^lERICANHlSTOKf
 
 IN CONGRESS 
 
 imanimMt*3>f<irafwn ,.
 
 2 
 HALF-HOURS 
 
 WITH 
 
 SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY 
 
 CHARLES MORRIS, 
 
 ^^ 
 
 * 
 
 AUTHOR OF "A MANUAL OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE," AND "HALF-HOURS WITH 
 THE BEST AMEEICAN AUTHORS." 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 COLONIAL AMEEIOA. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
 LONDON: 10 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 1887.
 
 r.-s 
 
 Copyright, 1886, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
 Copyright, 1887, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 OF histories of America there exists an abundant store, 
 some of them attempting to cover the whole period, others 
 limited in scope, while many are devoted to some single 
 topic of the varied panorama of national life. Some of 
 these works are noted for brilliancy of style, others for 
 conscientiousness in research, others as being written by 
 participants in the events described, while to still others 
 quaintness of manner or antiquity of date gives a certain 
 value. Yet few of them are without unevenness of quality, 
 and in history as in general literature authors often appear 
 to most advantage in selected extracts from their works, 
 since no man can be always at his best. Led by this con- 
 sideration, the editor has deemed it desirable to add to his 
 " Half-Hours with the Best American Authors" a com- 
 panion work of "Half-Hours with American History," 
 which he hopes may be found to have a special value of 
 its own. The subject is certainly one of the highest in- 
 terest and importance, while many of the works from 
 which selections have been made are beyond the reach of 
 general readers, and often too voluminous for the taste and 
 leisure of others than students of history. ^ 
 
 The extracts from historians have not been grouped, as 
 in the preceding work mentioned, with a studied avoid- 
 ance of systematic arrangement, but are presented in 
 chronological succession, as more in accordance with their 
 character, divided into historical eras, and joined by con- 
 
 3
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 necting links, each giving in brief outline a sketch of the 
 intermediate events. By this means the work has been 
 given the character of a history of America, as well as of 
 a series of selections from historians, and in this respect 
 may be held to possess features of peculiar merit. Thus 
 the selections have been confined to events of special in- 
 terest or importance, many of them describing those 
 striking and dramatic scenes which have become like 
 household words to American readers. Events of minor 
 importance have been passed over in rapid outline. Hence 
 the numerous details of uninteresting incidents, to which 
 historians are obliged to give a prominence little less 
 marked than that devoted to events of particular impor- 
 tance, and which readers often labor through with a sense 
 of mental weariness, are here thrown into the background 
 to which they naturally belong, while the foreground is 
 occupied with detailed descriptions of events to which 
 some particular interest attaches. A work thus arranged 
 may be compared to a landscape, over whose dead levels 
 the eye ranges with a rapid glance, while constrained to 
 rest with attention upon its elevations or features of special 
 attractiveness. 
 
 In addition to the connecting links of narrative, and re- 
 marks introductory to historical eras, the editor has been 
 obliged himself to furnish several more extended articles, 
 through failure to find satisfactory brief statements of 
 certain subjects a treatment of which was necessary to 
 the historical completeness of the work. Yet in these 
 articles as in the others he acknowledges indebtedness to 
 
 O 
 
 the labors of American historians, as he has simply pre- 
 sented their facts and inferences in his own words. 
 
 The work thus prepared is offered to the public with the 
 trust that it will be found to possess features of value and 
 interest, and that it may be accepted by many as a more
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 satisfactory treatment of American history than are most 
 of the works which seek to cover with full detail the entire 
 field. 
 
 The editor returns sincere thanks to the various authors 
 whose names are given in the body of the work, and many 
 of whom have with great courtesy granted him permission 
 to use extracts from their copyrighted works ; and to the 
 following publishers, to whom he is indebted for similar 
 favors : Harper & Brothers, D. Appleton & Co., G-. P. Put- 
 nam's Sons, A. S. Barnes & Co., Charles Scribner's Sons, 
 Dick & Fitzgerald, and Dodd, Mead & Co., of New York ; 
 Little, Brown & Co., Ticknor & Co., and Houghton, Mifflin 
 & Co., of Boston ; Porter & Coates and J. B. Lippincott 
 Co., of Philadelphia ; American Publishing Co., and O. D. 
 Case & Co., of Hartford ; Robert Clark & Co., of Cincin- 
 nati ; and A. C. McClurg & Co., and Callaghan & Co., of 
 Chicago ; also to the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
 
 l*
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE PERIOD BEFORE COLUMBUS. 
 
 SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAOE 
 
 On the Origin of the Americans HUBERT H. BANCROFT .... 9 
 
 The Kingdom of Fussing S. WELLS WILLIAMS .... 18 
 
 Discovery of America by the Northmen . ARTHUR J. WEISE 22 
 
 The Aborigines of America CHARLES MORRIS 28 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE ERA OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 Columbus in Europe WILLIAM ROBERTSON .... 40 
 
 The Discovery of America by Columbus . WASHINGTON IRVING .... 49 
 
 The Discovery of the Pacific by Balboa . THOMAS F. GORDON ..... 61 
 
 Retreat of Cortes from the City of Mexico . WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT .... 69 
 
 Hernando de Soto N. D'ANVERS 80 
 
 The Discovery of the St. Lawrence . . . JOHN McMuLLEN 89 
 
 The Massacre of the French Protestants . W ALTER BESANT 97 
 
 The Colonies of Sir Walter Raleigh . . . MARY HOWITT 105 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 THE ERA OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 114 
 
 John Smith and the Jamestown Colony . CHARLES CAMPBELL 116 
 
 The Indian Massacre in Virginia .... ROBERT R. HOWISON .... 130 
 
 The Settlement of Maryland J. THOMAS SCHARP 138 
 
 The Landing of the Pilgrims JOHN GORHAM PALFREY . . . 145 
 
 Religious Dissensions in New England . WILLIAM ROBERTSON .... 154 
 
 ThePequotWar G. H. HOLLISTER 162 
 
 Champlain and the Iroquois FRANCIS PARKMAN 172 
 
 The Settlement of New York E. B. O'CALLAGHAH .... 182 
 
 The Quaker Colony JOHN STOUGHTON 193 
 
 The " Grand Model" Government .... HUGH WILLIAMSON 203 
 
 Louisiana and the Natchez LE PAGE Du PRATZ .... 208 
 
 7
 
 g CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAGE 
 
 The Persecution of the Quakers JAMES GRAHAME 217 
 
 The Death of King Philip BENJAMIN CHURCH 225 
 
 The Salein Witchcraft GEORGE BANCROFT 233 
 
 The Tyrant of New England BENJAMIN TRUMBULL .... 243 
 
 The Leisler Revolt in New York .... WILLIAM SMITH 251 
 
 The Bacon Rebellion CHARLES CAMPBELL .... 260 
 
 Colonial Hostilities FRANCIS X. GARNEAU .... 273 
 
 The Spanish Invasion of Georgia .... WILLIAM BACON STEVENS . . 284 
 
 The Negro Plot in New York MARY L. BOOTH 292 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 301 
 
 The Opening of the War JARED SPARKS 304 
 
 Braddock's Defeat JOHN FROST 313 
 
 The Battle at Lake George FRANCIS PARKMAN 322 
 
 The Expulsion of the Acadians JAMES HANNAY 333 
 
 Three Years of Warfare ABIEL HOLMES 344 
 
 Wolfe and Montcalm at Quebec WASHINGTON IRVING .... 355 
 
 War with the Cherokees BENJAMIN TRUMBULL .... 368 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 THE THRESHOLD OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 Political Development in America .... CHARLES MORRIS 380 
 
 England and her Colonies MARY HOWITT 397 
 
 How the Stamp Act was received in 
 
 America RICHARD HILDRETH 406 
 
 A Parliamentary Examination BENJAMIN FRANKLIN .... 414 
 
 The Growth of Discontent HENRY CABOT LODGE .... 424 
 
 The Tea Tax and the Boston Port Bill . . JAMES GRAHAME 431 
 
 The First Shots of the Revolution .... THOS. WENTWORTH HIGGINSOX. 444 
 
 The Battle of Bunker Hill WILLIAM CUTTER 450 
 
 Arnold on Lake Champlain ISAAC N. ARNOLD 462 
 
 The Siege of Boston DAVID RAMSAY 472 
 
 The Continental Congress and its Doings . EDMUND OLLIER 480 
 
 America in 1776 EUGENE LAWRENCE 495 
 
 The Declaration of Independence .... THOMAS JEFFERSON 507
 
 HALF-HOURS 
 
 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 THE PERIOD BEFORE COLUMBUS. 
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 
 
 HUBERT H. BANCROFT. 
 
 [The written history of America begins with the year 1492, the date 
 of the first voyage of Columbus to its previously-unknown shores. 
 Yet there pertains to the preceding period a considerable variety of 
 interesting materiaLof a semi-historical character, in part traditional, 
 legendary, and speculative, in part based on researches into the lan- 
 guages, race-characteristics, customs, and antiquities of the American 
 aborigines. Some attention to the abundant literature relating to this 
 earlier epoch seems desirable as a preface to the recent history of 
 America. This literature is in no proper sense American history, yet 
 it is all we know of the existence of man upon this continent during 
 the ages preceding the close of the fifteenth century. It is far too 
 voluminous, and, as a rule, too speculative, to be dealt with otherwise 
 than very briefly, yet it cannot properly be ignored in any work on 
 the history of the American continent. The more speculative portion 
 of this literature has been fully and ably treated by Hubert H. Ban- 
 croft, in his " Native Kaces of the Pacific States," from which we 
 
 9
 
 10 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 make our opening Half-Hour selection, lack of space, however, forbid- 
 ding us from giving more than some brief extracts from his extended 
 treatise on the subject.] 
 
 WHEN it first became known to Europe that a new 
 continent had been discovered, the wise men, philosophers, 
 and especially the learned ecclesiastics, were sorely per- 
 plexed to account-for such a discovery. A problem was 
 placed before them, the solution of which was not to be 
 found in the. records of the ancients. On the contrary, it 
 seemed that old-time traditions must give way, the infal- 
 libility of revealed knowledge must be called in question, 
 even the Holy Scriptures must be interpreted anew. 
 Another world, upheaved, as it were, from the depths of 
 the sea of darkness, was suddenly placed before them. 
 Strange races, speaking strange tongues, peopled the new 
 land ; curious plants covered its surface ; animals unknown 
 to science roamed through its immense forests ; vast seas 
 separated it from the known world ; its boundaries were 
 undefined ; its whole character veiled in obscurity. Such 
 was the mystery that, without rule or precedent, they 
 were now required to fathom. . . . 
 
 When, therefore, the questions arose, whence were these 
 new lands peopled ? how came these strange animals and 
 plants to exist on a continent cut off by vast oceans from 
 the rest of the world ? the wise men of the time unhesi- 
 tatingly turned to the Sacred Scriptures for an answer. 
 These left them no course but to believe that all mankind 
 were descended from one pair. This was a premise that 
 must by no means be disputed. The original home of the 
 first pair was generally supposed to have been situated in 
 Asia Minor; the ancestors of the people found in the New 
 World must consequently have originally come from the 
 Old World, though at what time and by what route was 
 an open question, an answer to which was diligently sought
 
 BANCROFT] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. H 
 
 for both in the sacred prophecies and in the historical 
 writings of antiquity. . . . 
 
 Noah's ark, says Ulloa, gave rise to a number of such 
 constructions, and the experience gained during the patri- 
 arch's aimless voyage emboldened his descendants to seek 
 strange lands in the same manner. Driven to America 
 and the neighboring islands by winds and currents, they 
 found it difficult to return, and so remained and peopled 
 the land. He thinks the custom of eating raw fish at the 
 present day among some American tribes was acquired 
 during these long sea- voyages. That they came by sea is 
 evident, for the north if indeed the continent be connected 
 with the Old World must be impassable by reason of 
 extreme cold. Ulloa, though he would not for a moment 
 allow that there could have been more than one general 
 creation, does not attempt to account for the presence of 
 strange animals and plants in America ; and I may observe 
 here that this difficulty is similarly avoided by all writers 
 of his class. Lescarbot cannot see why " Noah should 
 have experienced any difficulty in reaching America by 
 sea, when Solomon's ships made voyages lasting three 
 years." Villagutierre, on the contrary, thinks it more 
 probable that Noah's sons came to America by land ; an 
 opinion also held by Thompson, who believes, however, 
 that the continents were not disconnected until some time 
 after the flood, by which time America was peopled from 
 the Old World. 
 
 [Many other writers have advocated this theory, basing their belief 
 on the numerous deluge-myths which exist among the traditions of 
 the American tribes, and which bear a certain resemblance to the 
 Biblical story of the deluge, even in some cases describing the subse- 
 quent building of a tower of refuge, and the disconcertion of the 
 builders in their impious act by the gods, or by the Great Spirit. Yet 
 most modern writers consider these myths to have been of local origin/]
 
 12 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 Let us now turn from these wild speculations, with 
 which volumes might be filled, but which are practically 
 worthless, to the special theories of origin, which are, 
 however, for the most part, scarcely more satisfactory. 
 
 Beginning with eastern Asia, we find that the Ameri- 
 cans, or in some instances their civilization only, are sup- 
 posed to have come originally from China, Japan, India, 
 Tartar}^ Polynesia. Three principal routes are proposed 
 by which they may have come, namely, Bering Strait, 
 the Aleutian Islands, and Polynesia. The route taken by 
 no means depends upon the original habitat of the immi- 
 grants : thus, the people of India may have immigrated to 
 the north of Asia, and crossed Bering Strait, or the Chi- 
 nese may have passed from one to the other of the Aleu- 
 tian Islands until they reached the western continent. 
 Bering Strait is, however, the most widely advocated, and 
 perhaps most probable, line of communication. The nar- 
 row strait would hardly hinder any migration either east 
 or west, especially as it is frequently frozen over in winter. 
 At all events, it is certain that from time immemorial con- 
 stant intercourse has been kept up between the natives 
 on either side of the strait ; indeed, there can be no doubt 
 that they are one and the same people. Several writers, 
 however, favor the Aleutian route. . . . 
 
 The theory that America was peopled, or at least partly 
 peopled, from eastern Asia, is certainly more widely ad- 
 vocated than any other, and, in my opinion, is moreover 
 based upon a more reasonable and logical foundation than 
 any other. It is true, the Old World may have been 
 originally peopled from the New, and it is also true that 
 the Americans may have had an autochthonic origin ; but, 
 if we must suppose that they have originated on another 
 continent, then it is to Asia that we must first look for 
 proofs of such an origin, at least so far as the people of
 
 BANCROFT] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 13 
 
 northwestern America are concerned. " It appears most 
 evident to me," says the learned Humboldt, "that the 
 monuments, methods of computing time, systems of cos- 
 mogony, and many myths of America, offer striking anal- 
 ogies with the ideas of eastern Asia, analogies which in- 
 dicate an ancient communication, and are not simply the 
 result of that uniform condition in which all nations are 
 found in the dawn of civilization." 
 
 [Closely similar opinions are expressed by Prescott, Dr. Wilson, 
 Colonel Smith, Dupaix, Tschudi, Gallatin, and other writers. In ad- 
 dition to the theory of a Chinese settlement in the fifth century, 
 which we shall consider subsequently, there are theories of Mongol 
 and Japanese settlement.] 
 
 In the thirteenth century the Mongol emperor Kublai 
 Khan sent a formidable armament against Japan. The 
 expedition failed, and the fleet was scattered by a violent 
 tempest. Some of the ships, it is said, were cast upon 
 the coast of Peru, and their crews are supposed to have 
 founded the mighty empire of the Incas, conquered three 
 centuries later by Pizarro. Mr. John Ranking, who leads 
 the van of theorists in this direction, has written a goodly 
 volume upon this subject, which certainly, if read by 
 itself, ought to convince the reader as satisfactorily that 
 America was settled by Mongols, as Kingsborough's work 
 that it was reached by the Jews, or Jones's argument that 
 the Tyrians had a hand in its civilization. That a Mongol 
 fleet was sent against Japan, and that it was dispersed by 
 a storm, is matter of history ; but that any of the dis- 
 tressed ships were driven upon the coast of Peru can be 
 but mere conjecture, since no news of such an arrival ever 
 reached Asia. . . . 
 
 A Japanese origin, or at least a strong infusion of Jap- 
 anese blood, has been attributed to the tribes of the north- 
 west coast. There is nothing improbable in this ; indeed, 
 i. 2
 
 14 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 there is every reason to believe that on various occasions 
 small parties of Japanese have reached the American con- 
 tinent, have married the women of the country, and 
 necessarily left the impress of their ideas and physical 
 peculiarities upon their descendants. Probably these vis- 
 its were all, without exception, accidental ; but that they 
 have occurred in great numbers is certain. There have 
 been a great many instances of Japanese junks drifting 
 upon the American coast, many of them after having 
 floated helplessly about for many months. Mr. Brooks 
 gives forty-one particular instances of such wrecks, be- 
 ginning in 1782, twenty-eight of which date since 1850. 
 Only twelve of the whole number were deserted. In a 
 majority of cases the survivors remained permanently at 
 the place where the waves had brought them. There is 
 no record in existence of a Japanese woman having been 
 saved from a wreck. The reasons for the presence of 
 Japanese and the absence of Chinese junks are simple. 
 There is a current of cold water setting from the Arctic 
 Ocean south along the east coast of Asia, which drives all 
 the Chinese wrecks south. The Kuro Siwo, or "black 
 stream," commonly known as the Japan current, runs 
 northward past the eastern coast of the Japan Islands, 
 then curves round to the east and south, sweeping the 
 whole west coast of North America, a branch, or eddy, 
 moving towards the Sandwich Islands. A drifting wreck 
 would be carried towards the American coast at an average 
 rate of ten miles a day by this current. . . . 
 
 "We may now consider that theory which supposes the 
 civilized peoples of America to be of Egyptian origin, 
 or, at least, to have derived their arts and culture from 
 Egypt. This supposition is based mainly on certain anal- 
 ogies which have been thought to exist between the ar- 
 chitecture, hieroglyphics, methods of computing time, and,
 
 BANCROFT] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 15 
 
 to a less extent, customs of the two countries. Pew of 
 these analogies will, however, bear close investigation, and, 
 even where they will, they can hardly be said to prove 
 anything. . . . 
 
 Turning now to western Asia, we find the honor of first 
 settling America given to the adventurous Phoenicians. 
 The sailors of Carthage are also supposed by some writers 
 to have first reached the New "World ; but, as the exploits 
 of colony and mother-country are spoken of by most 
 writers in the same breath, it will be the simplest plan 
 to combine the two theories here. They are based on the 
 fame of these people as colonizing navigators more than 
 upon any actual resemblances that have been found to 
 exist between them and the Americans. It is argued 
 that their ships sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules to 
 the Canary Islands, and that such adventurous explorers 
 having reached that point would be sure to seek farther. 
 The records of their voyages and certain passages in the 
 works of several of the writers of antiquity are supposed 
 to show that the ancients knew of a land lying in the far 
 west. . . . 
 
 Diodorus Siculus relates that the Phoenicians discov- 
 ered a large island in the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pil- 
 lars of Hercules, several days' journey from the coast of 
 Africa. This island abounded in all manner of riches. 
 The soil was exceedingly fertile ; the scenery was diver- 
 sified by rivers, mountains, and forests. It was the cus- 
 tom of the inhabitants to retire during the summer to 
 magnificent country-houses, which stood in the midst of 
 beautiful gardens. Fish and game were found in great 
 abundance. The climate was delicious, and the trees 
 bore fruit at all seasons of the year. The Phoenicians" 
 discovered this fortunate island by accident, being driven 
 upon its coast by contrary winds. On their return they
 
 16 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 gave glowing accounts of its beauty and fertility, and 
 the Tyrians, who were also noted sailors, desired to col- 
 onize it. 
 
 [Several authors have believed these " Fortunate Islands" to be 
 America, but in all probability they were the Canary Islands.] 
 
 The theory that the Americans are of Jewish descent 
 has been discussed more minutely and at greater length 
 than any other. Its advocates, or at least those of them 
 who have made original researches, are comparatively 
 few ; but the extent of their investigations, and the multi- 
 tude of parallelisms they adduce in support of their hy- 
 pothesis, exceed by far any we have yet encountered. 
 
 Of the earlier writers on this subject, Garcia is the 
 most voluminous. Of modern theorists, Lord Kingsbor- 
 ough stands pre-eminently first, as far as bulky volumes 
 are concerned; though Adair, who devotes half of a thick 
 quarto to the subject, is by no means second to him in 
 enthusiasm or rather fanaticism and wild speculation. 
 
 [The idea advanced is that America was settled by the ten lost 
 tribes of Israel, in support of which a multitude of similarities be- 
 tween American and Jewish customs and characteristics are adduced, 
 yet none of them sufficient to influence any cool-headed critic.] * > 
 
 We now come to the theory that the Americans, or at 
 least part of them, are of Celtic origin. In the old 
 Welsh annals there is an account of a voyage made in the 
 latter half of the twelfth century by one Madoc, a son of 
 Owen G-wynedd, prince of North Wales. The story goes, 
 that after the death of Gwynedd his sons contended vio- 
 lently for the sovereignty. 'Madoc, who was the only 
 peaceable one among them, determined to leave his dis- 
 turbed country and sail in search of some unknown land 
 where he might dwell in peace. He accordingly procured 
 an abundance of provisions and a few ships, and embarked
 
 BANCROFT] ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 17 
 
 with his friends and followers. For many months they 
 sailed westward without finding a resting-place; but at 
 length they came to a large and fertile country, where, 
 after sailing for some distance along the coast in search 
 of a convenient landing-place, they disembarked and per- 
 manently settled. After a time Madoc, with part of his 
 company, returned to Wales, where he fitted out ten ships 
 with all manner of supplies, prevailed on a large number 
 of his countrymen to join him, and once more set sail for 
 the new colony, which, though we hear no more about 
 him or his settlement, be is supposed to have reached 
 safely. . . . 
 
 Claims have also been put in for an Irish discovery of 
 the New World. St. Patrick is said to have sent mission- 
 aries to the " Isles of America," and early writers have 
 gravely discussed the probability of Quetzalcoatl [the 
 Mexican white deity] having been an Irishman. There 
 is no great improbability that the natives of Ireland may 
 have reached, by accident or otherwise, the northeastern 
 shores of the new continent in very early times, but there 
 is certainly no evidence to prove that they did. 
 
 [The evidences in favor of the several theories described by Mr. 
 Bancroft, as presented by the many writers upon these subjects, are 
 given by him in considerable detail, and their probability discussed, 
 with the final conclusion that none of the theorists have succeeded in 
 proving that the Americans were of Old- World origin, and that " no 
 one at the present day can tell the origin of the Americans : they may 
 have come from any one or from all the hypothetical sources enumer- 
 ated in the foregoing pages, and here the question must rest until we 
 have more light upon the subject." 
 
 A brief reference to the Atlantis theory, omitted in our extract 
 from Bancroft, is here in place. The story of a land that formerly lay 
 in or beyond the Atlantic, and was subsequently submerged, is men- 
 tioned by several Greek writers, and is said by Plutarch to have been 
 communicated to Solon by the priests of several Egyptian cities. Ac- 
 i. 2*
 
 18 AMERICAN HISTORY. [WILLIAMS 
 
 cording to Plato, these priests declared that the events related to Solon 
 had taken place nine thousand Egyptian years previously. In the 
 Platonic version the priestly story was to the effect that beyond the 
 Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger than Asia Minor and 
 Libya combined. From this island one could pass to other islands, 
 and thence to a continent which surrounded the sea containing them. 
 In the island of Atlantis reigned three powerful kings, whose dominion 
 extended to some of the other islands and to part of the continent, and 
 reached at one time into Africa and Europe. Uniting their forces, 
 they invaded eastern Europe, but were defeated and their army de- 
 stroyed by the Athenians, independence being gained by all the subject 
 countries east of the Pillars of Hercules. Afterwards, in one day and 
 night, earthquakes and inundations overwhelmed Atlantis and sunk it 
 beneath the sea, which became impassable on account of the mud 
 which the sunken island left in its place. 
 
 The theory that there actually existed such an island, extending to 
 the vicinity of, or perhaps continuous with, the American continent, 
 has been held by several writers, principal among them being the 
 Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg. The recent advocacy of the theory is 
 based on the fact that traditions and written records of cataclysms 
 similar to that described by the Egyptian priests have been found 
 among the American nations. Yet the story is in all probability one 
 of those fabulous statements of which many can be found in the works 
 of ancient writers.] 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF FU-SANG. 
 
 S. WELLS WILLIAMS. 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 [In addition to the speculative theories above described are two his- 
 torical documents of considerably more value, one given in the Chinese 
 annals, and one in the Scandinavian literature, which appear to point to 
 discoveries of America centuries before the era of Columbus, first by 
 the Chinese, afterwards by the Northmen. 
 
