all the Officers, and upon the Alarm Guns firing they were to put theOfficers to death as they were coming out of their houses to go to theirBarracks. What a set of Villains must they be to think of such a thing!but there is nothing be it ever so bad that these people will stick atto gain their ends. " The horrified lieutenant ascribes to this discoverythe fact that Gage ordered the officers to sleep at barracks. It is, however, more likely that the general paid no attention to the tale, butthought it time for officers and men to be together. 

Once more the army was shocked. A fire broke out near property owned byHancock, and in putting out the blaze there was discovered a chest ofbullets "in Hancock's store. " The news spread rapidly, and was regardedas another proof of the desperate nature of the Whigs. 

So the army, uncomfortable and uneasy, looked for its reinforcements, which before long began to come in. Troop-ships arrived, but the mostwelcome was the _Cerberus_, with the three major-generals. The relief ofthe garrison found expression in waggery; they called the generals thethree bow-wows, and circulated the doggerel:--

 "Behold the Cerberus the Atlantic plow, Her precious cargo Burgoyne, Clinton, Howe, Bow wow wow!"

Burgoyne at this time made a special nickname for himself. Hailing aship as they entered the harbor, the generals learned that the army wasshut up by the provincials. "What!" cried Burgoyne. "Ten thousandpeasants keep five thousand king's troops shut up! Well, let _us_ getin, and we'll soon find elbow-room!"[83] And Elbow-room was Burgoyne'sname for a long time thereafter. 

Yet the three new generals for a while did nothing. Lieutenant Barkerregretfully records: "Tho' we have new Generals come out, yet they havebrought no more authority than we had before, which was none at all. " Itis safe to assume that on learning the quality of the "peasants, "Burgoyne was not anxious to attack them with an inferior force. TheBritish therefore continued to await reinforcements. 

From Burgoyne's voluminous correspondence we learn his state of mind. Hehad come to the country unwillingly: "I received your Majesty's commandsfor America with regret, " he wrote in his letter to the king, andelsewhere records that the event was one of the most disagreeable in hislife. Nevertheless, once enlisted in the campaign, he had thrown himselfinto it. Perceiving in advance how little, as junior major-general, hewould have to do, he endeavored to have himself transferred to the postat New York, where he rightly perceived that there was much to be done. He was in favor of attempting conciliation. Had that post at this timebeen occupied by Burgoyne, his quick wit, true sympathies with theAmericans, and real abilities might have made for him a different namein the history of America. But his attempt failed, and now, almostinactive in his post at Boston, he was studying the situation, probingthe weakness of Gage and learning the difficulties of his position. Gagehad little money for secret service, it is true, and the provincialswere stubborn foes whose true measure Burgoyne had not yet taken, [84]but he saw how poorly Gage had provided against the calamities which hadcome upon him. Burgoyne doubted the outcome, and fretted at thesituation. 

In the meanwhile the rebels had been working to make that situationworse. Their first need was to get some semblance of order among thetroops. At the head of the Massachusetts army was Artemas Ward, aveteran of the French wars, no longer vigorous, and never used toindependent command. He drew his authority from the Provincial Congressof Massachusetts, which now hastily came together, and communicated withWard chiefly through the Committee of Safety, of one of whose meetingswe have already had a glimpse. The active head of the committee wasWarren, who kept in close touch with Ward. 

Organization proceeded slowly, complicated by the fact that the otherprovinces maintained separate armies. The names of some of thecommanders are still familiar. Putnam and Spencer were the heads of theConnecticut troops; John Stark was prominent among the New Hampshiremen; while to command the Rhode Islanders came Nathanael Greene. Withpraiseworthy suppression of provincial jealousies the commandersspeedily agreed to subordinate themselves to Ward, as the oldest amongthem, and the head of the largest body of troops. He was regarded ascommander-in-chief, and his orders were to be observed by all. Yet themeans to communicate orders and to receive reports were long lacking. The combined armies were far from being a unit, and if attacked couldresist little better than on the 19th, as scattered bands, and not as awhole. 

The very size of the army was uncertain. On paper there were more thantwenty thousand men; as a matter of fact there can seldom have been morethan four-fifths of that number. Of the actual total Massachusettsprovided 11, 500, Connecticut 2300, New Hampshire 1200, Rhode Island1000. [85] Further, in its variable size this was the very type of avolunteer army, of which every man owned his equipment, clothed himself, and considered himself still, to a large extent, his own master. Of thethousands living within twenty-five miles of Boston, who sprang to armson the 19th, knowing that if they were quick they might strike theBritish before night, few had the foresight to prepare themselvesproperly for the campaign that was to follow. There were no commissarystores to supply them. Their affairs at home they left just where theystood. In the next few days many of these men went home, for thenecessary arrangement of their affairs and for more clothing. The largernumber of them returned to camp immediately, some were slower, and yetothers stayed for a longer time. Even those who joined the army aftermore preparation often had business that called them home, in which casethey considered it a hardship to be denied. The officers sympathized, especially when that business was haying. Cases occurred in which themen on furlough were making their officers' hay, while at the same timedrawing the pay of the province. The position of the general commandingsuch troops was not to be envied. 

Further, military supplies were very few. In spite of the preparationsof the provincial congress, there were on hand only sixty-eighthalf-barrels of powder, a scanty stock with which to begin the siege ofa military garrison. Of cannon a varying number is reported, few ofthem as yet of value, for lack of shot to fit them. It was doubtless agreat relief to Ward that he was not called upon to use his cannon, since they would have drawn too heavily upon his scanty supply ofammunition, which could be replaced but slowly. 

Altogether, the position of senior major-general was a difficult one. Toknit into an army such a mass of units, to create supplies out ofnothing, to organize a commissary and means of communication, andmaintain a firm front over a line of ten miles, these were the needs ofthe situation. We need scarcely marvel that Ward, old and enfeebled, with his hands tied by uncertain authority, could not meet them. Agenius was needed in his place, and the good fortune was that the geniuseventually came. In the meanwhile Ward, pottering at his task, dependedmuch on the initiative of his subordinates. The passage from the Neck toRoxbury was now guarded by Brigadier-General John Thomas ofMarshfield, [86] who to deceive the enemy as to his numbers occasionallymarched his force of seven hundred round and round a hill. The ruse wassuccessful, for Lieutenant Barker wrote that "at Roxbury there must bebetween 2 and 3000. " Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that soimportant a post was long left so slightly guarded. Thomas exercised hismen with equal profit in cutting down trees to obstruct the passage, andin throwing up earthworks. Of other entrenchments, at this stage, wehear little. Putnam wanted to fortify Prospect Hill, commanding thepassage from Charlestown Neck, but could not get permission. Yet thewhole country about Boston was dotted with low hills, on which mighteasily be made a chain of fortifications. 

Besides such work as Thomas's, for a month little was done. To be sure, early in May a party of provincials, gathered in Connecticut andVermont, and headed by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, took Ticonderogaby surprise, and gained for America a fine supply of cannon. We shalllater see what was done with this artillery, but there was no presentmeans of transporting it to Boston, and no powder for its use, and sothere was no profit to the country save in encouragement. Until the 21stof May nothing happened near Boston save small skirmishes, and brushesof outposts. Here and there a floating battery of the British warped upnear land and fired a few shots, and occasionally a squad of riflemendid a little pot-hunting on its own account. These skirmishes, except asthey accustomed the provincials to the smell of powder, had no effect onthe situation, until at last the opposing sides found that they hadsomething worth contending for. 

Gage had in Boston no supply of fresh meat, but plenty of horses needinghay. It occurred to him, finally, that the islands in the harbor wereplentifully stocked with sheep and cattle, and besides grew plenty ofgrass. He sent, therefore, on the 21st of May, a party to bring hay fromGrape Island, near Weymouth. The Americans took the alarm, soldiers weresent from the camp, the militia who were at home turned out, and muchlong-range shooting was indulged in. "It was impossible to reach them, for want of boats, " wrote Abigail Adams, "but the sight of so manypersons, and the firing at them, prevented their getting more than threetons of hay, though they carted much more down to the water. At last alighter was mustered, and a sloop from Hingham, which had six portholes. Our men eagerly jumped on board, and put off for the island. Assoon as they perceived it, they decamped. Our people landed upon theisland, and in an instant set fire to the hay, which, with the barn, wassoon consumed, --about eighty tons, it is said. "

Emboldened by this success, the provincials began to take steps toremove from the islands the whole stock of cattle, sheep, and hay. Though, on the 25th of May, the garrison of Boston was largelyreinforced and ships were added to the squadron, the Americans beganwork boldly with the islands nearest at hand. Noddle's Island, now EastBoston, stretched within easy cannon shot of the town; it was reachedfrom Hog Island by means of a couple of fords, passable at low tide. Inbroad day, on the 27th, the Americans occupied the islands, and werepromptly assailed by the British in a schooner and a sloop. The skirmishgrew very obstinate, but the schooner was left by the fleet to fight itout by her own means and those of her smaller consort. As a result, whenshe ran aground she was seized, stripped, and burned. On this day theAmericans drove off the stock on Hog Island, which, with their captureof the schooner, was considered a great achievement. Three days laterthe stock was driven from Noddle's Island: "a trifling property, " saysLieutenant Barker, "which we have no connexion with. " This nonchalantdismissal of five hundred sheep and lambs[87] scarcely comes well fromone who had recently recorded that his mess had "luckily got a Sheep. "Within a week other large islands, which the army and the fleet mightnaturally have regarded as their own storehouses, were stripped oflivestock and hay. By these means the Americans were made still moreused to war, and according to contemporary accounts acted boldly, running considerable risks. The total of stock saved by this means wasabout twenty-two hundred, and the loss of life trifling. 

But the time was coming for more serious work. Gage felt his couragerise with his strength, and with his major-generals to back him heplanned action. But first he had to fulminate. Much irritation had beencaused by mock proclamations mysteriously appearing on the walls of theresidences of the new generals, and Gage now determined to issue one inearnest. He called Burgoyne to his aid, and the literary general drafteda masterpiece. It was published on the 12th of June. 

Beginning "Whereas the infatuated multitudes, " it proceeded in pompousstyle to the statement that the rebels were adding "insult to outrage, "for "with a preposterous parade of military arrangement, they affectedto hold the army besieged. " Gage offered to pardon all who would laydown their arms, except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, "whose offencesare of too flagitious a nature" for forgiveness. 

The bombastic proclamation delighted the Tories, who hoped for resultsfrom it. But it deeply angered the Americans. "All the records of time, "wrote Abigail Adams, [88] "cannot produce a blacker page. Satan, whendriven from the regions of bliss, exhibited not more malice. Surely thefather of lies is superseded. " The provincial congress prepared acounter proclamation, which similarly offered amnesty to all on theother side, "excepting only . .. Thomas Gage, Samuel Graves, thosecounsellors who were appointed by Mandamus and have not signified theirresignation, Jonathan Sewall, Charles Paxton, Benjamin Hallowell, [89]and all the natives of America who went out with the British troops onthe 19th of April. " We get from this an interesting glimpse of those whomost excited American resentment, but the proclamation was never issued. More exciting events occurred to prevent it. 

Gage was planning to make himself secure in Boston. Even he could notfail to see that the heights of Charlestown and of Dorchester threatenedhis army. Now that his three major-generals had come, and that hisreinforcements were arriving (the troop-ships, said Lieutenant Barker, were "continually dropping in"), he felt strong enough to take and holdthe dangerous posts. His plan was first to seize Dorchester Heights, andfor the action was set a date--the night of the eighteenth of June. ButGage's counsel was never well kept. While Burgoyne complained that theBritish "are ignorant not only of what passes in Congress, but wantspies for the hill half a mile off, " the Americans were in no suchembarrassment. They had spies at every corner, and--we maysuppose--listeners at many a door. Gage had already arrested mensupposed to have been signalling from steeples. We do not know how thenews got through on this occasion; at any rate the Americans wereinformed as early as the 13th. [90]

The chiefs of the provincial army felt that they were called upon toact. In the seven weeks of the siege they had to some degree tested themettle of their men, and now believed they could be depended on to keeptogether against an attack. The troops had, on one occasion, made anexpedition to Charlestown, which lay practically deserted on itspeninsula, as if conscious of the fate which was to overtake it. On the13th of May, Putnam, to give his men confidence, marched his command, some twenty-two hundred men, into the town, over Bunker and Breed'sHills, where some of them were soon to lay down their lives, along thewater-front close by the British shipping, and out of the town oncemore. "It was, " wrote Lieutenant Barker, "expected the Body at CharlesTown wou'd have fired on the Somerset, at least it was wished for, asshe had everything ready for Action, and must have destroyed greatnumbers of them, besides putting the Town in Ashes. " But no powder wasburned. 

Now it was destined that Charlestown should smell powder enough. Onlearning the news of Gage's projected move, the Committee of Safetycalled for an accounting of the condition and supplies of the variousregiments, advised an increase in the army, recommended that all personsgo armed, even to church, and finally on the 15th of June took thedecisive step of advising the seizure of Bunker Hill. "And as theparticular situation of Dorchester Neck is unknown to this Committee, they advise that the council of war take and pursue such stepsrespecting the same, as to them shall appear to be for the security ofthis colony. "

Thus inadequate was still the American military organization: Ward wastoo old and too weak to assume actual leadership, and we find twoconsultative bodies advising each other, with no responsible head. Up tothis time the Massachusetts congress had hoped that the secondContinental Congress, now in session in Philadelphia, would adopt thearmy as its own and send it a general; but so far no answer had come totheir requests. Nevertheless, even with this deficient organizationsomething was effected. A detachment was made up, consisting on paper offifteen hundred men, but in fact of about twelve hundred. These wereplaced under the command of Colonel William Prescott of Pepperell, aveteran of Louisburg and an excellent soldier. Assembling on CambridgeCommon on the night of the 16th, "after prayer by President Langdon, they marched to Bunker Hill. "[91]

FOOTNOTES:

[73] Bancroft, iv, 535. 

[74] Bancroft, iv, 536. 

[75] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 15. 

[76] Frothingham's "Warren, " 467. 

[77] Revere's narrative. 

[78] Frothingham's "Siege, " 95. 

[79] "Familiar Letters of John and Abigail Adams, " 54. 

[80] Lieutenant Barker makes a suggestion that must have been popularamong the officers. "I wonder the G----l will allow any of their peopleto quit the Town till they return the Prisoners; one wou'd think hemight get 'em if he'd try. "

[81] "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 77. 

[82] Curwen's "Journal, " 25. 

[83] Current newspapers, quoted in Frothingham's "Siege, " 114. 

[84] "There was hardly a leading man among the rebels, in council, or inthe field, but at a proper time, and by proper management, might havebeen bought. "--BURGOYNE to Lord Rochfort, June, 1775. Fonblanque's"Burgoyne, " 149-150. 

[85] Frothingham's "Siege, " 101. 

[86] "And yet to-day, if you should ask ten Boston men, 'Who was ArtemasWard?' nine would say he was an amusing showman. If you asked 'Who wasJohn Thomas?' nine would say he was a flunky commemorated byThackeray. "--E. E. HALE, "Memorial History of Boston, " iii, 100. 

[87] Frothingham's "Siege, " 110. 

[88] Adams Letters, p. 64. 

[89] Graves was the admiral, Sewall the attorney-general, and Paxton andHallowell were commissioners of customs. 

[90] Frothingham's "Siege, " 116. 

[91] Inscription in Cambridge. 

CHAPTER X

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

The strategy of Bunker Hill battle has been criticised as often as thebattle has been described. We have already seen that the choice ofCharlestown instead of Dorchester was owing to ignorance, on the part ofthe Committee of Safety, of the advantages of the latter. FromDorchester Heights the town could equally well have been threatened, theshipping more effectively annoyed, reinforcements more safely summoned, and retreat much better secured. Nevertheless, since at this stage theBritish might have taken any fortification, it is fortunate that theAmericans chose as they did, and left Dorchester for a later attempt. 

Prescott's party of twelve hundred marched in silence to Charlestown, and on the lower slope of Bunker Hill the men rested for some timewhile the officers discussed the situation. On the ground were Prescott, Putnam, and "another general, "[92] with Colonel Richard Gridley, thechief engineer. Their discussion was as to the proper point to fortify. 

The peninsula of Charlestown, as has already been said, stretched towardBoston from the northwest. The approach to it was by a narrow neck ofland, on one side of which, the northeast, ran the Mystic River; whileon the southwesterly side was an inlet from the Charles. The town, asettlement of several houses, was on the bulge of the peninsula nearestBoston; but along the Mystic rose a series of three hills, from thelowest at Morton's or Moulton's Point, to the highest at Bunker Hill. Morton's Hill was 35 feet high, Breed's, in the centre, was 75 feet, andBunker's was 110. The question arose, should Bunker Hill be fortified, as in the orders, or Breed's, which was nearer Boston and the shipping?

Much time was spent in the discussion. Bunker Hill was higher and thesafer, and commanded most landing points; but Breed's Hill seemed bettersuited to the eager spirits of the officers. When at last Gridleyreminded that time was passing, the question seems to have been decidedby the urgency of the unknown general, and a redoubt was laid out by theengineer on the summit of Breed's Hill. In the bright moonlight Prescottat once set his men at work digging, endeavoring to raise a goodprotection before morning. 

In this he was successful. His men were all farmers, used to the shoveland pick; the earth was soft and scarcely stony; and there was nointerruption. Cheered from time to time by the cry of the sentry on thenearer ship, "All's Well!" they pushed on the work. When at daybreak theredoubt was seen, the British could scarcely believe their eyes, for acompleted fort seemed to stand there. 

And now was a chance for a display of military science on the part ofGage and his three major-generals. There stood the little low redoubt, unflanked and unsupported by any other fortifications, easily cut offfrom its own line of relief or retreat. If now Gage had promptly seizedthe isthmus, drawn his ships up close, and dragged a battery to the topof Bunker Hill, the American force could very soon have been driven tosurrender. Ruggles, the Tory brigadier, is known to have advised this, and there were some among the British leaders who urged it. The generalfeeling, however, seems to have been that it would be unmanly to catchthe Americans in the trap which they had laid for themselves. In a hastycouncil of war it was decided to assault the redoubt in the good oldBritish fashion of marching up to its face. Gage was in no hurry evenfor this. Contenting himself with ordering the shipping and the Bostonbatteries to fire upon the little fort, he gave the Americans everychance to complete their defences, while leaving the way open forreinforcements. In a leisurely way he set about preparing an expeditionto cross Charlestown ferry. The men were mustered, and equipped as fora march. 

Howe was to take charge of the assault, and Burgoyne and Clinton todirect the Boston batteries. The fleet joined in the fire. From Copp'sHill, from Barton's Point, from five ships of war, and from a couple offloating batteries, such a storm of roundshot was poured upon theredoubt that its defenders were amazed, and on the death of a comradewere ready to stop work. But Prescott, coolly insisting--against theprotest of a horrified chaplain--that the body be immediately buried, took his stand upon the parapet, and from there directed the finishingof the redoubt. 

In this position he was seen from Boston. Gage, handing hisfield-glasses to a Tory who stood near him, asked if he recognized therebel. The Tory was Willard of Lancaster, a mandamus councillor, whowell knew Prescott's declared intention never to be taken alive. 

"He is my brother-in-law, " he replied. 

"Will he fight?" asked Gage. 

"I cannot answer for his men, " said Willard; "but Prescott will fightyou to the gates of hell!"[93]

At the redoubt one of Prescott's aids followed his example, and walkingback and forth on the parapet the two gave courage to their men. Thesefell to and completed the work. The rampart was raised to a considerableheight, platforms of earth or wood were made inside for the defenders, and at about eleven o'clock the men stacked their tools and were ready. 

The redoubt, when thus finished, was roughly square, about "eight rodson the longest side, " which had a single angle projecting toward thesouth. Running northwards from the northeast corner Prescott had made abreastwork of perhaps two hundred feet, [94] to prevent flanking. Itstretched toward the Mystic River, but fell short by more than a hundredyards. 

Cooped up in this little fort, inadequately protected against flanking, with shot continually striking on the sides of the redoubt, Prescott'smen waited. They had worked all night and most of the morning, hadlittle food and water, saw as yet nothing of the relief that had beenpromised them, and could tell by the fever of activity visible inBoston's streets that the red coats soon would come against them. Thereis no wonder that when Putnam rode up and asked for the entrenchingtools (proposing, with the best of military good sense, to make asupporting redoubt on Bunker Hill), many of Prescott's men were glad ofthe excuse to remove themselves from so dangerous a neighborhood. Ofthose who carried back the tools, few returned. 

