The Story of American History for Elementary Schools
Tekst145. The Famous Boston Tea Party.– In view of all these troubles, England took off the taxes from everything but tea. King George said he must have one tax to maintain the principle of the right of taxation. But the colonists refused to drink tea imported from China! The women were patriotic and made their tea of raspberry leaves, sage, and other plants, rather than use the hated foreign article.
But the government of England was determined we should buy tea, and the merchants sent shiploads of it to our large cities. The Americans were firm. They vowed that not an ounce of it should land. There was only a few cents' tax on each pound. What our people disputed was the right of the king to tax. When the tea reached New York and Philadelphia, none dared to receive it, lest their houses should be pulled down about their heads. In Charleston, S. C., some was taken ashore, but as no one would buy it or pay the duty, it was hid in damp cellars, where it soon spoiled. In Annapolis it was burned.
At Boston warning was several times given to the masters of the ships to sail out of the harbor. On the last day before the tea must be landed or be prevented by force from landing, a town-meeting was held in the Old South Church. The crowd in the church, and in the streets about it, numbered more than seven thousand people. "It was to be," says John Fiske, "one of the most momentous days in the history of the world." The discussion continued until dark, and candles were brought in. It was decided that the tea should not be landed.
"Who knows," shouted one in the audience, "how tea will mix with salt water?"
The church fairly shook with cheers.
Then up rose Samuel Adams and quickly said: "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country."
This was the signal. A war-whoop was heard outside the door, and forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, went quietly aboard the three vessels, and before the nine-o'clock bell rang three hundred and forty-two chests of tea had been cut open and their contents emptied into Boston Harbor. This was the famous "Boston Tea Party" we have so often heard of, and it took place in the middle of December in 1773. A large crowd of the friends of these men stood on shore until the deed was done, and then, without doing any other injury to property, all separated and went home in the clear, frosty moonlight.
The next morning there was not a chest of taxed tea in Boston, on shipboard or on shore, and Paul Revere was riding post haste to Philadelphia to let the good people of that city know that Boston had at last thrown down the gauntlet.
One of the "Indians" found a handful of tea in his shoe the next morning. He carefully saved it and sealed it in a bottle. It is still shown as a souvenir of this informal "tea party" in Boston harbor.
One rash fellow, probably thinking that his family would like a good drink of real tea, cut open the lining of his coat and waistcoat, and, watching his chance, filled them with tea; but he was caught in the act and handled pretty roughly.
146. Attempts to punish Boston.– "Boston shall be punished," said King George when he heard of the "tea party." Parliament passed the "Boston Port Bill." By this act the port of Boston was closed. No vessel could go in or out except under the most rigid conditions. The object of course was to frighten or force the Boston people into yielding to the royal power.
Near-by towns and the other colonies came to their help by sending food and other needed articles. The southern colonies sent flour and rice, the middle furnished corn and money, and many towns sent sheep and cattle. One town in Connecticut sent a flock of two hundred and fifty sheep. Marblehead sent fish, and other towns grain.
Warm sympathy came from Virginia. "If need be," said Washington, "I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston." In fact all the colonies took up the cause of Boston as their own. Of course the blockade made great hardship for the poor. There was much suffering from the scarcity of fuel and food. Still the people, as resolute as their leaders, made little complaint and caused no disorder.
Dr. Joseph Warren overheard some British officers boast that if a patriot ever addressed the people again in the Old South Church, he would surely lose his life. This was enough. Warren begged the honor. The church was so crowded that he had to get a ladder and climb in through a window at the back of the pulpit. Many British officers were present who annoyed the speaker with groans and hisses. The fearless patriot, however, made a stirring speech "on the baneful influence of standing armies in time of peace."
147. The Home Government adopts Stringent Measures.– The charter of Massachusetts was annulled, and its free government taken away. General Gage, the commander of the British army in America, was ordered to Boston with several regiments and was appointed military governor with despotic power. Cannon were mounted on the heights, tents pitched on the Common, and companies of red-coats were marching to and fro in the streets.