 The argument of several writers, that the Chinese discovered Amer- 
 ica early in the Christian era, is based upon a curious historical state-
 
 WILLIAMS] THE KINGDOM OF FU-SANO. 19 
 
 merit in the works of Ma Twan-lin, one of the most notable of Chi- 
 nese historians. It is professedly an extract from the official records 
 of China, embracing a traveller's tale told in the year 499 A.D. by a 
 Buddhist priest named Hwui Shin, on his return from a journey he 
 had made to a country lying far to the east. This story seems to have 
 been considered of sufficient importance to be recorded by the impe- 
 rial historiographer, from whom Ma Twan-lin copied it. It describes 
 the people and natural conditions of a country known as Fu-sang, and 
 has given rise to considerable controversy, some writers asserting that 
 Japan was the country visited., others claiming this honor for America. 
 The literature of the subject is summed up in E. P. Vining's "An 
 Inglorious Columbus," a recent work, in which the Chinese record is 
 exhaustively reviewed, and the balance of proof shown to incline 
 towards the American theory. 
 
 Of the various translations of the Chinese record we present that of 
 Professor S. Wells Williams, prefacing it with the statement of Li- 
 yan-tcheou, the original historian, that in order to reach this distant 
 country one must set out from the coast of the Chinese province of 
 Leao-tong, to the north of Peking, reaching Japan after a journey of 
 twelve thousand li. Thence a voyage of seven thousand li northward 
 brings one to the country of Wen-shin. Five thousand li eastward 
 from this place lies the country of Ta-han. From the latter place 
 Fu-sang may be reached after a further voyage of twenty thousand li. 
 (The li is a variable measure, ordinarily given as about one-third of a 
 mile in length.)] 
 
 IN the first year of the reign Yung-yuen of the emperor 
 Tung Hwan-hau, of the Tsi dynasty (A.D. 499), a Shaman 
 priest named Hwui Shin arrived at King-chau from the 
 Kingdom of Fu-sang. *He related as follows: 
 
 Fu-sang lies east of the Kingdom of Ta-han more than 
 twenty thousand li; it is also east of the Middle Kingdom 
 [China]. It produces many fu-sang trees, from which it 
 derives its name. The leaves of the fu-sang resemble 
 those of the tung tree. It sprouts forth like the bamboo, 
 and the people eat the shoots. Its fruit resembles the 
 pear, but is red ; the bark is spun into cloth for dresses, 
 and woven into brocade. The houses are made of planks.
 
 20 AMERICAN HISTORY. [WILLIAMS 
 
 There are no walled cities with gates. The (people) use 
 characters and writing, making paper from the bark of 
 thefu-sang. There are no mailed soldiers, for they do not 
 carry on war. The law of the land prescribes a southern 
 and a northern prison. Criminals convicted of light 
 crimes are put into the former, and those guilty of griev- 
 ous offences into the latter. Criminals, when pardoned, 
 are let out of the southern prison ; but those in the north- 
 ern prison are not pardoned. Prisoners in the latter 
 marry. Their boys become bondmen when eight years 
 old, and the girls bondwomen when nine years old. Con- 
 victed prisoners are not allowed to leave their prison 
 while alive. When a nobleman (or an official) has been 
 convicted of crime, the great assembly of the nation 
 meets and places the criminal in a hollow (or pit) ; they 
 set a feast, with wine, before him, and then take leave of 
 him. If the sentence is a capital one, at the time they 
 separate they surround (the body) with ashes. For 
 crimes of the first grade, the sentence involves only the 
 person of the culprit; for the second, it reaches the chil- 
 dren and grandchildren ; while the third extends to the 
 seventh generation. 
 
 The king of this country is termed yueh-ld ; the highest 
 rank of nobles is called tui-li ; the next, little tui-li ; and 
 the lowest, no-cha-sha. When the king goes abroad he is 
 preceded and followed by drummer^ and trumpeters. The 
 color of his robes varies with the years in the cycle 
 containing the ten stems. It is azure in the first two 
 years ; in the second two years it is red ; it is yellow in 
 the third ; white in the fourth ; and black in the last two 
 years. There are oxen with long horns, so long that 
 they will hold things, the biggest as much as five pecks. 
 Yehicles are drawn by oxen, horses, and deer; for the 
 people of that land rear deer just as the Chinese rear
 
 WILLIAMS] THE KINGDOM OF FUSANO. 21 
 
 cattle, and make cream of their milk. The}* have red 
 pears, which will keep a year without spoiling; water- 
 rushes and peaches are common. Iron is not found in 
 the ground, though copper is ; they do not prize gold or 
 silver, and trade is conducted without rent, duty, or fixed 
 prices. 
 
 In matters of marriage it is the law that the [intend- 
 ing] son-in-law must erect a hut before the door of the 
 girl's house, and must sprinkle and sweep the place morn- 
 ing and evening for a whole year. If she then does not 
 like him, she bids him depart ; but if she is pleased with 
 him they are married. The bridal ceremonies are for the 
 most part like those of China. A fast of seven days is 
 observed for parents at their death ; five for grandparents ; 
 and three days for brothers, sisters, uncles, or aunts. 
 Images to represent their spirits are set up, before which 
 they worship and pour out libations morning and evening; 
 but they wear no mourning or fillets. The successor of 
 the king does not attend personally to government affairs 
 for the first three years. In olden times they knew 
 nothing of the Buddhist religion, but during the reign 
 Ta-ming of the emperor Hiao Wu-ti of the Lung dynasty 
 (A.D. 458), from Ki-piu five beggar priests went there. 
 They travelled over the kingdom, everywhere making 
 known the laws, canons, and images of that faith. Priests 
 of regular ordination were set apart among the natives, 
 and the customs of the country became reformed. 
 
 [In addition to this statement, the Chinese annals contain an account 
 of the " Kingdom of Women," of the " Great Han country," and of 
 the " Land of Marked (or Tattooed) Bodies," all related in situation to 
 Fu-sang. That given , however, is the most matter-of-fact of these sev- 
 eral narratives, and appears to describe an actual country, though its 
 details do not tally very closely with the known conditions of either 
 Japan or Mexico, which latter country is believed by Mr. Vining to
 
 22 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 be the true Fu-sang. In his view the maguey represents the fu-sang 
 tree, and he brings many analogies to bear in favor of his theory, 
 though the actual location of Fu-sang, like those of Atlantis, the 
 Fortunate Islands, and Vinland, must always remain a matter of 
 doubt and controversy.] 
 
 DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE NORTHMEN. 
 
 ARTHUR J. WEISE. 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 [In considering the reputed discovery of America by the North- 
 men we stand upon much firmer ground, and the story though it has 
 not been without dispute, is accepted by many writers as describing 
 an actual event. In fact, it is of high probability on its face, since the 
 daring navigators who successively sailed to and colonized Iceland 
 and Greenland might very easily have made a farther voyage to the 
 American continent. 
 
 The Scandinavian vikings, in their single-masted, many-oared gal- 
 leys, often ventured far out on the waters of the Atlantic, and in the 
 year 8GO, Naddoddr, one of these Norse pirates, was blown by an 
 adverse wind upon the coast of Iceland. In 876 another navigator, 
 driven beyond Iceland by a storm, saw in the distance the coast of 
 an unknown land. About the year 981, Eric the Eed, an Icelandic 
 outlaw, sailed in search of this land, and discovered a new country, 
 which he named Greenland as an inducement to immigrants. 
 
 The sagas or written legends of Iceland, which describe these events, 
 relate that subsequent to the discovery of Greenland the vikings 
 made frequent voyages to the south, to a land which had been discov- 
 ered there by one Bjarni, and which received the name of Vinland. 
 Some writers consider these stories as too vague and mythical to be of 
 any value, while others accept them as containing definite and trust- 
 worthy information concerning the eastern coast of America at that 
 date. This new land is said to have been first discovered by Bjarni in 
 985, during a voyage from Iceland to Greenland. We select from 
 "The Discoveries of America to the year 1525," by Arthur James
 
 WEISE] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY NORTHMEN. 23 
 
 Weise, a translation of some of the more significant portions of these 
 I.] 
 
 As soon as they had fitted for the voyage, they intrusted 
 themselves to the ocean, and made sail three days, until 
 the land passed out of their sight from the water. But 
 then the bearing breezes ceased to blow, and northern 
 breezes and a fog succeeded. Then they were drifted 
 about for many days and nights, not knowing whither 
 they tended. After this the light of the sun was seen, 
 and they were able to survey the regions of the sky. 
 Now they carried sail, and steered this day before they 
 beheld land. . . . [They] soon saw that the country was 
 not mountainous, but covered with trees and diversified 
 with little hills. . . . Then they sailed two days before 
 they saw another land (or region'). . . . They then ap- 
 proached it, and saw that it was level and covered with 
 trees. Then, the favorable wind having ceased blowing, 
 the sailors said that it seemed to them that it would be 
 well to land there, but Bjarni was unwilling to do so. ... 
 He bade them make sail, which was done. They turned 
 the prow from the land, and sailed out into the open sea, 
 where for three days they had a favorable south-south- 
 west wind. They saw a third land (or region), but it 
 was high and mountainous and covered with glaciers. . . . 
 They did not lower sail, but holding their course along 
 the shore they found it to be an island. Again they 
 turned the stern against the land, and made sail for the 
 high sea, having the same wind, which gradually increas- 
 ing, Bjarni ordered the sails to be shortened, forbidding 
 the use of more canvas than the ship and her outfit could 
 conveniently bear. Thus they sailed for four days, when 
 .they saw a fourth land [which proved to be Greenland]. 
 
 [The second voyage to this newly-discovered region was made by
 
 24 AMERICAN HISTORY. [WEISE 
 
 Leif, the son of Eric the Red, about the year 1000. He first reached 
 a land of icy mountains, with a plain between the mountains and the 
 sea covered with flat stones. This region Leif named Helluland. 
 Afterwards he reached a level country covered with trees, which 
 he named Markland.] 
 
 [Leaving Markland] they sailed on the high sea, hav- 
 ing a northeast wind, and were two days at sea before 
 they saw land. They steered towards it, and touched the 
 island lying before the north part of the land. When 
 they went on land they surveyed it, for by good fortune 
 the weather was serene. They found the grass sprinkled 
 with dew, and it happened by chance that they touched 
 the dew with their hands and carried them to their 
 mouths and perceived that it had a sweet taste which 
 they had not before noticed. Then they returned to the 
 ship and sailed through a bay lying between the island 
 and a tongue of land running towards the north. Steering 
 a course to the west shore, they passed the tongue of land. 
 Here when the tide ebbed there were very narrow shoals. 
 When the ship got aground there were shallows of great 
 extent between the vessel and the receded sea. So great 
 was the desire of the men to go on land that they were 
 unwilling to stay on board until the returning tide floated 
 the ship. They went ashore at a place where a river 
 flowed out from a lake. When the tide floated the ship 
 they took the boat and rowed to the vessel and brought 
 her into the river and then into the lake. Here they 
 anchored, carried the luggage from the ship, and built 
 dwellings. Afterwards they held a consultation and re- 
 solved to remain at this place during the winter. They 
 erected large buildings. There were not only many 
 salmon in the river, but also in the lake, and of a larger 
 size than they had before seen. So great was the fertil-' 
 ity of the soil that they were led to believe that cattle
 
 WEISK] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY NORTHMEN. 25 
 
 would not be in want of food during winter, or that 
 wintry coldness would prevail, or the grass wither much. 
 
 [During the winter one of the men, named Tyrker, exploring the 
 country, discovered wine-wood and wine-berries (vinvid ok vinber). 
 On the approach of spring they spent some time in gathering wine- 
 berries and loading the ship with wood, after which they set sail for 
 Greenland, Leif naming the region Vinland (Wine-land), from its 
 productions. 
 
 In the spring of 1007 an expedition comprising three ships sailed 
 for this new land. In two days they reached Helluland, and in two 
 more Markland. Departing from Markland, they continued their 
 voyage.] 
 
 They then sailed far to the southward along the coast, 
 and came to a promontory. The land lay on the right, 
 and had a long sandy beach. They rowed to it, and 
 found on a tongue of land the keel of a ship. They 
 called this point Kjlarnes (Keel Cape), and the beach 
 Furdustrandir (Long Strand), for it took a long time to 
 sail by it. Then the coast became sinuous. They then 
 steered the ship into an inlet. King Olaf Tryggvason had 
 given Leif two Scotch people, a man named Haki and a 
 woman named Hekja. They were swifter than animals. 
 . . . When they had sailed past Furdustrandir they put 
 these Scots ashore and ordered them to run to the south 
 of the country and explore it and return within three 
 days. . . . They were absent the designated time. When 
 , they returned, one brought a bunch of wine-berries, the 
 other an ear of wheat. When they were taken on board 
 the ship sailed farther. They came into a bay where 
 there was an island around which flowed rapid currents 
 that suggested the name which they gave it, Straumey 
 (Stream Island). There were so many eider ducks on 
 the island that one could hardly walk about without 
 stepping on their eggs. They took the cargo from the 
 i. B 3
 
 26 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ 
 
 ship and made preparations to stay there. They had with 
 them different kinds of cattle. 
 
 *r**i**I**T**v**J* *l* *" *l^ 
 
 It is now to be told of Karlsefne that he, with Snorro 
 and Bjarni and their people, sailed southward along tho 
 coast. They sailed a long time, till they came to a river 
 which ran out from the land .and through a lake into 
 the sea. The river was quite shallow, and no ship could 
 enter it without high water. Karlsefne sailed with his 
 people into its mouth, and called the place Hop. He 
 found fields of wild wheat where the ground was low, 
 and wine- wood where it was higher. There was a great 
 number of all kinds of wild animals in the woods. They 
 remained at this place a half month, and enjoyed them- 
 selves, but did not find anything novel. They had their 
 cattle with them. Early one morning, when they were 
 viewing the country, they saw a great number of skin 
 boats on the sea. . . . The people in them rowed nearer 
 and with curiosity gazed at them. . . . These people were 
 swart and ugly, and had coarse hair, large eyes, and 
 broad cheeks. They remained a short time and watched 
 Karlsefne's people. They then rowed away to the south- 
 ward be3 7 ond the cape. 
 
 [In the spring the natives returned and trafficked with the North- 
 men.] 
 
 The people preferred red cloth, and for this they gave 
 skins and all kinds of furs. They also wanted to pur- 
 chase swords and spears, but Karlsefne and Snorro would 
 not sell them any weapons. For a whole skin the Skrae- 
 lings took a piece of red cloth a span long, and bound it 
 around their heads. In this way they bartered for a time. 
 Then the cloth began to diminish, and Karlsefne and his 
 men cut it into small strips not wider than one's finger,
 
 WEISE] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY NORTHMEN. 27 
 
 and still the Skraelings gave as much for these as they 
 had for the larger pieces, and often more. It happened 
 that a bull, which Karlsefne had with him, ran out from 
 the wood and bellowed loudly. This frightened the 
 Skraelings so much that they rushed to their boats and 
 rowed away to the southward around the coast. 
 
 [Three weeks afterwards a large number of Skraelings returned in 
 their boats, uttering loud cries.] 
 
 Karlsefne's men took a red shield and held it towards 
 them. The Skraelings leaped from their boats and at- 
 tacked them. Many missiles fell among them, for the 
 Skraelings used slings. Karlsefne's men saw that they 
 had raised on a pole something resembling an air-filled 
 bag of a blue color. They hurled this at Karlsefne's 
 party, and when it fell to the ground it exploded with a 
 loud noise. This frightened Karlsefne and his men so 
 much that they ran and fell back to the river, for it 
 seemed to them that the Skraelings were enclosing them 
 on all sides. They did not stop till they reached a rocky 
 place, where they stoutly resisted their assailants. 
 
 [The Skraelings were finally frightened off by the valiant behavior 
 of Freydis, the wife of Thorvard.] 
 
 Karlsefne and his men now perceived that, notwith- 
 standing the country was fruitful, they would be exposed 
 to many dangerous incursions of its inhabitants if they 
 should remain in it. They therefore determined to de- 
 part and return to their own land. 
 
 [Many subsequent visits were made by the Northmen to Vinland, 
 these continuing as late as the fourteenth century. But they seem 
 to have made no effort to colonize this region as they had done in the 
 cases of Iceland and Greenland. Just where Vinland was situated is 
 one of those geographical problems that will probably never be settled.
 
 28 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 Some writers place it as far south as the coast of Ehode Island. 
 Others conceive it to be no farther south than Labrador, or possibly 
 south Greenland. The description of the Skraelings is considered to 
 apply more closely to the Esquimaux than to the North American 
 Indians. Whether the so-called wine-berries were actually grapes is 
 questionable. In fact, no positive proof exists that the Northmen dis- 
 covered the continent of America. The balance of probabilities is 
 that they did so, though how far south their excursions extended can 
 never be definitely decided.] 
 
 THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 
 
 CHARLES MORRIS. 
 
 [The preceding pages have been devoted to the history of the rela- 
 tions between the inhabitants of the Eastern and Western Continents, 
 and to the various statements that indicate a possible knowledge of, and 
 voyages to, America in the era before Columbus. To complete this 
 preliminary survey a brief account of what is known of the Ameri- 
 can aborigines in this early era is necessary. In relation to this period 
 of American history there exists an abundance of literary material, 
 comprising researches into the languages, race-conditions, customs, an- 
 tiquities, traditions, and manuscript annals of the tribes and nations 
 of the aborigines. None of this material is historical in the full sense 
 of the term, though much of it may be considered as indirectly so. 
 The editor of this work, however, has been unable to meet with any 
 general statement in a form sufficiently condensed to yield a brief yet 
 comprehensive review of the whole subject. He has, therefore, him- 
 self prepared a paper which may serve imperfectly to fill this vacancy, 
 and to complete the examination of the history of America prior to 
 Columbus.] 
 
 ON the discovery and exploration of America it was 
 found to be everywhere inhabited, from the north polar 
 region to the extreme south, by peoples differing in de- 
 gree of culture from abject savagery to a low stage of
 
 MORRIS] THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 29 
 
 civilization. Though at first all these peoples were looked 
 upon as members of a single race, later research has ren- 
 dered this questionable, marked diversities in ethnological 
 character having been perceived. In language a greater 
 unity appears, philologists generally holding that the 
 American languages all belong to one family of human 
 speech, though the dialects differ widely in character and 
 in degree of development. The American languages ap- 
 proach in type those of northern Asia, though not very 
 closely. The same may be said of the American features. 
 Yet if the Americans and Mongolians were originally of 
 the same race, as seems not improbable, their separation 
 must have taken place at a remote period, to judge from 
 the diversities which now exist between them. 
 
 The aboriginal inhabitants of the United States, when 
 first discovered, differed very considerably in political and 
 social condition. Those of the north were in a state 
 of savagery or low barbarism. The southern Indians 
 were much more advanced politically, while the Natchez 
 people of the lower Mississippi possessed a well-organized 
 despotic monarchy, widely different in character from the 
 institutions of the free tribes of the north. In Mexico 
 existed a powerful civilized empire, despotic in character, 
 possessed of many historical traditions, and having an 
 extensive literature, which was nearly all destroyed by 
 the Spanish conquerors. In this region were two distinct 
 linguistic races, the Nahuas of Mexico and the Mayas of 
 the more southern region. To the latter are due the re- 
 markable architectural remains of Yucatan and Guate- 
 mala. In South America was also discovered an exten- 
 sive civilized empire, of a highly-marked despotic type, 
 the Inca empire of Peru. This rather low form of civil- 
 ization extended far to the north and south in the dis- 
 trict west of the Andes, while the remainder of South 
 i. 3*
 
 30 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 America was occupied by savage tribes, some of them 
 exceedingly debased in condition. 
 
 Of late years it has been made evident, through diversi- 
 fied archaeological discoveries, that at some epoch, perhaps 
 not very remote, the whole region of the Mississippi Valley 
 was the seat of a semi-civilized population, probably some- 
 what closely approaching in customs and condition the 
 inhabitants of the Gulf States when first seen by the 
 Spanish and French explorers. This people had utterly 
 vanished from the region of the northern United States 
 at the earliest date of the advent of the whites, and per- 
 haps many centuries before that era ; yet the whole region 
 of their former residence is so abundantly covered with 
 their weapons, utensils, ornaments, and architectural re- 
 mains, that we are not only positively assured of their 
 former existence, but are enabled also to form many con- 
 jectures as to their probable history. 
 
 What are here spoken of as architectural remains con- 
 sist principally of earth mounds, of considei'able diversity 
 in character and appearance, and some of them of enor- 
 mous dimensions. There is in this fact alone nothing of 
 peculiar interest. Earth mounds, generally sepulchral in 
 purpose, exist widely throughout the older continents. 
 But the American mounds are remarkable for their ex- 
 cessive numbers, their peculiarities of construction, their 
 occasional great size, and the diversity of their probable 
 purpose. They are found abundantly over the whole re- 
 gion from the Eocky Mountains to the Alleghanies, and 
 from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, and to some small 
 extent beyond these limits. In the State of Ohio alone 
 there are said to be more than ten thousand mounds, with 
 perhaps fifteen hundred defensive works and enclosures. 
 About five thousand of them are said to exist within a 
 radius of fifty miles from the mouth of the Illinois Eiver,
 
 MORRIS] THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 31 
 
 in the State of Illinois. In the South they are equally 
 abundant. The Gulf States are full of them. From 
 Florida to Texas they everywhere exist, of the greatest 
 diversity in size and shape. Smaller examples occur be- 
 yond the limits of the region above outlined, though in 
 much less abundance. These mounds are usually from 
 six to thirty feet high and forty to one hundred in di- 
 ameter, though some are much larger. To the vanished 
 race to whose labors they are due has been given the 
 name of the " Mound-Builders." 
 
 Many of these structures were evidently erected for de- 
 fensive purposes, and they constitute an extensive system 
 of earthworks on the hills and river-bluffs, indicating 
 a considerable population in the valleys below. Other 
 works are remarkably regular earthworks on the valley 
 levels, forming enclosures in various geometrical patterns, 
 which comprise circles, squares, and other figures. The 
 purpose of these peculiar enclosures is unknown, though 
 it was probably connected with religious observances. 
 Of the smaller mounds, some are supposed to have been 
 used as altars ; but the most numerous class are the burial- 
 mounds, in which skeletons have often been found. In 
 Wisconsin, and to some extent elsewhere, are found mounds 
 rudely imitating the shape of animals. But the most 
 extraordinary of these erections, from their great size and 
 the enormous degree of labor which they indicate, are the 
 so-called " temple mounds," of which the one at Cahokia, 
 Illinois, measures seven hundred by five hundred feet at 
 base and ninety feet in perpendicular height. It was 
 probably the seat of a temple. Many similar mounds, 
 though none so large as this, exist in the Gulf States. 
 
 The mounds contain very numerous relics of the arts 
 of their builders, these consisting of various articles of 
 pottery, stone pipes of highly-skilful construction, in imi-
 
 32 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 tation of animal forms, stone implements in great variety, 
 ornaments of beaten copper, pearls, plates of mica, frag- 
 ments of woven fabrics, and other articles, indicative of 
 much industry and a considerable advance in the simpler 
 arts. 
 
 Whether the semi-civilization of this people developed 
 in the region in which their remains are found, or is due 
 to the northward movement of a civilized people from the 
 south, cannot be decided. That they were a numerous 
 agricultural people, under the control of a despotic gov- 
 ernment, and of strong religious superstitions, seems evi- 
 dent from the vast labors which they performed and the 
 religious purpose of the greatest of these works. There 
 is abundant reason to believe that they were in hostile 
 relations with tribes of savages, perhaps the original 
 inhabitants of the country, to the northward and east- 
 ward. Against the assaults of these the earthworks were 
 built. These assaults were finally successful. The "Mound- 
 Builders" were conquered, and either annihilated or, more 
 probably, driven south. It is highly improbable that they 
 constituted a single empire, or a series of extensive gov- 
 ernments. We may more safely consider them as a con- 
 geries of strong tribal organizations, probably to some 
 extent mutually hostile, who were weakened by intestine 
 wars and conquered piecemeal by their numerous and per- 
 sistent savage foes. 
 
 Before considering the political and other relations of 
 the northern Indians, some reference may be made to the 
 architectural remains of the other aborigines of America. 
 Eemarkable ruins exist in the mountain-region of the 
 west, in parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, 
 and northern Mexico. Principal among these are the 
 Pueblo buildings, huge communistic structures, of sev- 
 eral stories in height, and some of them capable of shelter-
 
 MORRIS] TEE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 33 
 
 ing a whole tribe within their very numerous apartments. 
 Of these edifices some are of adobe, others of stone. They 
 are probably of considerable antiquitj 7 , and most of them 
 are in ruins, though several are still inhabited. Still more 
 remarkable are the " cliff dwellings," recently discovered 
 in the river-canons of this region. These exist at con- 
 siderable heights, occasionally as much as six hundred to 
 eight hundred feet, in almost inaccessible situations in per- 
 pendicular cliffs, in which they occupy clefts or natural 
 terraces. They were doubtless intended as places of 
 refuge from dangerous foes, though they occur in locali- 
 ties now so barren that it is not easy to perceive how 
 their inhabitants obtained subsistence. 
 
 The architectural remains of Mexico, Central America, 
 and Peru are far too numerous and important to be 
 described in the brief space at our command. Some of the 
 more imposing of those of Mexico are pyramidal mounds, 
 not unlike the temple mounds of the north, though occa- 
 sionally much larger. Of these the most extensive is the 
 great pyramid of Cholula, which covers twice the area of 
 the great Egyptian pyramid of Cheops. The height is 
 variously estimated at one hundred and seventy-seven to 
 two hundred and five feet. This huge structure is built 
 of small sun-dried bricks, altei-nated with layers of clay. 
 It may have been moulded on a natural eminence, though 
 this is doubtful. The temple of the deity Quetzalcoatl, 
 which once occupied its summit, was destroyed by the 
 Spanish invaders. 
 
