A Short History of the United States Part 15

_d_. The Nineteenth of April, 1775 (Fiske's _War of Independence;_ Lossing's _Field-Book)._

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

This section is not only the most important but the most difficult of any so far considered. Its successful teaching requires more preparation than any earlier section. The teacher is advised carefully to peruse Channing's _Students' History_, ch. iv, and to state in simple, clear language, the difference between the ideas on representation which prevailed in England and in the colonies. Another point to make clear is the legal supremacy of Parliament. The outbreak was hastened by the stupid use of legal rights which the supremacy of Parliament placed in the hands of Britain's rulers, who acted often in defiance of the real public opinion of the ma.s.s of the inhabitants of Great Britain.

V

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 1775-1783

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Fiske's _War of Independence;_ Higginson's _Larger History_, 249-293; McMaster's _With the Fathers._

Home Readings.--Scudder's _Was.h.i.+ngton_; Holmes's _Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill;_ Cooper's _Lionel Lincoln_ (Bunker Hill); Cooper's _Spy_ (campaigns around New York); Cooper's _Pilot_ (the war on the sea); Drake's _Burgoyne's Invasion; _Coffin's _Boys of '76_; Abbot's _Blue Jackets of '76_; Abbot's _Paul Jones_, Lossing's _Two Spies._

CHAPTER 14

BUNKER HILL TO TRENTON

[Sidenote: Advantages of the British.]

133. Advantages of the British.--At first sight it seems as if the Americans were very foolish to fight the British. There were five or six times as many people in the British Isles as there were in the continental colonies. The British government had a great standing army.

The Americans had no regular army. The British government had a great navy. The Americans had no navy. The British government had quant.i.ties of powder, guns, and clothing, while the Americans had scarcely any military stores of any kind. Indeed, there were so few guns in the colonies that one British officer thought if the few colonial gunsmiths could be bribed to go away, the Americans would have no guns to fight with after a few months of warfare.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GRAND UNION FLAG. Hoisted at Cambridge, January, 1776.

The British Union and thirteen stripes,]

[Sidenote: Advantages of the Americans.]

134. Advantages of the Americans.--All these things were clearly against the Americans. But they had some advantages on their side. In the first place, America was a long way off from Europe. It was very difficult and very costly to send armies to America, and very difficult and very costly to feed the soldiers when they were fighting in America.

In the second place, the Americans usually fought on the defensive and the country over which the armies fought was made for defense. In New England hill succeeded hill. In the Middle states river succeeded river.

In the South wilderness succeeded wilderness. In the third place, the Americans had many great soldiers. Was.h.i.+ngton, Greene, Arnold, Morgan, and Wayne were better soldiers than any in the British army.

[Sidenote: The Loyalists.]

135. Disunion among the Americans.--We are apt to think of the colonists as united in the contest with the British. In reality the well-to-do, the well-born, and the well-educated colonists were as a rule opposed to independence. The opponents of the Revolution were strongest in the Carolinas, and were weakest in New England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.]

[Sidenote: Boston and neighborhood, 1775-76.]

[Sidenote: Importance of Dorchester and Charlestown.]

136. Siege of Boston.--It was most fortunate that the British army was at Boston when the war began, for Boston was about as bad a place for an army as could be found. In those days Boston was hardly more than an island connected with the mainland by a strip of gravel. Gage built a fort across this strip of ground. The Americans could not get in. But they built a fort at the landward end, and the British could not get out. On either side of Boston was a similar peninsula. One of these was called Dorchester Heights; the other was called Charlestown. Both overlooked Boston. To hold that town, Gage must possess both Dorchester and Charlestown. If the Americans could occupy only one of these, the British would have to abandon Boston. At almost the same moment Gage made up his mind to seize Dorchester, and the Americans determined to occupy the Charlestown hills. The Americans moved first, and the first battle was fought for the Charlestown hills.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A POWDER-HORN USED AT BUNKER HILL.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775. _Higginson_, 183-188; _McMaster_, 129-130.]

137. Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.--When the seamen on the British men-of-war waked up on the morning of June 17, the first thing they saw was a redoubt on the top of one of the Charlestown hills. The s.h.i.+ps opened fire. But in spite of the b.a.l.l.s Colonel Prescott walked on the top of the breastwork while his men went on digging. Gage sent three or four thousand men across the Charles River to Charlestown to drive the daring Americans away. It took the whole morning to get them to Charlestown, and then they had to eat their dinner. This delay gave the Americans time to send aid to Prescott. Especially went Stark and his New Hamps.h.i.+re men, who posted themselves behind a breastwork of fence rails and hay. At last the British soldiers marched to the attack. When they came within good shooting distance, Prescott gave the word to fire.