But Prescott's remainder was stanch. The men were already veterans, having endured the work and the cannonade. Waiting in the fort, some ofthem could appreciate the marvel of the scene: a great stretch ofintermingled land and water, the shipping spread below, close at handthe town of Charlestown, and across the narrow river the larger town ofBoston, with its heights and house-tops already crowded bynon-combatants, viewing the field that was prepared for the slaughter. It was all in bright and warm weather, under a cloudless sky. Since theworld began, there had been few battle-fields so spectacularly laid out. 

At last the bustle in Boston's streets produced results. From thewharves pushed out into the placid water the boats of the fleet, loadedto the gunwales with soldiers in full equipment. As they neared theCharlestown shore, the fire upon the redoubt was doubled, and under itscover the troops landed upon Moulton's Point. There Howe at firstdeployed them, but after inspecting the ground sent back forreinforcements. For the men in the redoubt there were two more hours ofwaiting. 

Those two hours very nearly decided the fate of the struggle, for hadHowe moved immediately to the assault there could have been no suchresistance offered him as later he met. Prescott decided to send toCambridge for reinforcements; but such was the confusion that themessenger could get no horse, and had to walk the six miles toheadquarters. There he was ill received, for Ward, who during the wholeday did not leave his house, feared an attack on Cambridge, dreaded todeplete his supply of powder, and only upon repeated representationsordered a couple of regiments in support of Prescott. These regimentshad to draw their powder and make up their cartridges, and arrived whenthe battle was just about to begin. 

The student of this day finds it difficult to disentangle the variedaccounts. Who was on the field and who was not, what part was taken byeach, who was in command at this point and who there, and the total ofmen engaged, all either were or still are disputed points. It seems tobe beyond doubt, however, that Prescott from the first was in command atthe redoubt, and that Putnam assumed, and tried to execute, generaloversight of the field of contest outside the redoubt and beyond thebreastwork. 

While Howe's troops lunched quietly at Moulton's Point, the aspect ofaffairs for the Americans became brighter. Prescott, seeing that he musthave better protection toward the Mystic River, ordered a detachment ofConnecticut troops, under Captain Knowlton, and with them sixfield-pieces--which seem to have figured not at all in the result--to"go and oppose" the enemy. Avoiding a marshy spot of ground, Knowltonchose a position some two hundred yards to the rear of the redoubt andits breastwork. Here was a fence, the lower part of stone, the upper ofrails. The men brought forward from the rear another rail fence, leanedit against the first, and wove in between the rails hay which they foundrecently cut upon the ground. This, the "rail fence" mentioned in allaccounts of the battle, was their sole protection. 

Now began slowly to come across the isthmus the first of thereinforcements that strengthened the hands of the provincials. Theycame partly as individuals, of whom the most noted was Warren, who butthe day before had been appointed general by the provincial congress. Hecame as a volunteer, knew his risk, and was prepared to die. 

Curiously James Otis, it is said, was also among the defenders of theredoubt, coming, like Warren, as a volunteer. It was a strange fatewhich sent him safely home, to live, still wrecked in intellect anduseless to his country, while Warren was to fall. 

By this time a lively hail of shot and shell was falling on CharlestownNeck, and to cross it was a test of courage. Seth Pomeroy, brigadier-general, veteran of Louisburg, came on a borrowed horse, and, sending back the animal, crossed on foot. Others, alone, in groups, orin semi-military formation, followed him, to be directed by Putnam tothe rail fence, which needed defenders. At last came one who needed nodirections--Stark, at the head of his New Hampshire regiment. Althoughrequested to hurry his men across the Neck, Stark replied, "One freshman in action is worth ten fatigued ones, "[95] and would not change hisstep. Marching down the slope of Bunker Hill, he quickly noted thatbetween the rail fence and the water the beach was unguarded. "I sawthere, " he said afterward, "the way so plain that the enemy could notmiss it. "[96] Before the attack could begin, Stark's men threw up a rudebreastwork of cobbles behind which they could find a littleshelter. --And now at last the American defences were completed, just asthe troops were in motion to attack them. 

At this point Howe neglected a method of attack which would have madehis victory immediate. The rail fence, and Stark's defence upon thebeach, were open to attack from the river. We have seen that twofloating batteries ("large flat boats, " says Lieutenant Barker, "sidesraised and musquet proof") were used to bombard the redoubt. These, like the shipping and the Boston batteries, did no good whatever. Butplaced in the Mystic in the proper position, they could have raked therail fence. "Had these boats been with us, " says our lieutenant, " . .. They would have taken a part of the Rebels entrenchment in flank, and intheir retreat wou'd have cut off numbers. " But Howe was only a soldier, such an aid apparently never occurred to him, and the floatingbatteries--gondolas, as they were called--remained on the southern sideof the peninsula. He ordered the attack. 

The attack was triple, but the artillery fire, on which Howe hadcounted, was at first valueless, because for the six-pounders had beensent over mostly nine-pound shot, thanks to the chief of artillery, whowas afterward supposed to be making love to the schoolmaster's daughter. The cannon, further, got into the marshy ground, and could not find aneffective position. So the real assault was first delivered by thetroops alone, one detachment marching against the redoubt, and oneagainst the rail fence. 

The troops moved with great confidence. According to the habit of thetime, they were completely equipped as for an expedition, with blanketsand three-days' rations. It has been computed that each soldier carriedabout a hundred and twenty pounds. [97] They were, therefore, greatlyburdened at best; and on so hot a day, with the grass to their knees, and many fences to cross, their task was the worse. But they advancedwith great composure, and apparently forgetting the 19th of April theywere deployed in open order, as if to present each marksman with aseparate target. Howe led those who marched at the rail fence, andGeneral Pigot led the assault upon the redoubt. Both bodies of theregulars advanced with occasional ineffective volleys. 

At first, says tradition, a few Americans fired when the troops came inrange, but Prescott and his officers, leaping upon the parapet of theredoubt, kicked up the muzzles of the guns. If the men would but obeyhim, Prescott told them, not a British soldier would get within theredoubt. At the rail fence the men were likewise prevented from firing, Putnam threatening to cut down any who disobeyed. They were ordered notto shoot until the regulars passed a stake which Stark set up for amark. Many familiar sayings were passed among the provincials: "Waittill you see the whites of their eyes! Aim at the crossing of the belts!Pick out the handsome coats!"

As if to add to the impressiveness of the scene, it was about this timethat Charlestown, set on fire a little while before, that it should notgive cover to the Americans, and that the smoke should confuse therebels, burst into general conflagration. The town had been for weeksalmost deserted, in dread of this fate; now at the command of Howered-hot shot were thrown in among the houses, and marines landed fromthe ships and fired the wharves and waterside buildings. The act was, however, a wanton one, for no advantage was gained or lost to eitherside by the fire. [98]

At last the troops were near enough. They had themselves been firingfor some time, volleying as they advanced, but firing too high. Now, asthey reached a line some eight or ten rods from the redoubt, Prescottgave the word to fire, and to continue firing. The discharge from theredoubt was close, deadly, and incessant, while at the rail fence thereception of the British was even more fatal. For a few minutes theregulars held their ground, returning the fire as best they might, yetdecimated by the American bullets, and seeing their officers falling allabout them. There was no hope to advance, and sullenly they withdrew. 

If ever there was a moment that marked the fate of our nation, it wasthat one. It forecast Bennington, Saratoga, and Yorktown, Gettysburg andthe Wilderness. Well might the provincials exult as they saw the retreatof the regulars; and well might Washington exclaim, when he learned thatthe farmers had driven the British, "Then the liberties of the countryare safe!"[99]

But the battle was not yet won. The slaughter among the officers wasfrightful, yet the leaders were uninjured. Howe gave the order, thetroops formed again, and again advanced to the attack. The Americansadmired them as they approached, preserving unbroken order, and steppingover the bodies of the slain as if they had been logs of wood. This timethe troops were allowed to come nearer yet, but when the provincialsfired at the word the carnage was greater than before. In the smoke theofficers were seen urging their men, striking them with their swordhilts, and even pricking them with the points. But it was in vain. Theofficers themselves were shot down in unheard-of proportion, and at therail fence those who survived out of full companies of thirty-nine werein some cases only three, or four, or five. Nothing could be done undersuch a fire. Leaving their dead within a few yards of the Americanlines, for a second time the British retreated. 

At last Howe had learned his lesson. While his officers, for the sakeof the men, implored him to find some other way to conquer the redoubt, he determined on a third assault. He ordered that the knapsacks be leftbehind, and that the troops be formed in column. In the work of rallyingthe disheartened men he was ably helped by Clinton, who, observing adetachment in disorder near their boats, impetuously hurried across theriver, reformed their ranks, and put himself at their head. Some fourhundred marines came over as reinforcements; according to LieutenantBarker, the 47th regiment came also. Howe disposed his forces in threecolumns, to attack the three faces of the redoubt. 

Between the first and second assaults there had been less than half anhour's interval. This time the wait was longer, and the Americansineffectually sought to take advantage of it. Messengers were again sentto Ward; the general, learning at last that so many of the Britishforces were occupied in the battle that Cambridge was safe from anattack, gave orders that more regiments should go to Prescott'sassistance. To save the day there was yet time, but of the regimentsthus ordered, few companies reached the ground, and fewer still tookpart in the action. And in this the weakness of the Americanorganization was sadly evident. From first to last Ward seems to havesent to Bunker Hill sufficient force to have won the battle; but as henever left his house he could take no pains to make sure that his orderswere obeyed. As a matter of fact, of the regiments despatched, one wentto Lechmere's Point, where it must have secured an excellent view of thebattle, but was completely useless. Being next ordered "to the hill, " itwas conducted by its colonel, James Scammans, to Cobble Hill; thence hesent to Bunker Hill to learn if he was wanted. Receiving a vigorousreply from Putnam, Scammans at last marched his men to Bunker Hill, reaching the top in time to witness the end of the battle. In similarfashion young Major Gridley of the artillery battalion, whom "parentalpartiality" had given too much responsibility, took post at a distance, and fired at the shipping. Both Scammans and Gridley were latercourt-martialled. Other officers lost their way, or, like ColonelMansfield, who stayed with his regiment to "support" Gridley in hisposition of safety, disobeyed orders. 

These facts serve to show not only the confusion of the day, but alsothe bad judgment, to use no stronger phrase, of unseasoned soldiers. Itis fair to say that the hesitancy of some was offset by the heroism ofothers. When Colonel Gerrish, who was later cashiered, could bring hismen no further forward than Bunker Hill, his adjutant, ChristianFebiger, a Dane, led a part of the command to the rail fence, and foughtbravely there. One of the captains of artillery, disregarding Gridley'scommands, took his two guns to Charlestown, and served one of them atthe rail fence. Other individuals named and unnamed, with or withoutorders, went to the field, took post where they could, and fought fortheir own hand. Yet these are scattered instances in the midst of toomany failures to obey. Those who did march down to the field of carnage, with "no more thought, " as one of them confessed, "of ever rising thehill again than I had of ascending to Heaven, as Elijah did, soul andbody together, "--those who thus devoted themselves left many behind onthe safe side of Bunker Hill, or posted ineffectively behind distantfences or trees. Of the thousand Americans who during this last pause inthe battle might have reached the post of danger, not enough arrived toaffect the result. 

At last, while aides were still beating up for more support, and Putnamhimself was returning from a similar errand, Howe put his troops inmotion. This time the movement against the rail fence was but a feint;and now for the first time the artillery of either side did effectiveservice in the battle. Against the protest of the artillery officersthat the ground was too soft to take better position, Howe ordered themforward, and they loyally obeyed. They found a post from which theycould enfilade the breastwork, and at their first discharge of grapesent its defenders into the redoubt for safety. It was the beginning ofthe end. Prescott, as he saw the breastwork abandoned, and marked thethree advancing columns, saw that the redoubt was doomed. 

And yet the day ought not to have been lost. Had Ward but sent a hundredpounds of powder, the fight might have been won. But Prescott looked forit in vain. Or had those men, whom he saw shooting at long range frompositions of safety, come forward to reinforce the defenders of theredoubt, the scales might have been turned. But the fight was to end asit had begun, with Prescott's small detachment still unsupported, leftall day without food or water, and now at the end without powder. As thetroops climbed the hill a few artillery cartridges were opened and theirpowder distributed among the provincials. Some of the men thus hadthree or four charges to their guns, some had only one; besides this, there were few bayonets among them. The wonder is that the men awaitedthe assault. 

This time the regulars came within twenty yards of the redoubt beforethe word was given to fire. The heads of the columns were swept away, but the rest came on, and mounted the parapet. The first who topped itwere shot down, among them Pitcairn. But then the American powder wasspent, and from three sides the British swarmed into the redoubt. Reluctantly Prescott gave his men the word to retreat. 

For a few moments the fighting was fierce. Some of the provincials wereunwilling to run, and fought till they were killed. Some used stones, and some their clubbed muskets, retiring unwillingly. It might besupposed that the slaughter was great. But the British, for the veryreason that they had entered from three sides, were afraid to fire onthe farmers for the sake of their own men; the dust rose up in clouds, and so in the confusion most of the defenders escaped, like PeterBrown, who wrote his mother: "I was not suffered to be touched, althoughI was in the front when the enemy came in, and jumped over the walls, and ran half a mile, where balls flew like hailstones, and cannon roaredlike thunder. "[100]

Prescott came off unhurt. Those who saw him said that he "stepped long, with his sword up. " He saved his life by parrying the bayonets whichwere thrust at him, although some of them pierced his clothes. 

That more were not killed in the pursuit was due to two factors. Thefirst was the exhaustion of the soldiers, who, tired with carrying heavyloads in the unwonted heat (and an American summer is like the tropicsto an Englishman), were winded with their last charge up the hill. Theywere therefore in no good condition to follow up their victory, and thefugitives were soon away beyond Bunker Hill. Yet that the pursuit was sopoor was due partly to the defenders of the rail fence. These men, morelike veteran regiments than fragments of many commands, withdrew in abody, continually threatening those who offered to close in from behind. The end of the fight was as honorable to them as its beginning. 

But there was much loss. A number were killed in the redoubt, and theslopes of Bunker Hill were dotted with slain, killed by bullets andcannon shot. At the Neck some few more were killed. The total of dead, according to Ward's record, was 115, of the wounded 305, of the captured30. Slightly varying totals are reported. [101]

The great personal loss on the part of the Americans was in the death ofWarren. There had been no need of his coming, and his value for higherservices--he was president of the provincial congress and had just beenappointed a major-general--was greater than at the post of actualconflict. But his fiery spirit, of which we have seen so much, wouldnot be denied. That day he waked with a headache, but on learning of theexpected battle he declared himself well. Friends tried to detain him, but he replied with the Latin phrase, "It is sweet and becoming to diefor one's country. " On reaching the field he met Putnam, who offered totake his orders. But Warren had come as a volunteer, and asked where heshould go. Putnam showed him the redoubt, saying, "There you will becovered. "

"Don't think, " said Warren, "that I come to seek a place of safety; buttell me where the onset will be most furious. "

Putnam still sent him to the redoubt. "That is the enemy's object. "

Warren went to the redoubt, where the men received him with cheers, andPrescott offered him command. But Warren still declined, took a musket, and fought with the men. There is no doubt that part of the credit ofthe stout defence belongs to him. When the retreat was ordered hewithdrew unwillingly, and was among the last to leave the redoubt. After he had gone but a little way in the open field he was shot in thehead, and died instantly. Once, when the British questioned the courageof the Americans, he had said, "By Heavens, I hope I shall die up to myknees in blood!" He had had his wish. 

Warren's death at the time was not certainly known to either friend orfoe; his body was buried on the field, and was disinterred andidentified only after the evacuation. Of the Boston leaders, he was theonly one who gave his life for the cause. He was sadly missed, a man ofkeen intellect and excellent political sense, of deep sympathies, andhigh honor. A magnetic leader, he could ill be spared. 

The last figure on the battle-field was Putnam's. At the unfinishedfortification on Bunker Hill he implored the fugitives to rally and"give them one shot more. " The profanity which he used on this occasionhe afterwards penitently acknowledged in church. He retired only whenthe pursuers were close behind, but went no further than Prospect Hill. There, seizing on the chance which so long had been denied him, withoutorders he collected men and commenced another redoubt. The next day hewas found there, unwashed, still digging, and ready for another battle. 

Prescott returned to Cambridge, reported at headquarters, and offered ifgiven sufficient troops to retake the hill. But Ward was afraid of hisown position, and would not sanction the attempt. 

The British loss was very heavy, about one thousand and fifty, of whom aquarter were killed, while ninety-two among the dead were officers. Pitcairn was carried to Boston, and died there. Colonel Abercrombie waskilled, and many others of lesser note. As soon as it was possible thewounded officers were conveyed to Boston for medical attendance, and wehave in Major Clarke's narrative a dismal picture of one sad procession. "In the first carriage was Major Williams, bleeding and dying, andthree dead captains of the fifty-second regiment. In the second, fourdead officers; then another with wounded officers. "

The Americans, at first discouraged by their defeat, in the course oftime came to regard it as a victory. This it certainly was not, yet ithad all the moral effect of a British defeat. The regulars learned thatthe provincials would stand up to them. "Damn the rebels, " was thecurrent phrase; "they would not flinch. "[102] Many of the officers feltcalled upon to explain, in letters home, the reason for the defeat. TheAmerican rifles, argued one, were "peculiarly adapted to take off theofficers of a whole line as it advances to an attack. " They reasonedthat the redoubt, whose perfection when examined was astonishing, musthave been the work of days. As to the comparative uselessness of theBritish cannon, it was explained by the nine-pound shot (some saytwelve) sent for the six-pounders. Said one newspaper: "It naturallyrequired a great while to ram down such disproportioned shot; nor didthey, when discharged, fly with that velocity and true direction theywould have done, had they been better suited to the size of thecannon. "[103]

But aside from a few such absurdities, the body of the army and theBritish public recognized at last that they had formidable antagonists. This was no such fight as that on the 19th of April, when the shiftingprovincials gave the regulars nothing to strike at. This was a pitchedbattle, and the farmers had all but won it. The British were amazed bythe stubborn defence, and the rapidity and accuracy of the Americanfire. The proportion of killed among the officers was greater than anybefore known, and veterans admitted that the slaughter was worse than atMinden, the deadliest of recent European battles. It is with reason, then, that Boston still celebrates Bunker Hill. It was the first signalproof of American courage, and forecast the success of the siege. Indeed, it is not too much to say that Bunker Hill battle had influencein deciding the outcome of the war. Howe, destined to be the leader ofthe British forces, never forgot the lesson of the redoubt on Breed'sHill, or of the flimsy fence of rails and hay. It was seldom that hecould resolve to send his men against a rebel entrenchment. 

FOOTNOTES:

[92] Frothingham's "Siege, " 123. 

[93] Frothingham's "Siege, " 126, and Sabine's "Loyalists, " 707. 

[94] Reports vary from eighty to three hundred feet. 

[95] Dearborn's account of the battle, _Historical Magazine_ for 1864. 

[96] Bancroft, v, 612. 

[97] Ross's "Life of Cornwallis, " quoted in Fonblanque's "Burgoyne, "159. 

[98] The picturesqueness of this scene has been remarked by manywriters. The best contemporary description is, of course, Burgoyne's. "To consider this action as a soldier, it comprised, though in a smallcompass, almost every branch of military duty and curiosity. Troopslanded in the face of an enemy; a fine disposition; a march sustained bya powerful cannonade by moving field artillery, fixed batteries, floating batteries, and broadsides of ships at anchor, all operatingseparately and well disposed; a deployment from the march to form forthe attack of the entrenchments and redoubt; a vigorous defence; a stormwith bayonets; a large and fine town set on fire by shells. Wholestreets of houses, ships upon the stocks, a number of churches, allsending up volumes of smoke and flame, or falling together in ruins, were capital objects. A prospect of the neighboring hills, the steeplesof Boston, and the masts of such ships as were unemployed in the harbor, all crowded with spectators, friends and foes alike in anxious suspense, made a background to the piece; and the whole together composed arepresentation of war that I think the imagination of Lebrun neverreached. "--FONBLANQUE, "Burgoyne, " 156. 

[99] Lodge's "Washington, " i, 133. 

[100] Appendix to Frothingham's "Siege, " 393. 

[101] Washington reported later 139 killed, 36 missing, 278 wounded. 

[102] Moore's "Diary of the Revolution, " 110. 

