Lexington a little after two o'clock in the afternoon, just at the moment when the defeated army under Colonel Smith had rushed in disorderly flight through the town, and was being to some extent rallied by its commanding officers. Percy's artillery at once opened fire upon the pursuers, and the new-comers formed into a hollow square for the reception of the fugitives, who, scared, panting, and utterly exhausted, flung themselves down on the ground, with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase.*

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prayer and benediction, and a powerful body of militia-men and minute-men converged on the road from Lexington to Boston. The gathering was so strong at some points that two waggons sent out with supplies for the English troops were captured. Percy could see that his foes were thickening all around, and he recognised the necessity of renewing the retreat. After half an hour's rest, the army was again in motion, once more pursued by the implacable adversary; once more. struck, in front, in flank, and in rear, by concealed

The Americans were kept at bay, but they were not driven back. On the contrary, fresh reinforcements continued to arrive, and in numbers so large that the whole English company, including the detachment under Earl Percy, stood in danger of being overwhelmed. Youths still in their teens, and old men of seventy, joined the ranks of the Massachusetts protecting force. Mounted messengers rode through the towns and villages, shouting "To arms!" The pastors of small country communities sent forth their flocks with words of

The fact and the comparison are to be found in Holmes's "American Annals," Vol. II., and in other American histories.

marksmen; once more fighting desperately at particular localities, yet unable to gain any positive advantage. It is said that the regulars set fire to houses on their way, and murdered unarmed men ; but statements of this kind are often rashly, if not malevolently, made, and should be received with doubt, unless strongly supported. The soldiers on the present occasion seem to have had enough to do to protect themselves, and it appears hardly probable that they should have paused to commit acts of wanton cruelty. The Americans ran with unwearying activity from one point to another, lying down to load, and then firing from behind a tree or bush. Where cover was wanting, they

raised breastworks of shingle; and whenever any company was out of powder and shot, its place was immediately supplied by another. Panic had again set in among the discomfited troops; their ammunition was once more beginning to fail; and matters looked extremely threatening when, towards sunset, the appearance of Charleston Harbour raised the drooping spirits of the regulars. Some ships of war were stationed there, and under protection of their guns the fugitives crossed the river Charles, and got safely into Boston. On that disastrous day, Earl Percy's brigade had marched thirty miles in ten hours: Smith's detachment had retreated eighteen miles in six hours. Forty-nine Americans had been killed, thirty-four were wounded, and five were missing. The English altogether lost two hundred and seventy-three. Amongst the severely wounded was LieutenantColonel Smith, the commander of the original expedition.

The fighting had continued at its hottest for seven hours, and the result contributed in no small degree to raise the spirits and confidence of the Americans, and to depress the English. The news of what had been accomplished was carried by mounted messengers from town to town in every direction, so that in a remarkably short time the fact was known over the whole length and breadth of Anglo-America. The enthusiastic response which it awakened was proof conclusive that the whole of the colonies, from Maine to Georgia, and from the Atlantic to the western prairies, were ripe for rebellion. Some of the early settlers in Kentucky were so charmed with the triumph of Massachusetts that they gave the name of Lexington to their encampment. From the several colonial Governments and Legislatures came expressions of devotion to the common cause, and preparations were hurried on for coping with the aroused power of England. When Earl Percy marched out of Boston on the morning of that momentous 19th of April, his band had derisively played "Yankee Doodle," and some of the officers had boasted that the rebels would take to their heels the moment they caught sight of the military. The beaten soldiers were now told that they had been made to dance to the tune which they had so insultingly played; and on the retreat the Americans jeeringly called out for "Chevy Chace"in allusion, of course, to Percy. The colonists had, in truth, made a fairly successful commencement of their great contest, and some exultation was natural and excusable. But it is certain that a great deal of exaggeration was introduced into the several accounts of the battle, and that the Ameri

cans were unduly elated at the results of what was, after all, nothing more than a well-contrived and fortunate ambuscade. One thing is clear-that the civil war was commenced more by the action of the colonists themselves than by that of the English authorities.* Unless for the purpose of provoking a collision, there was no sufficient reason for making such a display of military force in the very teeth of the army, for the greater part of the stores had been effectually concealed; nor can the collection of those stores, with the confessed intention of employing them against the British Government, be regarded as anything but an act of covert hostility. The despotic conduct of the mother country towards her colonies may or may not be a justification of the civil war which ensued; but hostilities were precipitated by the initiative of the colonists, and this initiative was taken at the very time when a disposition to offer liberal concessions was gathering force in England, and had found expres sion in the Ministry itself.