The effect was exactly what the wisest men in Parliament had predicted. They had said that the colonies would unite more firmly, and that the American people would be driven into open rebellion. King George was obstinate and used all his influence to push the most obnoxious Acts through Parliament.
148. The First Continental Congress.– The first Continental Congress held its first meeting at Philadelphia in September, 1774. The ablest men of the colonies were sent as delegates. They forwarded to the king a candid statement of their grievances. It did no good. Massachusetts was declared in a state of rebellion. In truth, it looked like it.
Such a condition of affairs could not last long. The feeling was intense against the king and his all-powerful friends. Arguments were useless. The royal authority was boldly and stubbornly defied. The sword and the bayonet must now decide whether king or people were to rule in America.
"The contest may be severe, but the end will be glorious," said the martyr-patriot Warren, who soon after fell at Bunker Hill.
CHAPTER XI.
LEXINGTON AND CONCORD
149. The Patriots prepare for War.– When General Gage began to increase slowly the number of troops in Boston, and especially when he began to fortify Boston Neck, it was plain enough that this meant war. The people on their part began to prepare anxiously for the coming struggle. Every one felt that desperate times were near at hand. The patriots quickly collected arms and ammunition and, having packed them in loads of hay and similar disguises to deceive the British spies, sent them for safe keeping to Concord, about sixteen miles northwest of Boston.
150. Gage forms Plans to capture Military Stores.– General Gage soon learned this, and made secret preparations to capture these supplies. Inasmuch as in previous expeditions of this kind he had met with failure, the advantage of a surprise was this time to be increased by the presence of a large force. The Americans, however, were quite as keen of sight and hearing as their enemies, and had even more reason to keep a sharp lookout.
About midnight on the 18th of April, 1775, Gage quietly sent out from Boston nearly eight hundred soldiers. He had two objects in view; to seize the military stores at Concord, and to arrest Samuel Adams and "his ready and willing tool," that "terrible desperado," John Hancock.
Gage thought the start of his midnight soldiers was quite unknown to the Americans. He never suspected that Warren and other vigilant patriots had been watching every movement, and were determined to thwart his plans. At about ten or eleven o'clock, two hours before the British soldiers embarked, a signal lantern hung out of the belfry of the Old North Church in Boston, and in a few minutes another by its side – "One, if by land, and two, if by sea" – flashed the tidings of the coming expedition.
151. The Country about Boston aroused.– An hour or two before the British troops began to cross in boats to Charlestown, two horsemen, who had been watching for the lantern lights in the steeple, dashed out on swift steeds by different roads towards Lexington and Concord: William Dawes went like an arrow over Boston Neck, and then through Roxbury and Watertown, while Paul Revere across the water sped as if on wings from Charlestown. Their swift horses' hoofs clattered sharply in the quiet of this beautiful night, striking fire from the stones in the darkness. But at almost every house they paused a moment to arouse the sleepers. "Wake up!" they shouted. Windows flew open.
"What's the matter?" – "What's the mat-ter?"
"Matter enough, you'll find, by daylight!" was the hurried reply. "The British are coming!"
152. The Night March to Concord.– Meanwhile the British soldiers were marching along rapidly through the cool April night. They made no noise. There was no drumbeat; the officers gave their commands almost in whispers. Only the clatter of the horses' hoofs and the steady tramp of the marching men broke the silence. When day dawned they approached the village of Lexington, ten miles from Boston and about two-thirds of the way to Concord. They were not entirely surprised to find, even so early, a squad of armed minute-men awaiting them, for they had heard church bells ringing and had seen, all along their march, lights moving to and fro in the farm houses.
153. The Patriots make a stand at Lexington.– The British arrived at Lexington about half-past four. Ready to meet them were some sixty or seventy men drawn up on the village green close beside the meeting-house, with loaded guns. As they stood there, silent and fearless, on that sweet spring morning, April 19, 1775, their leader, Captain John Parker, who fifteen years before had climbed the Heights of Abraham by the side of Wolfe, addressed them briefly.
"Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon," said Parker; "but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" Seventy men against eight hundred! War it was, and it did begin there.