 In Yucatan, Chiapas, Honduras, and Guatemala have 
 been found the ruins of enormous and profusely-sculptured 
 stone edifices, built on truncated pyramids, of which that 
 of Palenque measures two hundred and sixty by three 
 hundred and ten feet, and is forty feet high. Its sides 
 were originally faced with cut stone, while the building
 
 34 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 displays a considerable advance in the arts of architecture 
 and sculpture. Numerous other such structures exist, 
 which display great boldness and skill in architectui-e. 
 As to who built these forest-buried edifices no positive 
 knowledge exists, though there is some reason to believe 
 that they were still in use, and surrounded by cities, at 
 the epoch of the Spanish conquest. 
 
 With the ruins of Peruvian art we are less directly 
 concerned. It will suffice to remark that they are not 
 surpassed in boldness of execution, in the great labor 
 indicated, and in practicality of purpose, by any similar 
 erections on the Eastern continent, Many of these works 
 are very ancient, having been built by a people who occu- 
 pied that region anterior to the origin of the Inca empire. 
 In this respect they agree with the architectural monu- 
 ments of Mexico, which were attributed by the Aztecs to 
 the Toltecs, a mythical race who preceded them. All this 
 indicates not only a very considerable antiquity in the 
 civilization of this continent, but a general overthrow of 
 the primary civilizations, the Mound-Builders being re- 
 placed by the modern Indian tribes in the north, the 
 builders of the Mexican monuments by the more bar- 
 barous Aztecs, and the architects of the early works of 
 Peru by the conquering Inca race. 
 
 The Indian tribes of the northern United States, at the 
 advent of the whites, were found in a state of savagery 
 in some particulars, though their political and social in- 
 stitutions may be classed as barbarian. Though usually 
 considered as hunting tribes, they were in reality largely 
 agricultural, and not unlike the ancient Germans in or- 
 ganization. They were communistic in habit, holding 
 their lands, and to some extent their houses, as common 
 property. The tribes were divided into smaller sections 
 on the basis of family affinity, and governed t>y two sets
 
 MORRIS] THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 35 
 
 of elected officers, the war-chiefs, selected for their valor, 
 and the Sachems, or peace-officers, whose office was to 
 a considerable extent hereditary. In the election of these 
 officers the whole tribe took part, women as well as men 
 having a vote. The religion of these tribes was of a low 
 type, being a Shamanism of the same character as that 
 of the Mongolian tribes of northern Asia. Demon-exor- 
 cising " medicine-men" were the priests of the tribes, and 
 the conception of a siipreme ' Great Spirit," which has 
 been attributed to them, was possibly derived from early 
 intercourse with the whites, though it may have been an 
 inheritance from the Mound-Builders. 
 
 The Indians of the southern United States, comprising 
 the Creek confederacy and other tribes, were considerably 
 more advanced in institutions and ideas. With them 
 agriculture had attained an important development, and 
 the lands were divided into fields on a communistic basis, 
 they remaining the property of the tribe, though culti- 
 vated by separate families. The government was in the 
 hands of a council of the principal chiefs, presided over 
 by an officer called the Mico, corresponding to the Sachem 
 of the north. His dignity was hereditary, and his power 
 to some extent despotic. Warlike matters were controlled 
 by a head chief, under whom were inferior chiefs. These 
 chiefs were elected to their positions, and composed the 
 council presided over by the Mico, whose authority was 
 subject to their control. One peculiar feature of the 
 Creek organization was the possession of a public store- 
 house, in which a portion of all products of the field and 
 the chase had to be stored, for general distribution in case 
 of need. This was under the sole control of the Mico. 
 
 The religious ideas were much superior to those of the 
 northern tribes. Shamanistic worship and the medicine-man 
 existed, but in addition to this there was a well-developed
 
 36 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 system of sun-worship, with its temples, priests, and cere- 
 monies. The sacred fire was preserved with the greatest 
 assiduity, and when extinguished at the close of each year, 
 to be rekindled with "new fire," serious calamities were 
 feared. The Mico was looked upon as a high dignitary in 
 this worship, and as, in some sort, a representative of the 
 sun. The degree of despotism which he exercised was 
 very probably in great measure due to this religious dig- 
 nity and the superstition of the people. 
 
 But the most remarkable of the Indians of the United 
 States was the small tribe of the Natchez, occupying a 
 few villages east of the Mississippi at the period of Span- 
 ish and French discovery, and long since extinct. The lan- 
 guage of this tribe is believed to have been quite unlike 
 those of the neighboring tribes. Its political organization 
 was a well-developed despotism, the ruler being a religious 
 autocrat whose authority was beyond question. This dig- 
 nitary was known as the Sun, and was looked upon as a 
 direct and sacred descendant of the solar deity. All mem- 
 bers of the royal caste were called Suns, and had special 
 privileges. Beneath them was a nobility, while the com- 
 mon people were very submissive. The chiefs' dwellings 
 were on mounds, and the mounds were also the seat of 
 temples, in which the sacred fire was guarded with super- 
 stitious care by the priesthood. La Salle, who visited the 
 Natchez in 1681-82, describes them as living in large adobe 
 dwellings. The temple of the sun was adorned with the 
 figures of three eagles, with their heads turned to the east. 
 The Natchez possessed a completely-organized system of 
 worship, with temples, idols, priests, keepers of sacred 
 things, religious festivals, and the like, while the people 
 were thoroughly under the control of their superstitions. 
 The ruler had the power of life and death over the people, 
 as also had his nearest female relative, who was known
 
 MORRIS] THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 37 
 
 as the Woman CJiief, and whose son succeeded to the 
 throne. The extinguishment of the sacred fire in the 
 temples was deemed the greatest calamity that could be- 
 fall them. The death of the Sun cost the life of his guards 
 and many of his" subjects, while few of the principal per- 
 sons died without human sacrifices. Captives taken in 
 war were sacrificed to the sun, and their skulls displayed 
 on the temples. 
 
 The customs and religious ceremonies of this tribe are 
 of particular interest, as there is reason to believe that in 
 the Natchez we have the most direct descendants of the 
 Mound-Builders, and that in the despotism of their chief " 
 and the superstition of the people there survived until 
 historical times the conditions under which the great 
 works of the Mississippi Yalley were erected. The de- 
 struction of the tribe by the early French colonists has 
 been a serious loss to archa3ological science. 
 
 It is believed by some writers that the Mexican civiliza- 
 tion was a direct development of that of the Mound-Build- 
 ers. Among the peoples of Mexico and Central America 
 traditions of an original migration from the north were 
 
 o o 
 
 common, while the affinity between the customs and re- 
 ligious ideas of the Aztecs and the Indians of the south- 
 ern United States was so great that the civilization of the 
 former may with some assurance be considered an out- 
 growth from the semi-civilization of the latter. 
 
 Land-communism was the general practice in Mexico, 
 and the Creek public storehouse, under the control of the 
 Mico, was imitated by the Aztec public stores, under the 
 control of the emperor, in which a fixed portion of all prod- 
 uce had to be placed. The Creek council of chiefs and 
 elders was represented by a similar council in Mexico, by 
 whose decisions the emperor was controlled. Worship of 
 the sun was an early form of the Mexican religious ideas, 
 i. 4
 
 38 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 though it was afterwards replaced by worship of the god 
 of war. Human sacrifice had grown to enormous pro- 
 portions, and the sacrifice of war-captives by the Natchez 
 had its Aztec counterpai*t in vast warlike raids for the 
 purpose of obtaining victims for sacrifice to the terrible 
 war-god. The saci'ed fire was guarded with the utmost 
 care, and dire calamities were predicted if it should be 
 extinguished. It was voluntarily extinguished once every 
 fifty-two years, and rekindled after a week of lamentation 
 and mortal dread. The passage of the " new fire" through 
 the country was the occasion of universal joy and festivity. 
 
 We have already indicated the resemblance between the 
 temple mounds of the two regions, and other points of 
 affinity might be named, but the above will suffice to show 
 the great probability that the civilization of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley and that of Mexico and Central America were 
 directly connected and formed parts of one general growth 
 of American culture. As for the actual history of the 
 aborigines prior to the advent of the whites, very little is 
 known. Numerous legends and traditions exist, though 
 few of these can be considered of historical authenticity. 
 The Indians of the United States, indeed, possess no rec- 
 ords that can be accepted as historical. What seem most 
 so are stories of migrations; yet none of these can be 
 taken as representative of actual events, but are rather to 
 be viewed as vague remembrances of some of the many 
 movements which must have taken place. 
 
 The only traditions that are to any extent historical 
 are those of the Nahuas and Mayas of Mexico and Cen- 
 tral America. These describe the movements, during a 
 number of centuries preceding the Spanish conquest, of 
 several successive peoples, as the Toltecs, the Chichimecs, 
 and the Aztecs of Mexico, and a parallel series in the 
 Maya region. Extensive details of the history of these
 
 MORRIS] THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA. 39 
 
 and other tribes are given, much of which is undoubtedly 
 authentic, yet the actual is so mingled with the mythical 
 in these records that no trust can be placed in any but 
 their latest portions, and even these are not to be accepted 
 without question. 
 
 The traditions of migrations from the north and east 
 are so generally reiterated that they seem to indicate 
 actual events, and the same may be said of the very com- 
 mon tradition of the coming of a great hero or deity from 
 the east, the Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs, the Yotan of the 
 Mayas, and similar deities of other tribes. These are 
 fabled to have brought civilization and taught habits of 
 industry and lessons of political subordination to the 
 previously uncultured tribes. They may represent the 
 actual advent of civilized navigators from Europe or else- 
 where, though this is a problem that can never be solved. 
 
 Much might here be said concerning the historical rec- 
 ords of the Nahuas and Mayas, had we space to review 
 them, yet a consideration of the whole leads to the con- 
 clusion above avowed, that the American aborigines had 
 no records that can be considered absolutely of historical 
 value previous to the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 We may, therefore, look upon their trustworthy history 
 as beginning with that event, since in their earlier records 
 it is impossible to distinguish between the mythical and 
 the actual.
 
 40 AMERICAN HISTORY. [KOBEKTSON 
 
 SECTION II. 
 THE EKA OF DISCOVERT. 
 
 COLUMBUS IN EUROPE. 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTSON. 
 
 [From the age of Phoenician enterprise to the fifteenth century of 
 the Christian era, covering a period of more than two thousand years, 
 maritime enterprise in Europe lagged, and the boldness of the ancients 
 was emulated by none of their successors. The Mediterranean long 
 continued the theatre of commerce. In later years, in which the 
 Atlantic coast became the seat of an active sea-going trade, the only 
 sailors who ventured far out of sight of land were the half-barbarous 
 Scandinavian pirates. 
 
 A bolder spirit appeared in the discovery of the Canary Islands by 
 Spanish navigators in 1334. No further step in discovery was made 
 until 1419, when the Portuguese discovered the Madeira Islands. 
 The Portuguese from this time developed a new spirit of enterprise, 
 and advanced point by point along the coast of Africa until 1486, in 
 which year Bartholomew Diaz discovered the Cape of Good Hope. 
 This event rendered it evident to the experienced sailors of Portugal 
 that Africa could be circumnavigated and the East Indies reached by 
 this route. While preparations were being made for the important 
 voyage which should prove the truth of this theory, a yet more im- 
 portant event occurred, in the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 The steps leading to this great enterprise we may give in the words of 
 a noted historical work of the last century, " The History of America," 
 by William Kobertson.] 
 
 AMONG the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries 
 made by the Portuguese had allured into their service
 
 KOBERTSON] COLUMBUS IN EUROPE. 41 
 
 was Christopher Colon or Columbus, a subject of the re- 
 public of Genoa. Neither the time nor place of his birth 
 are known with certainty ; but he was descended of an 
 honorable family, though reduced to indigence by various 
 misfortunes. His ancestors having betaken themselves 
 for subsistence to a seafaring life, Columbus discovered, 
 in his early youth, the peculiar character and talents 
 which mark out a man for that profession. His parents, 
 instead of thwarting this original propensity of his mind, 
 seem to have encouraged and confirmed it by the educa- 
 tion which they gave him. After acquiring some knowl- 
 edge of the Latin tongue, the only language in which 
 science was taught at that time, he was instructed in 
 geometry, cosmography, astronomy, and the art of draw- 
 ing. To these he applied with such ardor and predilec- 
 tion, on account of their connection with navigation, his 
 favorite object, that he advanced with rapid proficiency 
 in the study of them. Thus qualified, he went to sea at 
 the age of fourteen (1461), and began his career on that 
 element which conducted him to so much glory. His 
 early voyages were to those ports in the Mediterranean 
 which his countrymen the Genoese frequented. This 
 being a sphere too narrow for his active mind, he made 
 an excursion to the northern seas (1467), and visited the 
 coasts of Iceland, to which the English and other nations 
 had begun to resort on account of its fishery. As naviga- 
 tion, in every direction, was now become enterprising, he 
 proceeded beyond that island, the Thule of the ancients, 
 and advanced several degrees within the polar circle. 
 Having satisfied his curiosity by a voyage which tended 
 more to enlarge his knowledge of naval affairs than to 
 improve his fortune, he entered into the service of a 
 famous sea-captain, of his own name and family. This 
 man commanded a small squadron, fitted out at his own 
 i. 4*
 
 42 AMERICAN HISTORY. [KOBEKTSON 
 
 expense, and by cruising sometimes against the Mahom- 
 etans, sometimes against the Venetians, the rivals of his 
 country in trade, had acquired both wealth and reputa- 
 tion. With him Columbus continued for several years, 
 no less distinguished for his courage than for his experi- 
 ence as a sailor. At length, in an obstinate engagement, 
 off the coast of Portugal, with some Venetian caravels 
 returning richly laden from the Low Countries, the vessel 
 on board which he served took fire, together with one of 
 the enemy's ships, to which it was fast grappled. In this 
 dreadful extremity his intrepidity and presence of mind 
 did not forsake him. He threw himself into the sea, 
 laid hold of a floating oar, and by the support of it, and 
 his dexterity in swimming, he reached the shore, though 
 above two leagues distant, and saved a life reserved for 
 great undertakings. 
 
 As soon as he recovered strength for the journey, he 
 repaired to Lisbon, where many of his countrymen were 
 settled. They soon conceived such a favorable opinion of 
 his merit, as well as talents, that they warmly solicited 
 him to remain in that kingdom, where his naval skill and 
 experience could not fail of rendering him conspicuous. 
 To every adventurer, animated either with curiosity to 
 visit new countries, or with ambition to distinguish him- 
 
 ' O 
 
 self, the Portuguese service was at that time extremely 
 inviting. Columbus listened with a favorable ear to the 
 advice of his friends, and, having gained the esteem of a 
 Portuguese lady, whom he married, fixed his residence in 
 Lisbon. This alliance, instead of detaching him from a 
 seafaring life, contributed to enlarge the sphere of his 
 naval knowledge, and to excite a desire of extending it 
 still further. His wife was a daughter of Bartholomew 
 Perestre'llo, one of the captains employed by Prince 
 Henry in his early navigations, and who, under his pro-
 
 ROBERTSON] COLUMBUS IN EUROPE. 43 
 
 tection, had discovered and planted the islands of Porto 
 Santo and Madeira. Columbus got possession of the 
 journals and charts of this experienced navigator, and 
 from them he learned the course which the Portuguese 
 had held in making their discoveries, as well as the 
 various circumstances which guided or encouraged them 
 in their attempts. The study of these soothed and in- 
 flamed his favorite passion ; and while he contemplated 
 the maps, and read the descriptions of the new counti'ies 
 which. Perestrello had seen, his impatience to visit them 
 became irresistible. In order to indulge it, he made a 
 voyage to Madeira, and continued during several years to 
 trade with that island, with the Canaries, the Azores, the 
 settlements in Guinea, and all the other places which the 
 Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa. 
 
 By the experience which Columbus acquired during 
 such a variety of voyages to almost every part of the 
 globe with which, at that time, any intercourse was car- 
 ried on by sea, he was now become one of the most skil- 
 ful navigators in Europe. But, not satisfied with that 
 praise, his ambition aimed at something more. The suc- 
 cessful progress of the Portuguese navigators had awakened 
 a spirit of curiosity and emulation, which set every man 
 of science upon examining all the circumstances that led 
 to the discoveries which they had made, or that afforded a 
 prospect of succeeding in any new and bolder undertaking. 
 The mind of Columbus, naturally inquisitive, capable of 
 deep reflection, and turned to speculations of this kind, 
 was so often employed in revolving the principles upon 
 which the Portuguese had founded their schemes of dis- 
 covery, and the mode in which they had carried them on, 
 that he gradually began to form an idea of improving 
 upon their plan, and of accomplishing discoveries which 
 hitherto they had attempted in vain.
 
 44 AMERICAN HISTORY. [EOBEKTSON 
 
 To find out a passage by sea to the East Indies was the 
 great object in view at that period. From the time that 
 the Portuguese doubled Cape de Yerd, this was the point 
 at which they aimed in all their navigations, and in com- 
 parison with it all their discoveries in Africa appeared in- 
 considerable. The fertility and riches of India had been 
 known for many ages ; its spices and other valuable com- 
 modities were in high request throughout Europe, and the 
 vast wealth of the Venetians, arising from their having 
 engrossed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. 
 But how intent soever the Portuguese were upon discov- 
 ering a new route to those desirable regions, they searched 
 for it only by steering towards the south, in hopes of 
 arriving at India, by turning to the east, after they had 
 sailed round the farther extremity of Africa. This course 
 was still unknown, and, even if discovered, was of such 
 immense length that a voyage from Europe to India 
 must have appeared, at that period, an undertaking ex- 
 tremely arduous and of very uncertain issue. More than 
 half a century had been employed in advancing from 
 Cape Non to the equator ; a much longer space of time 
 might elapse before the more extensive navigation from 
 that to India could be accomplished. These reflections 
 upon the uncertainty, the danger, and tediousness of the 
 course which the Portuguese were pursuing, naturally 
 led Columbus to consider whether a shorter and more 
 direct passage to the East Indies might not be found out. 
 After revolving long and seriously every circumstance 
 suggested by his superior knowledge in the theory as 
 well as practice of navigation, after comparing atten- 
 tively the observations of modern pilots with the hints 
 and conjectures of ancient authors, he at last concluded 
 that by sailing directly towards the west, across the 
 Atlantic Ocean, new countries, which probably formed a
 
 ROBERTSON] COLUMBUS IN EUROPE. 45 
 
 part of the great continent of India, must infallibly be 
 discovered. 
 
 Principles and arguments of various kinds, and derived 
 from different sources, induced him to adopt this opinion, 
 seemingly as chimerical as it was new and extraordinary. 
 The spherical figure of the earth was known, and its mag- 
 nitude ascertained with some degree of accuracy. From 
 this it was evident that the continents of Europe, Asia, 
 and Africa, as far as they were known at that time, formed 
 but a small portion of the terraqueous globe. It was suit- 
 able to our ideas concerning the wisdom and beneficence 
 of the Author of Nature, to believe that the vast space 
 still unexplored was not covered entirely by a vast un- 
 profitable ocean, but occupied by countries fit for the habi- 
 tation of man. It appeared, likewise, extremely probable 
 that the continent on this side of the globe was balanced 
 by a proportional quantity of land in the other hemisphere. 
 These conclusions concerning the existence of another con- 
 tinent, drawn from the figure and structure of the globe, 
 were confirmed by the observations and conjectures of 
 modern navigators. A Portuguese pilot, having stretched 
 farther to the west than was usual at that time, took up 
 a piece of timber artificially carved, floating upon the 
 sea ; and as it was driven towards him by a westerly wind, 
 he concluded that it came from some unknown land situ- 
 ated in that quarter. Columbus's brother-in-law had found, 
 to the west of the Madeira Isles, a piece of timber fash- 
 ioned in the same manner and brought by the same wind, 
 and had seen, likewise, canes of an enormous size float- 
 ing upon the waves, which I'esembled those described by 
 Ptolemy as productions peculiar to the East Indies. After 
 a course of westerly winds, trees, torn up by the roots, 
 were often driven upon the coasts of the Azores, and 
 at one time the dead bodies of two men, with singular
 
 46 AMERICAN HISTORY. [EosERTSosr 
 
 features, resembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor 
 of Africa, were cast ashore there. 
 
 [Columbus was of the opinion, from the statements of several ancient 
 writers, that India was a country of immense size, extending far to 
 the east, and that it might be most easily reached by sailing westward 
 around the spherical globe. He had no conception of its actual dis- 
 tance, and no dream of an intervening continent.] 
 
 To a mind less capable of forming and of executing 
 great designs than that of Columbus, all those reasonings 
 and observations and authorities would have served only 
 as the foundation of some plausible and fruitless theory, 
 which might have furnished matter for ingenious dis- 
 course or fanciful conjecture. But with his sanguine and 
 enterprising temper, speculation led directly to action. 
 Fully satisfied himself with respect to the truth of his 
 system, he was impatient to bring it to the test of ex- 
 periment, and to set out upon a voyage of discovery. The 
 first step towards this was to secure the patronage of 
 some of the considerable .powers in Europe capable of 
 undertaking such an enterprise. As long absence had 
 not extinguished the affection which he bore to his native 
 country, he wished that it should reap the fruits of his 
 labors and invention. With this view, he laid his scheme 
 before the senate of Genoa, and, making his country the 
 first tender of his service, offered to sail under the ban- 
 ners of the republic in quest of the new regions which he 
 expected to discover. But Columbus had resided for so 
 many years in foreign parts that his countrymen were 
 unacquainted with his abilities and character; and, though 
 a maritime people, were so little accustomed to distant 
 voyages that they could form no just idea of the princi- 
 ples on which he founded his hopes of success. They 
 inconsiderately rejected his proposal, as the dream of a
 
 KOBERTSON] COLUMBUS IN EUROPE. 47 
 
 chimerical projector, and lost forever the opportunity of 
 restoring their commonwealth to its ancient splendor. 
 
 [His next application was to John II. of Portugal, to whom his 
 abilities were known, and who listened graciously to his project. But 
 the parties to whom the monarch referred the scheme induced him 
 dishonorably to despatch a vessel, with strict secrecy, in the direction 
 indicated by Columbus. The pilot chosen, however, returned after 
 a short voyage, and declared the project dangerous and impracticable. 
 When Columbus learned of this treacherous proceeding, he indig- 
 nantly left Portugal and proceeded to Spain, then under the joint 
 rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. Here he spent years in seeking to 
 enlist the monarchs in his favor, until finally, despairing of success, 
 he sent his brother to England and prepared to visit that countiy 
 in person.] 
 
 About that time Granada surrendered, and Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, in triumphal pomp, took possession of a city 
 (January 2, 1492) the reduction of which extirpated a 
 foreign power from the heart of their dominions and 
 rendered them masters of all the provinces extending 
 from the bottom of the Pyrenees to the frontiers of Por- 
 tugal. As the flow of spirits which accompanies success 
 elevates the mind and renders it enterprising, Quinta- 
 nilla and Santangel, the vigilant and discerning patrons 
 of Columbus, took advantage of this favorable situation 
 in order to make one more effort in behalf of their 
 friend. They addressed themselves to Isabella, and, after 
 expressing some surprise that she, who had always been 
 the munificent patroness of generous undertakings, should 
 hesitate so long to countenance the most splendid scheme 
 that had ever been proposed to any monarch, they repre- 
 sented to her that Columbus was a man of a sound under- 
 standing and virtuous character, well qualified, by his 
 experience in navigation, as well as his knowledge of 
 geometry, to form just ideas with respect to the structure 
 of the globe and the situation of its various regions ; that
 
 48 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ROBERTSON 
 
 by offering to risk his own life and fortune in the execu- 
 tion of his scheme he gave the most satisfying evidence 
 both of his integrity and hope of success ; that the sum 
 required for equipping such an armament as he demanded 
 was inconsiderable, and the advantages which might ac- 
 crue from his undertaking were immense; that he de- 
 manded no recompense for his invention and labor but 
 what was to arise from the countries which he should 
 discover ; that, as it was worthy of her magnanimity to 
 make this noble attempt to extend the sphere of human 
 knowledge, and to open an intercourse with regions 
 hitherto unknown, so it would afford the highest satisfac- 
 tion to her piety and zeal, after re-establishing the Chris- 
 tian faith in those provinces of Spain from which it had 
 been long banished, to discover a new world, to which she 
 might communicate the light and blessings of divine truth ; 
 that if now she did not decide instantly, the opportunity 
 would be irretrievably lost ; that Columbus was on his way 
 to foreign countries, where some prince, more fortunate 
 and adventurous, would close with his proposals, and 
 Spain would forever bewail the fatal timidity which had 
 excluded her from the glory and advantages that she had 
 once in her power to have enjoyed. 
 
 These forcible arguments, urged by persons of such 
 authority and at a juncture so well chosen, produced the 
 desired effect. They dispelled all Isabella's doubts and 
 fears : she ordered Columbus to be instantly recalled, de- 
 clared her resolution of employing him on his own terms, 
 and, regretting the low state of her finances, generously 
 offered to pledge her own jewels in order to raise as 
 much money as might be needed in making preparations 
 for the voyage. Santangel, in a transport of gratitude, 
 kissed the queen's hand, and, in order to save her from 
 having recourse to such a mortifying expedient for pro-
 
 IRVING] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 49 
 
 curing money, engaged to advance immediately the sum 
 that was requisite. 
 