The die, however, being now cast-the sword being openly drawn from its sheath-the Americans acted prudently in making ready for the shock of battle which was certain to follow. It could not be supposed that the Power they had defied would tamely accept the defiance. A long and bloody war was inevitable, and, at the urgent demand of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, sitting at Cambridge, the militia-men of New Eng land flocked towards the vicinity of Boston, to form one large host for besieging that city, as the headquarters of the British force. In Connecticut, Colonel Israel Putnam, an officer who had served with credit in the war with France, but who, since the peace, had cultivated a farm and kept a tavern at Pomfret, received news of the fight at Lexington while, dressed in a leathern frock and apron, he was working at some stone fences on his land. Remarking that "Putnam dared to lead where any dared to follow," he at once took horse, and rode to Cambridge, which he reached by sunrise on the following morning, after a ride of a hundred miles in eighteen hours. Soon afterwards he was placed at the head of three thousand men who had followed him from Connecticut; large numbers came in daily from other directions; and, in a little while, an army of volunteers, amounting probably to some twenty thousand, was drawn round Boston Harbour. The chief command was conferred on

The latest American oration, that by Mr. R. H. Dana, jun., on the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of Lexing ton, fairly concedes this point. "Let us never forget," say Mr. Dana, 66 'that the men of Lexington, on that morning, were martyrs-intentionally and intelligently martyrs."

Colonel Artemas Ward, with the rank of MajorGeneral, under whose directions a long line of blockade was formed. Of the equipment of this army, it is sufficient to say that the men had very little artillery, and that they were only provided with such necessaries as they could carry, or could obtain from the kindness and sympathy of friends. The contingents from the neighbouring colonies had been requested by the Committee of Safety of Massachusetts to bring their own military stores and provisions with them, as the chief of the New England provinces had nothing more than what she required for her own use. With such meagre resources, the enterprise which was now being undertaken might well have seemed desperate; but the struggle had been long contemplated, and it was well known by the revolutionary leaders that they had the majority of the people at their back. Joseph Warren, on the morrow of Lexington, declared that the next news from England must be conciliatory, or the connection between the provinces and the mother country would be at an end. He knew, as all knew, that no offers of conciliation would follow the receipt of intelligence that the colonists were in full insurrection, and had blockaded the British troops in Boston.

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress, sitting on the 22nd of April, resolved unanimously that a New England army of thirty thousand men should forthwith be raised, of which Massachusetts itself should contribute nearly fourteen thousand. The term of enlistment was to expire on the 31st of December; and, in a little while, the several New England Governments sent, by their simultaneous action, a large number of citizen soldiers to swell the patriot ranks before Boston. Nothing could be more embarrassing than the position of General Gage. He had not yet received his reinforcements from England, and although the works which he had previously constructed on Boston Neck were a sufficient guarantee against assault, he feared that his disheartened forces were not strong enough to pass beyond, and drive back the foe. A large proportion of the citizens were of more than doubtful loyalty, and Gage hit upon a device for getting rid of them. If they would promise not to join in an attack upon his troops, and would deposit their arms with the select-men at Faneuil Hall, he was willing that the men, women, and children, with all their effects, should have safe conduct out of the town. The offer was accepted; and the road to Roxbury was for several days covered with waggons and trains of exiles, who, at some inconvenience to the people of the surrounding country, were disposed of by the Provincial Congress among the villages of