[103] These two quotations are from Frothingham's "Siege. "

CHAPTER XI

WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND

The immediate effect of the battle of Bunker Hill upon the Americanarmy--or rather armies--was one of dismay. The result was confusion. Infact, no study of the battle can fail to impress the examiner with thebelief that outside the redoubt the whole conduct of the Americans washaphazard. Except for Stark's regiment, which itself came on indetachments, the reinforcements dribbled to the field in companies, platoons, or squads. They placed themselves where the hasty judgment ofPutnam directed them, or if he was absent to beat up for more troops, chose their own positions and fought under their own officers. Putnamgave orders, yet was not always obeyed; and sent urgently forreinforcements, but, though his demands were received by officers fromother colonies, got no response. [104] In this individual character ofthe fighting the day was much like that of the 19th of April. 

And after the battle conditions were much the same. Putnam commencedindependently to fortify Prospect Hill. On Winter Hill the New Hampshiretroops made a redoubt, and at Roxbury General Thomas hastilystrengthened his position. Even at Cambridge Ward began to fortify. Wordhad been sent out to summon the militia, and as on the 19th of Aprilthese responded with alacrity and in great numbers. It was hourlyexpected that the British would sally from Boston, and the provincialskept themselves in a confused readiness. In the meantime the Britishcannon played steadily on the American fortifications, and the thunderof the artillery spread apprehension in the neighboring country. Abigail Adams wrote from Braintree: "The battle began upon ourintrenchments upon Bunker's Hill, Saturday morning about three o'clock, and has not ceased yet, and it is now three o'clock Sabbath afternoon. It is expected they will come out over the Neck to-night, and a dreadfulbattle must ensue. "[105] Yet the British did not come out, quietgradually fell on the two armies, the militia returned to their homes, and the conduct of the siege entered on a new phase. 

Now more than ever the Americans recognized that conditions wereprecarious, and that the greatest need was for a better organization. Zeal was not wanting. Whenever the British cannonade recommenced, whenever there were rumors of an attack, the troops were ready for afight. But means of communication, and prompt and efficientsubordination, still were lacking. Nor does it appear that those on theground were able, handicapped as they were by orders from the differentprovincial assemblies, to produce the necessary system. Higher politicaland military authority both were needed before the army could beefficient. Very fortunately events had been preparing to supply them. 

Since the middle of May the second Continental Congress had been sittingin Philadelphia. Among the Massachusetts delegates were Hancock and thetwo Adamses. Gage on the 12th of June had consigned Samuel Adams andHancock to the gallows, but Hancock was serving as president of theCongress, while the Adamses were important members of committees. Theywatched and waited for the growth of a sentiment which should supportNew England in its resistance. 

The position of the Congress was without precedent. An illegal body, itsdelegates were elected by conventions improperly constituted. It had noauthority to raise money, to purchase arms, or to direct the actions ofthe provinces. Though in New England war was in progress, many of thedelegates loved the old order of things, and were not yet ready to movetoward independence. The first actions of the Congress were forconciliation. 

There were those who saw that this was impossible. Of the New Englanddelegates, very few ever again hoped for what was called "anaccommodation. " Washington, on his part, saw clearly that the end of theold order had come. Franklin knew that independence would be the resultof the changes then in progress. Yet these men, and others like them, knew also that they could not hurry the Congress into radical action, and waited the effect of time. For weeks the Congress discussed andargued, and finally passed a resolve that "an humble and dutifulpetition be presented to his majesty. "[106] This would give a chance forfeelings to cool, and for the supporters of the king to work for hisinterest. 

But events would not stand still. In England the news of Concord had notmoved the king to lenity; he saw no lesson in the tragedy, and insistedon pressing his policy. Lord North's feeble endeavor to resign waschecked, supplies were sent to Virginia to support the governor in hisproject of a rising of the slaves, a scheme was pressed to raise inCarolina a regiment of veteran Highlanders, and orders were sent torouse the Iroquois against the rebels. Further, the king planned tostrengthen his forces by hiring troops from the continent of Europe. 

News of all this, coming across the Atlantic, by degrees changed theaspect of affairs, and made the members of the Congress doubtful ofreconciliation. They began to look to their own positions, and to feelthat, as Franklin said, unless they hung together they would all hangseparately. To remind them what they could do in self-defence the needsof the army around Boston were frequently brought to their attention. Its discipline, equipment, and leadership were poor. At last came apetition from Massachusetts, begging that Congress should "take commandof the army by appointing a generalissimo. "[107] Such a step was openand complete rebellion, and the Congress hesitated. By private lettersto Samuel Adams the desired leader was pointed out: Washington. 

The choice was doubly wise. To the Adamses it had been plain that, though Hancock was desirous of the post, it should not be given to a NewEnglander. The New England army would be knit together, and itsprovincial jealousies appeased, by the appointment of a general fromanother section. Further, in all the continent there was not another manof Washington's experience, ability, and steadfastness. 

Washington was then in the prime of life, forty-three years of age, andof such physique as was needed for the bearer of the greatest burdenthat had ever been put upon an American. He was tall, finely built, majestic in carriage and impressive of feature, and accustomed from hisyouth to exposure, hardship, and constant exertion. He had long beenused to depending upon himself, and had acquired an independentjudgment that was almost unerring. Further, that judgment had beenexercised on military matters. While Hancock had been at best thecaptain of a militia company in time of peace, Washington had from hisnineteenth year been commissioned with higher commands, and had seenmuch active service. More than one campaign owed its success against theIndians largely to him, and it was he and his Virginians who saved theremnant at Braddock's defeat. He had a strong temper under almostperfect control, patience and persistence in equal amounts, and, with awonderful reserve, the quality of winning the confidence of all honestmen. 

Besides all this, he was heart and soul in the cause. While others haddiscussed and hesitated, he had long ago made up his mind, not only thatthe quarrel with the king would come to violence, but that all Americansshould resist to the utmost. "Shall we, " he asked in a letter to afriend, after enumerating Gage's despotic acts, "shall we after thiswhine and cry for relief, when we have already tried it in vain? Orshall we supinely sit and see one province after another fall asacrifice to despotism?" In a letter to a British officer at Boston, hesays, "Permit me with the freedom of a friend (for you know I alwaysesteemed you), to express my sorrow that fortune should place you in aservice that must fix curses to the latest posterity upon thecontrivers, and, if success (which, by the by, is impossible)accompanies it, execrations upon all those who have been instrumental inthe execution. .. . Give me leave to add as my opinion that more bloodwill be spilled on this occasion, if the ministry are determined to pushmatters to extremity, than history has ever yet furnished instances ofin the annals of North America, and such a vital wound will be given tothe peace of this great country, as time itself cannot cure or eradicatethe remembrance of. " Few in those days had such certainty of the resultof an outbreak, and few were so ready to participate in one. In theVirginia convention he said, "I will raise a thousand men, subsist themat my own expense, and march them to the relief of Boston. " No wonderthis was designated "the most eloquent speech that ever was made. " Hewas not called on to make good his promise, but was sent to the twocontinental congresses. At the second it was noticed that he attendedthe sittings in his uniform of a Virginia colonel. Though he took nopart in the debates, he made himself felt. Patrick Henry said of him atthis time: "If you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on thefloor. "[108]

To make the Congress "adopt" the army at Boston, and to have Washingtonappointed generalissimo, became the task of John Adams, who at this timedid the country perhaps his greatest service. There were objections toputting a Virginian at the head of New Englanders, for colonialjealousies, and even colonial lack of mutual understanding, might bringabout a fatal sullenness in the men. Adams discussed the matter inprivate with many delegates, and could not succeed even in making theMassachusetts and Virginia representatives agree. At last, determined toforce action, one morning he announced to Samuel Adams that somethingmust be done. "I am determined this morning to make a direct motion thatCongress should adopt the army before Boston, and appoint ColonelWashington commander of it. Mr. Adams, " he added in his diary, "seemedto think very seriously of it, but said nothing. "

Alone, then, but determinedly following his inspiration, John Adams laidbefore the Congress his proposal. First he spoke in favor of acceptingthe New England army as the army of the continent; then he began aeulogy of Washington. Hancock's eyes flashed with resentment, andWashington himself slipped from the room. There were a few days of delayand debate, but the energy of Adams carried his proposals. The Congressadopted the army, appointed four major-generals and eight brigadiers, and finally, on the 15th of June, chose the commander-in-chief. On the17th of June, the day of Bunker Hill, Adams wrote joyfully to his wife:"I can now inform you that the Congress have made choice of the modestand virtuous, the amiable, generous, and brave George Washington, Esquire, to be General of the American Army. "[109]

This was a step which the Congress could not retrace. The colonies werenow in rebellion, and the members, as they realized that the noose waspreparing for their necks, voted the meagre sum of twenty-five thousanddollars to supply with powder the army which alone stood between themand a sudden taking off. Yet the significance of the act was not yetunderstood by the colonies at large, for a few days later the assemblyof New York voted military escorts both to Washington and to theroyalist governor, who happened to arrive on the same day. 

Washington himself, however, knew better than any man the consequenceof the momentous step. He foresaw that the labor would be difficult andthe struggle long. On the 16th of June he accepted his commission, butadded: "Lest some unlucky event should happen, unfavorable to myreputation, I beg it to be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I, this day, declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not thinkmyself equal to the command I am honored with. 

"As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, that, as nopecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduousemployment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do notwish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of myexpenses. These, I doubt not, they will discharge; and that is all Idesire. "[110]

As soon as he could settle his affairs, Washington started for Boston. In New York he heard the news of Bunker Hill, and was cheered by it. Hearrived on July 2 in Watertown, where the Massachusetts congress wassitting, and received a congratulatory address. He then pressed on toCambridge, which he reached on the same day. On the 3d, a year and a daybefore the Declaration of Independence, and according to tradition underthe great elm still standing near Cambridge Common, he took command ofthe army. 

The occasion was momentous, and was so appreciated by a few at the time. Would the critical volunteer army approve of its new chief? There wasnot a murmur against him. From the first Washington's magnificentbearing and kingly self-confidence won the admiration of his men. Hebrought with him to the camp at Cambridge two who were ambitious todisplace him, yet of Lee and Gates, both retired English officers, thefirst never won a personal following, and the second achieved but themeagre dignity of leadership of a cabal. From the moment when he tookcommand of the army, Washington was, indeed, "first in the hearts of hiscountrymen. "

And the student of our history cannot help remarking how providentialit was that, almost at the outset of this struggle, Washington shouldcome to the front. Eighty-six years later, at the beginning of theRebellion, there was no accepted chief. Lincoln was doubted by theNorth, and the army had no true leader. By a slow process Lincoln'scommanding strength became known; by an equally tedious sifting of thegenerals the qualities of Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Meade werediscovered. Only the tremendous resources of the North could havewithstood the strain of such a delay. Had the same process beennecessary at the outset of the Revolution, the colonies could scarcelyhave maintained the struggle. Had not Washington been at hand, acceptedby the Congress and admired by the army, the virtual leader of both, thechances of success would have been slight. But he was Lincoln and Grantin one. Time and again, through the long years, it was Washington alonewho brought victory from defeat. Without him the colonies might havewon their independence as the result of an almost interminable guerillawarfare; but with him the fight was definite, decisive, glorious, and--for the infant republic--mercifully short. 

[Illustration: THE OLD NORTH BRIDGE

(The Americans marched to the attack from the further side. )]

[Illustration: THE MINUTE MAN By Daniel C. French]

The army was now in the hands of a soldier, one who knew, if any mandid, what was needed to make the raw militiaman into a professional. Washington fell at once to work. "There is great overturning in camp, "wrote the Reverend William Emerson, he who had watched Concord Fightfrom the window of his study. "New lords, new laws. The GeneralsWashington and Lee are upon the lines every day. New orders from hisExcellency are read to the respective regiments every morning afterprayers. The strictest government is taking place, and great distinctionis made between officers and soldiers. Every one is made to know hisplace and keep in it. .. . Thousands are at work every day from four tilleleven o'clock in the morning. "[111]

This simple statement shows, in the wonder of the clergyman, not merelyhow much was now being done, but how little had been done before. As onthe day of Bunker Hill, Ward had been a headquarters general, butWashington was "upon the lines. " Many times later we find him exposinghimself recklessly; now we see him constantly on active patrol of hisoutposts, supervising the new fortifications or the carrying out of thenew regulations. 

Apart from fortifying, which he drove early and late, his immediatedifficulties were with the army organization, and these difficultiesbegan immediately. He brought with him commissions for hismajor-generals and brigadiers, and the commissions of the former hebestowed at once. The fourth major-general was Putnam of Connecticut, who had had as his colleague Joseph Spencer, of the same colony. "General Spencer's disgust, " wrote Washington on the 10th of July, "wasso great at General Putnam's promotion, that he left the army withoutvisiting me, or making known his intention in any respect. "[112]

Upon this, Washington prudently withheld the other commissions, andproceeded cautiously, with regard to jealousies among the officers. Bycareful diplomacy he succeeded in retaining for the new establishmentthe services of most of the colonial brigadiers, for Spencer returned, and Thomas, who saw his juniors promoted over his head, agreed to takerank beneath them. Only one among the new appointees, Pomeroy, theveteran of Louisburg who had fought at the rail fence at Bunker Hill, declined his commission. He had marvelled that in the battle Warrenshould be taken and he, "old and useless, " be left unhurt. Now hewithdrew from further service on account of his age; yet, going laterupon a volunteer expedition, he died of exposure. 

Before the jealousies of the higher officers were settled, Washingtonturned to the smaller fry. He now had to meet the nature of the NewEngland volunteer. "There is no such thing, " he wrote before very long, "as getting officers of this stamp to carry orders into execution. .. . Ihave made a pretty good slam among such kind of officers as theMassachusetts government abounds in, having broke one colonel and twocaptains for cowardly behaviour in the action on Bunker Hill, twocaptains for drawing more pay and provision than they had men in theircompany, and one for being absent from his post when the enemy appearedand burnt a house close by it. .. . In short, I spare none, and yet fearit will not all do, as these people seem to be attentive to everythingbut their own interest. "[113]

Washington was experiencing the difficulties which Lincoln was later toknow, in dealing with the host of fair-weather soldiers and jobbingself-seekers who come to the front at the outset of a war. There wasevery reason why for some time he should estimate the New Englandcharacter from what he saw of its worst side. Yet before the sevenyears of war were over he knew its better aspect. Massachusetts sent tothe war nearly twice as many men as any other colony, and Connecticutwas second. Measured by this standard, Washington's own colony camethird in devotion to the cause. [114]

We know that later he acknowledged his appreciation of the devotion ofNew England to the cause and to his person. It is particularlyinteresting to learn that he reversed his judgment in one of the casesmentioned above. Among those cashiered for disobedience of orders andalleged cowardice at Bunker Hill was John Callender, captain of anartillery company. The trial went against him, and Washington dismissedhim "from all further service in the continental service as an officer. "Callender, determined to wipe off the stain on his honor, remained as aprivate in the artillery service, and found his opportunity at thebattle of Long Island, where the captain and lieutenant of his batterywere shot. "He assumed the command, and, refusing to retreat, fought hispieces to the last. The bayonets of the soldiers were just upon him, when a British officer, admiring his chivalrous and desperate courage, interfered and saved him. "[115] Washington ordered the record ofCallender's sentence to be expunged from the orderly book, effected hisexchange, and restored him his commission. 

Yet in too many of the cases the sentence of incompetence or cowardicewas just. Even when simple laxity of discipline was at the bottom oftrouble, the effect was exasperating. Washington had much to teach theminor members of his army. That it was in all outward aspects a trulyvolunteer assemblage, we have the testimony of an eye witness. "It isvery diverting, " wrote the Reverend William Emerson, "to walk among thecamps. They are as different in their form as the owners are in theirdress; and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of thepersons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards, and some ofsailcloth. Some partly of one and partly of another. Again others aremade of stone and turf, brick or brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously wrought with doors and windows, done in wreaths andwithes in the manner of a basket. Some are your proper tents andmarquees, looking like the regular camp of the enemy. .. . However, Ithink this great variety is rather a beauty than a blemish in thearmy. "[116]

When we consider, however, that the men were dressed as variously asthey were housed, and armed as from a museum of historical curiosities, we can easily see that the commander would not agree with the clergymanthat such variety was to be admired. We find him advocating the purchaseof uniforms. If nothing better can be had, he will be content withhunting-shirts, since a common costume would have a "happy tendency tounite the men, and abolish those provincial distinctions, that lead tojealousy and dissatisfaction. "[117] Washington strove also, but by theend of the siege was still unable, to provide for his men some form ofregulation firearm. 

He found, further, that the number of the troops had been overestimated. After waiting eight days for returns which he expected in an hour afterhis requisition, he found that, instead of the twenty thousand troops hehad been led to hope for, he had but sixteen thousand effective men. With these he had to maintain a front of eight miles, against an enemywho could at will strike at any point. 

In such a situation the only safeguard was fortification. BeforeWashington's arrival the redoubts on Prospect and Winter Hills had beencompleted, with scattered minor works. Washington at once began bystrengthening these, and by finishing all uncompleted works. Then, in amanner characteristic of the whole siege, and which never failed totake the British by surprise, one August evening he sent a party toPlowed Hill, "within point blank shot of the enemy on Charlestown Neck. We worked the whole night incessantly one thousand two hundred men, and, before morning, got an intrenchment in such forwardness, as to biddefiance to their cannon. "[118]

The British cannonaded for two days, but the Americans, finding to theirdisappointment that no assault was intended, finished the work at theirease. Similarly, as we shall see, Washington later took Lechmere'sPoint, commanding the river and the Back Bay. Before many weeks theworks at Roxbury were made "amazing strong, " and the rebels were inposition to welcome an encounter. But there was no assault, andWashington had instead to meet the vexations of his office. 

These were often trivial enough. A company would protest against theappointment of an officer unknown to them, a town would apply forspecial guard, a prisoner would demand the privilege of wearing hissword. [119] Washington met such requests with unvarying courtesy, butwith firmness; even to the governor of Connecticut he refused troops forsea-coast protection. 

One little correspondence throws a gleam of unconscious humor on thedull routine of Washington's correspondence. Hearing of hardshipssuffered in Boston by prisoners taken at Bunker Hill, Washington wroteto remonstrate. Gage returned answer two days later; its original isfound in Burgoyne's letter book, "as wrote by me. " It begins in theusual style of the literary general: "Sir, To the glory of civilizednations, humanity and war have been made almost compatible, andcompassion to the subdued is become almost a general system. Britons, ever pre-eminent in mercy, have outgone common examples, and overlookedthe criminal in the captive. " Entering a general denial of Washington'scharges, the letter goes on to bring counter-accusations, and finally, after giving valuable advice, the writers exhort Washington--of allmen!--to "give free operation to truth. "

Truly, as Burgoyne's biographer admits, there is something irresistiblyludicrous in the spectacle of such generals lecturing such a man. Thesequel was honorable to the American chief. At first determined toretaliate upon some prisoners in his hands, he changed his mind, apparently because they, having been captured off Machias as theirvessel neared land, had "committed no hostility against the people ofthis country. "[120] The general therefore gave them the practicalfreedom of the town of Northampton. 

One other correspondence caused about this time a flutter of excitement. Charles Lee was one of Washington's four major-generals, a man who hadseen military service in many parts of Europe and America. He had servedin the British army from 1747 until 1763, when, his regiment beingdisbanded, he served in Poland and Turkey, and finally, in 1772, came toAmerica. Here he took up, almost violently, the cause of freedom, perhaps because of disappointment in the English service, perhapsbecause he foresaw opportunity. At any rate, he made himselfconspicuous, and was generally regarded as the foremost military man inAmerica, Washington alone excepted. Events proved that Lee acknowledgedno superior, and impatiently desired to be rid of his chief. Washingtonwas always on formal terms with his subordinate, no doubt because heread in his character, besides a certain ability, an unstabletemperament and a hasty judgment. When once Lee was at Cambridge heimmediately rushed into a correspondence with Burgoyne, under whom hehad served in Portugal thirteen years before. 

The tone of his letter was highly literary. Lee reminded Burgoyne oftheir old friendship, and then, with many flourishes, went at hisbusiness. He lamented the infatuation of the times, when men of thestamp of Burgoyne and Howe could be seduced into an impious andnefarious service, and reminding Burgoyne of various bygone incidents, called to his mind his experience with the wickedness and treachery ofthe present court and cabinet. He spread himself at large on theprinciples of the present struggle, rejoiced that Burgoyne came bycommand of the king rather than his own desire, and warned him of themiscreants who had infatuated Gage. Then, explaining how his three yearsin America had acquainted him with facts, Lee begged Burgoyne tocommunicate the substance of the letter to Howe, who to his horrorseemed to be becoming the satrap of an Eastern despot. Protesting hisdevotion to America as the last asylum of liberty, Lee signed himselfwith the greatest sincerity and affection. 