 Columbus had proceeded some leagues on his journey 
 when the messenger from Isabella overtook him. Upon 
 receiving an account of the unexpected revolution in his 
 favor, he returned directly to Santa Fe, though some re- 
 mainder of diffidence still mingled itself with his joy. 
 But the cordial reception which he met with from Isa- 
 bella, together with the near prospect of setting out upon 
 that voyage which had so long been the object of his 
 thoughts and wishes, soon effaced the remembrance of 
 all that he had suffered in Spain during eight tedious 
 years of solicitation and suspense. The negotiation now 
 went forward with facility and despatch, and a treaty or 
 capitulation with Columbus was signed on the seven- 
 teenth of April, one thousand four hundred and ninety- 
 two. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 [It is a somewhat remarkable evidence of the rapid progress of na- 
 tions in modern times that after years of doubt and deliberation the 
 utmost provision which the kingdom of Spain could make for the dis- 
 covery of a new world was a fleet of three frail vessels which would 
 now be considered scarcely fit for a coasting voyage, and which thou- 
 sands of individuals might provide at an hour's notice. Only one of 
 these vessels was decked, and the boldness of ignorance alone made so 
 many men willing to dare the risk of crossing an ocean in such crazy 
 craft. One hundred and twenty persons in all took part in the expe- 
 dition, which set sail from the port of Palos on the 3d of August, 
 1492. One of the vessels was in distress when they were but three 
 days from port, and the fleet was obliged to put in to the Canary 
 d 5
 
 50 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IKYING 
 
 Islands for repair. Here they lay for a month before they were ready 
 to set sail again. "While there the admiral learned that three Portuguese 
 caravels were hovering about the islands, and, fearing that the King 
 of Portugal was seeking to stop the expedition, he hastened to put to 
 sea, to escape this first danger to his long-cherished scheme. In con- 
 tinuation of the story of this remarkable voyage we cannot do better 
 than oifer the following selection from Irving's " Life and Voyages of 
 Columbus."] 
 
 EARLY in the morning of the 6th of September, Colum- 
 bus set sail from the island of Gomera, and now might be 
 said first to strike into the region of discovery, taking 
 leave of these frontier islands of the Old World, and steer- 
 ing westward for the unknown parts of the Atlantic. 
 For three days, however, a profound calm kept the ves- 
 sels loitering, with flagging sails, within a short distance 
 of the land. This was a tantalizing delay to Columbus, 
 who was impatient to find himself far out of sight of 
 either land or sail, which, in the pure atmospheres of 
 these latitudes, may be descried at an immense distance. 
 On the following Sunday, the 9th of September, at day- 
 break, he beheld Ferro, the last of the Canary Islands, 
 about nine leagues distant. This was the island whence 
 the Portuguese caravels had been seen ; he was there- 
 fore in the very neighborhood of danger. Fortunately, a 
 breeze sprang up with the sun, their sails were once more 
 filled, and in the course of the day the heights of Ferro 
 gradually faded from the horizon. 
 
 On losing sight of this last trace of land, the hearts 
 of the crews failed them. They seemed literally to have 
 taken leave of the world. Behind them was everything 
 dear to the heart of man, country, family, friends, life 
 itself; before them everything was chaos, mystery, and 
 peril. In the perturbation of the moment, they despaired 
 of ever more seeing their homes. Many of the rugged
 
 IRVING] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 51 
 
 seamen shed tears, and some broke into loud lamentations. 
 The admiral tried in every way to soothe their distress, 
 and to inspire them with his own glorious anticipations. 
 He described to them the magnificent countries to which 
 
 O 
 
 he was about to conduct them : the islands of the Indian 
 seas teeming with gold and precious stones ; the regions 
 of Mangi and Cathay, with their cities of unrivalled 
 wealth and splendor. He promised them land and riches, 
 and everything that could arouse their cupidity or inflame 
 their imaginations, nor were these promises made for pur- 
 poses of mere deception; he certainly believed that he 
 should realize them all. 
 
 [Columbus now directed the commanders of the other vessels that 
 in the event of separation they should continue to sail due westward, 
 but that after sailing seven hundred leagues they should lie by from 
 midnight to dawn, as he confidently expected to find land at about 
 that distance. That the crews might remain ignorant of the real 
 distance traversed, he kept two reckonings, a private and correct one 
 for himself, and a log-book for general inspection, in which the actual 
 distance sailed was decreased ] 
 
 On the 13th of September, in the evening, being about 
 two hundred leagues from the island of Ferro, Columbus, 
 for the first time, noticed the variation of the needle, 
 a phenomenon which had never before been remarked. 
 He perceived, about nightfall, that the needle, instead of 
 pointing to the north star, varied about half a point, or 
 between five and six degrees, to the northwest, and still 
 more on the following morning. Struck with this circum- 
 stance, he observed it attentively for three days, and found 
 that the variation increased as he advanced. He at first 
 made no mention of this phenomenon, knowing how ready 
 his people were to take alarm, but it soon attracted the 
 attention of the pilots, and filled them with consternation. 
 It seemed as if the very laws of nature were changing as
 
 52 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 they advanced, and that they were entering another world, 
 subject to unknown influences. They apprehended that 
 the compass was about to lose its mysterious virtues, and, 
 without this guide, what was to become of them in a vast 
 and trackless ocean ? 
 
 [Columbus succeeded in allaying their apprehensions by an in- 
 genious though incorrect explanation of the cause of the variation of 
 the compass, a phenomenon which, in fact, remains yet unexplained.] 
 
 On the 14th of September the voyagers were rejoiced 
 by the sight of what they considered harbingers of land. 
 A heron, and a tropical bird called the Rabo de Junco, 
 neither of which are supposed to venture far to sea, 
 hovered about the ships. On the following night they 
 were struck with awe at beholding a meteor, or, as Colum- 
 bus calls it in his journal, a great flame of fire, which 
 seemed to fall from the sky into the sea, about four or five 
 leagues distant. These meteors, common in warm climates, 
 and especially under the tropics, are always seen in the 
 serene azure sky of those latitudes, falling as it were from 
 the heavens, but never beneath a cloud. In the trans- 
 parent atmosphere of one of those beautiful nights, where 
 every star shines with the purest lustre, they often leave 
 a luminous train behind them which lasts for twelve or 
 fifteen seconds and may well be compared to a flame. 
 
 The wind had hitherto been favorable, with occasional, 
 though transient, clouds and showers. They had made 
 great progress each day, though Columbus, according to 
 his secret plan, contrived to suppress several leagues in the 
 daily reckoning left open to the crew. 
 
 They had now arrived within the influence of the trade- 
 wind, which, following the sun, blows steadily from east 
 to west between the tropics, and sweeps over a few adjoin- 
 ing degrees of ocean. With this propitious breeze directly
 
 IRVING] DISCO VERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 53 
 
 aft, they were wafted gently but speedily over a tranquil 
 sea, so that for many days they did not shift a sail. Co- 
 lumbus perpetually recurs to the bland and temperate 
 serenity of the weather, which in this tract of the ocean 
 is soft and refreshing without being cool. In his artless 
 and expressive language he compares the pure and balmy 
 mornings to those of April in Andalusia, and observes 
 that they wanted but the song of the nightingale to com- 
 plete the illusion. " He had reason to say so," observes 
 the venerable Las Casas ; " for it is marvellous the suavity 
 which we experience when half-way towards these Indies; 
 and the more the ships approach the lands, so much more 
 do they perceive the temperance and softness of the air, 
 the clearness of the sky, and the amenity and fragrance 
 sent forth from the groves and forests; much more cer- 
 tainly than in April in Andalusia." 
 
 They now began to see large patches of herbs and weeds 
 drifting from the west, and increasing in quantity as they 
 advanced. Some of these weeds were such as grow about 
 rocks, others such as are produced in rivers ; some were 
 yellow and withered, others so green as to have apparently 
 been recently washed from land. On one of these patches 
 was a live crab, which Columbus carefully preserved. 
 They saw also a white tropical bird, of a kind which never 
 sleeps upon the sea. Tunny-fish also played about the 
 ships, one of which was killed by the crew of the Nifia. 
 Columbus now called to mind the account given by Aris- 
 totle of certain ships of Cadiz, which, coasting the shores 
 outside of the straits of Gibraltar, were driven westward 
 by an impetuous east wind, until they reached a part of 
 the ocean covered with vast fields of weeds, resembling 
 sunken islands, among which they beheld many tunny- 
 fish. He supposed himself arrived in this weedy sea, as 
 it had been called, from which the ancient mariners had 
 i. 5*
 
 54 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 turned back in dismay, but which he regarded with ani- 
 mated hope, as indicating the vicinity of land. Not that 
 he had yet any idea of reaching the object of his search, 
 the eastern end of Asia ; for, according to his computation, 
 he had come but three hundred and sixty leagues since 
 leaving the Canary Islands, and he placed the main land 
 of India much farther on. 
 
 On the 18th of September the same weather continued ; 
 a soft steady breeze from the east filled every sail, while, 
 to use the words of Columbus, the sea was as calm as the 
 G-uadalquivir at Seville. He fancied that the water of the 
 sea grew fresher as he advanced, and noticed this as proof 
 of the superior sweetness and purity of the air. . . . 
 
 Notwithstanding his precaution to keep the people 
 ignorant of the distance they had sailed, they were now 
 growing extremely uneasy at the length of the voyage. 
 They had advanced much farther west than ever man 
 had sailed before, and though already beyond the reach of 
 succor, still they continued dail} T leaving vast tracts of ocean 
 behind them, and pressing onward and onward into that 
 apparently boundless abyss. It is true they had been flat- 
 tered by various indications of land, and still others were 
 occurring ; but all mocked them with vain hopes : after 
 being hailed with a transient joy, they passed away, one 
 after another, and the same interminable expanse of sea 
 and sky continued to extend before them. Even the 
 bland and gentle breeze, uniformly aft, was now conjured 
 by their ingenious fears into a cause of alarm ; for they 
 began to imagine that the wind, in these seas, might al- 
 ways prevail from the east, and, if so, would never permit 
 their return to Spain. 
 
 Columbus endeavored to dispel these gloomy presages, 
 sometimes by argument and expostulation, sometimes by 
 awakening fresh hopes and pointing out new signs of land.
 
 IRVIXG] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 55 
 
 On the 20th of September the wind veered, with light 
 breezes from the southwest. These, though adverse to 
 their progress, had a cheering effect upon the people, as 
 they proved that the wind did not always prevail from the 
 east. Several birds also visited the ships ; three, of a small 
 kind which keep about groves and orchards, came singing 
 in the morning, and flew away again in the evening. Their 
 song cheered the hearts of the dismayed mariners, who 
 hailed it as the voice of land. The larger fowl, they ob- 
 served, were strong of wing, and might venture far to sea ; 
 but such small birds were too feeble to fly far, and their sing- 
 ing showed that they were not exhausted by their flight. 
 On the following day there was either a profound calm, 
 or light. winds from the southwest. The sea, as far as the 
 eye could reach, was covered with weeds, a phenomenon 
 often observed in this part of the ocean, which has some- 
 times the appearance of a vast inundated meadow. This 
 has been attributed to immense quantities of submarine 
 plants, which grow at the bottom of the sea until ripe, 
 when they are detached by the motion of the waves and 
 currents, and rise to the surface. These fields of weeds 
 were at first regarded with great satisfaction, but at length 
 they became, in many places, so dense and matted as in 
 some degree to impede the sailing of the ships, which must 
 have been under very little headway. The crews now 
 called to mind some tale about the frozen ocean, where 
 ships were said to be sometimes fixed immovable. They en- 
 deavored, therefore, to avoid as much as possible these float- 
 ing masses, lest some disaster of the kind might happen 
 to themselves. Others considered these weeds as proofs 
 that the sea was growing shallower, and began to talk of 
 lurking rocks, and shoals, and treacherous quicksands; 
 and of the danger of running aground, as it were, in the 
 midst of the ocean, where their vessels might rot and fall
 
 56 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 to pieces, far out of the track of human aid, and without 
 any shore where the crews might take refuge. They had 
 evidently some confused notion of the ancient story of 
 the sunken island of Atlantis, and feared that they were 
 arriving at that part of the ocean where navigation was 
 said to be obstructed by drowned lands and the ruins of 
 an engulfed country. 
 
 To dispel these fears, the admiral had frequent recourse 
 to the lead ; but, though he sounded with a deep-sea line, 
 he still found no bottom. The minds of the crews, how- 
 ever, had gradually become diseased. They were full of 
 vague terrors and superstitious fancies; they construed 
 everything into a cause of alarm, and harassed their com- 
 mander by incessant murmurs. 
 
 [The discontent of the crew rapidly augmented, until it rose to the 
 verge of mutiny. Indications which Columbus considered favorahle 
 they viewed as questionable, and he was kept busy in efforts to allay 
 their fears. The cloud-forms in the distance frequently deceived them 
 with the illusion of land, the people varying from the excitement of 
 joy to deep depression as these illusory hopes vanished.] 
 
 For several days they continued on with the same pro- 
 pitious breeze, tranquil sea, and mild, delightful weather. 
 The water w r as so calm that the sailors amused themselves 
 with swimming about the vessel. Dolphins began to 
 abound, and flying-fish, darting into the air, fell upon the 
 decks. The continued signs of land diverted the atten- 
 tion of the crews, and insensibly beguiled them onward. 
 
 On the 1st of October, according to the reckoning of 
 the pilot of the admiral's ship, they had come five hun- 
 dred and eighty leagues west since leaving the Canary 
 Islands. The reckoning which Columbus showed the 
 crew was five hundred and eighty-four, but the reckon- 
 ing which he kept privately was seven hundred and seven.
 
 IRVING] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 57 
 
 On the following day the weeds floated from east to west ; 
 and on the third day no birds were to be seen. 
 
 The crews now began to fear that they had passed be- 
 tween islands, from one to the other of which the birds 
 had been flying. Columbus had also some doubts of the 
 kind, but refused to alter his westward course. The peo- 
 ple again uttered murmurs and menaces ; but on the fol- 
 lowing day they were visited by such flights of birds, and 
 the various indications of land became so numerous, that 
 from a state of despondency they passed to one of confi- 
 dent expectation. 
 
 Eager to obtain the promised pension, the seamen were 
 continually giving the cry of land, on the least appearance 
 of the kind. To put a stop to these false alarms, which 
 produced continual disappointments, Columbus declared 
 that should any one give such notice, and land not be dis- 
 covered within three days afterwards, he should thence- 
 forth forfeit all claim to the reward. 
 
 [On the 7th of October land was again proclaimed, but with the 
 same result as before. There were now seen, however, "great flights 
 of small field-birds going towards the southwest," and Columbus con- 
 cluded to sail in that direction, from the fact that the Portuguese had 
 discovered the most of their islands by following the flight of birds.] 
 
 For three days they stood in this direction, and the fur- 
 ther they went the more frequent and encouraging were 
 the signs of land. Flights of small birds of various colors, 
 some of them such as sing in the fields, came flying about 
 the ships, and then continued towards the southwest, and 
 others were heard also flying by in the night. Tunny-fish 
 played about the smooth sea, and a heron, a pelican, and 
 a duck were seen, all bound in the same direction. The 
 herbage which floated by was fi-esh and green, as if re- 
 cently from land, and the air, Columbus observes, was 
 sweet and fragrant as April breezes in Seville.
 
 58 AMERICAN HISTORY. [!RVINQ 
 
 All these, however, were regarded by the crews as so 
 many delusions beguiling them on to destruction; and 
 when on the evening of the third day they beheld the 
 sun go down upon a shoreless ocean, they broke forth 
 into turbulent clamor. They exclaimed against this ob- 
 stinacy in tempting fate by continuing on into a bound- 
 less sea. They insisted upon turning homeward and 
 abandoning the voyage as hopeless. Columbus endeav- 
 ored to pacify them by gentle words and promises of large 
 rewards ; but, finding that they only increased in clamor, 
 he assumed a decided tone. He told them it was useless 
 to murmur ; the expedition had been sent by the sover- 
 eigns to seek the Indies, and, happen what might, he was 
 determined to persevere until, by the blessing of God, he 
 should accomplish the enterprise. 
 
 Columbus was now at open defiance with his crew, and 
 his situation became desperate. Fortunately, the mani- 
 festations of the vicinity of land were such on the follow- 
 ing day as no longer to admit of a doubt. Beside a quan- 
 tity of fresh weeds, such as grow in rivers, they saw a 
 green fish of a kind which keeps about rocks ; then a 
 branch of thorn with berries on it, and recently separated 
 from the tree, floated by them ; then they picked up a 
 reed, a small board, and, above all, a staff artificially 
 carved. All gloom and mutiny now gave way to sanguine 
 expectation ; and throughout the day every one was 
 eagerly on the watch, in hopes of being the first to dis- 
 cover the long-sought-for land. . . . 
 
 The breeze had been fresh all day, with more sea than 
 usual, and they had made great progress. At sunset they 
 had stood again to the west, and were ploughing the 
 waves at a rapid rate, the Pinta keeping the lead, from 
 her superior sailing. The greatest animation prevailed 
 throughout the ships ; not an eye was closed that night.
 
 IRVING] DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. 59 
 
 As the evening darkened, Columbus took his station on 
 the top of the castle or cabin on the high poop of his 
 vessel, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon, and main- 
 taining an intense and unremitting watch. About ten 
 o'clock he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a great 
 distance. Fearing his eager hopes might deceive him, 
 he called to Pedro Gutierrez, gentleman of the king's bed- 
 chamber, and inquired whether he saw such a light ; the 
 latter replied in the affirmative. Doubtful whether it 
 might not yet be some delusion of the fancy, Columbus 
 called Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and made the same 
 inquiry. By the time the latter had ascended the round- 
 house, the light had disappeared. They saw it once or 
 twice afterwards in sudden and passing gleams, as if it 
 were a torch in the bark of a fisherman, rising and sink- 
 ing with the waves, or in the hand of some person on 
 shore, borne up and down as he walked from house to 
 house. So transient and uncertain were these gleams 
 that few attached any importance to them ; Columbus, 
 however, considered them as certain signs of land, and, 
 moreover, that the land was inhabited. 
 
 They continued their course until two in the morning, 
 when a gun from the Pinta gave the joyful signal of land. 
 It was first descried by a mariner named Rodrigo de 
 Triana; but the reward was afterwards adjudged to the 
 admiral, for having previously perceived the light. The 
 land was now clearly seen about two leagues distant, 
 whereupon they took in sail, and laid to, waiting im- 
 patiently for the dawn. 
 
 The thoughts and feelings of Columbus in this little space 
 of time must have been tumultuous and intense. At length, 
 in spite of every difficulty and danger, he had accomplished 
 his object. The great mystery of the ocean was revealed ; 
 his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, was triuhi-
 
 60 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 phantly established; he had secured to himself a glory 
 durable as the world itself. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man at 
 such a moment, or the conjectures which must have 
 thronged upon his mind, as to the land before him, covered 
 with darkness. That it was fruitful, was evident from the 
 vegetables which floated from its shores. He thought, too, 
 that he perceived the fragrance of aromatic groves. The 
 moving light he had beheld proved it the residence of 
 man. But what were its inhabitants? Were they like 
 those of the other parts of the globe? or were they some 
 strange and monstrous race, such as the imagination was 
 prone in those times to give to all remote and unknown 
 regions ? Had he come upon some wild island far in the 
 Indian sea? or was this the famed Cipango itself, the 
 object of his golden fancies ? A thousand speculations of 
 the kind must have swarmed upon him, as, with his anx- 
 ious crews, he waited for the night to pass away, won- 
 dering whether the morning light would reveal a savage 
 wilderness, or dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering 
 fanes, and gilded cities, and all the splendor of Oriental 
 civilization. 
 
 It was on Friday morning, the 12th of October, that 
 Columbus first beheld the New World. As the day dawned 
 he saw before him a level island, several leagues in extent, 
 and covered with trees like a continual orchard. Though 
 apparently uncultivated, it was populous, for the inhab- 
 itants were seen issuing from all parts of the woods and 
 running to the shore. They were perfectly naked, and, 
 as they stood gazing at the ships, appeared by their atti- 
 tudes and gestures to be lost in astonishment. Columbus 
 made signal for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to 
 be manned and armed. He entered his own boat, richly 
 attired in scarlet, and holding the royal standard ; whilst
 
 GORDON] DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA. 61 
 
 Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vincent Jafiez his brother, put 
 off in company in their boats, each with a banner of the 
 enterprise emblazoned with a green cross, having on either 
 side the letters F. and Y., the initials of the Castilian 
 monarchs Fernando and Ysabel, surmounted by crowns. 
 
 As he approached the shore, Columbus, who was dis- 
 posed for all kinds of agreeable impressions, was delighted 
 with the purity and suavity of the atmosphere, the crys- 
 tal transparency of the sea, and the extraordinary beauty 
 of the vegetation. He beheld, also, fruits of an unknown 
 kind upon the trees which overhung the shores. On land- 
 ing, he threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and 
 returned thanks to God with tears of joy. His example 
 was followed by the rest, whose hearts indeed overflowed 
 with the same feelings of gratitude. Columbus then rising 
 drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and assem- 
 bling around him the two captains, with Rodrigo de Esco- 
 bedo, notary of the armament, Rodrigo Sanchez, and the 
 rest who had landed, he took solemn possession in the 
 name of the Castilian sovereigns, giving the island the 
 name of San Salvador. Having complied with the requi- 
 site forms and ceremonies, he called upon all present to 
 take the oath of obedience to him, as admiral and viceroy, 
 representing the persons of the sovereigns. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA. 
 
 THOMAS F. GORDON. 
 
 [The discovery made by Columbus was followed up by the Span- 
 iards with an activity in marked contrast to the supineness displayed 
 by other nations in exploring and settling the American continent. 
 Within twenty years from 1492 the four largest islands of the West 
 I. 6
 
 62 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GORDON 
 
 Indies were the seats of active colonies, while more than a century 
 passed ere any other nation founded a permanent colony on the Amer- 
 ican shores, with the exception of the small settlements of the Portu- 
 guese in Brazil. This was rapidly followed by the conquest of the two 
 great empires of Mexico and Peru, and the exploration of the region 
 of the southern United States, while yet other nations were content- 
 ing themselves with occasional voyages of discovery along the coasts 
 of the new continent. The great fertility of the islands first settled 
 hy the Spaniards, the mildness of their climates, and, above all, the 
 frequent discovery of gold, pearls, and other rich prizes, were the main 
 causes of the Spanish activity, and served as inducements to repeated 
 exploring expeditions. 
 
 Columbus made four voyages in all to the New "World, discovering 
 the South American continent near the mouth of the Orinoco in the 
 third, and reaching Honduras and the coast to the south of this region 
 in the fourth. To the day of his death he continued under the delu- 
 sion that the land he had reached was the eastern extremity of Asia. 
 Other voyagers quickly followed. Ojeda, who had already visited His- 
 paniola with Columbus, sailed on his own account and explored four 
 hundred leagues of the coast of South America in the region already dis- 
 covered by Columbus. He was accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci, 
 who made three subsequent voyages to America and wrote the first 
 account of it that was published. This was in a Latin work printed 
 in 1507 and prepared by a German scholar, Martin Waldseemuller, 
 who proposed the name of America for the new continent. The sug- 
 gestion was universally accepted, and Columbus lost the honor of 
 giving his name to the New "World. 
 
 Other voyagers were Pedro Alonzo Nigno, who sailed to the same 
 region of South America and passed from the Gulf of Paria to the 
 shores of the present republic of Colombia, and Vincent Yanez Pin- 
 zon, who had commanded one of the vessels of Columbus on his first 
 voyage, and who was the first Spaniard to cross the equinoctial line. 
 He discovered the mouth of the Amazon Kiver, and from there sailed 
 north to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. About the same 
 time (1499) Diego Lope reached the coast of South America at Cape 
 St. Augustine, which he doubled and sailed to the southwest for a con- 
 siderable distance. In 1500, Rodrigo Bastides touched South America 
 at Cape Vela, and coasted to the present seaport of Nombre de Dios, a 
 point which Columbus had reached in sailing south from Honduras. 
 
 At a subsequent period the settled islands of the "West Indies became
 
 GORDON] DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA. 63 
 
 centres of exploration for the reckless or disappointed spirits who had 
 failed to find there the fortunes they sought. Among others, Ojeda, 
 under a grant from the King of Spain, founded the settlement of San 
 Sebastian, in the Gulf of Uraba. With him had engaged to sail 
 Francisco Pizarro and Hernando Cort6s. The latter was detained by 
 illness, but the former thus made the first step in his famous career. 
 The colony left by Ojeda was forced By the Indians to abandon the 
 settlement. One vessel foundered. The other, commanded by Pizarro, 
 reached Carthagena, where was found Enciso, a lawyer of San Do- 
 mingo, who was conveying men and provisions to the colony. With 
 him was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, an adventurer whose debts made 
 him fly the town, and who managed to smuggle himself on board the 
 ship in what purported to be a cask of provisions. On leaving shore 
 he emerged from his cask, fell on his knees to Enciso, and begged par- 
 don for his trick and permission to accompany the expedition. The 
 colony having been deserted, Balboa proposed that they should sail for 
 Darien, which coast he had already visited with Bastides. This pro- 
 posal was accepted, and a new town established, which was named 
 Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. Troubles ensued among the 
 colonists, which ended in the imprisonment of Enciso, and the estab- 
 lishment of Balboa as alcalde of the colony. The subsequent story 
 of this able adventurer is told in detail in "The History of the Span- 
 ish Discoveries in America," by Thomas F. Gordon, from which we 
 make the following selection.] 
 
