thousand militia were called out by the patriot authorities, one-third being "Minute-Men,"-men ready to march and fight at a minute's notice.

Munitions of war were being gathered at various points. Here and there powder and cannon were taken from forts. From New York to Savannah defensive measures were adopted. The warlike spirit ruled throughout the colonies.

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER.

England Unyielding.-It was probably too late now to bring America back to loyalty. But neither king nor Parliament showed any disposition to try. Pitt proposed measures of conciliation. They were rejected, and a bill was passed in March, 1775, prohibiting fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. At that time twenty thousand men were employed in these fisheries, and the measure was a severe blow to the industries of New England.

Military Activity.-Meanwhile, General Gage was growing alarmed at the spirit of the people. He fortified Boston Neck, seized certain military stores which had been collected at Cambridge and Charlestown, and sent an expedition by water to Salem, where he heard that some cannon had been hidden. The cannon were not found; militia faced the troops arms in hand; no blood was shed, but the expedition failed.

A Perilous Enterprise.-This was in February, 1775. In April a more perilous enterprise was to be undertaken. General Gage had been ordered to arrest the two patriot leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. He learned that they were then at Lexington, a village some ten miles from Boston. At Concord, twenty miles away, a collection

of military stores had been made. Gage determined to arrest these patriots and destroy these stores, and on the evening of April 18 sent out what he intended to be a secret expedition for that purpose.

Paul Revere's Ride.-Late that night eight hundred regulars marched from the city. They had hardly started before Paul Revere1 and other mounted messengers were on the way to warn the people of their coming. The patriots had not been deceived. They had penetrated General Gage's secret and were prepared to defeat it.

Paul Revere rode swiftly on, rousing the people as he went. At Lexington he warned Adams and Hancock to flee. He was stopped by a patrol of British officers before reaching Concord, but contrived to send the news on. Hours before the regulars reached that town the bulk of the stores were removed.

The Volley at Lexington.-Lexington was reached about five o'clock in the morning of April 19. Major Pitcairn, at the head of the advance, saw before him a body of minute-men drawn up on the village green. moment had come. “Disperse, you rebels! your arms and disperse !" cried the major. The minute-men stood still. Then the ominous word

"Fire!" came from his lips. Seven Americans fell dead.

The critical Throw down

A rattle of musketry followed.

With that discharge the war

of the American Revolution began.

1 Paul Revere was an engraver by trade, and an earnest patriot. On the passage of the Boston Port Bill he had ridden to New York and Philadelphia with copies of the bill printed on mourning paper. On this occasion he is said to have waited in Charlestown till he saw two signal-lights flash from the steeple of the old North Church. Then he mounted and set out in haste. The lights told him that the soldiers were on the march.

The Retreat from Concord.-The soldiers hurried on to Concord, where they destroyed what little remained of the stores. But the alarm was spreading, the people were gathering, every hour the position of the soldiers grew more dangerous. A fight ensued at Concord Bridge in which men fell on both sides. The minute-men held the bridge and the regulars began their retreat.

They had stayed too long. The country was up. From every side armed farmers and villagers hurried to the road. From behind every wall and fence bullets poured upon the troops. Their retreat became a flight. Over that dreadful ten miles to Lexington they hurried at all speed, numbers falling before the patriot fire.

A Flight for Life.-At Lexington they found reinforcements, and flung themselves exhausted on the ground, "their tongues hanging from their mouths like those of dogs after a chase." After a period of rest the march was resumed. It was still a race for life. The minute-men increased continually in numbers. The whole British column was in danger of being cut off. At length Boston was reached, but nearly three hundred of the "red coats," as the Americans called them, lay dead or wounded along the road. The American loss was eighty-eight.

Boston Besieged.-The note of war had sounded. The colonists were prepared. All that night minute-men marched upon Boston. All the next day the march kept up from more distant points. As the news spread the people rose. John Stark, of New Hampshire, a soldier of the late war, set out in haste with a body of his neighbors. Israel Putnam,1 of Connecticut, another hero of the war with

1 Israel Putnam, born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1718, proved himself a soldier of the highest courage and enterprise in the French

France, left his work in the fields, mounted his horse, and in eighteen hours reached Boston, a hundred miles away.

now be settled on the field of battle, not in the halls of council. In its excited state New England had been like a powder-magazine, which the first hostile discharge of a

and Indian War. His adventures were many and striking. At Fort Edward he alone fought a fire that threatened the magazine, in which were three hundred barrels of powder. He was scorched into blisters from head to foot, but he saved the magazine. At another time he was taken prisoner by the Indians, tied to a stake, and a fire kindled round him. He was saved by a French officer, who dashed in and scattered the brands. In 1779 he made a famous escape from a party of British dragoons, spurring his horse down a stony declivity, which not one of his pursuers dared attempt.

British musket had kindled. As the news of Lexington and Concord spread over the country the people everywhere rose in response. On the 10th of May, Ethan Allen, with a force of "Green Mountain Boys," took Fort Ticonderoga by surprise, and captured it without firing a shot.1 On the next day Seth Warner captured the fort at Crown Point. These victories gave the Americans a valuable store of cannon and ammunition, which was sorely needed.

The Second Continental Congress.-On the same day that Ticonderoga was taken, Congress met again in Philadelphia. Its tone was markedly

different from that of the First Congress. Under the presidency of that John Hancock whom General Gage had sought to arrest at Lexington, it took decisive steps. It was not yet the Congress of a new nation. It recognized George III. as the "rightful sovereign" of the American colonies. But it assumed control of the siege of Boston, called for recruits from Virginia and the middle colonies, and chose George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the Continental army, as it was thenceforth called. It also

JOHN HANCOCK.

1 Ethan Allen is said to have burst into the room of the commandan! and demanded an immediate and unconditional surrender of the fort. "By whose authority?" asked the astounded officer. "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," thundered the Green Mountain leader. There was no resisting this demand. Later in the war Allen made an assault on Montreal with too weak a force, was taken prisoner, and spent several years in an English prison. The people there looked upon him as an American prodigy.