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the interior. the interior. Subsequently, however, on the suggestion of the Boston loyalists, who thought the disaffected should be detained as hostages, this permission was revoked, on the plea that the arms had not been faithfully delivered. The incident had no other result than to exasperate the besiegers, and they talked boastfully of driving the English army into the sea. But the difficulties in the way of such an exploit were greater than at first appeared. Not only were the fortifications on the Neck impregnable without better artillery than the insurgents possessed, but the investing force lacked many of the most necessary qualifications of an army. wanting in discipline; it had no exact military knowledge; it was made up of a number of separate divisions from distinct provinces, very loosely held together, very little inclined to recognise any paramount or general sway. Artemas Ward, the chief commander, was old and infirm, and his authority, as far as it went, was over-ruled by the Committee of Safety. As the first enthusiasm of the Lexington and Concord success died out, many of the volunteers grew tired of keeping watch over Boston, and discovered that they must return to their homes, to put their affairs in order, or to obtain a stock of provisions. Furloughs were largely applied for and liberally granted, and the absentees showed no great haste to rejoin their ranks. Ward feared that his whole army would melt away. An inquiry into the number of guns in store gave very unsatisfactory results. Cambridge owned six three-pounders and one six-pounder; and at Watertown there were sixteen pieces of various sizes. But many of the latter were too bad for use, and the ammunition ran so short that the larger guns could not be served at all. In the whole province of Massachusetts, hardly sixty-eight barrels of gunpowder could be discovered, and the other colonies were no better off. In the whole American camp there were not nine cartridges to a man. The investing line was extended over an area of ten miles, and the condition of the provincial army (if it can be called an army) was such that it could not possibly have resisted an energetic assault, had Gage and his troops been spirited enough to deliver one.

Another difficulty with which the Americans had to contend, and one that was even more serious than the failure of ammunition, was the want of money. During the preceding winter, Massachusetts had raised scarcely £5,000 of currency to meet all her numerous expenses. Funds being now the great necessity of the hour, it was found expedient, in May, to legalise the paper-money of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and to issue Treasury notes in Massachusetts. Two large

emissions were made within a few weeks, and of these notes some were specially called "soldiers' notes," the lowest of which was for one dollar. The "soldiers' notes" were intended for the prepayment of the troops, and were made a legal tender, without discount or abatement. Notwithstanding the paucity of coin, the ardour of the Massachusetts Congress suffered no decay. It was resolved in that body, on the 5th of May, "that General Gage had disqualified himself for serving the colony in any capacity, that no obedience was in future due to him, and that he ought to be guarded against as an unnatural and inveterate enemy." The feeling that prompted these words can very easily be understood. It was inevitable that the Americans should regard Gage with anger and dislike; but to Englishmen it did not appear that he had done more than his duty. Indeed, it had for some time been thought that he had done much less than his duty, and had allowed the spirit of rebellion to grow to alarining proportions by treating it with blamable forbearance.

The news of the British repulse at Concord and Lexington reached New York on the 23rd of April. It had the effect of so greatly encouraging the malcontents in that city that the Tories, or loyalists, who had previously enjoyed a majority in the Provincial Legislature, and who were strong among the wealthy and official classes, were now completely overwhelmed, and afraid to assert themselves. Two sloops at that time lay at the wharfs, laden with a large quantity of flour and other supplies for the English army at Boston. It was Sunday; but the people, overcoming any religious scruples they may have felt, unloaded the ships of their cargoes, and brought them ashore. The merchants whose vessels were cleared out dared not let them sail; the custom-house was closed by a popular intervention; and it was determined to stop all vessels going to Quebec, Newfoundland, Georgia, or Boston, the chief strongholds of the British power. Volunteer companies made demonstration of their resolve to support the cause of Massachusetts, as being the cause of the American colonies generally; several arms were seized by the mob; a new committee for the city and county, consisting of a hundred members, was chosen by the people at their usual places of election; and all parts of the colony were summoned to send delegates to a provincial convention. One of the earliest acts of the new general committee was to form an association, the members of which engaged themselves to submit to committees and to Congress, to withhold supplies from the English troops, and, at the risk of life and fortune, to repel every attempt at enforcing taxation by

Parliament. Even the loyally-disposed thought it prudent to yield in some degree to the prevalent sentiment. Fourteen members of the New York Assembly transmitted a petition to General Gage, begging that hostilities might cease till fresh orders could be received from the King, and in particular that no military might be stationed in the province of New York. Moreover, the Royal Council despatched two agents to England, to protest against the conduct of the army at Boston; and at the same time, the New York committee sent an address to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, in which they said :—