 IN the mean time the natives of Darien, weary of their 
 unbidden guests, and calculating that the same passions 
 which brought them to their shores would tempt them 
 to remove, represented that the neighboring district of 
 Coyba was richer than that of Santa Maria, both in pro- 
 visions and gold. Balboa sent Pizarro, with six men only, 
 to explore the country. Whilst ascending the river, they 
 were suri-ounded by four hundred Indians, commanded 
 by the cacique Zemaco, with whom the Spaniards unhesi- 
 tatingly engaged, and in a very short time slew one hun- 
 dred and fifty, and wounded many others. All the Span- 
 iards were severely hurt, and one, dangerously wounded,
 
 64 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 was left on the field. The others retreated to Santa Maria. 
 But Balboa, conceiving it to be a stain on his reputation 
 that a living man should be thus abandoned, compelled 
 Pizarro, with another party, to bring him off. 
 
 [Balboa soon after conquered Coyba, and formed a league with its 
 cacique, who became a useful ally.] 
 
 Adjacent to Coyba, at the foot of a range of high moun- 
 tains, lay the district of Comagre, governed by a cacique 
 of the same name, who, struck with admiration of the 
 Spaniards, invited them into his territories, treated them 
 with much hospitality, and displayed greater civilization 
 than they had yet seen in the New World. His palace, 
 one hundred and fifty paces in length and eighty in 
 breadth, was enclosed by a wall of timber of ingenious 
 workmanship, and divided into convenient apartments, 
 stored with abundance of provisions. One of these cham- 
 bers was the receptacle of the dried and embalmed bodies 
 of his ancestors of many generations, which, clothed in 
 mantles of cotton, embroidered with gold, pearls, and 
 precious stones, were suspended from the walls. 
 
 The eldest son of the cacique presented his guest with 
 a rich offering of gold, valued at four thousand pesos, and 
 seventy slaves. A fifth of the metal was set apart for the 
 king ; but in the division of the remainder a strife arose 
 among the Christians, which surprised and provoked the 
 young Indian. " If," said he, addressing the Spaniards, 
 and indignantly striking over the balance, " if you are so 
 fond of gold as for its sake to desert your own country 
 and disturb the peace of others, I will lead you to a prov- 
 ince where your utmost desires may be gratified, where 
 gold is more abundant than iron in Spain, and is used in 
 the fabric of ordinary domestic utensils. But to conquer 
 this country you must provide a larger force than you
 
 GORDON] DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA. 65 
 
 have here, since you will have to contend with mighty 
 chieftains, who will vigorously defend their possessions. 
 When you shall have passed these mountains," continued 
 he, pointing to a range in the southwest, "you will behold 
 another ocean, on which are vessels inferior only to those 
 which brought you hither, equipped with sails and oars, 
 but navigated by a people naked like ourselves." It is 
 supposed that the young chief alluded to the people of 
 Peru. 
 
 Balboa received with rapturous delight this first certain 
 intimation of the existence of another ocean. He exulted 
 in the hope of discovering the East Indies, which had 
 been so dearly cherished by Columbus, and conjectured 
 that the country now described to him formed a part of 
 that vast and opulent region. He immediately set about 
 preparation for this great enterprise, cultivating the good 
 will of Comagre and other chieftains, and administering 
 to the former and his sons the rite of Christian baptism. 
 
 [He sent the gold intended for the royal treasury to St. Domingo, 
 and occupied himself in subduing the neighboring tribes while wait- 
 ing to obtain the sanction of the king to his government of the colony. 
 So much gold was obtained, and such extravagant accounts of the 
 riches of the country were earned to Spain, that the region received 
 the name of Golden Castile (Castilla del Oro), and Balboa was sent 
 the commission of captain-general by Passamonte, the king's treasurer 
 at St. Domingo.] 
 
 But the pleasure of Nunez, on this occasion, was not 
 unmixed. Enciso had carried his complaints to the foot 
 of the throne, and Balboa was commanded to repair his 
 losses, to proceed immediately to court, and submit him- 
 self to the king's pleasure. He might, therefore, hourly 
 expect a successor, to deprive him of the fame and wealth 
 he anticipated from his intended enterprise. To prevent 
 a calamity greatly deprecated by his ambitious spirit, he 
 i. g Q*
 
 66 AMERICAN HISTORF. [GORDON 
 
 determined to effect the passage to the South Sea with the 
 force then under his command. 
 
 The Isthmus of Darien is not above sixty miles in 
 breadth, but a chain of lofty mountains, a continuation of 
 the Andes, covered with almost impenetrable forests, runs 
 through its whole extent. Its valleys, divided by large and 
 impetuous rivers, and inundated by rains which prevail 
 near two-thirds of the year, are marshy and unhealthy. 
 Its inhabitants, advanced but a few degrees in civilization, 
 had done nothing to remove or alleviate the difficulties of 
 the passage from sea to sea ; nor after a lapse of three 
 hundred years has it become more facile or commodious. 
 
 The attempt of Balboa may justly be considered the 
 boldest which had been made by the Spaniards in the 
 New World ; but he was in all respects fitted to insure 
 its success. The quality of courage he possessed, only, in 
 common with the meanest of his army; but his prudence, 
 generosity, and affability, and those nameless popular 
 talents which inspire confidence and secure attachment, 
 were peculiarly his own. In battle his post was that 
 of the greatest danger, and in every labor that of the 
 greatest fatigue ; whilst his regard for the ease of his 
 troops was ever active and anxious. He desired for his 
 undertaking a force of one thousand soldiers, but he com- 
 menced it with one hundred and ninety only, and some 
 fierce blood-hounds, which were efficient auxiliaries. A 
 thousand Indians, who accompanied him, were chiefly 
 useful in the transportation of the baggage. 
 
 Balboa set forth on the 1st of September (1513), after 
 the rainy season had passed. He proceeded by sea to the 
 district of Coyba, and thence marched into that of the 
 cacique Ponca. At his approach, that chieftain fled to 
 the deepest recesses of his mountains ; but, attracted by 
 promises of favor, and a liberal donation of Spanish im-
 
 GORDOX] DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA. 67 
 
 plements and toys, he returned to his village, and gave 
 the Spaniards a small quantity of gold, some provisions, 
 and guides. Further progress was sternly opposed by a 
 warlike tribe, armed with bows and arrows, and a species 
 of sling, by which they threw staves hardened in the fire 
 with such force as to pass -through the body of a naked 
 adversary. But the novel and terrific effect of the firelock, 
 the keen edge of the sword, and the ferocity of the blood- 
 hounds, scattered them in dismay, with the loss of their 
 cacique and six hundred of inferior note. Among the 
 prisoners were the brother of the cacique, and several 
 chiefs, who were clothed in tunics of white cotton ; and, 
 being accused of unnatural crimes by their enemies, they 
 were torn to pieces by the dogs, at the command of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 This defeat made the neighboring tribes fearful of pro- 
 voking hostility, and disposed them to render such assist- 
 ance as the Christians required. But great labor and 
 patience were necessary to overcome the natural difficul- 
 ties of the way. Disease and fatigue broke down some of 
 the hardy veterans, and they were left behind to recruit 
 their health. A journey estimated by the Indians to be 
 of six days only had already occupied twenty-five days, 
 when Nunez approached the summit of a mountain from 
 which he was informed the great ocean might be seen. 
 He commanded the army to halt, and advanced alone to 
 the apex, whence he beheld the great South Sea opened 
 before him, in boundless extent. Casting himself on his 
 knees, he poured forth his grateful thanks to heaven for 
 conducting him in safety to this glorious object. The 
 army, beholding his transports, rushed forward, and 
 joined in his admiration, his exultation, and his grati- 
 tude. Then, with formal ceremony, he took possession of 
 land and sea, making a record thereof, carefully attested,
 
 68 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GORDON 
 
 erecting crosses and mounds of stone, and cutting the 
 king's name on trees. In his descent to the coast he was 
 compelled to combat with a cacique called Chiapes, whom 
 he converted by his magnanimity into an active and zeal- 
 ous friend. . . . 
 
 [A practicable passage to the sea being discovered,] 
 Nunez, leaving a great part of his men at the village of 
 Chiapes, proceeded with eighty Spaniards and a number 
 of Indians, conducted by their friendly chief, towards the 
 coast, and arrived on the borders of one of the vast bays 
 which indent it, and to which he gave the name of St. 
 Michael, it being discovered on that saint's day. When 
 he reached the shore he rushed into the ocean with his 
 sword drawn, and called upon the witnesses to observe 
 that he had taken possession of it in the name of the king, 
 his master. 
 
 [The succeeding career of Balboa may be epitomized. Keceiving 
 from the Indians a fuller description of the great and wealthy empire 
 to the south, and having too few men to attempt its conquest, he re- 
 turned to Darien by another route, carrying with him a treasure valued 
 at nearly half a million of dollars, the greatest collected up to that time 
 by any adventurer in America. He at once sent messengers to Spain, 
 but before these arrived Don Pedrarias Davila had been sent out to 
 supersede him in his command. Somewhat later letters arrived from 
 the king appointing Balboa Adelantado, or admiral. He then resolved 
 to accomplish his project of exploring the newly-discovered ocean. 
 "With enormous labor, ship-building materials were conveyed across 
 the isthmus, and two brigantines were constructed. Embarking in 
 these, the adventurers took possession of the Pearl Islands, and only 
 adverse weather prevented them from reaching the coast of Peru. 
 Balboa's career was checked by the jealousy of Pedrarias, who re- 
 called him to Darien. Balboa obeyed, having no suspicion of treach- 
 ery. He was immediately seized, imprisoned, tried, and condeinned 
 to death, Pedrarias forcing the judge to impose this sentence. The 
 sentence was carried into execution in the public square of Acla, in 
 1517, to the great grief of all the inhabitants, who had vainly inter-
 
 PKESCOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 69 
 
 ceded for his pardon. The design of the conquest of Peru, which he 
 was thus prevented from accomplishing, was finally carried out by Pi- 
 zarro, as able a man as Balboa, and a much more unscrupulous one. 
 Three years after the death of Balboa, a Spanish fleet, under Magellan, 
 entered the South Sea after sailing around the southern extremity of 
 the continent. This great ocean, which Magellan named the Pacific, 
 from the pleasant weather with which he was steadily favored, was 
 crossed by his ships to the islands of the Indian archipelago. Laden 
 with spices, the fleet returned to Europe by way of the Cape of Good 
 Hope, having thus completed the circumnavigation of the globe.] 
 
 RETREAT OF CORTES FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO. 
 
 WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 
 
 [The first step towards the discovery of Mexico was made by Fran- 
 cisco Fernandez de Cordova, who, in 1517, explored the northern 
 coast of Yucatan. Instead of finding naked savages, as in former 
 explorations, he was surprised to discover well-clad people and large 
 stone edifices. The natives were so bold and warlike as to drive off 
 the Spaniards, killing many of them, and mortally wounding Cordova. 
 In the following year, Juan de Grijalva explored a portion of the 
 southern coast of Mexico, and obtained much treasure by traffic with 
 the inhabitants. Velasquez, governor of Cuba, who had fitted out this 
 expedition, now determined to attempt the conquest of the wealthy 
 country that had been discovered, and prepared an expedition of ten 
 vessels, manned by six hundred and seventeen men, which he placed 
 under the command of Hernando Cortes, an adventurous cavalier who 
 had already shown much military ability. He landed in Mexico on 
 March 4, 1519, where his ships, his horses, and his artillery filled the 
 natives with wonder and terror and caused them to regard the Span- 
 iards as divine beings. After several victories over the natives, who 
 were repulsed with great slaughter, Cortes founded the city of Vera 
 Cruz, burned his vessels to cut off all thought of retreat from the 
 minds of his soldiers, and commenced his march towards the Mexican 
 capital. He was opposed by the people of Tlascala, enemies of the
 
 70 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PRESCOTT 
 
 Aztecs, but he conquered this warlike republic and converted its in- 
 habitants into useful auxiliaries. In the city of Cholula, where an 
 ambuscade had been laid for him, he defeated his enemies with terrible 
 slaughter. He finally reached the city of Mexico, which was situated 
 on an island in a lake and connected by causeways with the mainland. 
 Here he took Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, prisoner, and converted 
 one of his palaces into a fortress. Velasquez had, meanwhile, sent an 
 expedition under Narvaez to deprive Cortes of his command. Leav- 
 ing two hundred men in the city, he marched against Narvaez, defeated 
 him, and enlisted his men under his own banner. During his absence 
 the Mexicans attacked the Spanish garrison. Their attacks were con- 
 tinued after the return of Cortes with such fury that Montezuma was 
 mortally wounded by his own subjects, and many of the Spaniards were 
 slain. So persistent and threatening became the Mexican assaults that 
 the invaders found themselves in imminent peril of being entirely de- 
 stroyed, and their leader was forced to order a retreat. There is noth- 
 ing more exciting in fiction than the story of this terrible night march, 
 the " noche trisie" of Spanish historians. We give it in Prescott's 
 eloquent description from his " Conquest of Mexico."] 
 
 THE general's first care was to provide for the safe trans- 
 portation of the treasure. Many of the common soldiers 
 had converted their share of the prize, as we have seen, 
 into gold chains, collars, or other ornaments, which they 
 easily carried about their persons. But the royal fifth, 
 together with that of Cortes himself, and much of the 
 rich booty of the principal cavaliers, had been converted 
 into bars and wedges of solid gold and deposited in one 
 of the strong apartments of the palace. Cortes delivered 
 the share belonging to the crown to the royal officers, as- 
 signing them one of the strongest horses, and a guard of 
 Castilian soldiers, to ti'ansport it. Still, much of the treas- 
 ure, belonging both to the crown and to individuals, was 
 necessarily abandoned, from the want of adequate means 
 of conveyance. The metal lay scattered in shining heaps 
 along the floor, exciting the cupidity of the soldiers. 
 "Take what you will of it," said Cortes to his men.
 
 PBESCOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 71 
 
 " Better you should have it, than these Mexican hounds. 
 But be careful not to overload yourselves. He travels 
 safest in the dai-k night who travels lightest." His own 
 more wary followers took heed to his counsel, helping 
 themselves to a few articles of least bulk, though, it might 
 be, of greatest value. But the troops of Narvaez, pining 
 for riches of which they had heard so much and hitherto 
 seen so little, showed no such discretion. To them it 
 seemed as if the very mines of Mexico were turned up 
 before them, and, rushing on the treacherous spoil, they 
 greedily loaded themselves with as much of it, not merely 
 as they could accommodate about their persons, but as 
 they could stow away in wallets, boxes, or any other 
 means of conveyance at their disposal. 
 
 Cortes next arranged the order of march. The van, 
 composed of two hundred Spanish foot, be placed under 
 the command of the valiant Gonzalo de Sandoval, sup- 
 ported by Diego de Ordaz, Francisco de Lujo, and about 
 twenty other cavaliers. The rear-guard, constituting the 
 strength of the infantry, was intrusted to Pedro de Alva- 
 rado and Velasquez de Leon. The general himself took 
 charge of the " battle," or centre, in which went the bag- 
 gage, some of the heavy guns, most of which, however, 
 remained in the rear, the treasure, and the prisoners. 
 These consisted of a son and two daughters of Monte- 
 zuma, Cacama, the deposed lord of Tezcuco, and several 
 other nobles, whom Cortes retained as important pledges 
 in his future negotiations with the enemy. The Tlascalans 
 were distributed pretty equally among the three divisions ; 
 and Cortes had under his immediate command a hundred 
 picked soldiers, his own veterans most attached to his 
 service, who, with Cristoval de Olid, Francisco de Morla, 
 Alonso de Avila, and two or three other cavaliers, formed 
 a select corps, to act wherever occasion might require.
 
 72 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PRESCOTT 
 
 The general had already superintended the construction 
 of a portable bridge to be laid over the open canals in the 
 causeway. This was given in charge to an officer named 
 Magarino, with forty soldiers under his orders, all pledged 
 to defend the passage to the last extremity. The bridge 
 was to be taken up when the entire army had crossed one 
 of the breaches, and transported to the next. There were 
 three of these openings in the causeway, and most fortu- 
 nate would it have been for the expedition if the fore- 
 sight of the commander had provided the same number 
 of bridges. But the labor would have been great, and 
 time was short. 
 
 At midnight the troops were under arms, in readiness 
 for the march. Mass was performed by Father Olmedo, 
 who invoked the protection of the Almighty through 
 the awful perils of the night. The gates were thrown 
 open, and on the 1st of July, 1520, the Spaniards for the 
 last time sallied forth from the walls of the ancient for- 
 tress, the scene of so much suffering and such indomitable 
 courage. 
 
 The night was cloudy, and a drizzling rain, which fell 
 without intermission, added to the obscurity. The great 
 square before the palace was deserted, as, indeed, it had 
 been since the fall of Montezuma. Steadily, and as noise- 
 lessly as possible, the Spaniards held their way along the 
 great street of Tlacopan, which so lately had resounded 
 with the tumult of battle. All was now hushed in silence ; 
 and they were only reminded of the past by the occasional 
 presence of some solitary corpse, or a dark heap of the 
 slain, which too plainly told where the strife had been hot- 
 test. As they passed along the lanes and alleys which 
 opened into the great street, or looked down the canals, 
 whose polished surface gleamed with a sort of ebon lustre 
 through the obscurity of night, they easily fancied that
 
 PEESCOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 73 
 
 they discerned the shadowy forms of their foe lurking in 
 ambush and ready to spring on them. But it was only 
 fancy; and the city slept undisturbed even by the pro- 
 longed echoes of the tramp of the horses and the hoarse 
 rumbling of the artillery and baggage-trains. At length 
 a lighter space beyond the dusky line of buildings showed 
 the van of the army that it was emerging on the open 
 causeway. They might well have congratulated them- 
 selves on having thus escaped the dangers of an assault 
 in the city itself, and that a brief time would place them 
 in comparative safety on the opposite shore. But the 
 Mexicans were not all asleep. 
 
 As the Spaniards drew near the spot where the street 
 opened on the causeway, and were preparing to lay the 
 portable bridge across the uncovered breach, which now 
 met their eyes, several Indian sentinels, who had been 
 stationed at this, as at the other approaches to the city, 
 took the alarm and fled, rousing their countrymen by 
 their cries. The priests, keeping their night-watch on 
 the summit of the teocallis, instantly caught the tidings 
 and sounded their shells, while the huge drum in the 
 desolate temple of the war-god sent forth those solemn 
 tones which, heard only in seasons of calamity, vibrated 
 through every corner of the capital. The Spaniards saw 
 that no time was to be lost. The bridge was brought 
 forward and fitted with all possible expedition. Sandoval 
 was the first to try its strength, and, riding across, was 
 followed by his little body of chivalry, his infantry, and 
 Tlascalan allies, who formed the first division of the 
 army. Then came Cortes and his squadrons, with the 
 baggage, ammunition-wagons, and a part of the artillery. 
 But before they had time to defile across the narrow pas- 
 sage, a gathering sound was heard, like that of a mighty 
 forest agitated by the winds. It grew louder and louder, 
 i. D 7
 
 74 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PRESCOTT 
 
 while On the dark waters of the lake was heard a plash- 
 ing noise, as of many oars. Then came a few stones and 
 arrows striking at random among the hurrying troops. 
 They fell every moment faster and more furious, till they 
 thickened into a terrible tempest, while the very heavens 
 were rent with the yells and war-cries of myriads of com- 
 batants, who seemed all at once to be swarming over land 
 and lake ! 
 
 The Spaniards pushed steadily on through this arrowy 
 sleet, though the barbarians, dashing their canoes against 
 the sides of the causeway, clambered up and broke in 
 upon their ranks. But the Christians, anxious only to 
 make their escape, declined all combat except for self- 
 preservation. The cavaliers, spurring forward their steeds, 
 shook off their assailants and rode over their prostrate 
 bodies, while the men on foot with their good swords or 
 the butts of their pieces drove them headlong again down 
 the sides of the dike. 
 
 But the advance of several thousand men, marching, 
 probably, on a front of not more than fifteen or twenty 
 abreast, necessarily required much time, and the leading 
 files had already reached the second breach in the cause- 
 way before those in the rear had entirely traversed the 
 first. Here they halted, as they had no means of effect- 
 ing a passage, smarting all the while under unintermit- 
 ting volleys from the enemy, who were clustered thick 
 on the waters around this second opening. Sorety dis- 
 tressed, the vanguard sent repeated messages to the rear 
 to demand the portable bridge. At length the last of the 
 army had crossed, and Magarino and his sturdy followers 
 endeavored to raise the ponderous framework. But it 
 stuck fast in the sides of the dike. In vain they strained 
 every nerve. The weight of so man} T men and horses, and 
 above all of the heavy artillery, had wedged the timbers
 
 PRESUOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 75 
 
 so firmly in the stones and earth that it was beyond their 
 power to dislodge them. Still they labored amidst a tor- 
 rent of missiles, until, many of them slain, and all wounded, 
 they were obliged to abandon the attempt. 
 
 The tidings soon spread from man to man, and no 
 sooner was their dreadful import comprehended than a 
 cry of despair arose, which for a moment drowned all 
 the noise of conflict. All means of retreat were cut off. 
 Scarcely hope was left. The only hope was in such desper- 
 ate exertions as each could make for himself. Order and 
 subordination were at an end. Intense danger produced 
 intense selfishness. Each thought only of his own life. 
 Pressing forward, he trampled down the weak and the 
 wounded, heedless whether it were friend or foe. The 
 leading files, urged on by the rear, were crowded on the 
 brink of the gulf. Sandoval, Ordaz, and the other cavaliers 
 dashed into the water. Some succeeded in swimming 
 their horses across. Others failed, and some, who reached 
 the opposite bank, being overturned in the ascent, rolled 
 headlong with their steeds into the lake. The infantry 
 followed pell-mell, heaped promiscuously on one another, 
 frequently pierced by the shafts or struck down by the 
 war-clubs of the Aztecs ; while many an unfortunate vic- 
 tim was dragged half stunned on board their canoes, to 
 be reserved for a protracted but more dreadful death. 
 
 The carnage raged fearfully along the length of the 
 causeway. Its shadowy bulk presented a mark of suf- 
 ficient distinctness for the enemy's missiles, which often 
 prostrated their own countrymen in the blind fury of the 
 tempest. Those nearest the dike, running their canoes 
 alongside with a force that shattered them to pieces, 
 leaped on the land, and grappled with the Christians, 
 until both came rolling down the side of the causeway 
 together. But the Aztec fell among his friends, while
 
 76 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PRESCOTT 
 
 his antagonist was borne away in triumph to the sacrifice. 
 The struggle was long and deadly. The Mexicans were 
 recognized by their white cotton tunics, which showed 
 faint through the darkness. Above the combatants rose 
 a wild and discordant clamor, in which horrid shouts of 
 vengeance were mingled with groans of agony, with invo- 
 cations of the saints and the blessed Virgin, and with the 
 screams of women ; for there were several women, both 
 natives and Spaniards, who had accompanied the Chris- 
 tian camp. Among these, one named Maria de Estrada 
 is particularly noticed for the courage she displaj^ed. bat- 
 tling with broadsword and target like the stanchest of the 
 warriors. 
 
 The opening in the causeway, meanwhile, was filled up 
 with the wreck of matter which had been forced into it, 
 ammunition-wagons, heavy guns, bales of rich stuffs scat- 
 tered over the waters, chests of solid ingots, and bodies 
 of men and horses, till over this dismal ruin a passage 
 was gradually formed, by which those in the rear were 
 enabled to clamber to the other side. Cortes, it is said, 
 found a place that was fordable, where, halting, with the 
 water up to his saddle-girths, he endeavored to check the 
 confusion and lead his followers by a safer path to the 
 opposite bank. But his voice was lost in the wild uproar, 
 and finally, hurrying on with the tide, he pressed for- 
 wards with a few trusty cavaliers, who remained near his 
 person, to the van ; but not before he had seen his favorite 
 page, Juan de Salazar, struck down, a corpse, by his side. 
 Here he found Sandoval and his companions, halting be- 
 fore the third and last breach, endeavoring to cheer on 
 their followers to surmount it. But their resolution fal- 
 tered. It was wide and deep ; though the passage was 
 not so closely beset by the enemy as the preceding ones. 
 The cavaliers again set the example by plunging into
 
 PRESCOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 77 
 
 the water. Horse and foot followed as they could, some 
 swimming, others with dying grasp clinging to the manes 
 and tails of the struggling animals. Those fared best, as 
 the general had predicted, who travelled lightest; and 
 many were the unfortunate wretches who, weighed down 
 by the fatal gold which they loved so well, were buried 
 with it in the salt floods of the lake. Cortes, with his 
 gallant comrades, Olid, Morla, Sandoval, and some few 
 others, still kept in the advance, leading his broken rem- 
 nant off the fatal causeway. The din of battle lessened 
 in the distance ; when the rumor reached them that the 
 rear-guard would be wholly overwhelmed without speedy 
 relief. It seemed almost an act of desperation ; but the 
 generous hearts of the Spanish cavaliers did not stop to 
 calculate danger when the cry for succor reached them. 
 Turning their horses' bridles, they galloped back to the 
 theatre of action, worked their way through the press, 
 swam the canal, and placed themselves in the thick of the 
 melee on the opposite bank. 
 