The letter was written before Bunker Hill, but not answered until the8th of July. In his reply, Burgoyne hinted, with references to Locke, Charles the First, and James the Second, that he was equally wellgrounded in the principles of liberty. He urged Lee to lay his hand uponhis heart, and say whether the Americans wanted freedom from taxation orindependency. He, Burgoyne, with the army and fleet, and the kinghimself, was actuated only by the desire to maintain the laws. Then, having letters from England which were to be delivered into Lee's ownhands, Burgoyne proposed a personal interview at the lines on BostonNeck, and sent the compliments of Howe, Clinton, and Percy. 

It must be admitted that Burgoyne's purpose in this proposal was quiteother than to deliver letters, or even to argue upon politicaldifferences. In a letter to Lord North Burgoyne explained his realpurpose in entering into correspondence with a rebel. In the proposedinterview he would have cut Lee short in his paltry jargon, and pressedupon him the real facts in the case. Next he would have shown him theglory accruing to a successful mediator, and then, playing upon hispride, his interest, and his ambition, would have suggested a return tohis allegiance. Burgoyne supposed that the reference to a mediator wouldhave brought to Lee the memory of General Monk, and would have flatteredhim with the same intention to restore the state. 

There is upon this plan of Burgoyne's but one comment to be made, andthat has been clearly stated by his own biographer. "If an AmericanGeneral could have been found base enough to purchase his restoration tothe favour of his late Sovereign by gross treachery to his adoptedcountry, an English General should surely not have thought it worthy ofhis character and position to bribe him to such an act. "[121]

Lee was not caught in the trap, though perhaps not owing to his owncaution. Burgoyne's letter was laid before the Provincial Congress, which forbade the meeting. In a brief letter Lee explained that it wasfeared that the interview might create jealousies and suspicions. Burgoyne caught at this statement as showing, in the American staff, dissensions fruitful of future results; but the hope was neverjustified. Lee's future share in the siege faded into insignificance, and his damage to the American cause was not to come until later. 

Washington may have supervised the correspondence and influenced itsresult. It affected him not at all, but in the midst of many such littleaffairs he found opportunity for really aggressive work. Once he waswell fortified, the next step was to vex and disturb the enemy bycutting off supplies by sea, and making the approach to Bostondifficult. For the latter purpose a detachment went boldly in broaddaylight and burned the lighthouse at the harbor's mouth. Since thefirst attempt was not satisfactory, the same men went again, andfinished the job. Other little expeditions, carried on against eitherthe harbor islands or the shipping near the town, were successfullyundertaken. The men for such purposes were the fishermen of thesea-coast towns, thrown out of work by the fisheries bill, and burningwith patriotic feeling. 

Washington turned them to still better account in beginning a navy. Tobe sure, the little fleet which presently was busily at work was atfirst a spontaneous growth, for whenever a store-ship or king's sloopran aground or made land at the wrong harbor, dories and fishing-vesselsswarmed out to board it. Even before Washington's coming privateers wereacting for the country, but with no better standing than pirates, forthey sailed under no flag and bore neither commission nor letters ofmarque. The provinces of Connecticut and Rhode Island legalized theachievements of those who were busy in their waters, but for theadventurous spirits who dared the men of war in Massachusetts Baynothing was done until Washington found the way. Since, even though theneed was imperative, he could not properly authorize the existence of anavy, we find him, on the second of September, wording a commission inthe following manner: "You being appointed a captain in the army of theUnited Colonies of North America, are hereby directed to take command ofa detachment of said army, and proceed on board the schooner _Hannah_, at Beverly. " And thus the American Navy began its existence. Its vesselswere few and small, being chiefly "converted" fishermen; its purpose wasto intercept stores and gain information; and it was especiallyforbidden to engage with armed vessels, "though you may be equal instrength, or may have some small advantage. " Before the end of the siegethis little company of vessels was invaluable to Washington. 

But in Washington's army lay his chief hopes--and also his chiefdifficulties. That whenever there was a chance for a fight the men werevery ardent, he was glad to acknowledge. But that when there was nothingto relieve the monotony of the camp they were indifferent to alldiscipline, he knew only too well. They were incorrigible traders ofuniforms and equipment, sticklers for seniority upon but a few months'service, insistent for furloughs for return to labor on their ownaffairs, and troublesome even in demanding pay by lunar instead ofcalendar months. In order that their Yankee ingenuity might find lesstime to invent more trouble for him and for themselves, Washington verysensibly worked them hard at his fortifying, "Sundays notexcepted. "[122]

There were, however, difficulties which could be got over neither bywork, nor by thought, nor by gradually licking an army into shape. Powder and arms both were lacking. 

Powder was scarcely to be had anywhere. It was little made in thecolonies, especially not in the neighborhood of Boston. Again and againwe find Washington writing for it, and occasionally reporting his exactsituation. More than once the army had but nine rounds to a man. On thetwenty-fourth of August Washington writes: "We have been in a terriblesituation, occasioned by a mistake in a return; we reckoned upon threehundred quarter casks, and had but thirty-two barrels. "[123] A few dayslater the situation was better, but still was bad enough, for he writes:"We have only one hundred and eighty-four barrels of powder in all(including the late supply from Philadelphia), which is not sufficientto give twenty-five musket cartridges to each man, and scarcely to servethe artillery in any brisk action one single day. " He sent to Bermuda toseize a supply, but his vessels arrived too late. Supplies did slowlydribble in, and sometimes came in encouraging quantities when astore-ship was captured. But there never was plenty on hand, and toooften not enough, for the powder would deteriorate in bad weather, aswas shown at a skirmish at Lechmere's Point. As the troops formed forduty, cartridge boxes were examined, "when the melancholy truthappeared. "[124] Further, the men, from whom the lack of powder wasconcealed, were fond of amusing themselves by indiscriminate shooting. We find General Greene, in an order to his troops, threatening severepunishment to those who shot at geese passing over the camp. And so, with little acquisitions of powder, and steady depletion, Washington wasnever for a day properly supplied. 

His difficulty in finding muskets, though never so great, was alwaysconsiderable. The gunsmiths of Philadelphia, who had been expectedspeedily to equip his army, were not able to supply a satisfactoryportion of the arms required, so that Washington was reduced to sendingagents through the neighboring towns to buy guns. Their success wassmall. He tried also to buy the muskets of those men who, on theexpiration of their term of service, went home. Here again the resultwas poor, for the men, mindful of the possibility of militia service, were very unwilling to part with their arms. 

Yet the men had an ineradicable propensity to dicker among themselves. Arms and equipment changed hands in true Yankee fashion; even clothingwas traded in, and the camp, when the men were off duty, must at timeshave been as busy as a market. Nothing better shows this than the diaryof David How, whose brief entries prove him to be a true New Englander. Months later than Washington's first attempts to buy arms from the men, we find entries as follows. 

"13 (January, 1776) I Bought a gun & Bayonet & Cateridge Box of JosephJackson and gave 42/6 Lawfull Money for the Whole. I have been MakeingCateridges this Day. .. . 

"20 I Bought a frock & Trouses of Parley Macingtyre and give 6/Law. 

"22 Peter Gage Staid Hear Last Night and I bought 3 Pare of Shoes of him@ 5/6 per pare

"23 I sold a pare of Shoes for 6/8. 

"26 I Sold my Cateridge box For 4/6 Lawfull Money. 

"16 March I sold my gun to Timothy Jackson for Three pound LawfullMoney. "

We see in David How, even when soldiering, the qualities which latermade him one of the richest men in Haverhill. The diary shows, also, what appears to be the visit to the camp of a shoe pedler. Moderndisciplinarians would scarcely condone this, nor would they permit How'sopportunity of making money when cooking for his company. For hewrites:--

"24 day (January, 1776) I Cook this day & Bought 3 Barrels of Cyder for9/per Barrel. 

"25 day I Bought 7 Bushels of Chesnuts & give 4 pisterens per bushel. 

"30 We have Sold Nuts and Cyder Every Day This Week. "

It was in the face of this well-nigh incorrigible tendency to make moneyout of the situation that Washington struggled to turn his militiameninto soldiers. We gather from his orderly books that he had difficultieswith disorders of many kinds, not the least of which were caused by thevisits of "pretended suttlers"[125] who sold bad rum. To checkdrunkenness he licensed the sutlers and limited their activities, andfor general discipline he worked steadily to show officers and men alikewhat was expected of them. And all the time he diligently tried topurchase weapons, though with so little success that at last he eventook up the question of implements more primitive than muskets. Therewas in camp a company of Stockbridge Indians, who were so successful asto waylay a British sentry or two and kill them with arrows. Franklin, perhaps taking the hint from this, wrote to prove that the long-bowmight be revived, but Washington would have none of it. Pikes, however, whose use in European warfare was fairly recent, he would consider. Anumber were ordered, and after them a second set of stronger make, thefirst being "ridiculously short and light. "[126]

In October came to light the treason of Dr. Benjamin Church. As alreadyshown, he had for some time before the 19th of April been incommunication with Gage. On the 22d, when he went into Boston with theknowledge of the Committee of Safety, he doubtless saw the general inperson. An occurrence now showed that he was writing to the Britishcommander, though his agency was not at first suspected. From Newportcame a letter, brought by an American patriot to whom it had been givenby a woman from Cambridge, who had requested to have it delivered tosome officer of the British vessel stationed in the harbor. The Americankept the letter, and, suspecting its purport, opened it. It was incipher. This in itself was suspicious, and the letter was brought toWashington, who caused the woman to be arrested and questioned. At firstshe was obstinate, but finally she named Church as the writer of theletter. He in his turn was put under guard, but had had time to destroyany papers that might betray him. The letter when deciphered proved togive little information besides the numbers of the American forces. Fromfirst to last Church had been of little value to Gage. 

But the army and country, as Washington wrote, were "exceedinglyirritated. " Church was a man of pleasing address and ready language, andhad stood high in Boston for years. He had written Whig pamphlets, hadbeen an orator on the Massacre, and had served on many committees, notably the Committee of Safety. In consequence he had been given thehighest office that a physician could look for, that of surgeon-generalto the army. Resentment at his betrayal was extreme, and Abigail Adamswas probably right when she wrote, "If he is set at liberty, even afterhe has received a severe punishment, I do not think he will be safe. "

Church was not set free. As a member of the Massachusetts Congress hewas brought before the House, and allowed to make his defence, which waselaborate and able. Church claimed that he was writing to his brother, and that his intentions were harmless; but he was not believed, and wasexpelled from the House. Later the Continental Congress adjudged himguilty, and ordered him confined in jail. Released later on account ofhis health, he was allowed to sail for the West Indies. His vessel wasnever again heard from. 

This was Washington's foretaste of the treason of Arnold. It may havedisturbed him deeply, but of that he gave no sign. So far as we can see, he dismissed the matter from his mind and went on with his work ofproviding a way for assaulting the town. Congress desired this, thecountry looked for it, and his own fiery nature urged him to the risk. 

On the 11th of September, having previously notified his generals thathe would lay the question before them, he had called a council of war, and proposed an attack upon Boston. They were unanimously against it. Now, in October, he again laid the matter before his council of war, andreached practically the same result, General Greene alone thinking thescheme practical, "if ten thousand men could be landed at Boston. "[127]If it is true that councils of war do not fight, the result was natural;but the situation was a very difficult one. The British had madeCharlestown practically impregnable against anything except surprise, bya powerful redoubt on Bunker Hill. As for Boston itself, it wasfortified at all prominent points, and was very strongly garrisoned byveteran troops. The Neck could not be forced, and to cross in boats overthe Back Bay was a hazardous undertaking. It was common sense, therefore, to wait until ice should make it possible to assault the townat several points. With his wonderful patience Washington accepted thesituation, and contented himself with wishing that the British wouldattack him. There were continual rumors that the British plan was laid, and deserters frequently came from Boston prophesying a sally; but stillthe regulars lay in their fastness, and did not move. 

FOOTNOTES:

[104] One Massachusetts colonel, who had urgently applied to Ward forpermission to go to the Hill, but was refused, three times ignored theorder of Putnam to come to his assistance--Putnam being fromConnecticut. See Frothingham's "Siege, " 168, note. 

[105] Adams Letters, 67. 

[106] Bancroft, iv, 583. 

[107] Bancroft, iv, 590. 

[108] These quotations are from Lodge's "Washington, " i. 

[109] Adams Letters, 65. 

[110] Sparks, "Writings of Washington, " iii, 1. 

[111] "Writings of Washington, " iii, 491. 

[112] "Writings of Washington, " iii, 23. 

[113] Lodge's "Washington, " i, 138. 

[114] Trevelyan's "Revolution, " Part 1, 378, footnote. 

[115] See Frothingham's "Siege, " and Appendix III of Vol. 3 of the"Writings of Washington. " Both of these books quote Swett's "History ofBunker Hill Battle. "

[116] "Writings of Washington, " iii, 491. 

[117] "Writings of Washington, " iii, 22. 

[118] _Ibid. _, iii, 71. 

[119] Washington's correspondence with Major Christopher French is aninteresting instance of the patience of a great man with the impatienceof a small one. 

[120] The letters that passed between Washington and Gage, and laterbetween him and Howe, are to be found in the volumes of his "Writings, "and make interesting reading. Washington had at this time no prisonersin his hands other than those taken as described, because the prisonersof the 19th of April had been exchanged on the 6th of June. 

[121] Fonblanque's "Burgoyne. "

[122] "Writings of Washington, " iii. 

[123] "Writings of Washington, " iii. 

[124] _Ibid. _

[125] Henshaw's "Orderly Book. "

[126] _Ibid. _

[127] Trevelyan's "Revolution, " Part I. 

CHAPTER XII

EVENTS IN BOSTON FROM JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1775

The history of events in Boston after the battle of Bunker Hill is of aquite different tenor from that which we have just been considering. From the time when the wounded, and the more distinguished of the dead, were carried over from Charlestown on the evening of the seventeenth ofJune, the sober truth struck home, not yet to the Tories and the commonrun of officers, but to the generals. They were in a tight place, fromwhich it would be difficult to escape with credit. 

They might--and some of them did--reckon it out by common arithmetic. Ifit cost a thousand men to take a hill, and required another thousand togarrison it when taken, how much could the British army master of therolling country that lay before its eyes? Beyond the exit from eitherpeninsula the next hill was already fortified, and the Americansprepared to "sell it at the same price. "[128]

The British generals wrote very plainly in explaining the situation totheir superiors at home. To be sure, Gage was a trifle disingenuous inreviewing the past. While admitting that the recent trials at armsproved the rebels "not the despicable rabble too many have supposed themto be, " he ignored his original boast concerning lions and lambs. Instating that in all previous wars the Americans had never showed so much"conduct, attention, and perseverance, " he admitted his ignorance ofcolonial history. But Gage was endeavoring to salve his smart andconceal his own shame. 

Burgoyne, with nothing to palliate, wrote very frankly. "Look, my Lord, "he said to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, "upon the countrynear Boston. It is all fortification. " His mathematics has been alreadyquoted; he adds that the army had nothing for transport in an activecampaign of any duration. Proceeding, he delicately points out that Gagewas not the man for the situation, and laments again that the generalhad no means of knowing what passed in the American councils, or evenwithin the American lines. 

This is but another proof, if one were needed, of the poor use to whichChurch had put his opportunities. Surely he, as Arnold later, sold hissoul to little purpose. Few things in this campaign are more honorableto America than the fact that Washington's most precious secret, hislack of powder, though known to many, never came to the ears of theBritish generals. One may question if the truth, if told, would havebeen believed, for men of Gage and Howe's training could scarcelysuppose a man capable of such daring and dogged obstinacy as to hold hispost before them without powder, or guns, or, as it finally turned out, almost without men. But no statement has been made that the commandersheard even rumors of Washington's difficulties. 

After Bunker Hill, then, the British generals plainly saw that theycould never campaign successfully with Boston as a base. As to whatshould best be done, Gage had no idea; Burgoyne, however, was ready witha plan. He proposed to keep in Boston as small a garrison, supported byas small a fleet, as could safely be left, and to send the rest of thetroops and ships to harry the coast. This proposition, if by the vagueterm of chastisement he meant the burning of defenceless towns, wasunworthy of Burgoyne; but when later he proposed with this detachedforce to occupy Rhode Island, doubtless using Newport as a base, heoutlined a plan which, if followed, would have seriously embarrassed theAmericans. But the advice was not taken, and for months the Britishgenerals contented themselves with wishing they were at New York, without taking any steps toward going there. 

One thing at least they should have done. It will be remembered thatthe American occupancy of Bunker Hill had been precipitated by knowledgeof a British plan to take Dorchester Heights. This plan of Gage's wasnot abandoned after the battle. It is spoken of in a letter ofBurgoyne's, and is laid down as a part of his scheme to make Bostonsecure while his marauding fleet menaced southern New England. We areeven able to suppose that feeble moves toward seizing the Heights weretwice made. Once a couple of regiments, on transports, dropped down thechannel; and once two regiments were withdrawn from Charlestown toBoston, with various companies from the castle. Lieutenant Barker givesthe reason why in the latter case nothing was done: "the Genl. Hearingthat they had got intelligence and reinforced that place with 4000 men. "But this is mere rumor; the Americans had not yet sent any troops intoDorchester. This leaves us very much in the dark as to why the Heightswere not occupied; but occupied they were not; the plan receives nofurther mention, and though from month to month the British watchedWashington seizing posts ever nearer to Boston, they behaved in allrespects as if he were under pledge to avoid Dorchester. 

Gage's chief activity was in fortifying. He strengthened his existingworks, and entrenched himself particularly well at Bunker Hill. As theAmerican redoubt was of little value to the British, they made theirmain defence upon the top of the higher hill, and mounted guns to sweepCharlestown Neck and the country beyond. Little by little both Gage andhis successor strengthened this post, cutting down trees for abatis, andmaking advanced posts similar to those at Boston Neck. Before the end ofthe siege it was the strongest British post, and Washington knew betterthan to molest it, especially when he had a better move to make. 

Actual military operations were trifling. In retaliation for an Americanattack, on the 30th of July the regulars made a sally from Bostontoward Roxbury, drove in the American advance guard, and burnt a houseor two. The undertaking appears to have been without object, andresulted in nothing except some harmless cannonading. At other timesarmed boats ventured along the Cambridge shore, or tried the rivers, always to be sent back by the bullets of Yankee sharpshooters. When theVirginia riflemen appeared, however, there was less of this diversion. These men, finding themselves debarred from the larger field operations, resolved at least to get something in return for their long march. Sothey set themselves to watch for the appearance of British exploringparties, and even stalked the sentries. The officers indignantlycomplained that this was not war according to rule, but both they andtheir sentries took care not to expose themselves. The largest operationundertaken by the British was at the approach of winter, when early inNovember they sent a small force to Lechmere's Point, at a time when avery high tide had converted the place into an island. They took a fewcows, and lost a couple of men; on retiring they pointed to the Americanunwillingness to attack them, but this, as we have already learned, wason account of the spoiled cartridges. 

All these operations, it will be seen, took place practically within thelimits of the Back Bay and its adjacent waters, into which flowed theCharles River and a few creeks. Once or twice British boats tried toexplore the Mystic, but with the coming of the riflemen that diversionstopped. When finally the Yankees dragged whale-boats to the Mystic andCharles, and began building floating batteries on their own account, British curiosity as to the American shore-line lapsed entirely. 

Down the harbor Gage did nothing, except to send, tardily, to repelAmerican expeditions. We have seen that the British could not save thelighthouse. The Yankee fishermen now took occasion to remove from theislands the hay and live stock which they had not taken before BunkerHill. Their activities drew from Burgoyne an indignant letter. 

"It may be asked in England, 'What is the Admiral doing?'

"I wish I were able to answer that question satisfactorily, but I canonly say what he is _not_ doing. 

"That he is _not_ supplying us with sheep and oxen, the dinners of thebest of us bear meagre testimony; the state of our hospitals bears amore melancholy one. 

"He is _not_ defending his own flocks and herds, for the enemy haverepeatedly plundered his own islands. 

"He is _not_ defending the other islands in the harbour, for the enemyin force landed from a great number of boats, and burned the lighthouseat noonday (having first killed or taken the party of marines which wasposted there) almost under the guns of two or three men-of-war. 

"He is _not_ employing his ships to keep up communication andintelligence with the King's servants and friends at different parts ofthe continent, for I do not believe that General Gage has received aletter from any correspondent out of Boston these six weeks. 