Major Pitcairn, who soon afterwards fell at Bunker Hill, rode up and cried out: —
"Disperse, you villains! Throw down your arms, you rebels, and go home!"
He then discharged his pistol and, turning to his soldiers, cried, "Fire!" Instantly flashed out the first volley of the Revolutionary War, and eight of the farmer minute-men fell dead!
The number of the Americans was so small in proportion to that of the British that the only sensible course was to retreat. They retired with a few parting shots at the enemy. Then the red-coats, giving three cheers, marched on towards Concord, six miles farther.
The patriots at Concord had the day before received some hint of the proposed capture, and had removed most of the military stores to the woods. The British found two cannon, which they spiked, and some cannon balls and gunpowder, which they threw into the river. Then they destroyed a quantity of flour, cut down the liberty-pole, and set fire to the courthouse.
154. The Fight at Concord Bridge.– While they were busy doing this, fresh minute-men, about four hundred in number, were coming in from all the adjoining towns. They gathered near the old North Bridge to drive away some regulars who had begun to take up the planks. As the militia approached, the British soldiers fired and killed several. Among the dead was Captain Isaac Davis. Long after life was extinct, the fingers of this brave patriot, as if still true to his purpose, held firm grasp on his gun.
Major Buttrick, a leader among the soldier-farmers, shouted, "Fire, fellow-soldiers! Fire!" Obedient to this order, the Americans in return "fired the shot heard round the world!" The regulars fell back in confusion. The minute-men held the bridge, and the enemy began a hasty retreat.
Our men were too few in number to join in a square pitched battle with the trained British soldiers; but as soon as these began to withdraw, the patriots followed them closely and kept up a brisk discharge of musketry. The previous volleys and the bell-ringing had aroused the whole adjacent country, and fresh men came pouring in from every side. Most of them were without their coats; but they had guns in their hands and they knew how to use them.
155. The British begin their Retreat.– Occasionally the retreating soldiers would stop and shoot back, and then hurry on and even run, to escape the deadly bullets. Soon the minute-men, leaping over the stone walls, ran on ahead, or, cutting across at some bend of the road, got a long distance in advance. Then as the column came on, the Americans, from behind barns, trees, rocks, and walls, would pour a storm of shot into the staggering ranks. So from right and left, behind and before, came in showers the fatal balls of the minute-men. A British officer afterwards said, "It seemed as if men dropped from the clouds."
You remember Longfellow's description: —
How the British regulars fired and fled,
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again,
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And pausing only to fire and load.
The British suffered fearfully in this six-mile march. The weather was as sultry as in midsummer, and the dust was suffocating. They had been on the road without food or water from midnight to noon. They were worn and exhausted, and the ceaseless shot of the Americans, who were all trained to the use of the rifle, brought down some of the regulars at almost every step. To go on was perilous, to pause long was fatal. Dead and wounded men and horses lay all along the road.
Thus beset, the British pushed on, hurrying back over the dreadful distance till they reached Lexington. Here they were rejoiced to find a thousand soldiers sent out from Boston under Lord Percy to meet them. These had marched out of Boston to the tune of Yankee Doodle! They were formed in a hollow square, and into this shelter rushed the runaway red-coats, falling upon the green grass from pure exhaustion, "with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like dogs after a chase." Lord Percy allowed a rest of only about half an hour, knowing very well that the longer he delayed the greater would be the increasing swarm of armed men gathering around him.
156. The Panic-Stricken British Regulars at last reach the Shelter of the Men-of-War.– The British commander had now in all nearly eighteen hundred men, and he made straight for Charlestown, the nearest point of safety. But in spite of this large force, the minute-men with their unerring aim kept on his flanks, picking off the regulars, especially the officers, all along the road. In vain the officers threatened; the men ran like sheep. At sunset the British reached Charlestown and found themselves safe under the shelter of their men-of-war.
If Percy's reinforcements had not come up, all the British soldiers that started back from Concord would have been killed or taken prisoners. The king's regulars had been driven in rout and almost panic before the stout-hearted minute-men. Well might General Gage feel keenly the disgrace.