 The first gray of the morning was now coming over the 
 waters. It showed the hideous confusion of the scene 
 which had been shrouded in the obscurity of night. The 
 dark masses of combatants, stretching along the dike, 
 were seen struggling for mastery, until the very cause- 
 way on which they stood appeared to tremble arid reel to 
 and fro, as if shaken by an earthquake, while the bosom 
 of the lake, as far as the eye could reach, was darkened 
 by canoes crowded with warriors, whose spears and blud- 
 geons, armed with blades of " volcanic glass," gleamed in 
 the morning light. 
 
 The cavaliers found Alvarado unhorsed, and defending 
 himself with a poor handful of followers against an over- 
 whelming tide of the enemy. His good steed, which had 
 borne him through many a hard fight, had fallen under 
 
 7*
 
 78 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PRESCOTT 
 
 him. He was himself wounded in several places, and was 
 striving in vain to rally his scattered column, which was 
 driven to the verge of the canal by the fury of the enemy, 
 then in possession of the whole rear of the causeway, 
 where they were I'einforced every hour by fresh com- 
 batants from the city. The artillery in the earlier part 
 of the engagement had not been idle, and its iron shower, 
 sweeping along the dike, had mowed down the assailants 
 by hundreds. But nothing could resist their impetuosity. 
 The front ranks, pushed on by those behind, were at length 
 forced up to the pieces, and, pouring over them like a tor- 
 rent, overthrew men and guns in one general ruin. The 
 resolute charge of the Spanish cavaliers, who had now 
 arrived, created a temporary check, and gave time for 
 their countrymen to make a feeble rally. But they were 
 speedily borne down by the returning flood. Cortes and 
 his companions were compelled to plunge again into the 
 lake, though all did" not escape. Alvarado stood on the 
 bi'ink for a moment hesitating what to do. Unhorsed as 
 he was, to throw himself into the water in the face of 
 the hostile canoes that now swarmed around the opening 
 afforded but a desperate chance of safety. He had but a 
 second for thought. He was a man of powerful frame, 
 and despair gave him unnatural energy. Setting his long 
 lance firmly on the wreck which strewed the bottom of 
 the lake, he sprung forward with all his might, and cleared 
 the wide gap at a leap ! Aztecs and Tlascalans gazed in 
 stupid amazement, exclaiming, as they beheld the incredi- 
 ble feat, " This is truly the Tonatiuh, the child of the 
 Sun!" The breadth of the opening is not given. But it 
 was so great that the valorous captain, Diaz, who well re- 
 membered the place, says the leap was impossible to any 
 man. Other contemporai'ies, however, do not discredit 
 the story. It was, beyond doubt, matter of popular be-
 
 PRESCOTT] RETREAT OF CORTES. 79 
 
 lief at the time ; it is to this day familiarly known to 
 every inhabitant of the capital ; and the name of the 
 Salto de Alvarado, " Alvarado's Leap," given to the spot, 
 still commemorates an exploit which rivalled those of 
 the demi-gods of Grecian fable. 
 
 Cortes and his companions now rode forward to the 
 front, where the troops, in a loose, disorderly manner, 
 were marching off the fatal causeway. A few only of the 
 enemy hung on their rear, or annoyed them by occasional 
 flights of arrows from the lake. The attention of the 
 Aztecs was diverted by the rich spoil that strewed the 
 battle-ground; fortunately for the Spaniards, who, had 
 their enemy pursued with the same ferocity with which 
 he had fought, would, in their crippled condition, have 
 been cut off, probably, to a man. But little molested, 
 therefore, they were allowed to defile through the adja- 
 cent village, or suburbs, it might be called, of Popotla. 
 
 The Spanish commander there dismounted from his 
 jaded steed, and, sitting down on the steps of an Indian 
 temple, gazed mournfully on the broken files as they passed 
 before him. What a spectacle did they present! The 
 cavalry, most of them dismounted, were mingled with the 
 infantry, who dragged their feeble limbs along with diffi- 
 culty; their shattered mail and tattered garments drip- 
 ping with the salt ooze, showing through their rents 
 many a bruise and ghastly wound; their bright arms 
 soiled, their proud crests and banners gone, the baggage, 
 artillery, all, in short, that constitutes the pride and pan- 
 oply of glorious war, forever lost. Cortes, as he looked 
 wistfully on their thin and disordered ranks, sought in 
 vain for many a familiar face, and missed more than one 
 dear companion who had stood side by side with him 
 through all the perils of the Conquest. Though accus- 
 tomed to control his emotions, or, at least, to conceal
 
 80 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ 
 
 them, the sight was too much for him. He covered his 
 face with his hands, and the tears which trickled down 
 revealed too plainly the anguish of his soul. 
 
 [The story of the conquest of Mexico may be briefly concluded. 
 Cortes, in his retreat, found himself opposed by a vastly outnumber- 
 ing army, filling a valley through which he was forced to pass. A 
 desperate conflict ensued, in which the Spaniards were in imminent 
 danger of annihilation, when Cortes, followed by his bravest cavaliers, 
 spurred to the point where the great Aztec standard rose in the centre 
 of the army, cut down the general, and seized the imperial banner. 
 On seeing their standard fall, the army at once broke into a panic and 
 fled in all directions, leaving free passage to the remnant of the Span- 
 ish force. Cortes proceeded to the coast, where he received reinforce- 
 ments, and returned to besiege the city. It was defended with des- 
 perate determination, and yielded only after a siege of several months, 
 when the city was nearly levelled with the ground, and after the in- 
 habitants had endured the extremities of famine. The submission of 
 the city was that of the empire, and the Aztecs experienced the fate 
 which had been visited upon the natives in the other Spanish colonies.] 
 
 HERNANDO DE SOTO. 
 
 N. D'ANVERS. 
 
 [The activity of the Spanish adventurers in their search for gold 
 was unceasing, and this eager desire for riches led to a far more rapid 
 exploration of the American continent than could have been accom- 
 plished under any other incitement. It was this that led Balboa in 
 his perilous journey across the Isthmus, and that was the inciting 
 cause of the remarkable achievements of Cortes and Pizarro. The 
 same wild thirst for wealth led a succession of bold adventurers north- 
 ward, and gave rise to an extended exploration of the territory of the 
 southern United States. The earliest of these was Juan Ponce do 
 Leon, who in 1512 discovered a country which he named Florida, 
 either because he first saw it on Easter Sunday (Pascua florida), or on
 
 D'ANVERS] HERNANDO DE SOTO. 81 
 
 account of its beautiful appearance. He made several efforts to land, 
 but was driven off by the warlike natives. 
 
 In the words of Kobertson, " It was not merely the passion of 
 searching for new countries that prompted Ponce de Leon to under- 
 take this voyage ; he was influenced by one of those visionary ideas 
 which at that time often mingled with the spirit of discovery and 
 rendered it more active. A tradition prevailed among the natives of 
 Puerto Eico, that in the isle of Bimini, one of the Lucayos, there was 
 a fountain of such wonderful virtue as to renew the youth and recall 
 the vigor of every person who bathed in its salutary waters. In 
 hopes of finding this grand restorative, Ponce de Leon and his follow- 
 ers ranged through the islands, searching, with fruitless solicitude and 
 labor, for the fountain which was the chief object of their expedition. 
 That a tale so fabulous should gain credit among simple uninstructed 
 Indians is not surprising. That it should make any impression upon 
 an enlightened people appears, in the present age, altogether incredi- 
 ble. The fact, however, is certain ; and the most authentic Spanish 
 historians mention this extravagant sally of their credulous country- 
 men. The Spaniards, at that period, were engaged in a career of 
 activity which gave a romantic turn to their imagination and daily 
 presented to them strange and marvellous objects. A new world was 
 opened to their view. They visited islands and continents of whose 
 existence mankind in former ages had no conception. In those de- 
 lightful countries nature seemed to assume another form ; every tree 
 and plant and animal was different from those of the ancient hemi- 
 sphere. They seemed to be transported into enchanted ground ; and, 
 after the wonders which they had seen, nothing, in the warmth and 
 novelty of their imagination, appeared to them so extraordinary as to 
 be beyond belief. If the rapid succession of new and striking scenes 
 made such impression upon the sound understanding of Columbus 
 that he boasted of having found the seat of Paradise, it will not ap- 
 pear strange that Ponce de Leon should dream of discovering the 
 fountain of youth." 
 
 Ponce de Leon was killed by the Indians in a second visit to Florida 
 in 1521. In 1518 Francisco Garay cruised along the whole Gulf coast, 
 passing the mouth of the Mississippi, the Miche Sepe, or Father of 
 Waters, of the Indians. In 1520, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon sailed 
 from Cuba in quest of a land called Chicora, north of Florida, said to 
 possess a sacred stream whose waters had the miraculous virtue of those 
 of the Fountain of Youth. He carried off some of the Indians, in 
 I./
 
 82 AMERICAN HISTORY. [D'ANVERS 
 
 reprisal for which he was attacked in a second expedition and many 
 of his men killed, perhaps himself among the number. In 1528, 
 Pamphilo de Narvaez made an effort to take possession of this land 
 in the name of Charles V. of Germany. He met, however, with such 
 determined opposition from the Indians that after months of fruitless 
 wandering he reached the shores of the Gulf, bringing with him but 
 a miserable remnant of his six hundred followers. Here five crazy 
 boats were built, and the reckless adventurers sought to follow the line 
 of the coast to the Mexican settlements. Four of the boats were lost 
 in a storm, and the survivors, landing, sought to cross the continent to 
 the province of Sonora, already colonized by Spaniards. Four of the 
 party, after being held for years in captivity by the Indians, succeeded 
 in this enterprise, among them Cabe9a de Vaca, treasurer of the ex- 
 pedition. Their appearance at the mining settlement on the shores of 
 the Gulf of California caused the greatest astonishment, and on reach- 
 ing Europe, nine years after the starting of the original expedition, 
 they were received with the utmost enthusiasm. We give the stoiy of 
 De Soto in an extract from "Heroes of American Discovery," by N. 
 D'Anvers.] 
 
 THE excitement caused by the wonderful tales of their 
 captivity, told by Cabega and his comrades, was, as may 
 be imagined, intense. Far from damping the ardor of 
 others for exploration and colonization, the pictures called 
 up by their narrative of hair-breadth escapes, of the magic 
 influence exercised on whole tribes of dusky warriors by 
 a single white man, of the weird growths of the tropical 
 forests, and of the wild beauty of the Indian maidens, 
 created a passion for adventure amongst the youth of 
 Spain. When, therefore, the renowned Hernando do Soto, 
 who had been in close attendance on Pizarro throughout 
 his romantic career in Peru, asked for and obtained per- 
 mission from Ferdinand of Spain to take possession of 
 Florida in his name, hundreds of volunteers of every rank 
 flocked to his standard. Narvaez had failed for want of 
 knowledge as to 'how to deal with the natives ; doubtless 
 the land of gold could yet be found by those who knew
 
 D'ANTERS] HERNANDO DE SOTO. 83 
 
 how to wrest the secret of its position from the sons of the 
 soil ; and so once more a gallant company set forth from 
 Spain to measure their strength against the craft of the 
 poor Indians of Florida. 
 
 De Soto, who was in the first place appointed governor 
 of Cuba that he might turn to account the resources of 
 that wealthy island, sailed from Havana with a fleet of 
 nine vessels and a force of some six or seven hundred men 
 on the 18th May, 1539, and cast anchor in Tampa Bay on 
 the 30th of the same month. Landing his forces at once, 
 the leader gave orders that they should start for the 
 interior immediately, by the same route as that taken by 
 his unfortunate predecessor; and the men were eagerly 
 ploughing their way through the sandy, marshy districts 
 immediately beyond the beach, driving the natives who 
 opposed their progress before them, when one of those 
 romantic incidents occurred in which the early history of 
 the New World is so remarkably rich. 
 
 A white man on horseback rode forward from amongst 
 the dusky savages, who hailed the approach of the troops 
 with wild gestures of delight, and turned out to be a 
 Spaniard named Juan Ortiz, who had belonged to the 
 Nai'vaez expedition and had been unable to effect his 
 escape with his comrades. In his captivity amongst the 
 Indians he had acquired a thorough knowledge of their 
 language, and his services alike as a mediator and a guide 
 were soon found to be invaluable. 
 
 [The story told by Ortiz of his adventures in captivity may be 
 briefly given. It had been decided by his captors to burn him alive 
 by a slow fire, as a sacrifice to the Evil Spirit. He was accordingly 
 bound hand and foot and laid on a wooden stage, with a fire kindled 
 beneath it. At that moment of frightful peril the daughter of the 
 chieftain begged for his life from her father, and succeeded in winning 
 a change of sentence from death to slavery. Three years later he was
 
 84 AMERICAN HISTORY. [D'ANVERS 
 
 again condemned to be burned, and again saved by the chieftain's 
 daughter, who warned him of his danger, and led him to the camp 
 of another chief. Here he remained until the arrival of the Spaniards. 
 As for the maiden, Ortiz says nothing further concerning her. 
 
 Led by Ortiz, the exploring army wandered through the unknown 
 land of Florida until the ensuing spring, when the march was resumed 
 under the guidance of a native who said he would take the white men 
 to a distant country, governed by a woman, and abounding in a yellow 
 metal, which the Spaniards naturally took to be gold, but which proved 
 to be copper. After wandering to the southern slope of the Appa- 
 lachian range, marking their course by pillage and bloodshed, and 
 finding the land of gold ever receding before them, they reached the 
 dominions of an Indian queen, who hastened to welcome them, per- 
 haps with the desire of conciliating her dreaded visitors.] 
 
 Very touching is the account given by the old chroni- 
 clers of the meeting between the poor cacica and De Soto. 
 Alighting from the litter in which she had travelled, car- 
 ried by four of her subjects, the dusky princess came 
 forward with gestures expressive of pleasure at the arrival 
 of her guest, and taking from her own neck a heavy 
 double string of pearls, she hung it on that of the Spaniard. 
 Bowing with courtly grace, De Soto accepted the gift, and 
 for a short time he kept up the semblance of friendship ; 
 but having obtained from the queen all the information he 
 wanted, he made her his prisoner, and robbed her and her 
 people of all the valuables they possessed, including large 
 numbers of pearls, found chiefly in the graves of natives 
 of distinction. We are glad to be able to add that the 
 poor queen effected her escape from her guards, taking 
 with her a box of pearls which she had managed to regain 
 and on which De Soto had set especial store. 
 
 The home of the cacica appears to have been situated 
 close to the Atlantic seaboard, and to have been amongst 
 
 * o 
 
 the villages visited by De Ayllon twenty j'ears previ- 
 ously, the natives having in their possession a dagger and
 
 D'ANVKRS] HERNANDO DE SOTO. 85 
 
 a string of beads, probably a rosary, which they said had 
 belonged to the white men. Unwilling to go over old 
 ground, the Spaniards now determined to alter their 
 course, and, taking a northwesterly direction, they reached, 
 in the course of a few months, the first spurs of the lofty 
 Appalachian range, the formidable aspect of which so 
 damped their courage that they turned back and wan- 
 dered into the lowlands of what is now Alabama, ignorant 
 that in the very mountains they so much dreaded were 
 hidden large quantities of that yellow metal they had 
 sought so long and so vainly. 
 
 The autumn of 1540 found the party, their numbers 
 greatly diminished, at a large village called Mavilla, close 
 to the site of the modern Mobile, where the natives were 
 gathered in considerable force ; and it soon became evi- 
 dent that an attempt would be made to exact vengeance 
 for the long course of oppression of which the white in- 
 truders had been guilty in their two years' wanderings. 
 
 Intending to take possession of Mavilla in his usual 
 high-handed manner, De Soto and a few of his men en- 
 tered the palisades forming its defences, accompanied by 
 the cacique, who, meek enough until he was within reach 
 of his warriors, then turned upon his guests with some 
 insulting speech and disappeared in a neighboring house. 
 A dispute then ensued between a minor chief and one of 
 the Spaniards. The latter enforced his view of the mat- 
 ter at issue by a blow with his cutlass, and in an instant 
 the town was in a commotion. From every house poured 
 showers of arrows, and in a few minutes nearly all the 
 Christians were slain. De Soto and a few others escaped, 
 and, calling his forces together, the Spanish governor 
 quickly invested the town. 
 
 A terrible conflict, lasting nine hours, ensued, in which, 
 as was almost inevitable, the white men were finally vic- 
 i. 8
 
 86 AMERICAN HISTORY. [D'ANVERS 
 
 torious, though not until they had lost many valuable 
 lives and nearly all their property. Mavilla was burnt to 
 ashes ; and when the battle was over, the Spaniards found 
 themselves in an awful situation, at a distance from 
 their ships, without food or medicines, and surrounded on 
 all sides by enemies rendered desperate by defeat. The 
 common soldiers, too, had by this time had enough of ex- 
 ploration, and were eager to return to the coast, there to 
 await the return of the vessels which had been sent to 
 Cuba for supplies. Evading the poor fellows' questions as 
 to his plans, however, Do Soto, who had received secret 
 intelligence that his fleet was even now awaiting him in 
 the Bay of Pensacola, but six days' journey from Mavilla. 
 determined to make one more effort to redeem his honor 
 by a discovery of importance. With this end in view he 
 led his disheartened forces northward, and in December 
 reached a small village, belonging to Chickasaw Indians, 
 in the State of Mississippi, supposed to have been situated 
 about N. lat. 32 53', W. long. 90 23'. 
 
 In spite of constant petty hostilities with the Indians, 
 the winter, which was severe enough for snow to fall, 
 passed over peaceably ; but with the beginning of spring 
 the usual arbitrary proceedings were resorted to by De 
 Soto for procuring porters to carry his baggage in his 
 next trip, and this led to a second terrible fight, in which 
 the Spaniards were worsted and narrowly escaped extermi- 
 nation. Had the Indians followed up their victory, not a 
 white man would have escaped to tell the tale ; but they 
 seem to have been frightened at their own success, and to 
 have drawn back just as they had their persecutors at 
 their feet. 
 
 Eallying the remnant of his forces, and supplying the 
 place of the uniforms which had been carried off by 
 the enemy with skins and mats of ivy leaves, De Soto
 
 D'AxvEiis] HERNANDO DE SOTO. 87 
 
 now led bis strangely-transformed followers in a north- 
 westerly direction, and, completely crossing the modern 
 State of Mississippi, arrived in May on the banks of the 
 mighty river from which it takes its name, in about N. 
 lat. 35. 
 
 Thus took place the discovery of the great Father of 
 Waters, rolling by in unconscious majesty on its way from 
 its distant birthplace in Minnesota to its final home in 
 the Gulf of Mexico. To De Soto, however, it was no geo- 
 graphical phenomenon, inviting him to trace its course 
 and solve the secret of its origin, but a sheet of water, 
 " half a league over," impeding his progress, and his first 
 care was to obtain boats to get to the other side. 
 
 [His succeeding movements may be epitomized. Building barges 
 capable of carrying their horses, the Spaniards crossed the stream, and 
 immediately opened hostilities with the Indians on the other side. They 
 proceeded northward, constantly harassed by the natives, until they 
 reached the region of the present State of Missouri, whose inhabitants 
 took them for children of the Sun and brought out their blind to be 
 restored to sight. After some missionary labors with these Indians, De 
 Soto proceeded westward, and encamped for the winter about the site 
 of Little Rock, in Arkansas, after having reached the highlands of 
 southwest Missouri, near the White River.] 
 
 But on resuming his researches in the ensuing spring, 
 though worn out by continual wanderings and warfare, 
 and deprived by death of his chief helper, Juan Ortiz, the 
 indomitable explorer now endeavored to win over the In- 
 dians by claiming supernatural powers and declaring him- 
 self immortal ; but it was too late to inaugurate a new 
 policy. The spot chosen for encampment turned out to 
 be unhealthy ; the white men began to succumb to disease ; 
 scouts sent out to explore the neighborhood for a more 
 favorable situation brought back rumors of howling wil- 
 dernesses, impenetrable woods, and, worst of all, of stealthy
 
 88 AMERICAN HISTORY. [D'ANVERS 
 
 bands of Indians creeping up from every side to hem in 
 and destroy the little knot of white men. 
 
 Thus driven to bay, De Soto, who was now himself 
 either attacked by disease or broken down by all he had 
 undergone, determined at least to die like a man, and, 
 calling the survivors of his once gallant company about 
 him, he asked pardon for the evils he had brought upon 
 those who had trusted in him, and named Luis Moscoso 
 de Alvaredo as his successor. 
 
 On the following day, May 21, 1542, the unfortunate 
 hero breathed his last, and was almost immediately buried 
 secretly without the gates of the camp, Alvaredo fearing 
 an immediate onslaught from the natives should the death 
 of the hero who had claimed immortality be discovered. 
 The newly-made grave, however, excited suspicion, and, 
 finding it impossible to prevent it from being rifled by the 
 inquisitive savages, Alvaredo had the corpse of his prede- 
 cessor removed from it in the night, wrapped in cloths 
 made heavy with sand, and dropped from a boat into the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 The midnight funeral over, all further queries from the 
 natives, as to what had become of the Child of the Sun, 
 were answered by an assurance that he had gone to heaven 
 for a time, but would soon return. Then, whilst the ex- 
 pected return was still waited for, the camp was broken 
 up as quietly as possible, and Alvaredo led his people west- 
 ward, hoping, as Cabega had done before him, to reach the 
 Pacific coast. 
 
 But, long months of wandering in pathless prairies 
 bringing him apparently no nearer to the sea, and dread- 
 ing to be overtaken in the wilderness by the winter, he 
 turned back and retraced his steps to the Mississippi, 
 where he once more pitched his camp, and spent six 
 months in building boats, in which he hoped to go down
 
 McMuLLEN] DISCOVERT OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 89 
 
 the river to its outlet in the Gulf of Mexico. In this bold 
 scheme he was successful. The embarkation into seven 
 roughly-constructed brigan tines took place on the 2d 
 July, 1543, and a voyage of seventeen days between banks 
 lined with hostile Indians, who plied them unceasingly 
 with their poisoned arrows, brought a few haggard, half- 
 naked survivors to the longed-for gulf. Fifty days later, 
 after a weary cruise along the rugged coasts of what is 
 now Louisiana and Texas, a party, still further reduced, 
 landed at the Spanish settlement of Panuco, in Mexico, 
 where they were received as men risen from the dead. 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 
 
 JOHN McMULLEN. 
 
 [The voyages of discovery to the northern coast of North America 
 began with the expedition of John Cabot, in 1497, under the auspices 
 of Henry VII. of England. His object was to seek not alone for new 
 lands, but also for that northwest passage to the coast of Asia which 
 gave rise to so many subsequent voyages to the Arctic seas. On the 
 2(Jth of June, Cabot discovered land, most probably the island of 
 Newfoundland. Continuing his course, he reached the coast of Lab- 
 rador on the 3d of July. He was, therefore, the first of modern 
 navigators to discover the continent of America, which was not reached 
 by Columbus till some thirteen months afterwards. He explored the 
 coast for nine hundred miles to the southward, and returned to Eng- 
 land. In the following year his son Sebastian made a voyage to the 
 same region, with similar instructions to search fora northwest passage. 
 The same object was sought, in 15'27, by a fleet sent out by Henry VIII. 
 
 The Portuguese also made early voyages in search of this illusory 
 northwest passage. Caspar Cortereal, in 1500, reached the American 
 coast at fifty degrees of north latitude. On a second voyage his ship 
 was lost, and his brother Miguel, who went in search of him, failed 
 also to return. 
 
 I. 8*
 
 90 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 In 1524, Francis I. of France resolved to have his share in these dis- 
 coveries, and in the benefits which might result from them. "What!" 
 said he to his courtiers, "shall the kings of Spain and Portugal divide 
 all America between them, without suffering me to take a share as their 
 brother ? I would fain see the article in Adam's will that bequeaths that 
 vast inheritance to them." Already some fishing captains had partly 
 explored the coast. The fishermen of Breton have left their record of 
 discovery in the name of Cape Breton. John Denys explored the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence as early as 1506. These hardy fishermen formed 
 useful crews for succeeding voyages of discovery. Francis prepared a 
 squadron of four ships, which he placed under command of Giovanni 
 Verrazano, an experienced Italian navigator, who explored the Amer- 
 ican coast from Carolina northward, probably visiting New York and 
 Narragansett Bays. He also was in search of a passage to India, and 
 became convinced that no such passage existed, and that the continent 
 was continuous from the Straits of Magellan to Labrador. An ac- 
 count of the succeeding French expedition, that of Cartier, we extract 
 from " The History of Canada," by John McMullen.] 
 
 IN 1534 the French king fitted out a second expedition, 
 the conduct of which he intrusted to Jacques Cartier, a 
 fearless and skilful mariner, who had previously been 
 engaged for several years in the fisheries on the Banks of 
 Newfoundland, which even as early as 1517 already gave 
 employment to some fifty English, French, Spanish, and 
 Portuguese vessels. This expedition, consisting of two 
 vessels of sixty tons each, sailed from St. Malo on the 
 20th of April, and on the 10th of May arrived at New- 
 foundland, where it remained ten days. Proceeding north- 
 ward, Cartier passed through the Straits of Belleisle, 
 entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and landed at Gaspe, 
 where, on the 24th of July, he erected a cross, surmounted 
 by a fleur-de-lys, to commemorate his advent on the coast. 
 A friendly intercourse with the natives enabled him to 
 kidnap two men, with whom he sailed for France, where, 
 on his arrival, he was well received by his sovereign. 
 