"He is intent upon greater objects, you will think, --supporting in thegreat points the dignity of the British flag, --and where a number ofboats have been built for the enemy; privateers fitted out; prizescarried in; the King's armed vessels sunk; the crews made prisoners; theofficers killed, --he is doubtless enforcing instant restitution andreparation by the voice of his cannon and laying the towns in ashes thatrefuse his terms? Alas! he is not. "[129]

Burgoyne finishes his indictment by lumping with the admiral'sinefficiencies the weaknesses of quartermaster-generals, adjutant-generals, secretaries, and commissaries. In all this we catch aglimpse of one result of the king's policy, which was to reward hisfriends and rebuke his enemies. Since he classed with his enemies theWhigs who were at home, he had only Tories to draw from. From them cameAdmiral Graves, and the crowd of incompetents who filled offices inAmerica. The royal service was now paying the piper. 

One result Burgoyne has noted very plainly, in the lack of freshprovision. The admiral could have protected the stock on the harborislands, and without unnecessary violence could have seized provisionsfrom the shore towns. This, however, he did not do, and we soon find thearmy complaining of its fare. It was not that the commissary wasnegligent; even the moneyed officers were at times unable to satisfytheir desire for fresh meat, the supply of which was uncertain. For lackof hay, the milk supply soon disappeared, since cows could not be fedand had to be killed. Cheerful news came to the American camp that thevenerable town bull had been sold for beef. The army even tired of itssupply of fish, which, to be sure, never was great, though then as nowBoston lay close to good fishing grounds. Salt pork was the mainreliance, and before the middle of the summer the army had hadaltogether too much of that. 

In consequence of this restricted diet the wounded from Bunker Hill diedin great numbers. Of the wounded American prisoners very few survived. Some, as Washington heard, were operated on in the common jail, in whichmost of them were confined, and where the chances of their recovery wereslight. They fared "very hard, " said John Leach, who had opportunity toknow; not one of them survived amputation. As to the rest, there can beno question that they were badly treated. Their doctor complained thatthey had had no bread for two days; the Provost replied "they might eatthe Nail Heads, and knaw the plank and be damn'd. "[130] Their morefortunate fellow-prisoners, who were not taken in arms and who receivedfood from their families in Boston, sent the Bunker Hill prisoners whatcomforts they could bribe the soldiers to take to them; but, saysLeach's diary, "they have no Wood for days together, to Warm theirDrink, and dying men drink them cold. " By the 21st of September eighteenout of twenty-nine prisoners had died in the jail. 

Yet even the British wounded showed a high mortality. This was largelyon account of the food, which, although it was the best that was to behad, was none too good for suffering men. The high death rate was inpart due to the American marksmanship, which caused many body wounds. What with such wounds, and such food, and the unaccustomed heat, therewere so many deaths among the wounded that it was seriously stated thatthe American bullets were poisoned. 

There was, then, considerable discontent among the British soldiery. Ofit at one time the Americans took ingenious advantage. When the wind wassetting toward the British lines at Charlestown, the Americans at theMedford lines scattered handbills that were driven to the Britishsentries. On the bills was to be read a comparison intended to increaseBritish discontent. It ran:--

 PROSPECT HILL BUNKER'S HILL I. Seven dollars a I. Three pence a month. Day. II. Fresh provisions II. Rotten salt pork. And in plenty. III. Health. III. The scurvy. IV. Freedom, ease, IV. Slavery, beggary, affluence, and and want. A good farm. 

These handbills thus coming into the hands of the privates were passedabout secretly, until the officers got wind of the device, andcomplained to the Americans. The retort was that the British themselveshad already been tempting sentries to desert. This deserting did go onthroughout the siege, from either side, though it would seem as if moreof the British fled from their service. Into whichever lines they went, the deserters always brought highly colored tales to buy their welcome. The leaders very soon learned how little reliance could be placed uponsuch information. "We ought not to catch at such shadows as that. Wehave nothing under God to depend upon, but our own strength. "[131]

If the British private was discontented, that was his habit; and thoughthe officers grumbled as well, they had comparatively little to complainof. To be sure, the food was coarse, but it was plentiful. Even theunaccustomed heat would seem comfortable to a Bostonian of to-day. Themarine officers had more pleasant conditions, with their open ports andharbor breezes, and decks frequently sluiced with water. But the townitself had no tall buildings or confined spaces; generally speaking, itwas open from water to water, with plentiful shade. Boston in 1775 musthave been as cool as its own summer resorts of the twentieth century. 

The Tories, at least, found it bearable. They were accustomed to thesummer heat, and knew themselves much better off than the unfortunatemembers of their party who had been unable to escape to the Britishlines. Many of the country Tories were confined to their estates, andforbidden to communicate with each other. "I wish to God, " wrote SamuelPaine, "all our friends were here out of the hands of such Villains. "Compared with such treatment, serenades by thirteen-inch mortars andtwenty-four pounders were apparently trifling--though the ladies did notthink so. One, writing of the skirmish on the night of July 30, spoke ofthe "most dreadful cannonading, " and "the apprehensions that naturallyseize every one, either of the enemy breaking in, or the town being seton fire. "[132] Even Samuel Paine saw the serious side of the situation. "These, " he asks, "are Governor Hutchinson's countrymen that would notfight, are they?"

It was because he realized that fight they would, "and like the devil, "that he and others considered enlisting in the various corps which wereorganized in the town. According to Frothingham, who could find nostatistics of the numbers of Tory volunteers, there were at least threecorps formed: the Loyal American Associators under Timothy Ruggles, theLoyal Irish Volunteers under James Forrest, and the Royal FencibleAmericans under Colonel Graham. [133] According to Samuel Paine, therewas a fourth corps, but it is not named. A commission in one of theseorganizations was particularly attractive, as the service was expectedto be short, and at its expiration the officers were to go upon halfpay. Further, the duties were very light, being confined to drilling andpatrolling the town. In the military events of the siege these corpstook no part whatever. 

It must be remembered, however, that out of this situation England didgain some valuable soldiers. The mettle of a few of the Tories was shownat Bunker Hill, where they went as individual volunteers, and servedwith the troops. Others, disdaining the toy-soldiering of theirfriends, seized the chance to join the regular army, and fought in itthroughout the war, or until their deaths. Such men were John Coffin, Leverett Saltonstall, and the two Thomas Gilberts. 

Yet men of this quality were few, and at least at this stage of the warthe Tories were of little service to their king. Most of them werecontent to wait until the time when the regulars should scatter thebesiegers and conduct the loyalists to their homes. Meanwhile theyenjoyed the society into which they were thrown. "We have here, " wroteSamuel Paine, "Earls, Lords, and Baronets, I assure you Names that Soundgrand. " These names did bring to the Tories a fair amount of socialgayety. Mrs. Gage was at the head of her own little circle, not alwaysenjoyed by those who could not forget her American birth. There wereother groups of ladies who, whether English or Tory, contrived to makethe time pass pleasantly for themselves and for the men. With fewresponsibilities, and with confidence in the future, the loyalists had apleasant enough summer, and saw ahead of them a comfortable winter. 

The situation of the Whigs was not so enjoyable. Before Bunker Hill, every one of them who could leave Boston had done so. But there weremany of them left, and among them were a number of the more respectableand prominent of the Whigs. None of them wrote letters, and few indeedkept diaries; there is, therefore, a notable lack of informationconcerning their doings. We do know, however, that they were at a greatdisadvantage as against their Tory acquaintances. No privileges of thecommissary were theirs, and no favors were to be had from the militaryauthorities. When there was fresh meat in the town the Whigs could getlittle of it without repudiating their political creed; when the supplywas scant, the Whigs went without. "They even denied us, " wrote JohnAndrews, looking back upon this period, "the privilege of buying thesurplusage of the soldiers' rations. " Even before Bunker Hill he hadwritten, "It's hard to stay cooped up here and feed upon saltprovisions, more especially without one's wife. .. . Pork and beans oneday, and beans and pork another, and fish when we can catch it. "Throughout the summer the situation was little bettered. "A loaf ofbread the size we formerly gave three pence for, thought ourselves welloff to get for a shilling. Butter at two shillings. Milk, for monthswithout tasting any. "

There were certain Whigs whose experiences were more grim. To Gage, always in fear of betrayal to the enemy, there came rumors pointing tomen whose known sentiments, or whose actions, subjected them tosuspicion. Among these were one Carpenter, a barber, who had swum toCambridge and back; one "Dorrington, his son and maid, for blowing upflies"[134]; but particularly John Leach and James Lovell, schoolmasters, with Peter Edes, printer, and his father's partner, JohnGill. All of these four were obnoxious to the Tories, being outspokenWhigs and teachers of sedition, whether in their schools or theirpublications. One by one they were imprisoned in the common jail, andheld there during various terms. Their treatment was harsh andungenerous, held in close neighborhood with felons and loose livers, andnot informed of what they were accused. Leach and Edes kept diaries whenin prison. "From the 2d July to the 17th, " writes Leach, "a Complicatedscene of Oaths, Curses, Debauchery, and the most horrid Blasphemy, committed by the Provost Marshal, his Deputy and Soldiers, who were ourguard, Soldier prisoners, and sundry soldier women, confined for Thefts, &c. .. . When our Wives, Children, and Friends came to see us, (which wasseldom they were permitted) we seemed to want them gone, notwithstandingwe were desirous of their Company, as they were exposed to hear the mostabandon'd language, as was grating to the ears of all sober persons. "This Leach suspected to be intentional, but the offensive actions andwords were incessant, especially on Sundays. 

On the 17th Leach's son died, "whom I left well in my house"; but he wasnot allowed to attend the funeral, nor to be tried, nor dismissed. Threeweeks after he and Lovell had been put in jail they first learned ofwhat they were accused: Lovell of "being a Spy, and giving intelligenceto the rebels, " and Leach of "being a spy, and suspected of takingplans. " Their examination was a farce, the witness against them notknowing them apart. They were remanded to jail, and lay there untilOctober. Lovell fell sick, and got a little better food, but noattention from his jailers--"no Compassion toward him any more than aDog. " On the same day Leach noted that the Provost "Cursed and Damned mylittle Child, for a Damn'd Rebel; he even Trembles at bringing my Diet. "Lovell grew better, and the vexatious treatment continued with pettytyrannies. At last, although no trial had yet been held, Edes, Gill, and Leach were released upon sureties of two inhabitants that they wouldnot leave the town. 

Lovell was kept in jail. He was son of Master John Lovell of the LatinSchool, in which he was usher until the opening of the war. His frankutterances had so incensed the authorities that they kept him in prisonuntil the end of the siege, and then carried him with them to Halifax. His father was a Tory, and, so far as the diaries of the prison matesshow, made no attempt to visit his son in prison. James Lovell wasexchanged in the summer of 1776. 

Through Edes' prison diary, and the brief jottings which pass for thejournal of Timothy Newell, selectman, we get a glimpse of a turncoat. The incident in which he figures is the only one that caused Newell, whogave a scant hundred and twenty-five words to Bunker Hill battle, towrite at any length. One John Morrison, formerly minister atPeterborough, New Hampshire, had been "obliged, " says Edes, "to quit hispeople on account of his scandalous behaviour. " He joined theprovincial army, and is said to have fought at Bunker Hill; but a weeklater he joined the British with the usual misstatements of the Americanintentions. In the middle of September, Morrison moved for permission touse for his services the Brattle Street Church, "Dr. Cooper'sMeetinghouse, " of which Timothy Newell was a member of the parishcommittee. Newell, "with an emotion of resentment, " roundly refused todeliver the key to Morrison and his friends, and made his way into thepresence of the governor, where he stated that Morrison was a man ofinfamous character. But the turncoat had respectable backers. Gagerequired the key of Newell, and got it; and Morrison held at least oneservice in the church. It was to this service, on the 17th of September, that Edes was conducted, doubtless as a privilege, and heard a politicalsermon on the ingratitude of the provincials. Edes remarked that theTories present affected to grin, but it was horribly, with a ghastlysmile. The newspapers, however, called it an excellent discourse to agenteel audience, and announced regular services. Morrison, stillcontemptuously styled the deserter, figures again in Newell's diary inNovember, when he informed against an old Dutch woman for trying tocarry out of town more money than her permit allowed. His profit on thiswas ten dollars. When winter approached, the Brattle Street Church wastaken for use as a barracks, and Morrison got himself a place in thecommissary department, which perhaps was more to his liking thansermonizing. [135]

The interview with Newell gives us a glimpse of Gage in almost the lastof his troubles with the stiff-necked Bostonians. Less than a fortnightlater[136] he received word from London that the king desired hispresence, in order to consult upon future operations. Probably theunlucky commander saw in the message the end of his commission, but hewent as one expecting to return. As was customary, he was presented withadulatory addresses, and on October 10 departed in state. His welcome inEngland was not so stately. The king did give him an interview, andlistened attentively to his explanations, but it was popularly suggestedthat the unsuccessful general be created Lord Lexington, Baron of BunkerHill. Gage's command was not restored to him, and he never again went onactive service. 

One legacy indeed he left, perhaps the worst act of his administrationand the most far-reaching, although the personal blame does not lie withGage himself. On the 4th of October he sent out a small fleet of vesselswhich accomplished more harm than good. It skirmished with privateers, and eventually, reaching Falmouth, now Portland in Maine, but then inMassachusetts territory, attempted to levy upon the town. CaptainMowatt, the commander, picked a quarrel with the inhabitants, andfinding them unyielding, burnt their village. The blame lies betweenMowatt and Admiral Graves, both of whom had grudges against the town onaccount of a previous incident. The ministry repudiated the act, but thefact is undeniable that it was within the spirit of the instructionsgiven to a later expedition, to "destroy any towns" that would notsubmit. [137] The effect on the Americans, however, was very far fromteaching submission. The news of the burning of Falmouth did as much asany other event to impress the provincials with the impossibility of anagreement with the king. 

In Gage's place now stood Howe, on whom the British hopes centred. According to the Tory Samuel Paine, Howe united the spirit of a Wolfewith the genius of a Marlborough. Without prizing him quite so highly, both the army and the administration looked to Howe for action andresults. It seemed to them that now at last something must happen. 

But Howe, though with a willing army at his back, disciplined and wellequipped, did nothing. He strengthened the Charlestown lines and thefort on Bunker Hill, he improved the defences at Boston Neck, and hebegan various batteries on Beacon Hill and the shores of the Common. Hedemolished a number of buildings in the north end of the town, in orderto make communication between his posts more direct. But except for thelittle expedition across the Back Bay to Lechmere's Point, which netteda few cows, Howe attempted no offensive operations. As already shown, the regulars returned from Lechmere's Point as soon as the provincialsassembled in numbers, and no attempt was made to hold the little hill. Other skirmishes there were from time to time, but these wereinsignificant, and they were all. 

The fact is that Howe's opinion coincided exactly with those of Gage andBurgoyne. The country was too strong to be forced, especially since theAmericans had spent a summer on their entrenchments. There was noprofit in taking a rebel fort if the army and its situation were to beweakened thereby. Howe looked with longing eyes toward New York, took upBurgoyne's idea of a post in Rhode Island, and believed that if he hadtwenty thousand men holding all three positions the rebels would bebeaten. But such an army was not forthcoming, and the question arosewhether he had best stay in Boston or go to New York. In reply toquestions from the ministry, Howe pointed out that he had not a largeenough fleet to convey himself, his stores, and the Tories, from theplace. It was therefore understood that more ships and men should besupplied him in the spring, and that meanwhile he should go into winterquarters. 

This was done. Buildings in the town were arranged to accommodate thetroops, two of the churches being fitted up for this purpose. The tentswere struck, and the army made itself snug. Howe busied himself withroutine matters of the camp, and refused to budge. Though Washingtonfirst fortified Cobble Hill in Somerville, the nearest he had yet cometo the British posts, and though after that he came a step nearer, seizing Lechmere's Point, Howe simply fired from cannon, but made noattempt to storm the works. The cannonading merely inured the Americansto danger, and seeing that it did them good rather than harm, Howepresently stopped it. Washington, perhaps not aware of the strength ofhis own position, declared himself "unable, upon any principlewhatever, " to account for Howe's inaction. He suspected it might beintended to lull him into a false sense of security, but resolved to bemore vigilant than ever. 

FOOTNOTES:

[128] This expression is ascribed to General Nathanael Greene. 

[129] Fonblanque's "Burgoyne, " 197-198. 

[130] Leach's "Journal. "

[131] William T. Miller, of Newport, R. I. , to his wife Lydia. Mass. Hist. And Gen. Register, 1855. 

[132] Frothingham's "Siege, " 230. 

[133] _Ibid. _, 279. 

[134] This obscure diversion caused the Dorringtons to be suspected ofsignalling at night to the rebels. 

[135] Leach's and Edes' "Journals, " N. E. Hist. And Gen. Register, 1865;Newell's "Journal, " Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, i, series iv;Frothingham's "Siege, " 239; Sabine's "Loyalists. "

[136] September 26. 

[137] Instructions for Clinton's expedition to the southward. Frothingham's "Siege, " 292. 

CHAPTER XIII

WASHINGTON'S DIFFICULTIES

The situation at Boston in the fall of 1775 presents an interestingcomparison: two generals of opposing armies, each ready to welcome anattack, but each unable to deliver one. The difference between the two, and the fact which determined the outcome, was in the natures of the twomen. Howe, from a certain sluggishness of disposition, was content tosit tight, and wait until the government at home should send him hisrelief. Though at each move his enemy came nearer, Howe still appearedto believe that Dorchester was safe from seizure, and was content so tobelieve. But Washington was not satisfied to be still. His nature urgedhim to action, and though he knew himself too weak for an assault, heconstantly schemed and worked to put his army into condition to strike. 

In some ways his organization was already complete. He had under himmany of the men who were to serve him through the war. To be sure, hehad Charles Lee, "the worst present that could be made to any army;" butLee's part in the siege was slight, for Washington frequently employedhim for distant undertakings. Gates was still present also, but in asubordinate capacity. And another of those who, before the war was over, did their best to wreck the American cause, was present for a while inthe person of Benedict Arnold, already distinguished by his share in thetaking of Ticonderoga. Early in September, however, Arnold was sent onhis fruitless mission against Quebec. 

But besides these men, not one of whom had as yet proved his weakness, Washington had already at his back some of the best soldiers whom thewar produced. Among the higher officers were Putnam, Thomas, Sullivan, Heath, and more particularly Greene. Of lower grade were Stark, Morgan, Prescott, and, not yet well known, Knox, the Boston bookseller whom wehave seen endeavoring to prevent the Massacre, who had studied tacticsin his own volumes and at the manoeuvres of the regulars, and who hadescaped from Boston just before the 17th of June. There were yet otherswho were destined to distinguish themselves, and Washington knew that hehad, among his officers, as courageous and intelligent soldiers as wereto be found anywhere. 

Yet they were but a nucleus, while his supplies remained few and poor, and the organization of the army unsatisfactory. As the winterapproached, Washington looked forward uneasily to the expiration of theterms of enlistment of his troops. Some would lapse in December, therest at the first of January. His regiments were not uniform in size, and they retained too much of the provincial jealousy which had alreadytroubled him, and which had perhaps lost Bunker Hill. It was veryevident to him that an entirely new army should be organized. 

It was therefore welcome to him that Congress should send a committeeto help him in the matter of reorganization. On October 18 thecommittee, with Franklin at its head, met with Washington, his staff, and delegates from the four colonies which until now had, practicallyalone, been prosecuting the siege. The subject had been alreadydiscussed by the council of war, and the little convention was madeacquainted with the discrepancies in the organizations of the differentregiments, and the needs of the army. It was decided to reduce thenumber of regiments from thirty-eight to twenty-six. This meant not somuch to reduce the number of men as the number of officers. The term ofreënlistment was to be one year, and the delegates assured Washingtonthat he could count on twenty thousand men from Massachusetts, eightthousand from Connecticut, three thousand from New Hampshire, andfifteen hundred from Rhode Island. The regiments were to be uniform insize, consisting of eight companies each; besides regular infantry, there were to be riflemen and artillery. A system for clothing andsupplying the army was agreed upon. When the little convention hadbroken up, the Committee from Congress remained for a few days, revisingthe articles of war, considering the disposition of naval prizes, anddiscussing a number of minor topics. Upon the committee's return toPhiladelphia, its actions were ratified by Congress. [138]

Washington then set himself with new assurance to his task. Thanks tothe convention, he felt that he had a united country at his back, andthat much had been done to dissipate colonial jealousies. These aresurprising to us of to-day: one is astonished to find Greene seriouslyassuring "the gentlemen from the southward" that the four New Englandcolonies, as soon as they had conquered King George, would not turntheir arms against the South. Yet had there been any such intention, theNew Englanders already had their hands full with the British, andWashington was by no means out of the woods. On paper he had anexcellent organization; but in fact, everything was still to be done. 