"Born to the bright inheritance of English freedom, the inhabitants of this extensive continent can never submit to slavery. The disposal of their own property with perfect spontaneity is their indefeasible birthright. This they are determined to defend with their blood, and transfer to their posterity. The present machinations of arbitrary power. if unremittedly pursued, will, by a fatal necessity, terminate in a dissolution of the empire. This country will not be deceived by measures conciliatory in appearance. We cheerfully submit to a regula tion of commerce by the Legislature of the parent State, excluding in its nature every idea of taxation When our unexampled grievances are redressed, our prince will find his American subjects testifying, by as ample aids as their circumstances will permit, the most unshaken fidelity to their sovereign. America is grown so irritable by oppression, that the least shock in any part is, by the most powerful sympathetic affection, instantaneously felt through the whole continent. This city is as one man in the cause of liberty; our inhabitants are resolutely bent on supporting their committee and the intended Provincial and Continental Congresses: there is not the least doubt of the efficacy of their example in the other counties. In short, while the whole continent are ardently wishing for peace upon such terms as can be acceded to by Englishmen, they are indefatigable in preparing for the last appeal. We speak the real sentiments of the confederated colonies, from Nova Scotia to Georgia, when we declare that all the horrors of civil war will never compel America to submit to taxation by authority of Parliament."

Shortly after the despatch of this appeal, the Massachusetts and Connecticut delegates to the Continental Congress arrived at New York. They were met, three miles beyond the city, by large bodies of the provincial soldiery, by numerous carriages, by citizens on horseback and citizens on foot; and the town was entered amidst the ringing of bells and the shouting of enthusiastic crowds. New Jersey

was equally emphatic in supporting the action of the New England colonies; and Pennsylvania, despite the opposition of most of the Quakers, began to make preparation for service in the field. All this occurred early in May, and on the 5th of that month Franklin arrived at Philadelphia. The very next morning he was unanimously elected a deputy to the Congress, and his voice undoubtedly did much to strengthen the desire for independence, though the Pennsylvanian delegation was instructed to combine, if possible, a redress of grievances with a perpetuation of the union between Great Britain and her colonies. Virginia was strongly disposed to action. The independent company of Hanover, and its county committee, were summoned by Patrick Henry, who was elected as their head, and under whose command they marched for Williamsburg, adding to their numbers at every town and hamlet. Lord Dunmore himself testified, in a despatch to his Government, that there was scarcely a county in the whole province wherein part of the people had not taken up arms, and declared their intention of forcing him to make restitution of the powder he had seized. Hoping to quiet the popular commotion, he convened the Council; but Henry continued his march, and Lady Dunmore, apprehending that she might be seized as a hostage, retired

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with her family to the Fowey man-of-war. Dunmore considered it advisable to temporise. He sent out a messenger to meet Henry on the way, and to pay him £330 for the gunpowder. The volunteers then retired, though, if the country was in danger before, it was no less so after the payment of the money; and, two days later, Dunmore issued a proclamation against Patrick Henry, whom he secretly denounced to the Ministry as a man of desperate circumstances and disobedient spirit. But the insubordinate tendencies of Patrick Henry were shared by the majority of the people in most of the American colonies. Maryland, indeed, mollified by the act of its Governor, who gave up the arms and ammunition of the province, instructed its delegates to Congress to bring about a reconciliation. But the people of South Carolina seized the weapons in the Royal Arsenal; the Provincial Congress of that colony, under the presidency of Henry Laurens, resolved to create an army to aid in the national defence; and the militia officers threw up their commissions from the Royal Governor. North Carolina was animated by the same feelings, and in Georgia the King's magazine was rifled, that ammunition might be sent to Boston. Rebellion had openly declared itself throughout the land.

It is sometimes alleged by American writers that, up to the collision of the colonists with the Royal troops at Lexington, hardly any of the former, even in New England, or in Massachusetts itself, believed that blood would be shed, or that the connection between the mother country and her dependencies would be broken. If so, the designs of If so, the designs of the American patriots must have been matured with extraordinary rapidity. Ten days after the unfortunate affair with the soldiers of Gage, a scheme which had already been talked over in

another quarter took final shape at Hartford, Connecticut. While passing through that city on the 29th of April, Samuel Adams and John Hancock secretly met the Governor and Council, to settle the details of an expedition to surprise Ticonderoga. The plan had originated with the Green Mountain Boys-a body of active partisans recently formed in Vermont, from the name of which colony they took their designation. Ethan Allen-a man who had formerly been outlawed by the Government of New York for encouraging the people of