 In the following 3 T ear Cartier obtained a new commis-
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 91 
 
 sion from Francis, and sailed with three vessels direct for 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with instructions to explore its 
 shores carefully, to establish a settlement, if at all practi- 
 cable, and to open a traffic for gold with the inhabitants. 
 In the month of August, on the festival day of the martyr 
 Lawrence, this navigator entered the great father of the 
 northern waters, which he called after the saint. Pro- 
 ceeding up its course, he found himself, in a few days, 
 opposite the Indian village of Stadacona, then occupy- 
 ing a portion of the ground on which the city of Quebec 
 now stands. As the vessels came to an anchor the ter- 
 rified natives fled to the forest, whence they gazed, with 
 mingled feelings of awe and wonder, on the " winged 
 canoes" which had borne the pale-faced strangers to their 
 shores. These feelings were, however, much less intense 
 than they must have otherwise been, owing to the rumors 
 which from time to time had preceded Cartier's approach, 
 and to the fact that they were well acquainted with the 
 circumstance of his visit to Gaspe the previous year, and 
 the outrage he had there perpetrated on their countrymen. 
 This knowledge led the inhabitants of Stadacona to re- 
 solve on a wary intercourse with the strangers. Their 
 chief, Donacona, approached the vessels with a fleet of 
 twelve canoes, filled with his armed followers. Ten of 
 these canoes he directed to remain at a short distance, 
 while he proceeded with the other two to ascertain the 
 purport of the visit, whether it was for peace or war. 
 With this object in view, he commenced an oration. 
 Cartier heard the chief patiently, and with the aid of the 
 two Gaspe Indians, now tolerably proficient in the French 
 language, he was enabled to open a conversation with him, 
 and to allay his apprehensions. An amicable understand- 
 ing having thus been established, Cartier moored his 
 vessels safely in the river St. Cbarles, where, shortly
 
 92 AMERICAN HISTORY. [McMuLLEN 
 
 afterwards, he received a second visit from Donacona, who 
 this time came accompanied by five hundred warriors of 
 his tribe. 
 
 Having thoroughly rested and refreshed himself and his 
 men, Cartier determined to explore the river to Hochelaga, 
 another Indian town, which he learned was situated 
 several days' journey up its course. With the view of 
 impressing the Indians with the superiority of the white 
 man, he caused, prior to his departure, several cannon- 
 shots to be discharged, which produced the desired result. 
 Like their countrymen of the south on the arrival of 
 Columbus, the red men of the St. Lawrence were alarmed 
 by the firing of artillery ; and as its thunders reverberated 
 among the surrounding hills, a feeling of mingled terror 
 and astonishment took complete possession of their minds. 
 
 Leaving his other ships safely at anchor, Cartier, on 
 the 19th of September, proceeded up the river with the 
 Hermerillon (which, owing to the shallowness of the 
 water, he had to leave in Lake St. Peter) and two boats, 
 and frequently came into contact with small parties of 
 the natives, who treated him in the most friendly manner. 
 Bold, and loving adventure for its own sake, and at the 
 same time strongly imbued with religious enthusiasm, 
 Cartier watched the shifting landscape hour after hour, as 
 he ascended the river, with feelings of the deepest grati- 
 fication, which were heightened by the reflection that he 
 was the pioneer of civilization and Christianity in that 
 unknown clime. Nature presented itself in all its primi- 
 tive grandeur to his view. The noble river on whose broad 
 bosom he floated onwards day after day, disturbing vast 
 flocks of water-fowl ; the primeval forests of the north, 
 which here and there presented, amid the luxuriance of 
 their foliage, the parasitical vine loaded with ripe clusters 
 of luscious grapes, and from whence the strange notes of
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 93 
 
 the whippoorwill, and other birds of varied tone and 
 plumage, such as he had never before seen, were heard 
 at intervals; the bright sunshine of a Canadian autumn ; 
 the unclouded moonlight of its calm and pleasant nights, 
 with the other novel accessories of the occasion, made a 
 sublime and profound impression upon the mind of 'the 
 adventurer. 
 
 Delighted with his journej-, Cartier arrived, on the 2d 
 of October, opposite the Huron village of Hochelaga, the 
 inhabitants of which lined the shore on his approach, 
 and made the most friendly signs for him to land. Sup- 
 plies of fish and maize were freely tendered by the In- 
 dians, in return for which they received knives and beads. 
 Despite this friendly conduct, however, Cartier and his 
 companions deemed it most prudent to pass the night on 
 board their boats. On the following day, headed by their 
 leader dressed in the most imposing costume at his com- 
 mand, the exploring party went in procession to the vil- 
 lage. At a short distance from its environs they were 
 met by the sachem, who received them with that solemn 
 courtesy peculiar to the aborigines of America. Cartier 
 made him several presents : among these was a cross, 
 which he hung round his neck and directed him to kiss. 
 Patches of ripe corn encircled the village, which consisted 
 of fifty substantially-built huts, secured from attack by 
 three lines of stout palisades. Like the natives of Mexico 
 and Peru, the Hochelagians regarded the white men as a 
 superior race of beings, who came among them as friends 
 and benefactors. Impressed with this idea, they con- 
 ducted them in state to their council lodge and brought 
 their sick to be healed. Cartier was at once too com- 
 pletely in their power and too politic to undeceive them. 
 It is recorded that he did everything he could to soothe 
 their minds; that he even prayed with these idolaters,
 
 94 AMERICAN HISTORY. [McMuLLEN 
 
 and distributed crosses and other symbols of the Catholic 
 faith among them. 
 
 The introductory ceremony concluded, Cartier ascended 
 the mountain behind Hochelaga, to which he gave the 
 name of Mont Eoyal, subsequently corrupted into Mon- 
 treal. From a point near its summit a noble prospect 
 met his view. Interminable forests stretched on every 
 side, their deep gloom broken at harmonious intervals by 
 hills and rivers and island-studded lakes. Simple as were 
 the natives of Hochelaga, they appeared to have some 
 knowledge of the geography of their country. From 
 them Cartier learned that it would take three months to 
 sail in their canoes up the course of the majestic river 
 which flowed beneath them, and that it ran through sev- 
 eral great lakes, the farthest one of which was like a vast 
 sea. Beyond this lake was another large river (the Mis- 
 sissippi), which pursued a southerly course through a 
 region free from ice and snow. With the precious metals 
 they appeared but very partially acquainted. Of copper 
 they had a better knowledge, and stated that it was 
 found at the Saguenay. 
 
 Favorably as Cartier had been received, the lateness 
 of the season compelled his immediate return to Stada- 
 cona. The Indians expressed their regret at the short- 
 ness of the visit, and accompanied the French to their 
 boats, which they followed for some time, making signs of 
 farewell. The expedition did not, however, find all the 
 natives equally friendly. While bivouacking one night on 
 the bank of the river, they would probably have all been 
 massacred, but for a timely retreat to their boats. Car- 
 tier had a narrow escape, and owed his life to the intre- 
 pidity of his boatswain, an Englishman. 
 
 The adventurers wintered in the St. Charles Eiver, and 
 continued to be treated with apparent kindness and hos-
 
 MCMULLEN] DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 95 
 
 pitality by the Stadaconians, who had, fortunately, laid 
 up abundant stores of provisions. Unaccustomed, how- 
 ever, to the rigor of a Canadian winter, and scantily sup- 
 plied with warm clothing, Cartier and his companions 
 suffered severely from the cold. To add to their other 
 misfortunes, scurvy, the terror of the seaman in those 
 days, made its appearance, and, in conjunction with a dis- 
 ease produced by a licentious intercourse with the natives, 
 speedily carried off twenty-five of their number. To a 
 decoction from the bark of the spruce-fir, taken on the 
 recommendation of the Indians, the remainder ascribed 
 their restoration to health. 
 
 The long winter at length drew to a close ; the ice 
 broke up, and, although the voyage had led to no gold- 
 discoveries or profitable returns in a mercantile point 
 of view, the expedition prepared to return home. Like 
 other adventurers of that age, they requited the kindness 
 and hospitality of the aborigines with the basest ingrati- 
 tude. They compelled Donacona, with two other chiefs 
 and eight warriors, to bear them company to France, 
 where the greater part of these unfortunate men died 
 soon after their arrival. 
 
 [Cartier made a second visit to the St. Lawrence in 1540, in com- 
 mand of a fleet fitted out by De Boberval, a rich nobleman of France. 
 As he failed to bring back their chief, the inhabitants of Stadacona 
 received him with indications of hostility.] 
 
 Finding his position with the inhabitants of Stadacona 
 becoming daily more and more unpleasant, Cartier moved 
 higher up the river to Cape Eouge, where he laid up 
 .three of his vessels, and sent the other two back to 
 France, with letters to the king and Eoberval, stating 
 the success of his voyage and asking for supplies. His 
 next proceeding was to erect a fort, which he called
 
 96 AMERICAN HISTORY. [McMuLLEN 
 
 Charlesbourg. Here, after an unsuccessful attempt to 
 navigate the rapids above Hochelaga, he passed a most 
 uncomfortable winter. During the ensuing summer he 
 occupied himself in examining the country in every di- 
 rection, and in searching for gold, but of which he only 
 procured a few trifling specimens in the beds of some 
 dried rivulets. A few small diamonds were discovered in 
 a headland near Stadacona, which was therefore called 
 Cape Diamond, a name it still retains. 
 
 The promised supplies not having arrived, another se- 
 vere winter completely disheartened Cartier, and he ac- 
 cordingly resolved to return home. Putting into the har- 
 bor of St. John, Newfoundland, he encountered Eoberval, 
 who was now on his way to Canada, with a new company 
 of adventurers and an abundance of stores and provisions. 
 The viceroy endeavored to persuade Cartier to return 
 with him, but without effect. He and his companions 
 were alike disheartened with the extreme cold and pro- 
 longed duration of a Canadian winter, and this circum- 
 stance, in connection with the other hardships to which 
 they had been exposed, caused them to long earnestly to 
 return to their own sunny France. To avoid further im- 
 portunity, a possible quarrel, and forcible detention. Car- 
 tier caused his sailors to weigh anchor during the night. 
 After a tolerably quick passage, he arrived safely in his 
 native country, where he died shortly after his return, 
 having, like many others, sacrificed health and fortune to 
 a passion for discovery and a desire to acquire gold. 
 
 [Roberval returned to France, after spending the winter in Canada. 
 He subsequently started with another expedition for the same region. 
 This fleet was never heard of again, and probably foundered at sea. 
 The results of these efforts so discouraged the French that no similar 
 attempt was made for many years afterwards.]
 
 BESANT] MASSACRE OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 97 
 
 THE MASSACRE OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 
 
 WALTER BESANT. 
 
 [The first earnest effort to establish a French colony in America was 
 made in the interest of the French Protestants at the instigation of 
 the celebrated Admiral Coligny. His primary effort in this direction 
 was made in Brazil. The northern shores of that country, as we have 
 already stated, had been discovered by Pinzon in 1499. In 1500 a 
 Portuguese fleet under Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on a voyage to the East 
 Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope, sailed so far westward as to 
 touch the coast of southern Brazil. A fort was built, in which a few 
 men were left, and gradually, during the succeeding years, small Por- 
 tuguese settlements spread along the coast. From time to time this 
 coast was visited by the French, mainly on piratical enterprises, and a 
 state of war existed for years between the French and Portuguese in 
 the waters of Brazil. In 1555, Coligny sent a colony to this region 
 under Villegagnon, a French adventurer. It was established on an 
 island in the Bay of Rio Janeiro. But the place proved so unsuitable, 
 the colony was made up of such disreputable and vicious elements, 
 and the leader proved so worthless and treacherous, that the settlement, 
 after languishing for four years, yielded to an attack from the Portu- 
 guese, and was swept out of existence. 
 
 In 1562, Coligny made a second effort to establish a refuge for French 
 Protestants in America. An expedition was sent to Florida under 
 command of John Ribaut. He reached the coast in May, and discov- 
 ered a stream which he called the River of May (now St. John's River). 
 Proceeding thence to Port Royal, near the southern border of Carolina, 
 he erected a fort, and left twenty-six men, returning to France for emi- 
 grants and supplies. The promised reinforcement not arriving, the 
 colonists abandoned the fort and embarked for home in a brigantine 
 of their own construction. Like the Brazilian colonists, they had not 
 taken the trouble to cultivate the soil, and were driven by famine from 
 America to encounter a worse famine at sea. They were saved from 
 death by an English vessel which they fortunately met off the coast 
 of England. 
 
 In 1564 another expedition was sent out by Coligny, and a colony 
 established on the St. John's River under LaudonniSre, one of Ribaut's 
 i. E 9
 
 98 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BESANT 
 
 original company. It was managed with the same improvidence as 
 the former ones, and to escape starvation a party of the emigrants 
 embarked for Prance. But instead of returning they commenced a, 
 career of piracy against the Spaniards. The remainder were on the 
 point of leaving the country, when Eibaut appeared, with seven ves- 
 sels and about six hundred emigrants. Meanwhile, news had arrived 
 in Spain that a party of French heretics had settled in Florida, which 
 was claimed as Spanish territory. Menendez, who had already estab- 
 lished a reputation for brutality in America, was sent out to extirpate 
 them. Up to this point the conflicts of Europeans upon American soil 
 had been with the natives, with the exception of the piratical pro- 
 ceedings above adverted to. Now the wars of Europeans with one 
 another were about to be inaugurated in a brutal massacre, the story 
 of which we give in the graphic account of Walter Besant, selected 
 from his " Gaspard de Coligny."] 
 
 THE expedition under Menendez consisted of an army 
 of two thousand six hundred soldiers and officers. He 
 sailed straight for Florida, intending to attack Fort Caro- 
 line with no delay. In fact, he sighted the mouth of the 
 port two months after starting ; but, considering the posi- 
 tion occupied by the French ships, he judged it prudent 
 to defer the attack, and make it, if possible, from the 
 land. 
 
 A council of war was held in Fort Caroline, presided 
 over by Eibaut. Laudonniere proposed that, while Eibaut 
 held the fort with the ships, he, with his old soldiers, who 
 knew the country well, aided by the Floridans as auxil- 
 iaries, should engage the Spaniards in the woods and 
 harass them by perpetual combats in labyrinths to which 
 they were wholly unaccustomed. The advice was good, 
 but it was not followed. Eibaut proposed to follow the 
 Spanish fleet with his own, lighter and more easily 
 handled, fall on the enemy when the soldiers were all 
 disembarked, and, after taking and burning the ships, to 
 attack the army.
 
 BESANT] MASSACRE OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 99 
 
 In the face of remonstrances from all the officers he 
 persisted in this project. Disaster followed the attempt. 
 A violent gale arose. The French ships were wrecked 
 upon the Floridan coast ; the men lost their arms, their 
 powder, and their clothes ; they escaped with their bare 
 lives. There was no longer the question of conquering 
 the Spaniards, but of saving themselves. The garrison 
 of Caroline consisted of one hundred and fifty soldiers, of 
 whom forty were sick. The rest of the colony was com- 
 posed of sick and wounded, Protestant ministers, work- 
 men, "royal commissioners," and so forth. Laudonniere 
 was in command. They awaited the attack for several 
 days, yet the Spaniards came not. They were wading 
 miserably through the marshes in the forests, under trop- 
 ical rains, discouraged, and out of heart. Had Laudon- 
 niere's project been carried out, not one single Spaniai'd 
 would have returned to the fleet to tell the tale. Day 
 after day the soldiers toiled, sometimes breast-high, 
 through these endless marshes, under the rain which 
 never ceased. The provisions were exhausted. Many of 
 the soldiers remained behind, or returned to St. Augus- 
 tine, pretending to have lost their way. The officers 
 asked each other loudly whether they were all to be killed 
 in a bog through the ignorance of an Asturian, who knew 
 no more about war than a horse. Menendez pretended 
 not to hear, and they plodded on, mutinous and discon- 
 tented, till their leader suddenly pointed out, through the 
 branches of the trees, the earthworks and cannon of Fort 
 Caroline. He invited his officers to make up their minds 
 to an immediate attack or a retreat. Seven of them pro- 
 posed a retreat : they would live on palmistes and roots 
 on the way. But the majority declared for advance, and 
 the attack was resolved upon. 
 
 For some reason unexplained, the French sentinels
 
 100 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BESAKT 
 
 chose this fatal moment to leave their posts. There was 
 actually no watch on the ramparts. Three companies of 
 Spaniards simultaneously rushed from the forest and at- 
 tacked the fortress on the south, the west, and the south- 
 west. There was but little resistance from the surprised 
 garrison. There was hardly time to grasp a sword. 
 About twenty escaped by flight, including the captain, 
 Laudonniere ; the rest were every one massacred. None 
 were spared except women and children under fifteen ; 
 and, in the first rage of the onslaught, even these were 
 murdered with the rest. 
 
 There still lay in the port three ships, commanded by 
 Jacques Ribaut, brother of the unfortunate governor. 
 One of these was quickly sent to the bottom by the 
 cannon of the fort ; the other two cut their cables and 
 slipped out of reach into the roadstead, where they lay, 
 waiting for a favorable wind, for three days. They picked 
 up the fugitives who had been wandering half starved in 
 the woods, and then set sail from this unlucky land. 
 
 [Meanwhile, Kibaut's shipwrecked crew were wandering along the 
 shore of Florida, fifty miles from Fort Caroline. They were ignorant 
 of the loss of the fort, and made their way with difficulty through the 
 woods, until, to their despair, they saw the Spanish flag flying over its 
 ramparts.] 
 
 There was nothing for it but to retreat again. The 
 unfortunate Frenchmen began miserably to retrace their 
 steps through the wet and gloomy forest, eating leaves, 
 herbs, and roots. Their last misfortune was that they knew 
 nothing of the new Spanish settlement [of St. Augustine, 
 established by Menendez], and so directed their course 
 as exactly to arrive at it. 
 
 Menendez saw from a distance the arrival of the first 
 band of two hundred. They were like a crowd of ship- 
 wrecked sail<3rs, destitute of the power of resistance, feeble
 
 BESANT] MASSACRE OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 101 
 
 from long fasting, fatigued with their long march. He 
 had with him a troop of forty men. A river ran between 
 the French and the Spaniards. A Basque swam across the 
 stream, and asked for a safe-conduct for Eibaut, who had 
 not yet arrived, and four gentlemen. Menendez would 
 accord, he said, an audience to an officer. One Vasseur, 
 accompanied by two or three soldiers, crossed over the 
 river and was brought to the Spanish commander. Me- 
 nendez began by apprising him of the capture of Caroline 
 and the massacre of the garrison. He confirmed the truth 
 of his story by causing two prisoners, spared as Catholics, 
 to relate it themselves. He coldly told Vasseur that all 
 those who were Protestants should suffer the same fate, or 
 at least that he would not promise otherwise. 
 
 There was but one alternative. The French could trust 
 to the possible clemency of Menendez, or they could take 
 to the woods. In the latter case they would certainly 
 starve ; in the former, they might escape with their lives. 
 It seemed incredible that a man should, in cold blood, 
 resolve to massacre two hundred unarmed men. They laid 
 down their arms. They were brought across the river in 
 small companies, and their hands tied behind their backs. 
 
 On landing, they were asked if they were Catholics. 
 Eight out of the two hundred professed allegiance to that 
 religion; the rest were all Protestants. Menendez traced 
 out a v line on the ground with his cane. The prisoners 
 were marched up one by one to the line ; on reaching it, 
 they were stabbed. 
 
 The next day Eibaut arrived with the rest of the army. 
 
 The same pourparlers began. But this time a blacker 
 treachery was adopted. Menendez did not himself receive 
 the officer sent to treat. He deputed a certain Vallemonde. 
 This creature received the French deputy with unexpected 
 civility. His captain, he said, was a man of "extraordinary 
 i. 9*
 
 102 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BESANT 
 
 clemency. It was true that Caroline had fallen, but the 
 garrison, women, and children were all put on board ship, 
 with provisions, and were now on their way to France. 
 Finally, if the French laid down their arms, he, Valle- 
 monde, would pledge his word of honor on the sacred 
 cross, which he kissed devoutly, that all their lives should 
 be spared. 
 
 It is not clear how many of the French accepted the 
 conditions. A certain number refused them, and escaped 
 into the woods. What is certain is that Ribaut, with 
 nearly all his men, were tied back to back, four together. 
 Those who said they were Catholics were set on one side; 
 the rest were all massacred as they stood. A rage for 
 slaughter the blood-thirst seized the Spanish soldiers. 
 They fell upon their victims, and stabbed and hacked 
 both the living and the dead. The air was horrible with 
 their oaths and cries. The work of murder was soon 
 over. In a very few moments there was not a cry, nor 
 a sound, nor a movement, among the whole four hun- 
 di-ed prisoners now lying upon the ground, the maddened 
 soldiers still stabbing their lifeless bodies. Outside the 
 circle of the slaughtered and the slaughterers stood the 
 priest, Mendoza, encouraging, approving, exhorting the 
 butchers. With him, calm, serene, and joyful, with a 
 prayer of thanksgiving on his lips, stood the murderer, 
 Menendez. 
 
 The slaughter completed, they set up enormous piles of 
 wood and burned the bodies on them. On the trees near 
 the scene of the massacre Menendez caused to be in- 
 scribed, " Slaughtered not as Frenchmen, but as Luther- 
 ans." As for the corpse of Eibaut, he had it flayed, and 
 sent the skin to Europe, with cuttings from the beard, as 
 gifts to his friends. 
 
 [Those who had escaped to the woods built a small fort, defended
 
 BESAXT] MASSACRE OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 103 
 
 themselves, were offered terms of surrender, and were all sent to the 
 galleys. The reception of this news in France raised a storm of in- 
 dignation. As the court made no movement of reprisal, the French 
 sailors took revenge into their own hands. Fast-sailing privateers 
 were sent out, which captured the rich Spanish galleons and inflicted 
 enormous losses. English buccaneers followed the example, and Spain 
 paid dearly in treasure for the bloody act of Menendez. One soldier, 
 Dominique de Gourgues, who had been in the Spanish galleys and 
 hated the Spaniards vehemently, resolved on a more direct revenge. 
 "With difficulty he equipped three small ships, which he manned with 
 one hundred and eighty men. The purpose of his expedition was 
 kept secret ; only the captains of his ships knew of it. It was in the 
 early part of 1568 that he appeared off the coast of Florida. He 
 landed his men, gained the alliance of the natives, who bitterly hated 
 the Spaniards, and began a painful and difficult march overland, at- 
 tended by thousands of Indian warriors.] 
 
 The Spaniards were extending their fortifications out- 
 side Caroline itself. At one place the lines had only been 
 drawn, and the works as yet were only just commenced. 
 Here the attack was to take place. 
 
 The story reads almost exactly like that of the Span- 
 iards when they took the fort by surprise. Entirely 
 without suspicion, the garrison were taking their dinner. 
 Suddenly, a musket-shot, and the cry of " The French ! 
 the French !" There were sixty men in this, the outwork. 
 They were all killed. But there remained the second fort. 
 De Gourgues turned the cannon on it, and a lively artillery 
 fight began. The Floridans at this moment emerged from 
 the woods. A detachment of French attacked the fort in 
 the rear. The Spaniards, ignorant of the number of the 
 enemy, lost their heads. The second fort was taken with a 
 rush, and all the Spaniards killed except fifteen, whom De 
 Gourgues ordered to be bound and kept in safety for the 
 moment. There yet remained Fort Caroline itself. Here 
 there were three hundred combatant men. De Gourgues
 
 104 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BESANT 
 
 surrounded the fort with his Indians, and prevented any 
 spy from coming out, so that the besieged had no notion 
 of the numbers of their assailants. The commandant, in 
 surprise and indecision, allowed two days to pass before 
 doing anything. Then he sent out a spy disguised as an 
 Indian. He was caught, and, being brought before De 
 Gourgues, he had the imprudence to confess that the gar- 
 rison was horribly discouraged, believing the French to be 
 two thousand strong. Thereupon De Gourgues resolved 
 upon an immediate attack. 
 
 The Spaniards thought that his little army, all of which 
 was now in sight, was only an advance-guard. The French, 
 thinking the moment inopportune, retired into the wood 
 again to watch. The Spaniards sent out a body of sixty, 
 with the view of drawing them out into the open. De 
 Gourgues detached twenty of his own men to place them- 
 selves in ambush between the fort and the sortie, so as to 
 cut off their retreat. Then, before the Spaniards had time 
 to form themselves, he poured a murderous fire into their 
 ranks, and rushed upon them, sword in hand. They turned 
 to fly, and were met by the ambuscade. Not one returned 
 to the fort. The rest of the French rushed tumultuously 
 out of the wood, and all together, headed by De Gourgues, 
 they crowded into the citadel. 
 
 A panic seized the Spaniards. They allowed themselves 
 to be cut down almost without resistance. Out of the whole 
 force of three hundred, De Gourgues only managed to save 
 sixty. 
 