With the approach of winter, the first task was to house his army. Thiswas gradually accomplished, and the regiments went into their winterquarters. For a time, however, there was a scarcity of food and fuel. This was due, not to a lack of either, but to the weakness in the systemof providing for them. For some weeks there was distress and discontent;at times we are told that the troops ate their provision raw, and mostof the orchards and shade trees within the camp were cut down for fuel. Washington vigorously represented the state of the case to theMassachusetts congress; he gave permission to cut wood in privatewood-lots, promising payment; and finally the need was met. The townssent generous supplies of wood to the camp, rations were provided inplenty, and the only period of hardship which the Americans endured wassafely passed before the winter set in. 

There was not much for the army to do when once the barracks were builtand new quarters taken. The work of fortifying Lechmere's Point went onslowly, on account of the frost; it was not until the end of Februarythat the redoubt was completed, and its guns mounted. But the troopswere drilled, and were kept busy in perfecting the fortifications. Washington seized every chance to improve his defences, as we see himwhen planning new redoubts to guard against the possibility of a sortiefrom the Neck. [139]

The news of the burning of Falmouth reached Washington on the 24th ofOctober, and greatly roused his indignation. As it was expected that theBritish fleet might next descend upon Portsmouth, he sent GeneralSullivan thither, with orders to put the harbor in a state of defence, and at all events to save the small store of powder which had beenbrought into that place. This was a capture by the little navy. Mowatt's fleet, however, made no attempt upon Portsmouth, and presentlyreturned to Boston. Feeling temporarily secure against furtherdepredations upon the coast, Washington put his whole energy into thereorganization of his army. 

The period from the end of November until the early part of February wasone of the hardest in Washington's career. His difficulties were thosewhich we have seen already, want of powder and want of arms, but to themwas added the great fear of a lack of men. As to powder, its supplystill fluctuated, small quantities coming in irregularly, and beingsteadily used in equally niggardly amounts, or slowly spoiling in thesoldiers' pouches. Muskets were still scanty, and Washington saw no hopeexcept in buying those of his soldiers whose terms were about to expire, or in sending agents through the neighboring towns to secure what theycould find. There was a corresponding lack of cannon, bayonets, flints, and small appurtenances. 

But weaknesses of this kind were nothing as compared with thethreatened weakness in men. Washington was deeply disappointed at hisfailure to recruit his newly planned army. Although the delegates of theprovinces had promised him full regiments, the new recruiting systemseemed to fail almost entirely. The general presently perceived severaldistinct factors that were working against its success. 

In the first place, the new plan provided for fewer officers in the newarmy. Many of the provincial regiments, especially those ofMassachusetts, had been over-officered, and now, when the number ofregiments was less by twelve, it was evident that scores of officersmust either accept lower rank or leave the army entirely. It was foundthat most of those who could not obtain equal rank were unwilling toremain, and that they were influencing their men to leave the army withthem. 

Besides this, provincial jealousies worked strongly in this matter ofofficers. Massachusetts officers who had been forced out of servicemight have found places in the Connecticut regiments, but the soldiersof the other colony would have none of them. For each company and eachplatoon held firmly to the old idea that it must be consulted concerningits officers, and no private would consent to be commanded by a man fromanother colony. This alone made plentiful trouble. 

Finally the men themselves had ideas of their own as to whether theycared to enlist. To begin with, the shrewd among them reckoned that ifthey only held out long enough they might secure bounties forreënlisting. Some were finicky as to their officers, and waited untilthey should be satisfied. And most of them perceived that as a rewardfor patriotism they might at least receive furloughs, and stood out forthem. 

The details of the work of enlisting were very obscure and complicated. It was found that officers were endeavoring to recruit their owncompanies, and in their zeal had enrolled men who were alreadyregistered elsewhere. Outsiders, anxious for commissions, weresimilarly forming companies, and presenting them for acceptance. Washington steadily refused to receive such unauthorized organizations. And finally it was suspected that many men who had given in their nameshad no intention of serving. 

What would make their defection more certain was the irregularity ofpay. Congress had appropriated sums of money, but the currency reachedWashington slowly. It was very singular, he complained, that the signersof the scrip could not keep pace with his needs. Further, Congress had avery imperfect idea of the magnitude of his legitimate needs; theappropriations were niggardly. As the new year approached, when it wasimportant that the men should be paid, and receive assurance of furtherpay, Washington wrote to urge more remittances, that the soldiers mightbe satisfied. 

Even the crews of the little navy gave Washington no peace. His "plague, trouble, and vexation" with them he was unable to express; he believedthat there was not on earth a more disorderly set. One crew deserted, and its vessel was docked. 

To be sure, there were moments of satisfaction in these dreary weeks oftrial. Certain of the rejected officers rose above theirdisappointments. One of these was Colonel Whitcomb, who was not given aregiment in the new establishment. At this his men became sodissatisfied that they decided not to enlist at all. Colonel Whitcomb, in order to persuade them to remain, announced his willingness to enlistas a private. The situation was saved by Colonel Jonathan Brewer, whooffered his command to Colonel Whitcomb. Washington, in a general order, thanked both of the officers. Brewer was made Barrack-Master, "untilsomething better worth his acceptance can be provided. "[140]

Other relief was provided by captures of British vessels. Of greatimportance to both armies was the capture of the _Nancy_, an ordnancebrig with a complete cargo of military supplies--saving only powder. Sovaluable did Washington consider the capture that he at once sent fourcompanies to the spot where the stores were landed, impressed teams fortransportation, and called out the neighboring militia lest Howe shouldmake an effort to recover the royal property. The British were on theirpart greatly disgusted at the loss of the brig, not merely as weakeningthem, but also as strengthening the enemy. The chief prize on the shipwas a thirteen-inch brass mortar, which on its arrival in camp wasgreeted with acclamation, and by means of a bottle of rum was solemnlychristened the Congress. 

It was about this time that Washington had the satisfaction of beingjoined by his wife. There had been a suggestion that her residence onthe Potomac was not safe, but even before the naval raids Washingtonhad begun to suggest her joining him. She arrived on the 11th ofDecember, and resided until the end of the siege with him at hisheadquarters in the old house still standing on Brattle Street, Cambridge. The house has had an interesting history, having been builtby the Tory Vassalls, occupied by the Marblehead regiment, byWashington, by Dr. Andrew Craigie, surgeon at Bunker Hill, by JaredSparks, Edward Everett, Noah Webster, and by the poet Longfellow, whosefamily still owns it. The quarters were for Washington central andpleasant; they gave him his last taste of home life for years. 

[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS]

Yet we are not to imagine him at any time free of difficulties. WithDecember began his troubles with the Connecticut troops, whoseenlistment had expired. In spite of previous promises to remain untiltheir places were filled, and against orders to leave their weapons, many of the Connecticut men tried to slip away, guns and all. Washingtonfrequently speaks of them in his letters of the first half of December. In securing their return he was well aided by the officers, and by theaged but still energetic Governor Trumbull, who heard of the actions ofhis men with "grief, surprise, and indignation. " Trumbull called theassembly of Connecticut together to consider the situation, but actionwas forestalled by the people of the different towns. The hint that thesoldiers had best return voluntarily, lest they be sent back with afeathered adornment that nature had not provided, was sufficient tohurry most of them back to their service. 

No sooner had this matter been smoothed over, than Washington had tomeet the general situation, when on the first of January most of theenlistments would expire. For some weeks he had been anxiously watchingthe returns of the enlistments, and the figures frequently plunged himinto depression. On the 28th of November, finding that but thirty-fivehundred men had enlisted, he wrote: "Such a dearth of public spirit, such stock-jobbing, and such fertility in all the low arts to obtainadvantages of one kind or another, in this great change of militaryarrangement, I never saw before, and pray God's mercy I may never bewitness to again. " A week later he found himself under obligations togive furlough to fifteen hundred men a week, in order to satisfy them. To fill their places and those of the Connecticut troops, he called onMassachusetts and New Hampshire for five thousand militia. By the middleof December scarcely six thousand men had enlisted, and on Christmas Dayonly eight thousand five hundred. On New Year's Day his army, which wasto have been at least twenty thousand men, was not quite half thatnumber. 

Under such circumstances many a weaker man would have thrown up hisoffice or abandoned his post. Washington stuck to his task. If Howewould but remain inactive, the laggard country would in time retrieveitself. As a matter of fact, many of the soldiers, after a brief periodof liberty, returned of their own accord to the standard. We find atleast one case in the diary of David How, which, in addition torevealing his actions, gives a glimpse of the camp at the end of theyear, when many of the men were going away, and the others were joiningtheir new regiments. 

"This Day, " writes How on the 30th of December, "we paraded and had ourguns took from us By the Major to prise them. 

"31. This Day we have been In an uprore about packun our Things up Inorder to go home a Monday morning as Soon as we Can. 

"Jan 1. We have ben all Day a pecking up our Things For to go home. 

"2d we all Left Cambridg this morning I went to mr. Granger and staidall night. 

"3d I went to methuen. 

"5d I went to Haver hill to by some Leather for Bretches. 

"6 day I come to Andover and Staid at Mr. Osgoods. 

"7 day I come to Cambridge about Six a Clock at Night. 

"Jany the 8 1776 This Day I Began with Mr. Watson. .. . 

"Jan 14. [141] This Day I wint to Cobble Hill & to Litchmor point and toprospeck hill & So Home again. Nothing new. 

"22. I listed with Leut David Chandler in Coln Sergant Regment. "

And so David How, veteran of Bunker Hill, and doubtless many other youngmen, found the lure of the camp, and let us say the chance to serve thecountry, too much to withstand. Freedom to earn their own wages, and tostroll about the fortifications on Sundays, were not to be measuredagainst the romance of soldiering and the hope of battle. 

This same New Year's Day, 1776, occurred an event of importance in thehoisting of the flag with the thirteen stripes. Previously the colonieshad used different devices, in the South a rattlesnake flag with themotto, "Don't tread on me, " and for the Connecticut troops the colonyarms and the motto _Qui transtulit sustinet_, "which we construe thus:'God, who transplanted us hither, will support us. '"[142] Massachusettshad used the pinetree flag and the motto "Appeal to Heaven, " and thelittle navy had a sign by which its ships were known to each other, "theensign up to the main topping-lift. " Now for the first time the thirteenstripes with the British crosses in the corner were raised, amid muchenthusiasm. 

Curiously, this coincided with the coming of the king's recent speech inParliament, and a strange interpretation was put upon the appearance ofthe new flag. The British had caused to be sent to the American linesmany copies of the speech, expecting that its expression of the king'sdetermination to prosecute the war, even by the use of foreign troops, would bring the rebels to their knees. The cheering in the Americancamp, all the louder on account of the sentiments of his graciousmajesty, and the appearance of the new flag, combined to make theBritish suppose that the provincials were weakening. "By this time, "wrote Washington grimly on the 4th, "I presume they begin to think itstrange, that we have not made a formal surrender of our lines. "

It was well that he could jest, however sternly, for his situation wasnewly complicated by the permission of Congress to attack Bostonwhenever he might think expedient, "notwithstanding the town andproperty in it may be destroyed. " Such permission was equivalent to abroad hint, and there were not lacking suggestions from many obscurequarters that the country would be more content if its general shouldrelieve it of the presence of the British army. Of "chimney cornerheroes" Washington had a genuine contempt, but the resolve of Congresswas another matter, especially when it came through the hands of JohnHancock. He was the largest property-owner in the town, andprospectively the greatest sufferer by its destruction, yet hecheerfully wrote, "May God crown your attempt with success!"

Long before now, had Washington been able, he would have attempted tostorm the town. But as often as he called a council of war to considerthe matter, so often did his generals advise against the attempt. TheAmericans were doubtful, and Lee, affecting to mistrust the temper ofthe troops, would not advise the venture. As to burning the town bythrowing carcasses[143] into it, Lee told the others that the town couldnot be set on fire by such means. Washington looked for a chance toassault the town by crossing on the ice, but for a long time the BackBay did not freeze, and when at last it did, he had neither men norpowder. Such then was his situation when he answered the letter ofHancock. [144] He begged Congress to consider his situation if, in spiteof their wishes, he did not act. And that they should clearlyunderstand, he wrote these words:--

"It is not in the pages of history, perhaps, to furnish a case likeours. To maintain a post within musket shot of the enemy, for six monthstogether, without and at the same time to disband one army, andrecruit another, within that distance of twenty-odd British regiments, is more, probably, than was ever attempted. "

The significant omission in this passage is the word "powder. " Atanother time, when doubtful of the safety of his letter, he used theparaphrase, "what we greatly need. " He knew that his correspondentswould supply the omission and interpret the reference. But once atleast, on the 14th of January, when writing to Joseph Reed, formerly hisaide, to whom at this period he seems to have written more freely thanto any one else, Washington gave a complete account of his situationwhen almost at its worst, and ended with an explanation of his state ofmind. Conditions are so completely summarized, and his thoughts are sofrankly given, that the paragraphs had best be given entire. 

"Our enlistments are at a stand; the fears I ever entertained arerealized; that is, the _discontented officers_ (for I do not know howelse to account for it) have thrown such difficulties orstumbling-blocks in the way of recruiting, that I no longer entertain ahope of completing the army by voluntary enlistments, and I see no moveor likelihood to do it by other means. In the last two weeks we haveenlisted but about a thousand men; whereas I was confidently led tobelieve, by all the officers I conversed with, that we should by thistime have had the regiments nearly completed. Our total number uponpaper amounts to about ten thousand five hundred; but as a large portionof these are returned _not joined_, I never expect to receive them, asan ineffectual order has once issued to call them in. Another is nowgone forth, peremptorily requiring all officers under pain of beingcashiered, and recruits of being treated as deserters, to join theirrespective regiments by the 1st day of next month, that I may know myreal strength; but if my fears are not imaginary, I shall have adreadful account of the advanced month's pay. [145] In consequence of theassurances given, and my expectation of having at least men enough todefend our lines, to which may be added my unwillingness to burthen thecause with unnecessary expense, no relief of militia has been orderedin, to supply the places of those, who are released from theirengagements tomorrow, and as to whom, though many have promised tocontinue out the month, there is no security for their stay. 

"Thus I am situated with respect to men. With regard to arms I am yetworse off. Before the dissolution of the old army, I issued an orderdirecting three judicious men of each brigade to attend, review, andappraise the good arms of every regiment; and finding a very greatunwillingness in the men to part with their arms, at the same time nothaving it in my power to pay them for the months of November andDecember, I threatened severely, that every soldier, who should carryaway his firelock without leave, should never receive pay for thosemonths; yet so many have been carried off, partly by stealth, butchiefly as condemned, that we have not at this time one hundred guns inthe stores, of all that have been taken in the prize ship and from thesoldiery, notwithstanding our regiments are not half complete. At thesame time I am told, and believe it, that to restrain the enlistment tomen with arms, you will get but few of the former, and still fewer ofthe latter which would be good for anything. 

"How to get furnished I know not. I have applied to this and theneighboring colonies, but with what success time only can tell. Thereflection of my situation, and that of this army, produces many anunhappy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people knowthe predicament we are in, on a thousand accounts; fewer still willbelieve, if any disaster happens to these lines, from what cause itflows. I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if, instead of accepting the command under such circumstances, I had takenmy musket on my shoulder and entered the ranks, or, if I could havejustified the measure to posterity and my own conscience, had retired tothe back country, and lived in a wigwam. If I shall be able to risesuperior to these and many other difficulties, I shall most religiouslybelieve, that the finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes ofour enemies; for surely if we get well through this month, it must befor want of their knowing the difficulties we labor under. 

"Could I have foreseen the difficulties, which have come upon us; couldI have known, that such a backwardness would have been discovered amongthe old soldiers to the service, all the generals on earth should nothave convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon Bostontill this time. "[146]

One more blow Washington was to receive, in the news of the failure ofthe expedition against Quebec. This came to him on the 17th of January. But from about that time, though very slowly, the prospect began tobrighten. His army strengthened, money was loaned him by Massachusetts, and though early in February he reported that he had in camp twothousand men without guns, even muskets were eventually provided. Moreover, cannon were now supplied him, through the exertions of HenryKnox. Washington had detached him in November to go to Ticonderoga andCrown Point, and provide means for bringing the captured cannon to camp. The general had even hoped that more might be had from Quebec, but thatexpectation was now gone. Knox, in the face of many difficulties, fulfilled his mission. On December 17 he wrote from Lake George that hehad got the cannon as far as that point, and with forty-two "exceedinglystrong sleds" and eighty yoke of oxen expected to make the journey toSpringfield, whence fresh cattle would bring him to Cambridge. Theartillery, in this humble manner, at last arrived, howitzers, mortars, and cannon, fifty-five pieces of iron or brass. With what had beencaptured elsewhere the supply was ample, and the guns, after a delay atFramingham, were mounted at the fortifications, or reserved for theattempt to take Dorchester. Powder also had slowly come in faster thanit was used or could spoil, and Washington found himself almost ready toact. 

When at last he could draw a long breath, with the feeling that theworst of the situation was over, he gave, in letters to Joseph Reed andJohn Hancock, his opinion of his army as it then was, and of the meansto make it better. Placed behind any kind of shelter, his provincialswould give a good account of themselves. But they could not yet bedepended on to make an assault in the open field. For this they wouldhave to receive severer training, and in order to acquaint them withtheir proper duties a longer term of service was necessary. Even now, atthe beginning of another year of service, the men had the officers toomuch in their power, for indulgence was necessary in order to make themenlist again. He was therefore firmly of the opinion that his presentarmy, and all new recruits, should be enlisted "for and during the war. "Thus Washington, looking beyond his still uncompleted task, like Lincolnmany years later, perceived the only means to final success. 

But with the means which he had at hand he was now impatient to act. Itwas almost March, and at any time Howe might receive the reinforcementswhich would enable him to take the offensive. Washington prepared tofortify Dorchester as soon as the state of the ground would permit ofdigging, and in order to lessen the work he prepared fascines--whichwere bundles of sticks--and chandeliers or frameworks to hold thebundles in place in order to serve as the body of an embankment. Remembering how at Bunker Hill the regulars had been led to suppose thatthe troops at the rail fence, protected by nothing except the rails andhay, were behind an embankment, he collected ropes of hay to use ifnecessary for the same purpose, but also to bind the wheels of his cartsthat they might make no noise. Carts he collected to the number of threehundred. In the Charles River he prepared boats enough to carrytwenty-eight hundred men. Two floating batteries were also made readythere; a third had earlier been destroyed by the bursting of its cannonwhen firing at the camp on the Common. Washington was about to strike, with the suddenness which characterized him, but also with the thoroughreadiness. 

For his camp, even if temporarily, was now full. Early in February camein ten regiments of militia, summoned on service until the first ofApril. They manifested, he wrote with satisfaction, the greatestalertness, and the determination of men engaged in the cause of freedom. And on the first of March he called into camp the militia of theneighboring towns, who were to report at Roxbury fully equipped forthree days' service. To these men was read his general order, preparingtheir minds for action. They were forbidden to play at cards or othergames of chance, and advised to ponder the importance of the cause inwhich they were enlisted. "But it may not be amiss for the troops toknow, " he added, "that if any man in action shall presume to skulk, orhide himself, or retreat from the enemy without the orders of hiscommanding officer, he will be instantly shot down. " And with thisexhortation and warning Washington concluded his preparations. 

FOOTNOTES:

[138] See the "Writings of Washington, " iii, 123-124, note. 

[139] See letter to Ward, "Writings, " iii, 161. 

[140] See the "Writings of Washington, " iii, 161, note. The factsconcerning Washington's difficulties with enlisting are taken chieflyfrom this volume, where they can best be studied. 

[141] This was a Sunday. 

[142] Frothingham's "Siege, " 104. 

[143] Carcasses were hollow shells with several openings. They werefilled with combustibles, and when thrown into a town were intended toset fire to buildings. 

[144] Washington's communications to Congress were addressed to Hancock, as its President. 

[145] He had paid in advance all who had enlisted. 