The loss on both sides at Lexington and Concord was small. Most of the fighting took place on the retreat, where the loss of the Americans was about fifty killed and forty-three wounded, while the British lost in all two hundred and seventy-three men.
157. What the Eventful Day showed.– Thus began and ended one of the most eventful days in the history of our country. It witnessed the opening conflict of the American Revolution.
When that sturdy patriot, Samuel Adams, heard the crackle of the musketry, he exclaimed, "What a glorious morning is this!" He knew that the time had come when the people must draw the sword.
The Americans had now shown that they could fight. They saw the promptness with which they could assemble, and they felt that, if need were, they could defend themselves. The British also learned that the American farmers could fight, and that, too, on the spur of the moment. They found that the colonies were not to be frightened into submission. It became plain to each side that very serious work was near at hand. The grim figure of WAR cast its long black shadow into the future.
The shots of these resolute farmers echoed far and wide. They told the whole world that a people stood ready to give their lives in defense of their rights; that they fought after their own fashion, and they fought hard.
158. The Minute-Men; the Work they did, and how they did it.– The minute-men were bands of enrolled patriots pledged to start at a minute's notice to a call for their services. They had few good weapons, mostly shotguns for hunting birds and squirrels. They were short of powder and ball. In many of the families the women melted or pounded up their pewter spoons and dishes into bullets and slugs.
The minute-men were numerous in every town, and when the alarm was given, they would leave plow or shop, hurry home, take down the gun from its hooks over the fireplace, bid good-by to wife and children, and be off to help their country in its peril.
Israel Putnam, in leather frock and apron, was at work in a field on his farm in Connecticut when he heard of Lexington. Leaving the plow in the furrow, he jumped on his horse and rode the hundred or more miles to Cambridge in eighteen hours. John Stark was at work in his sawmill in New Hampshire when the news of Lexington came. He stopped the mill, hurried home, took down his rifle, and rode on horseback to Cambridge. In his haste he even forgot to put on his coat!
Every town had a company or two of minute-men and of militia soldiers, who regularly met and drilled. The soldiers and the officers of these companies were usually the best citizens of the towns. Thirty-one towns were represented among the patriots who hastened to the fight on the nineteenth of April.
159. Tablets now shown along this Historic Road.– If some day we should take a ride over this very road, we should notice along the way numerous landmarks of that famous contest – carved monuments, houses with bullet holes carefully preserved, bronze tablets on houses, marking some spot of special interest. At Fiske's Hill, in Lexington, an inscription records that at a well near by two soldiers met to drink. The British grenadier raised his gun and said to James Hayward, "You are a dead man!" "And so are you!" replied the minute-man. Both fired; one was instantly killed, and the other mortally wounded.
On Lexington Common we should see a stately monument with a long inscription reciting the event.
At Concord Bridge would be seen a noble statue of the Minute-Man, beneath which on the pedestal are Emerson's famous verses: —
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
CHAPTER XII.
THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
160. More Regulars sent to Boston.– The battle of Lexington, fought as we have read, on the nineteenth of April, 1775, was a most momentous event, since it showed for the first time the resolute purpose of the Americans to draw the sword and defend themselves from British oppression. The news reached England near the end of May. Those Lexington muskets said plainer than words that the colonies would not submit to unjust taxation.
Fully aware that the situation was becoming serious, the British government sent a large number of fresh troops to reinforce the garrison in Boston. These came under the command of Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, and made in all an army of about ten thousand men.
161. A Patriot Army is gathered around Boston.– The patriots, too, were gathering in large numbers around Boston. They came by hundreds from all directions. Quite a large body was from Connecticut under Colonel (afterwards General) Israel Putnam. General Ward was commander of these forces until Washington arrived at Cambridge on July 3, 1775, and first took command of the American army under the old elm.
On the twelfth of June, General Gage issued a proclamation declaring all those in arms to be rebels and traitors, but offering pardon to all who would lay down their weapons and obey the British governor. Two, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, were excepted. Their patriotism had been too intense and outspoken to be forgiven.