The British line stopped, hesitated, broke, and swept back. Again the soldiers marched to the attack, and again they were beaten back. More soldiers came from Boston, and a third time a British line marched up the hill. This time it could not be stopped, for the Americans had no more powder. They had to give up the hill and escape as well as they could. One-half of the British soldiers actually engaged in the a.s.saults were killed or wounded. The Americans were defeated. But they were encouraged and were willing to sell Gage as many hills as he wanted at the same price.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FACSIMILE OF A REVOLUTIONARY POSTER.]

[Sidenote: Was.h.i.+ngton takes command of the army, 1775. _Higginson_, 188-193.]

[Sidenote: Seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.]

[Sidenote: Evacuation of Boston, 1776.]

138. Was.h.i.+ngton in Command, July, 1775.--The Continental Congress was again sitting at Philadelphia. It took charge of the defense of the colonies. John Adams named Was.h.i.+ngton for commander-in-chief, and he was elected. Was.h.i.+ngton took command of the army on Cambridge Common, July 3, 1775. He found everything in confusion. The soldiers of one colony were jealous of the soldiers of other colonies. Officers who had not been promoted were jealous of those who had been promoted. In the winter the army had to be made over. During all this time the people expected Was.h.i.+ngton to fight. But he had not powder enough for half a battle. At last he got supplies in the following way. In the spring of 1775 Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, with the help of the people of western Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut, had captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point. These forts were filled with cannon and stores left from the French campaigns. Some of the cannon were now dragged by oxen over the snow and placed in the forts around Boston. Captain Manley, of the Ma.s.sachusetts navy, captured a British brig loaded with powder.

Was.h.i.+ngton now could attack. He seized and held Dorchester Heights. The British could no longer stay in Boston. They went on board their s.h.i.+ps and sailed away (March, 1776).

[Ill.u.s.tration: SITE OF TICONDEROGA.]

[Sidenote: The Canada expedition, 1775-76.]

[Sidenote: a.s.sault on Quebec.]

139. Invasion of Canada, 1775-76.--While the siege of Boston was going on, the Americans undertook the invasion of Canada. There were very few regular soldiers in Canada in 1775, and the Canadians were not likely to fight very hard for their British masters. So the leaders in Congress thought that if an American force should suddenly appear before Quebec, the town might surrender. Montgomery, with a small army, was sent to capture Montreal and then to march down the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Benedict Arnold led another force through the Maine woods. After tremendous exertions and terrible sufferings he reached Quebec. But the garrison had been warned of his coming. He blockaded the town and waited for Montgomery. The garrison was constantly increased, for Arnold was not strong enough fully to blockade the town. At last Montgomery arrived. At night, amidst a terrible snowstorm, Montgomery and Arnold led their brave followers to the attack. They were beaten back with cruel loss. Montgomery was killed, and Arnold was severely wounded. In the spring of 1776 the survivors of this little band of heroes were rescued--at the cost of the lives of five thousand American soldiers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARNOLD'S MARCH.]

[Sidenote: Strength of Charleston.]

[Sidenote: Fort Moultrie.]

[Sidenote: Attack on Fort Moultrie, 1776.]

[Sidenote: Success of the defense]

140. British Attack on Charleston, 1776.--In June 1776 a British fleet and army made an attack on Charleston, South Carolina. This town has never been taken by attack from the sea. Sand bars guard the entrance of the harbor and the channels through these shoals lead directly to the end of Sullivan's Island. At that point the Americans built a fort of palmetto logs and sand. General Moultrie commanded at the fort and it was named in his honor, Fort Moultrie. The British fleet sailed boldly in, but the b.a.l.l.s from the s.h.i.+ps' guns were stopped by the soft palmetto logs. At one time the flag was shot away and fell down outside the fort. But Sergeant Jasper rushed out, seized the broken staff, and again set it up on the rampart. Meantime, General Clinton had landed on an island and was trying to cross with his soldiers to the further end of Sullivan's Island. But the water was at first too shoal for the boats. The soldiers jumped overboard to wade. Suddenly the water deepened, and they had to jump aboard to save themselves from drowning.

All this time Americans were firing at them from the beach. General Clinton ordered a retreat. The fleet also sailed out--all that could get away--and the whole expedition was abandoned.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL MOULTRIE.]

[Sidenote: Defense of New York, 1776.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Long Island, 1776.]