[146] "Writings of Washington, " iii, 238-241. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE WINTER IN BOSTON

When the British army went into winter quarters it was nearly at the endof its difficulties concerning food. Supplies from England had been verymeagre, and the occasional raids had provided poorly for the wants ofthe town. But since October matters had improved, largely because of thecriticism of the English Whigs in Parliament. These pointed out theinactivity of the troops, the humiliation of the situation, the sicknessand want in Boston. In order that nothing should be left undone toremedy the last, the perplexed ministry spent money lavishly toprovision its garrison. Five thousand oxen, fourteen thousand sheep, with a great number of hogs, were purchased, and shipped alive. Vegetables, preserved by a new process, were bought in quantities; wheatand flour were collected; wood, coal, hay, and other fodder, with beer, porter, rum, Geneva, and the more innocent vinegar, were generouslyprovided. To be sure, the commissions on all these purchases providedfortunes for the relatives of those in office, and the ship-owners foundexcuses for setting sail as late as possible, in order to increase thehire of their craft. As a result, much of the vast expense--some sixhundred thousand pounds for provisions alone--was wasted. Contrary galesdetained the ships; the live stock died by wholesale, and was thrownoverboard; the vegetables spoiled; and numbers of the ships were lostoutright. Others, arriving without convoy at the American coast, werecaptured by the watchful privateers. But of such vast supplies enoughreached Boston to relieve the worst distresses of the inhabitants. Though the poorer of the Whigs had either to sign humiliatingdeclarations in order to share in the rations of the troops, or else tocontinue on meagre fare, there was enough in the general market for thewell-to-do among them to supply themselves. John Andrews, for instance, though he lived at the rate of six or seven hundred sterling a year, after October ate scarcely three meals of salt meat, "for I wasdetermined to eat fresh provissions, while it was to be got, let it costwhat it would. "

There was, however, for months a great shortage of fuel. As the winterset in early, and with severity, large quantities were needed, and therewas little on hand. The troops, of their own initiative, had already, even in the summer, begun to make depredations on private property, stealing gates and breaking up fences. This the commanders endeavored tostop, but took the hint and did the same by official condemnation. As somany of the inhabitants had left the town, the abandoned houses weretorn down for fuel. When the winter came, the troops again began ontheir own account to steal wood. Howe threatened to hang the next mancaught in the act, but still was forced to follow the example. 

In choosing buildings for destruction, it was very natural to selectWhig property. Perhaps the harshest assault on provincial sentiment hadbeen made in summer, when during August Liberty Tree was felled. TheWhigs felt very indignant, but took a peculiar pleasure in thereflection that during the operation a soldier had been accidentallykilled. In the various poems written on the occasion the wretch's soulwas unanimously consigned to Hades. It was besides remarked that thegenuine tree of liberty, of which this had been but a symbol, had nowgrown so great as to overshadow the continent. 

Besides Liberty Tree, the property of leading Whigs suffered, "My houseand barn, " writes Newell the selectman, on the 16th of November, "pulleddown by order of General Robinson. " Leach the schoolmaster, whoseimprisonment had made him a marked man, had a hard fight to save hisproperty. On Christmas Day he found a party of soldiers destroying hiswharf, which had been allotted, as was the custom, to one of theregiments, in this case the light dragoons. In spite of his effortsLeach was not able to stop this destruction, as evidently in the presentstate of the town there was no use for wharves. But when his schoolhousewas threatened he carried the matter to headquarters. Howe said Leachhad corresponded with the people without. "I denied the charge. .. . Finally I told him, as an Englishman, and a subject of the King's, Iclaimed protection of my property; and if my House was pulled down, Iwould follow him to England, or to China, for satisfaction. I expectedhe would get angry, and order me under Guard, or else to Gaol again. However, in General he behaved kindly. " Howe referred him to hissubordinates, who delayed giving orders until the soldiers had alreadybroken into the schoolhouse. With much resolution Leach got them fromthe house and stood on guard at the door until by referring to Howe theschoolhouse was saved. But Leach had meanwhile lost "valuable Books andInstruments, Drawings, Colours, Brushes, several curious OptickGlasses, and sundry things of Value that I brought from India and China, that I cannot replace for money. "[147]

At this time was pulled down the Old North Church, the steeple of theWest Church, and John Winthrop's house, one of the oldest landmarks inthe town. Over in Charlestown the troops used for fuel the desertedhouses that had not been consumed on the 17th of June. At one time theywere demolishing a mill near the American lines, but the provincialsdrove them away and presently burnt the mill. At another time, by asimilar endeavor to lessen the British supply of fuel, there was broughtabout one of the more amusing incidents of the siege. 

The officers in Boston, having little active work to do, wereendeavoring to forget the irksomeness and the humiliation of theirsituation. Through no fault of their own the position was a hard one;they had boasted, and were not allowed to make good their vainglory;they had despised their adversaries, and were cooped up in a provincialtown. In letters home they uneasily endeavored to explain theirinaction; by return mail they learned what the wits of London had to sayof both them and the country. "Mrs. Brittania, " remarked Horace Walpole, "orders her Senate to proclaim America a continent of cowards, and voteit should be starved, unless it would drink tea with her. She sends heronly army to be besieged in one of her towns, and half her fleet tobesiege the _terra firma_; but orders her army to do nothing, in hopesthat the American Senate in Philadelphia will be so frightened at theBritish army being besieged in Boston that it will sue for peace. " Therewas sting in these words, but no remedy for the smart. 

In order to forget such flings, and to banish the consideration ofcrowded quarters, irregular rations (for there still were periods oflean supply), slow pay, and inaction, the officers tried to kill time. The cavalry regiments searched for a means of exercising their horses, and Burgoyne is credited with the solution of their problem. Newellrecorded in his journal how his church, after being profaned byMorrison, was examined by the colonel of the light horse, to see if thebuilding was available for a riding-school. "But when it was consideredthat the Pillars must be taken away, which would bring down the roof, they altered their mind--so that the Pillars saved us. "

A more notable building had to suffer instead. The Old South was takenfor the purpose. The furnishings were torn out, and Deacon Hubbard'scarved pew was carted away to be used as a hog-sty. The dismantledchurch was transformed into a riding-ring, with tanbark on the floor, and a leaping-bar. One of the galleries was fitted up for a socialmeeting-place; the remainder were used for spectators, for whose comfortwas put in a stove into which disappeared for kindling many of the booksand manuscripts stored in the building. For the rest of the siege theOld South, once so formidable, was a centre of Tory fashion. 

Burgoyne was credited, also, with the design of putting an almostequally sacred edifice to a purpose still more horrifying to the goodCalvinists of Boston. Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty, was made atheatre. Various plays were performed, and the amateurs were even soambitious as to attempt the tragedies of _Zara_ and _Tamerlane_. For thelatter performance Burgoyne wrote a prologue and epilogue, which werespoken by Lord Rawdon, who had distinguished himself at Bunker Hill, and"a young lady ten years old. " But the great event of the season was tobe the production of a farce called the _Blockade of Boston_. It wasthis performance which the Americans interrupted, to the perennialsatisfaction of all students of local history. 

The play was to be performed on a January night. The _Busy Body_ hadjust been given, and the curtain rose on the farce, presenting a view ofthe American camp, and the figure of Washington absurdly burlesqued inuniform, wig, and rusty sword. At this moment a sergeant suddenlyappeared on the stage, calling out, "The Yankees are attacking ourworks on Bunker's Hill!" Conceiving this spirited action a part of theplay, the audience began to applaud. But the sergeant vigorouslyrepeated his statement, the sounds of distant cannonading were heard, and an aide called out, "Officers, to your posts!" The officersresponded in all haste, and the performance was over for the evening. The reason for this interruption was that Washington had despatched aparty to burn some of the houses still standing in Charlestown. Thesuccess of the attempt had caused the cannonading, and the consequentinterruption of the play. No historian of the siege has failed to remarkthat the Whig ladies had the laugh of their Tory sisters, forced toreturn without their escorts. 

A month before this incident, on the 5th of December, Burgoyne hadsailed for home, recalled largely at his own instance, but already underconsideration for the disastrous expedition from Canada. He did notreturn to Boston until 1777, when he came as a prisoner. It was whenentering the town that he learned that the townspeople had long memoriesfor his real or ascribed indignity to the Old South, for when heremarked to a friend upon the Province House, the headquarters duringthe siege, a voice from the crowd reminded him that the riding-schoolwas close at hand. Since on the same occasion an old lady loudlybeseeched her neighbors to "give the general elbow-room, " Boston may besaid to have taken its mild revenge on him. 

Theatrical performances, balls, and parties were the amusements of theofficers at this period of the siege, and persons of fashion doubtlesswere pleasantly situated. It was not so comfortable for the troops andtheir dependents, as we have already seen. The lack of fuel andconsequent depredations on property led to plundering of a differentkind, and petty thievery, which Howe put down with a stern hand. Heavyfloggings were meted out to delinquents, and a wife of one of theprivates was even sentenced to public whipping for receiving stolengoods. While there were no true horrors at this siege, there was thusmuch roughness of conduct among the soldiery, and of this the Whigs weresure to be the victims. With the example of Leach and Lovell beforetheir eyes, the wiser among the provincials spoke cannily and walkedsoftly, and attracted as little attention as possible. But among thepoorer class there was much distress for lack of food and fuel, for evenwhen the troops had plenty, it was difficult for the patriots to buy. 

With their strength somewhat depleted, it was not to be wondered at thatthe poorer class was visited by smallpox. The epidemic was a mild one, and few persons died, but the visitation created great uneasiness. Tolessen his burden, during the winter Howe sent out several companies ofthe poorer folk from the town landing them at Point Shirley, with thecertainty that the Americans would care for them. But his action calleddown much reproach, and he was accused of sending out persons with thesmallpox, in order to infect the besieging army. It was even chargedthat he had purposely inoculated some of the evicted. This, of course, is not to be believed; but it is curious to find the British at lasttaking satisfaction in the epidemic, since it would prevent Washingtonfrom attacking. 

Gradually a feeling of security came over the besieged town. AdmiralGraves had been recalled, and Shuldham took his place. The lighthousewas rebuilt and guarded. Howe felt strong enough to detach a squadronfrom the fleet in order to carry Clinton with a body of troops to thesouthward. This was the expedition that made the unsuccessful attackupon Charleston. Howe sent other vessels to the northern provinces andthe West Indies, which brought in supplies. The store-ships from Englandcontinued to come in, and though Howe was vexed and at times alarmed bythe loss of the valuable stores that fell into Washington's hands, onthe whole he felt very strong. So much fuel arrived that in January thedestruction of houses and wharves was stopped, and the men who had beenon duty for the purpose were commanded to make themselves presentable. Neatness was a hobby with Howe, and he enforced it on his men, though attimes the untidiness of his troops seems to have been remarkable. [148]

There are two expressions which show the confidence entertained at thisperiod, not only by the garrison at large, but by the British general. One Crean Brush had made himself a place in the service, not in amilitary capacity, but as a useful hanger on. In January, anticipatingthe result of the spring campaign, he offered to raise a body ofvolunteers, not less than three hundred, with which he proposed, afterthe "subduction of the main body of the rebel force, " to keep orderalong the Connecticut, and to maintain communication westward with LakeChamplain. There is no record that Howe took him at his word, but hewell might have done so, so completely did he misjudge the situation. For about the same time he wrote to Lord Dartmouth that he was notapprehending any attempt by Washington, "by surprise or otherwise. "[149]

But the surprise came. On the night of the second of March the Americanbatteries, so long silent, began to play. From Cobble Hill, LechmerePoint, and Lamb's Dam in Roxbury, the three redoubts nearest to Boston, the Americans bombarded the town, and Howe's gunners instantlyresponded. The American fire was ineffective. "Our people, " wrote DavidHow, "splet _the Congress_ the Third Time that they fired it. " Otherheavy mortars were likewise burst, doubtless owing to the inexperienceof the gunners. But Washington's purpose, to "divert the attention" ofthe British from Dorchester, was fulfilled. They had no eyes save forthe opposing batteries. For three nights the diversion continued; on the4th it was, wrote Newell, "a most terrible bombardment and cannonade, on both sides, as if heaven and earth were engaged. " At Braintree, milesaway, Abigail Adams listened to the roar, and recorded the rattling ofthe windows, and the continual jar of the house. "At six in themorning, " she writes, "there was quiet, " but the quiet was fromsatisfaction on the one side, and amazement on the other. 

[Illustration: TOWER ON DORCHESTER HEIGHTS COMMEMORATING THE EVACUATIONOF BOSTON]

On the two heights of Dorchester, commanding the town and the harbor, stood two American redoubts, larger and stronger than the redoubt atBreed's Hill. On lesser elevations stood smaller works. Seen frombelow, Washington's preparations seemed complete. 

All that moonlit night, while the cannonade proceeded, the Americans hadbeen busy. Everything had been prepared: the forts were staked out, thecarts were loaded, the men were ready. As soon as the cannonade began, the men and carts were set in motion; the road was strewn with hay, andbales were piled to screen the carts as they passed to and fro. Thetroops worked with a will, first placing fascines in chandeliers to formthe outlines of their works, and then covering them with earth. There isno better contemporary account given than in the diary of an unnamedofficer, published some ninety years later. [150] He wrote:--

"A little before sunset marched off from Roxbury; but for more than halfa mile before we came to Dorchester lines, [151] we overtook teams ingreat plenty, nor did we find any vacancy till we came to the lines; insome places they were so wedged in together, we were obliged to leavethe road to get forward; we reached the lines at seven o'clock, where wewaited half an hour for orders, when a signal was given and thecannonade began at Lamb's fort, and was immediately answered by a verywarm fire from the enemy's lines; a brisk fire between N. Boston and ourfortifications on Cambridge side, began soon after. It was supposedthere was a thousand shot hove this night, by both armies, more thanthree fourths of which were sent from Boston. [152] Our party, consistingof about 2400 men, with 300 teams, were crossing the marsh, onto theNeck, which together with a fresh breeze from the S. W. [153] concealedus from the enemy till they could see our works by daylight. Thedivision to which I was assigned, commanded by Col. Whitcomb, wasordered onto the northerly hill, where in one hour's time we had a fortenclosed, with fascines placed in shandelears; and we immediatelyemployed as many men at intrenching as could be advantageously used forthat purpose. A larger party was assigned to the high hill, where theyerected a larger fort, built much in the same manner as ours. There werefour other smaller forts and batteries erected this night on othereminences on the Neck. "[154]

It is not to be wondered that the British, on making the discovery, "seemed to be in great confusion. "[155] The labor that had been expendedappeared prodigious. Washington himself was satisfied with the works;he knew them to be secure against the British cannon. To Howe theachievement was amazing, and he is said to have exclaimed that his wholearmy could not have done as much in a month. He wrote to Lord Dartmouththat the rebels must have employed at least twelve thousand men, whereasit was accomplished by two details of little more than two thousand meneach. But in those days the British soldier was a poor hand with ashovel, while the Americans were all farmers. Nevertheless it is worthnoting the difference in organization displayed in the taking ofDorchester and in the earlier seizure of Breed's Hill. Instead of asmall detachment sent to unsurveyed ground, and unaided during both thework and the battle, Washington had his ground prepared, [156] hisdetachments ready, and his cannon in reserve to send upon the Heights. In the morning the redoubts, presenting the appearance of finishedfortifications, were manned with fresh men. 

Howe called at once a council of war. To it the admiral was summoned, and declared positively that his fleet was at the mercy of the rebels. There was but one opinion as to the situation: the honor of the army wasat stake, and in addition the military reputation of the general. It waspromptly decided to storm the works. 

For this purpose twenty-four hundred men were sent to the Castle, whichlay close under the Heights to the east, with but a narrow channelbetween. The command of these men was given to Lord Percy, who hoped nowfor the distinction which illness had prevented his achieving at BunkerHill. The attack was to be made at night. Within the lines at BostonNeck was to be gathered another force of troops, which was to second theattack from that direction. This last, in the face of the strongbatteries at Roxbury, was a forlorn hope; according to Lieutenant Barkerthe troops were not to load, but to advance with fixed bayonets, and mayhave hoped to carry the works by surprise. 

Washington would have welcomed the main attack. During the day hisworks were strengthened and his men reinforced. Orchards had been cutdown to serve as abattis, and barrels of earth were ready to roll downupon the British. The men were confident; they were commanded by Thomas, one of the best of the brigadiers, and Washington was there in personwith a reminder that put courage into the breast of every American. Forthe day which he had chosen to decide the fate of Boston was the fifthof March, the anniversary of the Massacre. 

Besides all this, Washington had another weapon in reserve. In theCharles River, out of sight of Boston, were his two floating batteriesand his bateaux filled with soldiers. They were under Putnam, Sullivan, and Greene; and at a given signal, if Washington deemed the opportunitygood, they were to cross the Back Bay and attack the town. --Truly thepreparations were for such fighting as had never been seen in America. 

But they came to naught, for nature took a hand in the struggle. Mercifully, since amid the projected battles the town itself might haveperished with its inhabitants, there sprang up a gale. "A Hurrycane, "wrote Newell, "or terrible sudden storm. " The violence of the wind wassuch that no boat could live in the channel between the Castle andDorchester, two of Percy's transports were driven ashore, and the attackwas postponed. The next day the wind continued, accompanied by heavyrain. The Americans continued to labor on their works, until to everyeye they were impregnable by any force that Howe might send againstthem. Howe called another council, and asked it to concur in hisintention to evacuate the town. There was no other decision to make, andon the 6th of March[157] the orders were given. 

"Blessed be God, " wrote Newell, "our redemption draws nigh. "

FOOTNOTES:

[147] "N. E. Hist. And Gen. Register, " 1865, 313-314. 

[148] See his general order enumerating faults, in Sparks, "Writings ofWashington, " iii, 236, note. 

[149] See Frothingham's "Siege, " 294-295. 

[150] See the _Historical Magazine_ for 1864, 328-329. 

[151] These were a line of fortifications facing Dorchester, madeearlier in the siege. 

[152] According to Knox's return, given in Frothingham's "Siege, " 298, footnote, the Americans threw only 144 shot and 13 shells. The Britishseem to have needed only an occasional stimulus. 

[153] This breeze would bring the smoke of the Roxbury cannonade betweenthe Heights and Boston. 

[154] It seems generally to be considered that there was but one fort atDorchester. The statement in the text is confirmed by the RevolutionaryJournal of Colonel Baldwin, one of the engineers. "Six works thrown upthis night at different places on the Hills & high ground a very Greatwork for one Night. "

[155] Washington's letter to Hancock, "Writings, " iii, 304. 

[156] Colonel Baldwin records that he was on the ground in theafternoon. 

[157] Frothingham says the 7th. But see the diaries of Barker(_Atlantic_, 39, 553) and Newell (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. , 1, Series 4, 272). 

CHAPTER XV

THE EVACUATION

Washington, looking into Boston from the Heights of Dorchester, witnessed the confusion of the British at the discovery of his works, and watched with grim pleasure the preparations made to attack him. Theabandonment of the assault was to him a great disappointment. He hadnever seen men more alert and willing than his soldiers on the Heights. If Howe had sent a small force against them, Washington felt confidentof repulsing it. Had the attacking force been so large as to haveappreciably weakened the army in Boston, Washington would have deliveredhis counterstroke by means of the men in boats under command of Putnam. "He would have had pretty easy work of it, "[158] wrote Washington, still after nearly a month regretting the issue. He wrote his brother, "that this most remarkable interposition of Providence is for some wisepurpose, I have not a doubt. But . .. As no men seemed better disposed tomake the appeal than ours did upon that occasion, I can scarcely forbearlamenting the disappointment. "

Washington lay for a while inactive while the enemy prepared for theirdeparture. But upon Howe's shoulders was thrown a tremendous task. Hehad under him, in the army and the fleet, about eleven thousandmen. [159] For them he had been gathering military stores and provisions;he had many horses, much artillery, and at least a partial equipmentfor field service, in preparation for the spring campaign. His army hadbeen at Boston for many months, some of the regiments for nearly twoyears; consequently there had been a natural accumulation of personaleffects, for the convenience of the officers, with their wives andfamilies. To carry away this army, its stores, and its belongings, therewas not at hand enough shipping. 

But the difficulty was greater than this, for Howe had to consider theTories and their families. Long before this, when Gage was in command, the ministry had written that in case of evacuation "the officers andfriends of government must not be left to the rage and insult of rebels, who set no bounds to their barbarity. " Howe's ships, therefore, were tobe at the service of the Tories, and with full knowledge of the involvedresults, he so informed them. 

When the realization of the situation burst upon the Tories, they were, said a contemporary letter, "struck with paleness andastonishment. "[160] "Not the last trump, " wrote Washington, "could havestruck them with greater consternation. "[161] Until the very last, nosuspicion of such a result seems to have disturbed them; they had bornethemselves confidently, and had expected to see their enemies scatteredwhen the new forces should arrive. Among their Whig brethren they hadbeen very high-handed. "The selectmen say, " wrote Eldad Taylor, who musthave been at Watertown when the selectmen arrived there with the news ofthe evacuation, "that the Tories were the most dreadful of any, that allthe sufferings of the poor for the want of provisions and thenecessaries of life, were not equal to the dreadful scorn, derision, andcontempt from them. "

Upon the Tories was now put the hard decision, whether to go or stay. Inorder to decide, they needed to know what the Whigs would do to them;and to know that, they had but to consider what they would do to theWhigs in similar case. In their own prison languished the Whig Lovell. They thought of the Whig prisons which might be waiting for them, andthey decided to go. 