The American army, now nearly twenty thousand strong, formed a line of encampments in a great semicircle of sixteen miles, halfway around the city from Roxbury Neck to the Mystic River. They soon learned that Gage intended to break through the American lines into the country for a supply of provisions.
162. Plans to checkmate the British.– General Ward, having discovered that the British were planning to sally forth through Charlestown, determined to strike first and so defeat their project. It was decided to seize and fortify some suitable hill in Charlestown. Colonel William Prescott, a well-tried soldier of the French-Indian wars, and grandfather of Prescott, the famous historian, was ordered, on the sixteenth of June, to march that night with nearly a thousand men to Bunker Hill and throw up breastworks.
Soon after sunset the soldiers were formed in a hollow square on Cambridge Common, and President Langdon of Harvard College offered prayer. The good man then gave them his blessing and bade them "Godspeed." At nine o'clock they started on their silent march. At Charlestown Neck they met General Putnam with more soldiers and wagon-loads of picks and shovels.
163. Entrenched on Bunker Hill.– Prescott led them to the top of Bunker Hill. After consultation with his officers, he moved on through the darkness to Breed's Hill, which had a better command of the city and the shipping. The lines were soon staked out, and at midnight the farmer soldiers began their entrenchments. So rapidly did they work that the dim morning twilight disclosed a large square of fresh trenches crowning the hill, with long wings stretching right and left. They had made a fort in a single night.
How surprised the British were at the sight, as the sun rose on a beautiful summer morning! They could scarcely believe their eyes. It seemed like a work of magic. A thousand men had shoveled as they never shoveled before, and not a British sentry had heard the click of their spades. They saw at once that the Americans, if they only had time enough to plant a battery of cannon there, could very soon drive them out of Boston. So the only thing for them to do was to drive the Americans from that hill, and that too without delay. Accordingly, the British men-of-war, Lively and Falcon, and then the forts on Copp's Hill in Boston immediately opened fire.
Meanwhile some hundreds of fresh soldiers arrived to help the Americans, hungry and weary with their hard night's work. The shot and shell from ships and fort dropped around and among them, but they worked bravely on in the hot sunshine till nearly noon. At the left, on the northern slope of the hill, they moved some rail fences so as to build long double lines close together, and stuffed the space between with new-mown hay, making an excellent breastwork.
164. The British prepare to storm the Entrenchments.– Things are now looking serious. The Americans can see and hear the British in Boston preparing for an attack. Prescott sends hurrying messengers to General Ward at the Cambridge headquarters for more soldiers. During the forenoon General Stark arrives with five hundred fresh New Hampshire troops, who were posted behind the rail fence on the extreme left. Next General Warren comes, and, laying aside his rank, takes a place of danger among the troops. The combat hastens, and every minute throbs with emotion.
Soon after one o'clock twenty-eight large boats are seen crossing over from Boston, loaded with soldiers and artillery. The Americans are now exchanging shovels for muskets and preparing for the foe. Now the red-coats are landing at the foot of the hill! See! they are forming in two columns, their bright cannon and muskets glistening in the hot sun. It is now about three o'clock in the afternoon. They begin to march up the hill!
General Howe's column is on our left, to break through the grass wall and push his way behind our forces. Their other column, under General Pigot, is marching up the hill to attack our redoubt in front. They are coming slowly in the hot sun of a bright June afternoon. The artillery booms and crashes incessantly with a deafening roar.
General Gage has ordered that Charlestown be set on fire, and the flames and smoke of five hundred burning buildings make a terrible scene. All the surrounding heights, house-tops, and spires are crowded with thousands of anxious spectators breathlessly watching the thrilling sight.
"Here were sister, wife, and mother, looking wild upon each other,
And their lips were white with terror as they said, 'The hour has come!'"
165. The Battle begins.– Behind those hasty breastworks fifteen hundred patriots lie silently awaiting the steady march of over three thousand trained British soldiers. Still on and up they toil, burdened with their heavy knapsacks, pausing to fire as they march.
"Don't fire until I give the word," said Prescott; "then fire low! Pick off the officers."
Putnam shouted to his men: "Powder is scarce, boys, don't waste it; wait till you see the whites of their eyes."
When the red-coats came within about a hundred and fifty feet of the breastworks, suddenly came Prescott's sharp order: – "Fire!" Instantly a flash of flame blazed along our entire line, and down fell the whole front of the advancing ranks. Under the ceaseless rain of bullets the British veterans gave way and retreated down the hillside in disorder.
Then burst forth from our side a strong shout, the first ringing cry on this continent for national independence. But it was a sad sight – the long rows of dead and dying soldiers, mowed down as if by a sudden sweep of a giant scythe.
"Oh, the sight our eyes discover as the blue-black smoke blows over!
The red-coats stretched in windrows as a mower rakes his hay."
Inside the breastworks some were killed and many wounded. Prescott, Putnam, and Warren were passing up and down the line, cheering and encouraging the patriots.
166. The British beat a Hasty Retreat to their Boats.– The British officers rallied their troops as best they could. Death and wounds had thinned their number by hundreds, and the survivors were far from willing to make a second charge against that wall of fire. But the threats of the officers and even blows with their swords finally compelled them to it.
Up they marched again, firing as they came, their ranks moving slowly, stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
"Wait, boys!" shouted Warren. "Don't fire yet! Wait."
On they came as before, nearer and nearer, until the distance was less than thirty yards to our silent but fatal line, when instantly there burst forth another long blaze of fire, even deadlier than before.
The Americans were by practice good marksmen, and the bright red coats and shining belts of the enemy made excellent targets. The British returned the fire, and a brisk discharge of musketry was kept up for a few minutes. But it was useless. Hundreds of their number fell dead on the fatal slope, and in spite of their officers, the broken ranks staggered and retreated, flying in a panic to the shore.
167. The British advance to the Third Attack.– Now all was fright and confusion among the British. They were dismayed at the deadly reception our untrained soldiers had given them. General Clinton, who had been watching the battle from Copp's Hill and saw the day going against them, instantly hurried over with fresh troops. Once more the British regulars formed at the foot of the hill.
We may imagine with what mingled feelings the Americans, gazing down through the rifts of smoke from burning Charlestown, watched the movements of the reinforced foe. Putnam and Warren again went around cheering our men.
Prescott shouted, "Let's drive them back once more, and they cannot rally again."
But alas! the stock of powder was giving out! The patriots had only three or four rounds left, and as for close fighting, there were only about fifty bayonets to all their guns. Orders were passed along to use their powder carefully, to hold fire until the enemy came within twenty yards, and to make every shot tell.
Meantime the enemy's cannon from the ships had got a better range, and were pouring in a galling fire. The prospect on our side was beginning to look desperate. Short of powder; without bayonets; confronted by brave enemies always twice our number, and now with fresh troops; tired out with marching or digging all night and shoveling or fighting all day; for the most part without food and water, – our men still defiantly held the fort.
At five o'clock the British formed for the third attack, advancing now in three columns to charge us on three sides. This time their knapsacks were laid aside, and they marched in light order. Up they came as before, only slower; for they realized that they had a dangerous enemy before them. They reserved their fire. When they reached that same deadly range, once more our ramparts poured forth the deadly volleys.
The British wavered, but then rallied and rushed forward to the breastworks with fixed bayonets.
"Make every shot tell!" shouted Prescott to his men.
As the British began to climb over our earthworks, our soldiers spent their last shots upon those who mounted first. Among those who fell dead at the redoubt was Major Pitcairn, who at Lexington had cried out, "Disperse, ye rebels!"
168. The Patriots forced to retreat from Lack of Ammunition.– Their powder all gone, what could the patriots do but retreat? This they did in good order for raw soldiers, many staying to smite the enemy with the butts of their muskets, then with the barrels after the butts were broken off, and some even with stones. The British were now closing in upon them on all sides, and at last Prescott, to avoid being completely shut in, gave the word to retreat. He was one of the last to leave, defending himself with his sword from the bayonets of the enemy.