It is not to be denied that the decision was, under the circumstances, wise. The loyalists were right in supposing that the treatment whichthey would have meted to the Whigs, the Whigs would mete to them. Forthe country was inflamed against the Tories; Washington himself sharedthe sentiment against them. Much as we may regret this feeling, we mustremember that it was natural to the age. Kind treatment to an opponentin civil war was not yet generally practised; it was Lincoln who madethe lesson acceptable to mankind. 

Practically all of the Tories, therefore, made up their minds to go. Some few, indeed, remained behind, counting upon their humble station, or inoffensiveness. No harsh treatment of them is recorded. The oneprominent Tory who remained, Mather Byles the minister, soon weatheredthe storm that rose against him. The remaining loyalists, who planned todepart, were some eleven hundred in number. It was necessary that theyshould be accommodated in the ships, necessary also that they shouldtake with them such of their valuables as were easily portable. Howegave orders that room be made for them, and the orders were unselfishlyobeyed by the army and navy. 

But the haste, the disorder, even the tumult, in the days immediatelyfollowing the order to depart, were extreme. Each regiment had to beassigned its transports, each Tory to find space for himself and hisfamily, and if possible his goods. There was sorting of effects, bundling up of valuables, and strenuous efforts to get all in safetybefore Washington should bombard. Diarists agree in the concise termswith which they describe the town. Says Newell for the 8th: "The townall hurry and commotion, the troops with the Refugees and Tories allembarking. " For the 9th he adds: "D^o. D^o. D^o. " And for the 10thwrites Lieutenant Barker: "Nothing but hurry and confusion. "

In the meantime the Americans at Dorchester strengthened their works, and fortified one more eminence, which commanded the channel. Washingtondid not wish to cannonade the British, for if not attacked he saw noadvantage in attacking, lest the town should be set on fire and burned. He therefore bided his time. All his action until now, he wrote Hancock, was but preparatory to taking post on Nook's Hill, a low promontorywhich ran so far out upon Dorchester flats that from its top cannoncould enfilade the British lines at the Neck, and could command almostany part of Boston. An attempt to fortify it upon the night of the 9thwas betrayed by the folly of the men, who kindled a fire and weredispersed by British cannon. But by this Washington was not disturbed. He was willing that Howe should delay for a while, if the delay were nottoo long. He himself had reasons for waiting, since he reasoned thatthe British would, on departing, attempt to seize New York, and hewanted time to prepare and despatch a force to hold that place. So hewatched the British army, sent a regiment of riflemen to strengthen NewYork, and made ready five other regiments to depart as soon as theBritish fleet should leave the harbor. 

But at this time the inhabitants of Boston were very uncertain of theirown fate. Nothing was more natural than that Washington should attack, or that the exasperated British should on departing, even if unassailed, set fire to the wooden town. The selectmen, as spokesmen for theinhabitants, therefore inquired of Howe what his intentions were. Howewrote in reply that he had no intention of destroying the town, if hewere unmolested. This reply the selectmen sent in haste to Washington, begging for a similar assurance. Washington was not willing to bindhimself, and returned answer that as Howe's note was "unauthenticated, and addressed to nobody, " he could take no notice of it. Nevertheless, since no threat was made, the Bostonians felt more at ease. [162]

All this time the wind was contrary, and the troops unable to set sail. They therefore remained in their quarters, while completing theirpreparations for departure. As the days passed Howe began to destroywhat he could not take with him, and to seize what would be of advantageto the rebels. His troops spiked cannon, burned artillery and transportwagons, or else threw them into the harbor, and ruined bulky stores. What he did deliberately, his men increased through malice. The 13thseems to have been the worst day of this period. "The Inhabitants, "wrote Newell, "in the utmost distress, thro' fear of the Town beingdestroyed by the Soldiers, a party of New York Carpenters with axesgoing thro' the town breaking open houses, &c. Soldiers and sailorsplundering of houses, shops, warehouses--Sugar and salt &c. Thrown intothe River, which was greatly covered with hogsheads, barrels of flour, house furniture, carts, trucks &c. &c. --One Person suffered _fourthousand pounds sterling_, by his shipping being cut to pieces&c. --Another _five thousand pounds sterling_, in salt wantonly throwninto the river. " No wonder that the sturdy old selectman thought theseto be "very distressed times. "

Howe's agent in the work of plundering was that Crean Brush who hadoffered to police the western part of Massachusetts with three hundredmen. Him the general directed to receive all linen and woollen goodswhich were on sale, and to take those which were not delivered, givingcertificates for the same. There is on file the petition of one Jackson, begging for payment for goods taken from him. Brush interpreted hiscommission very freely, and it was suspected that he was plundering onhis own account. Every soldier or sailor who could give his officer theslip was doing the same, in spite of Howe's honest efforts to stop theplundering. 

There was a little genteel thievery as well. Some of the Tories hadunfairly secured more than their share of room on shipboard, and foundthis the chance to take their pick of the furniture of their Whigrelatives. "Wat, " wrote John Andrews to his brother-in-law inPhiladelphia, "has stripped your uncle's house of everything he couldconveniently carry off. .. . He has left all the looking glasses andwindow curtains, with some tables and most of the chairs; only twobedsteads and one bed, without any bedding or sheets, or even a rag oflinnen of any kind. Some of the china and the principal part of thepewter is the sum of what he has left, save the Library, which waspacked up corded to ship, but your uncle Jerry and Mr. Austin went tohim and absolutely forbid it, upon his peril. "

Another library did not fare so well. At this time disappeared that partof the Prince collection which had not been used for kindling the firesin the Old South. With it vanished the Bradford manuscript history ofthe Plymouth plantation, which a later generation freely returned. 

While the Tories were so carefully looking to the future, the Whigs wereobliged to guard what they could. Newell covers too many incidents withetceteras, but John Andrews who, as soon as the siege was lifted, wasfree to begin again his correspondence, speaks clearly of hisdifficulties. Through the siege he had had the care of six houses withtheir furniture, and as many stores filled with goods; but now heunderwent more fatigue and perplexity than for the past eleven months, for "I was obliged, " he says, "to take my rounds all day, without anycessation, and scarce ever fail'd of finding depredations made upon someone or other of them, that I was finally necessitated to procure men atthe extravagant rate of two dollars a day to sleep in the several housesand stores for a fortnight[163] before the military plunderers wentoff--for so sure as they were left alone one night, so sure they wereplundered. " Later he was obliged to pay at the rate of a dollar an hourfor hands to assist him in moving; but "such was the demand forlaborers, that they were taken from me, even at that, by the tories whobid over me. "

So, while the wind continued contrary, the plundering and thedestruction continued. Before long the seashore dwellers might do theirshare of rescue, as the articles which were thrown into theharbor--"mahogany chairs, tables, etc. , " records Abigail Adams--werecast up on the beaches. But one by one the transports filled and droppeddown the harbor, until at last Washington grew impatient, and on thenight of the 16th made his last move. Though the British, aware of theattempt, fired with their remaining guns all night at Nook's Hill, theAmericans doggedly entrenched without returning a shot, and in themorning showed a finished redoubt. It was, as Trevelyan well says, Washington's notice to quit. 

Howe meekly accepted it. "At 4 o'clock in the Morn. , " writes LieutenantBarker, "the troops got under arms, at 5 they began to move, and byabout 8 or 9 were all embarked, the rear being covered by the Grenadiersand Light Infantry. " The ships sailed down the channel, no shot wasfired from the American batteries, and in return the _Fowey_, the lastof the fleet, which Howe had threatened should fire the town before shedeparted, carried away with her her "carcases and combustibles, " andBoston stood free and unharmed. 

In half an hour the Americans were in possession. From Roxbury a companyof five hundred, picked for the service because they had had thesmallpox, entered the British lines, and manned the fortifications whichlooked toward the harbor. In the redoubt at Bunker Hill sentriesappeared to be still doing their duty; but two men who were sent toreconnoitre found them to be dummies, and signalled their companions tofollow them. General Putnam was given command of the town, from enteringwhich the army in general, and all civilians, were prohibited until itwas ascertained whether there was danger of smallpox. 

Washington's other measures were decisive. He directed Manly, admiral ofhis little squadron, to follow the British fleet and cut off as manyvessels as possible. One result of this order gave the greatestsatisfaction. "The brave Captain Manly, " wrote Andrews, "has taken theBrig that contained that _cursed_ villain, Crean Brush, with great partof the plunder he rob'd the stores of here, that I immagine she must bethe richest vessell in the fleet. " Other ships were either similarlytaken, or were forced to put ashore from lack of provision or ofpreparation. 

Another of Washington's moves was to despatch his five regiments to NewYork. They went by way of Norwich, Connecticut, and from there, to savefatigue and time, were taken by water to the city. They arrived freshand ready for the expected struggle, but though they watched long forthe British fleet, it did not come. 

Washington's third action was to defend Boston against a possiblereturn of the British. The "lines" at Boston and Charlestown necks weredemolished, and on the day after the evacuation Putnam and his men wereat work building on Fort Hill a redoubt to command the harbor. With thisand the Dorchester batteries the Bostonians might have been satisfied, but within a month they began fortifying Noddle's Island against anypossible attempt by sea. 

In all these precautions the Americans were hastened by the fact thatthe British, though they had left the upper harbor, were still in thelower, lying off Nantasket. "From Penn's Hill, " wrote Abigail Adams toher husband, "we have a view of the largest fleet ever seen in America. You may count upwards of a hundred and seventy sail. They look like aforest. " Their stay greatly puzzled Washington: "what they are doing, "he wrote, "the Lord knows. " He was troubled as well. The ten regimentsof militia, which had strengthened his army since the first of February, had promised to remain only until the first of April, and he knew thatit was "as practical to stop a torrent, as these people, when their timeis up. " He therefore feared lest the British, by striking with all theirforce upon his rear, might do him great injury. 

This was not the first time that Washington, reasoning according to hisown nature, expected from Howe that vigorous action which the Britishgeneral was unable to perform. Howe, humiliated as he must have felt atreceiving, while his vessel passed down the harbor, a despatch from theministry applauding his decision not to evacuate the town, had nothought of revenge. He blew up the fortifications at the Castle, andprepared to destroy the lighthouse, but his purposes in remaining wereto fit his fleet for sea, and to warn those British vessels which werebound for Boston. Nor had he the slightest intention of seizing NewYork. The statements which had come to Washington's ears, that Howe'sdestination was Halifax, in spite of the American's incredulity, werecorrect. On the 27th of March, ten days after the evacuation, thegreater part of Howe's fleet weighed anchor, and sailed away forHalifax. His army felt its shame. "I do not know the thing sodesperate, " wrote an officer, "I would not undertake, in order to changeour situation. "[164] But in spite of the chagrin in the hearts of hissoldiers, and the despair in the breasts of the Tories, few of them everlooked upon Boston again. 

Before this time it had been ascertained that Boston was in no seriousdanger from smallpox, and on the 20th the main body of the army marchedinto Boston. It was an occasion of great happiness to the inhabitants, and they "manifested a lively joy. " Two days later the town was thrownopen to all comers, and once more, as before the Port Bill, entrance byland or ferry was free. 

The town was speedily examined in all particulars, and those who hadsuffered by the siege were encouraged to bring in claims for damages. Itwas found that, except for the absolute destruction of buildings forfuel, the injury to houses was inconsiderable. Where the common soldiershad lived, interiors were defaced; yet externally the houses of the townlooked much as they had before the siege. Where the officers had lived, the dwellings had suffered little, and even the homes of the prominentWhigs had not been injured. Abigail Adams wrote to her husband thattheir house was "very dirty, but no other damage has been done to it. "She looked upon it as a new acquisition of property. Washington tookpains to write Hancock, who had been so ready to sacrifice hisbelongings to the cause of the country, that his house, and even hisfurniture and pictures, had received no damage worth mentioning. 

To the immense satisfaction of all Whigs, many military stores werefound in the town. Most important were more than two hundred pieces ofordnance, the larger part of which, though spiked, could soon be putinto serviceable condition. Balls and shells for the cannon and mortarswere found; provisions, horses and their provender, medicines inquantity, and many other articles were discovered, amounting in value tonearly forty thousand pounds. The booty of Brush of course swelled thisamount. 

[Illustration: GOLD MEDAL COMMEMORATING WASHINGTON'S VICTORY]

The Whigs now might see their friends again, and for a short timeenjoyed military society of a new sort. John Andrews reports "nothingbut a continual round of company. " "Last week, " he recorded, "I had thehonor of General Washington with his lady, General Gates, Mr. Custos andLady, with aid de Camps, &ca, to dine with me. " It was an occasion ofwhich he boasted to his dying day. In the town, now flooded withprovision, there were many eager to feast Washington. 

But he did not tarry long. While Howe and his fleet were in the bay, hekept his men at work demolishing the British defences against the land, and strengthening the forts which looked seaward, and he was continuallyon his guard against the blow which Howe might deliver. But when theBritish had sailed away to the north-east, Washington himself, on the4th of April, set off for New York. 

Howe had nevertheless left vessels at Nantasket Roads, to intercept thetroop-ships and stores which were on their way to him. In this he waspartly successful, for seven ship-loads of Highlanders were by thismeans saved from Yankee prisons. But even while the evacuation was inprogress British vessels were captured in the harbor, and now in sightof the squadron and its Highlanders was taken the richest store-shipthat had yet fallen into American hands. There was a brisk fight, also, between an American schooner, aground on Shirley Point, and thirteenboat-loads of men from the war-ships. The boats were beaten off, butthe British had accomplished the death of the captain of the schooner, America's first naval hero, Mugford of Marblehead. 

At length a determined effort was made to drive away the squadron. Themilitia was called out, and artillery was carried to islands down theharbor. There was a brief cannonade between the Americans and the fleet. Then the British commander, finding his anchorage no longer safe, blewup the lighthouse and followed Howe to Halifax. This was on the secondanniversary of the enforcement of the Port Bill. Two days later theremainder of the Highlanders, unsuspiciously entering the harbor, fellinto the hands of the Americans. [165]

The British resentment aroused by this last mischance was mild comparedwith the general indignation which burst on Howe's head at his conductof the defence of Boston, and his hurried evacuation. The ministryannounced the departure from Boston in the briefest fashion, but wereforced to explain and excuse it in both the Commons and the Lords. "TheGeneral thought proper to shift his position, " explained the Earl ofSuffolk to the Lords, "in order, in the first place, to protectHalifax. "[166] But the defence was riddled, Howe's general weakness wasexposed, his neglect to fortify Dorchester was pointed out, and theEnglish Whigs acutely reasoned that he must have had a virtual agreementwith Washington to purchase the safety of the fleet and army at theprice of immunity to the town. Newspapers and pamphleteers took up thesubject, and Howe was eventually forced to ask for an inquiry into hisconduct of the siege. To his dying day he was severely criticised forhis generalship in America, and especially at Boston. 

Of the other British military leaders, not one was successful. Gage wasnever again given a command. Burgoyne returned to Boston only as aprisoner. Clinton for a time commanded in America, but he was recalled. 

As for the master whom these generals served, the king who was the causeof the war, his failure was complete. George III lost not only hisrevolted colonies, but also the dearer prize for which he fought, personal government. When at last peace was signed, the Americans hadgained independence, and the English people had finally established thesupremacy of Parliament. The king might reign, but he could no longergovern. 

The fate of the Tories cannot detain us long, painful as it was. Somefew returned to America after the war, and made again places forthemselves. Among these was Judge Curwen. Some went to England, wherethey were out of their element. Dependent for the most part on thebounty of the crown, they lived in hope of a change of fortune. Theylonged for their homes, and sickened for a sight of the New Englandcountry, to them the most beautiful on earth. Many of them were too oldto begin life anew: by the end of the war it was recorded that, of theMassachusetts Tory leaders, forty-five died in England. One of these wasHutchinson, upon whose life the best comment is the concluding sentenceof Sabine's brief biography: "I forget, in his melancholy end, allelse. "

But numbers of the Tories remained in Canada. Doubtless many werediscouraged from going to England by the reports of the condition ofthose already there. "As to your coming here, " wrote Governor Wentworthfrom London to a friend in New Brunswick, "or any other Loyalist thatcan get clams and potatoes in America, they would most certainly regretmaking bad worse. "[167] On such advice as this many, indeed most, of therefugees remained in Canada, and after the war, in which many of themfought, were of great service in building up that country. Nova Scotiaand New Brunswick received the larger number of them; they becameleaders of the bar, judges, physicians, prominent office-holders. It isnot to be denied that among them were suffering and misery; they hadlost much and had to begin again from the bottom, and many succumbed tothe difficulties of the new life. After the war attempt was made to gainfrom the United States compensation for their losses; but the newcountry was unable even to recompense those who had suffered in itscause. The loyalists therefore looked to Britain for help, and in somemeasure found it, in pensions, grants of money, and holdings of land. 

There is much to regret in this emigration, which took from New Englandsuch numbers of men and women of good blood and gentle breeding. For theTories were largely of the better class, many of them had been educatedat Harvard, and they represented an element which no community canafford to lose. Some of the difficulties of the new commonwealths weredue to the loss of the conservative balance-wheel; some furthertroubles beset them from the bitterness of feeling in the new colonistsacross the border. This has now died away, but boundary and fisheriesdisputes long brought out the hostility latent in the descendants of theTories. 

So much for the losers in the fight. Of the winners, no American needsto be more than reminded of their fame and their successes. At the siegeWashington made his first claim to fame. He proved his tenacity, hismastery of men, and the greatness of his resolution and daring. Some ofhis generals followed him in his success, some were failures. Leeattempted treachery, but was finally discarded by both sides. Gatesendeavored to displace Washington, but ruined himself in the attempt. But most of Washington's other generals were able men. Greene provedhimself to be a military genius second only to Washington. Knox, thesole Bostonian on Washington's staff, commanded the artillery throughoutthe war. 

Of the chief Boston politicians, all ended their days honorably. Soonafter the evacuation the body of Warren was sought for among the deadburied on Bunker Hill. It was found, identified, and entombed at Bostonwith solemn mourning. Hancock presently signed his name on theDeclaration of Independence so large that King George could read itwithout his spectacles. The Boston merchant served the ContinentalCongress for another year as its president; then returning to Boston hebecame "King" Hancock, the governor of Massachusetts practically forlife. John Adams passed to greater usefulness as envoy to France, firstminister to Great Britain, and finally as Washington's successor asPresident. But to a student of Boston itself the mind dwells mostwillingly on Samuel Adams, "the man of the town meeting, " who roused therebellion, guided it skilfully, served usefully in many publiccapacities, and became governor after Hancock's death. His statue standsto-day in the square named after him, not far from the Old South and theold Town House, and within sight of Faneuil Hall. 

But we trespass beyond the period of this history. When Howe sailedaway, Boston's share in the Revolution was practically ended. No attemptwas made to retake the town, for there could be no profit in gainingwhat could not be held. In the remaining years of the war the town hadno more serious duty than fitting out ships of war and privateers, andof entertaining the officers of the French fleet. But Boston had earnedits rest. For nearly sixteen years the town had stood as the spokesmanfor liberty, the leader of revolt. In bringing the country safelythrough a critical period, the services of Boston were essential. 

FOOTNOTES:

[158] Trevelyan, in concluding that Washington disapproved of thisattack by Putnam, is apparently misled by General Heath's curious habitof referring to himself in his Memoirs as "Our General. " It was Heathwho opposed the project. Against Howe's flimsy defences on the Back Bay, if weakened of defenders, Putnam might well have prevailed, especiallyin a night attack. They were, wrote Edward Bangs, "ill-constructed, anddesigned for little but to frighten us. " James Warren, who reported onthese works, found them to be very weak. See Frothingham's "Siege, " 329. 

[159] Frothingham's "Siege, " 311. 

[160] Eldad Taylor to his wife, Watertown, March 18, 1776. 

[161] "Writings, " iii, 343. 

[162] For this correspondence, see Newell's "Diary, " or "Washington'sWritings, " iii, 531-533. 

[163] It cannot have been more than eleven days. 

[164] Frothingham's "Siege, " 310. 

[165] See concerning these men and their commander the interestingmonograph by Charles H. Walcott: "Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverneil, sometime Prisoner of War in the Jail at Concord, Massachusetts. "Privately printed. 

[166] "The Writings of Washington, " iii, 531. 

[167] Sabine's "Loyalists, " 217.