 He would have saved more, to make his revenge more 
 complete. As it was, he wrote an inscription, which he 
 placed so that all could see, " I do this not to Spaniards, 
 but to traitors, thieves, and murderers." 
 
 Then he hanged them up, every one, the Floridans 
 looking on aghast. This done, he destroyed the fort and
 
 HOWITT] COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 105 
 
 returned to France. He was received with enthusiasm at 
 Eochelle, an entirely Protestant town. 
 
 THE COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 MARY HOWITT. 
 
 [The sixteenth century may justly be called the century of discov- 
 ery. The bold push of Columbus across the ocean to America and of 
 Vasco da Gama around Africa to the East Indies broke the chains of 
 timidity with which the world had hitherto been bound. They were 
 followed by a succession of daring and reckless navigators, who quickly 
 made the world their home, and sought new lands with an avidity and 
 enthusiasm with which the thirst for fame and the spirit of adventure 
 had as much to do as the love of gold. The English were somewhat 
 late in following the lead of the Spanish, Portuguese, and French dis- 
 coverers, but prosecuted their researches with vigor after they had once 
 commenced. One of their adventurers, Sir John Hawkins, engaged 
 in the slave-trade, which had been early instituted by the Spaniards, 
 and carried cargoes of negroes to the West Indies in 1562 and 1564. 
 In 1567 he was in the Gulf of Mexico, in conflict with the Spaniards 
 at San Juan de Ulloa, in which expedition he was accompanied by 
 the celebrated Sir Francis Drake. In 1570, Drake started on a pri- 
 vateering excursion against the Spaniards, and for years he did them 
 immense damage. In 1573 he crossed the Isthmus and attacked the 
 Spanish settlements on the Pacific shores. In 1577 he sailed south- 
 ward along the Brazilian coast, entered the Rio de la Plata (which had 
 been discovered in 1526 by Sebastian Cabot), and passed through the 
 Straits of Magellan. Thence he followed the coasts of Chili and Peru, 
 attacking the Spanish ships and settlements as he advanced, and ex- 
 plored the shores of western America as far north as 48 N. lat., in the 
 hope of discovering a passage to the Atlantic. He returned home 
 by way of the Cape of Good Hope, accomplishing the first circum- 
 navigation of the globe by an Englishman. Attempts were made in 
 the same period to discover a northwestern passage from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific by "Willoughby and Chancellor, Frobisher, Henry Hudson, 
 and others. But the only efforts during this century to found an
 
 106 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowiTT 
 
 English colony on the shores of the New World were those made by 
 Sir Walter Kaleigh. These we may describe in detail in a selection 
 chosen from Mary Howitt's charmingly-written " History of the United 
 States."] 
 
 JOINT-STOCK companies for the discovery of unknown 
 lands were first formed in 1555. The marriage of Mary 
 with Philip of Spain brought the magnificent discoveries 
 and productions of that country into a closer proximity 
 with England, and a desire to emulate the successes of 
 Spain in the New World was excited. 
 
 The spirit of Elizabeth seconded that of her people. 
 The nation had now assumed a more determined and a 
 prouder front in their resentment of the attempt of Spain 
 to render them an appendage to the Spanish crown, and 
 by the successful struggle of Protestantism against Cathol- 
 icism. England strengthened her navy ; frequented the 
 ba} 7 s and banks of Newfoundland; sent out adventurers 
 to Eussia and Africa ; endeavored to reach Persia by land, 
 and enlarged her commerce with the East, whilst her priva- 
 teers lay in wait at sea for the rich galleons of Spain. The 
 study of geography was universally cultivated, and books 
 of travels and adventures by land and sea were eagerly 
 read. Frobisher, the boldest mariner who ever crossed the 
 ocean, set forth to discover the long-sought-for northwest 
 passage, and Queen Elizabeth waved her hand to him in 
 token of favor, as he sailed down the Thames. Frobisher, 
 like all the rest of the world, hoped to find gold. If the 
 Spaniards had found gold in the south, England was con- 
 fident of finding gold in the north. Elizabeth entered en- 
 thusiastically into the scheme of planting a colony among 
 the wealthy mines of the polar regions, where gold, it was 
 said, lay on the surface of the ground. Frobisher was 
 followed by a second fleet, but they found only frost and 
 icebergs.
 
 HOWITT] COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 107 
 
 Whilst Frobisher and his ships were thus vainly endeav- 
 oring to find an El Dorado in the north, Sir Francis Drake 
 was acquiring immense wealth as a freebooter on the Span- 
 ish main, and winning great glory by circumnavigating 
 the globe, after having explored the northwestern coast of 
 America as far north as the forty-third degree. Sir Hum- 
 phrey Gilbert, also, a man of sound judgment and deeply 
 religious mind, obtained a charter from Queen Elizabeth 
 in 1578 for the more rational purposes of colonization. 
 He set sail with three vessels, accompanied by his step- 
 brother, Sir Walter Ealeigh ; but a series of disasters befell 
 them ; the largest vessel was wrecked, and a hundred per- 
 ished, among whom was Parmenius, a Hungarian scholar, 
 who had gone out as historian of the expedition. On the 
 homeward voyage they were overtaken by a great storm. 
 " We are as near to heaven on sea as on land," said Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, sitting abaft with a book in his hand. 
 And the same night his little vessel went down, and all on 
 board perished. 
 
 The brave spirit of Sir Walter Raleigh was not dis- 
 couraged, though he deeply deplored the loss of his noble 
 step-brother. He resolved now to secure to England those 
 glorious countries where the poor French Protestants 
 had suffered so deeply, and a patent was readily granted, 
 constituting him lord proprietary, with almost unlimited 
 powers, according to the Christian Protestant faith, of all 
 land which he might discover between the thirty-third and 
 fortieth degrees of north latitude. Under this patent 
 Ealeigh despatched, as avant-courier ships, two vessels, 
 under the command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Bar- 
 low. In the month of July they reached the coast of 
 North America, having perceived, while far out at sea, the 
 fragi'ance as of a delicious garden, from the odoriferous 
 flowers of the shore. Finding, after some search, a con-
 
 108 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowiTT 
 
 venient harbor, they landed, and, offering thanks to God 
 for their safe arrival, took formal possession in the name 
 of the Queen of England. 
 
 The spot on which they landed was the island of Wo- 
 coken. The shores of this part of America are peculiar, 
 inasmuch as during one portion of the year they are ex- 
 posed to furious tempests, against which the low flat shore 
 affords no defence of harborage ; in the summer season, on 
 the contrary, the sea and air are alike tranquil, the whole 
 presenting the most paradisiacal aspect, whilst the vegeta- 
 tion is calculated to strike the beholder with wonder and de- 
 light. The English strangers beheld the country under its 
 most favorable circumstances ; the grapes being so plentiful 
 that the surge of the ocean, as it lazily rolled in upon the 
 shore, dashed its spray upon the clusters. " The forests 
 formed themselves into wonderfully beautiful bowers, fre- 
 quented by multitudes of birds. It was like a garden of 
 Eden, and the gentle, friendly inhabitants appeared in uni- 
 son with the scene. On the island of Roanoke they were 
 received by the wife of the king, and entertained with 
 Arcadian hospitality." 
 
 [The report taken to England aroused high enthusiasm. An ex- 
 pedition was sent, sailing on the 9th of April, 1585, under Sir Richard 
 Grenville, and consisting of seven vessels and one hundred and fifty 
 colonists. They reached Roanoke Island, where they quickly roused 
 the natives to hostility by burning a village and destroying the standing 
 corn on suspicion of the theft of a silver cup.] 
 
 The colonists, however, landed, and soon afterwards the 
 ships returned to England, Grenville taking a rich Spanish 
 prize by the way. Lane [the governor] and his colonists 
 explored the country, and Lane wrote home, " It is the 
 goodliest soil under the cope of heaven; the most pleasing 
 territory in the world ; the continent is of a huge and un-
 
 HOWITT] COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 109 
 
 known greatness, and very well peopled and towned, though 
 savagely. The climate is so wholesome that we have none 
 sick. If Virginia had but horses and kine and were in- 
 habited by English, no realm in Christendom were com- 
 parable with it." Hariot's observations were directed to 
 "the natural inhabitants," and to the productions of the 
 colony with reference to commerce ; he observed the culture 
 of tobacco, used it himself, and had great faith in its salutary 
 qualities ; he paid great attention to the maize and the po- 
 tato, " which he found when boiled to be good eating." . . . 
 In the mean time, the mass of the colonists, who were 
 rabid for gold, listened to wonderful tales invented by art- 
 ful Indians, who wished to be rid of these awe-inspiring 
 strangers. The river Roanoke, they said, gushed forth 
 from a rock near the Pacific Ocean ; that a nation dwelt 
 upon its remote banks, skilful in refining gold, and that 
 they occupied a city the walls of which glittered with 
 pearls. Even Sir Richard Lane was credulous enough to 
 believe these tales, and ascended the river with a party in 
 order to reach this golden region. They advanced onward, 
 finding nothing, till they were reduced to the utmost ex- 
 tremity of famine. The Indians, disappointed by their 
 return, resolved to cultivate no more corn, so that they 
 might be driven from the country by want, and the Eng- 
 lish, divining their views, having invited the chief to a 
 conference, fell upon him and slew him, with many of his 
 followers. Lane was unfit for his office. This act of 
 treachery exasperated the Indians to such a degree that 
 they would no longer give him supplies. The colony was 
 about to perish by famine, as the Indians desired, when Sir 
 Francis Drake appeared outside the harbor with a fleet of 
 twenty-three ships. He was on his way from the West 
 Indies, and was now come to visit his friends. No visit 
 could have been more opportune or more welcome, 
 i. 10
 
 110 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowiTT 
 
 [At the request of the colonists, Drake carried them to England. 
 Yet he had hardly gone before a vessel despatched by Kaleigh arrived, 
 laden with supplies. Finding that the colony had vanished, the vessel 
 returned, and it had but fairly disappeared when Sir Kichard Grenville 
 arrived with three ships. After searching in vain for the missing 
 colony, he also returned, leaving fifteen men on Koanoke Island to 
 hold possession for the English. Kaleigh, not discouraged by this 
 failure, sent out another colony, this time choosing agriculturists, and 
 sending their wives and children with the emigrants. Implements of 
 husbandry were also sent. On reaching Koanoke they found only the 
 bones of the fifteen men whom Grenville had left, while their fort was 
 in ruins. The new governor, Captain John White, proved an unfortu- 
 nate choice, since he at once made an unprovoked assault upon the 
 Indians. White quickly returned with the ships to England for sup- 
 plies and reinforcements.] 
 
 When White reached England he found the whole nation 
 absorbed by the threats of a Spanish invasion : Ealeigh, Gren- 
 ville, and Lane, Frobisher, Drake, and Hawkins, all were em- 
 ployed in devising measures of resistance. It was twelve 
 months before Ealeigh, who had to depend almost entirely 
 upon his own means, was able to despatch White with sup- 
 plies: this he did in two vessels. White, who wished to 
 profit by his voyage, instead of at once returning without 
 loss of time to his colony, went in chase of Spanish prizes, 
 until at length one of his ships was overpowered, boarded, 
 and rifled, and both compelled to return to England. This 
 delay was fatal. The great events of the Spanish Armada 
 took place, after which Sir Walter Ealeigh found himself 
 embarrassed with such a fearful amount of debt that it 
 was no longer in his power to attempt the colonization of 
 Virginia ; nor was it till the following year that White was 
 able to return, and then also through the noble efforts of 
 Sir Walter Ealeigh, to the unhappy colony Eoanoke. Again 
 the island was a desert. An inscription on the bark of a 
 tree indicated Croatan ; but the season of the year, and the
 
 HOWITT] COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. HI 
 
 danger of storms, furnished an excuse to "White for not 
 going thither. What was the fate of the colony never was 
 known. It has been conjectured that through the friend- 
 ship of Manteo (an Indian chief) they had probably escaped 
 to Croatan ; perhaps had been, when thus cruelly neglected 
 by their countrymen, received into a friendly tribe of Indians, 
 and became a portion of the children of the forest. The 
 Indians had, at a later day, a tradition of this kind, and it 
 has been thought that the physical character of the Hatteras 
 Indians bore out the tradition. The kind-hearted and noble 
 Raleigh did not soon give up all hopes of his little colony. 
 Five different times he sent out at his own expense to seek 
 for them, but in vain. The mystery which veils the fate 
 of the colonists of Roanoke will never be solved in this 
 world. . . . 
 
 The fisheries of the north and the efforts of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh at colonization had trained a race of men for dis- 
 covery. One of these, Bartholomew Gosnold, determined 
 upon sailing direct from England to America, without 
 touching at the Canaries and the West Indies, as had 
 hitherto been the custom ; and, with the aid of Raleigh, he 
 " wellnigh secured to New England the honor of the first 
 permanent English colony." He sailed in a small vessel 
 directly across the ocean (in 1602), and in seven weeks 
 reached the shores of Massachusetts, but, not finding a good 
 harbor, sailed southward, and discovered and landed on a 
 promontory which he called Cape Cod, which name it 
 retains to this day. Sailing thence, and still pursuing 
 the coast, he discovered various islands, one of which he 
 called Elizabeth, after the queen, and another Martha's 
 Vinej'ard. The vegetation was rich ; the land covered with 
 magnificent forests ; and wild fruits and flowers burst from 
 the earth in unimagined luxuriance, the eglantine, the 
 thorn, and the honeysuckle ; the wild pea, tansy, and young
 
 112 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Howirr 
 
 sassafras ; strawberries, raspberries, and vines. In the island 
 was a little lake, and in the lake a rocky islet, and here the 
 colonists resolved to build their storehouse and fort, the 
 nucleus of the first New England colony. The natural 
 features of the place, the historian tells us, remain un- 
 changed: the island, the little lake, and the islet are all 
 there ; the forests are gone, while the flowers and fruit are 
 as abundant as ever. But no trace remains of the fort. 
 
 Friendly traffic with the natives of the mainland soon 
 completed a freight, which consisted of furs and sassafras, 
 and Gosnold was about to sail, when the hearts of the in- 
 tending colonists failed them ; they dreaded the attack of 
 Indians and the want of necessary supplies from home. 
 All, therefore, re-embarked, and in five weeks reached Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Gosnold and his companions brought home such favor- 
 able reports of the country and the shortness of the voy- 
 age that the following year a company of Bristol merchants 
 despatched two small vessels, under the command of Mar- 
 tin Pring, for the purpose of exploring the country and 
 commencing a trade with the natives. They carried out 
 with them trinkets and merchandise suited for such traffic, 
 and their voyage was eminently successful. They discov- 
 ered some of the principal rivers of Maine, and examined 
 the coast of Massachusetts as far south as Martha's Vine- 
 yard. The whole voyage occupied but six months. Pring 
 repeated his voyage in 1606, making still more accurate 
 surveys of the country. 
 
 [The coast of New England was further surveyed by an expedition 
 despatched by the Earl of Southampton and Lord Arundel and com- 
 manded by George "Weymouth. He explored the coast of Labrador, 
 and discovered the Penobscot Kiver. Captain John Smith also made 
 an exploration of the coast in 1614, advanced into Massachusetts Bay 
 " till he came up into the river between Mishawam, afterwards called
 
 HOWITT] COLONIES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 113 
 
 Charlestown, and Shawmutt, afterwards called Boston, and, having 
 made discovery of the land, rivers, coves, and creeks in the said bay, 
 and also taken some observation of the manners, dispositions, and 
 sundry customs of the numerous Indians, or nations inhabiting the 
 . same, he returned to England." He gave to the country the name of 
 New England, which it still retains. 
 
 In 1598 the Marquis de la Koche endeavored to found a French 
 colony in America, and peopled Sable Island, on the coast of Nova 
 Scotia, with the refuse of the jails. After languishing here for twelve 
 years, they were allowed to return, and the colony was abandoned. 
 In 1605, De Monts, a French gentleman, formed a colony at a place 
 named by him Port Koyal, in the Bay of Fundy, which proved to 
 be the first permanent French settlement in America. The whole 
 country, including the present New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the 
 adjacent islands, was called Acadia. In the succeeding year (1606) 
 the London Company sent three vessels to Roanoke, which were 
 driven by a storm into Chesapeake Bay. Here they discovered the 
 James River, up which stream they sailed fifty miles, and selected a 
 place for a settlement, which they named Jamestown. Here was 
 formed the first permanent English colony in America, one hundred 
 and fourteen years after the discovery of the New World by Columbus.] 
 
 I. A 10*
 
 114 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 SKCTION III. 
 
 THE ERA OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 DURING the sixteenth century the work of colonizing 
 America was left almost entirely to the people of Spain. 
 While the other nations of Europe were contenting them- 
 selves with occasional voyages of discovery, or with slave- 
 carrying expeditions and piratical raids, the Spaniards were 
 extending their dominion in the New World with a rapidity 
 and energy in striking contrast with their present supine- 
 ness. Colonization in the West Indies began immediately 
 after the first voyage of Columbus, and was prosecuted 
 with such vigor that in a few years the four larger islands 
 were completely under Spanish control, and their native 
 inhabitants largely annihilated, while the remainder were 
 reduced to slavery. The settlement of the mainland was 
 prosecuted with similar- activity. Colonies were established 
 on the coasts of South and Central America, and in 1519 
 Cortes began that memorable expedition which soon sub- 
 jected the Aztec empire of Mexico to his sway. From 
 this region the Spanish dominion extended south through- 
 out Central America, and northward to California and New 
 Mexico, which Coronado invaded in 1540. South America 
 was settled with no less rapidity. The conquest of Mexico 
 was quickly followed by that of the extensive empire of 
 Peru. Chili was conquered in 1541, with the exception of
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 115 
 
 the country of the Araucanians, the only Indian nation 
 which has successfully held its own against European inva- 
 sion. In a comparatively short time the whole of western 
 South America from the lower boundary of Chili to the 
 Caribbean coast was Spanish territory. In 1535, Buenos 
 Ayres was colonized by Mendoza. These first colonists 
 were driven to Paraguay by the Indians, but in 1580 Juan 
 de Garay founded a more successful colony. Among the 
 most remarkable examples of Spanish activity was the ex- 
 pedition of Orellana in 1541. In 1540, Gonzalo Pizarro left 
 Quito with an expedition that crossed the Andes and jour- 
 neyed eastward through the forests of western Brazil till 
 stopped by peril of starvation. Then a brigantine was 
 built, which, manned by a cavalier named Orellana, sailed 
 down the river Napo to its junction with the Amazons, and 
 down the latter great stream to the Atlantic, thus accom- 
 plishing the crossing of the South American continent at 
 its widest part nearly three centuries before such a result 
 was achieved in the parallel section of North America. 
 In the region of the United States the Spaniards were no 
 less active in exploration, as shown by the expeditions of 
 Narvaez and De Soto; yet but one small settlement was 
 made, that of St. Augustine, in Florida. 
 
 The only other people who showed any colonizing activ- 
 ity in the sixteenth century were the Portuguese, who 
 slowly spread their settlements along the coast of Brazil, 
 until by the end of the century the whole line of coast 
 from the La Plata .to the Amazons was studded with their 
 colonies. These had the merit of being the first settlements 
 made in America on agricultural principles, the desire for 
 the precious metals being the active moving cause in all 
 the Spanish explorations and colonizations. During this 
 period a few unsuccessful efforts to establish colonies marked 
 the limit of activity in the other nations of Europe. A
 
 116 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 French colony on the coast of Brazil was suppressed by 
 the Portuguese, and a similar colony in Florida ended in 
 massacre. French efforts in the region of the St. Lawrence 
 were equally unsuccessful, while the English colonies of 
 Raleigh ended in disaster. The only permanent settlement 
 was that made by some Dutch people in 1580, near the 
 river Pomeroon, in Guiana. In 1595, Ealeigh made an ex- 
 pedition to this region, and ascended the Orinoco in search 
 of the fabled El Dorado. He attempted no settlement, but 
 in the succeeding century English and French settlers es- 
 tablished themselves in Guiana, dividing the ownership of 
 this territory with the Dutch. 
 
 Such was the result of the efforts at colonization in 
 America during the sixteenth century. From the northern 
 line of Mexico to the southern extremity of the continent 
 the Spanish and Portuguese had established themselves in 
 nearly every available region. But North America from 
 the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean was still in the 
 hands of the aboriginal inhabitants, with the sole exception 
 of the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, in Florida. The 
 seventeenth century was destined to be the era of settle- 
 ment of this important region, mainly by the English and 
 French, but to a minor extent by the Dutch and Swedes. 
 The story of this seventeenth-century colonization we have 
 now to tell. 
 
 JOHN SMITH AND THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 
 
 CHARLES CAMPBELL. 
 
 [The return of Bartholomew Gosnold, after his voyage to North 
 America, and his account of the country he had visited, led to the 
 formation of a company for the purpose of forming colonies on these 
 new shores. The Virginia Company, thus called into being, received
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 117 
 
 the right to hold all the land from Cape Fear to the St. Croix River. 
 This company comprised two divisions, the London Company, with 
 control over the southern part of the territory, and the Plymouth 
 Company, controlling the northern. Under the auspices of the Lon- 
 don Company the first permanent English colony in America was 
 founded. Three vessels, under Captain Christopher Newport, with 
 about one hundred men, were sent out. They had been instructed to 
 land on Roanoke Island, but were driven by a storm into Chesapeake 
 Bay. The beauty of the situation attracted them, and they deter- 
 mined to settle there. Sailing up James River to a convenient spot, 
 they landed on May 13, the place chosen for their settlement being 
 named by them Jamestown. 
 
 The instructions for the colony had been placed by the king in a 
 sealed box, on opening which it was found that seven men were 
 appointed a governing council, among them Gosnold, Newport, and 
 the celebrated Captain John Smith, who was a member of the ex- 
 pedition. Most of the colony were gentlemen, who hoped to find 
 gold at once and make their fortune, and no attempt at agriculture 
 was made. A terrible summer followed. The position chosen for 
 security against the Indians proved unhealthy, and more than half the 
 colony was swept away by a pestilence. Only the friendly aid of the 
 Indians saved the rest from death by starvation. Meanwhile, Captain 
 Smith was prevented from taking his place in the council by the 
 action of his enemies, and was arrested on false accusations. For 
 several months he lay under a cloud. But, boldly defying the malice 
 of his enemies, he cleared himself of their charges and resumed his 
 place in the council. By the autumn the sole control of the colony 
 fell into the hands of Smith, the president finding the duty beyond 
 his ability. The behavior of Smith in this capacity is well told in, 
 Campbell's " History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion in Vir- 
 ginia," from which we extract some passages, with the caution to 
 the reader that the story of Smith's adventures among the Indians is 
 told by himself, and that his character for veracity is not a high one.] 
 
 AT the approach of winter the rivers of Virginia 
 abounded with wild-fowl, and the English now were well 
 supplied with bread, peas, persimmons, fish, and game. 
 But this plenty did not last long, for what Smith care- 
 fully provided the colonists carelessly wasted. The idlers
 
 118 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 at Jamestown, including some of the council, now began 
 to mutter complaints against Smith for not having dis- 
 covered the source of the Chickahominy, it being supposed 
 that the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, lay not far distant, 
 and that a communication with it would be found by some 
 river running from the northwest. The Chickahominy 
 flowed in that direction, and hence the solicitude of these 
 Jamestown cosmographers to trace that river to its head. 
 To allay this dissatisfaction of the council, Smith made 
 another voyage up that river, and proceeded until it be- 
 came necessary, in order to pass, to cut away a large 
 tree which had fallen across the stream. When at last 
 the barge could advance no farther, he returned eight 
 miles and moored her in a wide bay out of danger, and 
 leaving orders to his men not to venture on shore until 
 his return, accompanied by two of his men and two In- 
 dian guides, and leaving seven men in the barge, he went 
 still higher up in a canoe to the distance of twenty miles. 
 In a short time after he had parted from the barge the 
 men left in her went ashore, and one of them, George 
 Cassen, was surprised and killed. Smith, in the mean 
 while, not suspecting this disaster, reached the marshy 
 ground toward the head of the river, " the slashes," and 
 went out with his gun to provide food for the party, and 
 took with him one of the Indians. During his excursion 
 his two men, Robinson and Emry, were slain, and he him- 
 self was attacked by a numerous party of Indians, two 
 of whom he killed with a pistol. He protected himself 
 from their arrows by making a shield of his guide, bind- 
 ing him fast by the arm with one of his garters. Many 
 arrows pierced his clothes, and some slightly wounded 
 him. Endeavoring to reach the canoe, and walking back- 
 ward with his eye still fixed on his pursuei's, he sunk to 
 his waist in an oozy creek, and his savage with him.
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 119 
 
 Nevertheless the Indians were afraid .to approach until, 
 being now half dead with cold, he threw away his arms, 
 when they drew him forth, and led him to the fire 
 where his two companions were tying dead. Here the 
 Indians chafed his benumbed limbs, and, having restored 
 the vital heat, Smith inquired for their chief, and they 
 pointed him to Opechancanough, the great chief of Pa- 
 munkey. Smith pi'esented him a mariner's compass : the 
 vibrations of the mysterious needle astonished the un- 
 tutored sons of the forest. In a short time they bound 
 the prisoner to a tree, and were about to shoot him to 
 death, when Opechancanough holding up the compass, 
 they all laid down their bows and arrows. Then mai-ch- 
 ing in Indian file they led the captive, guarded by fifteen 
 men, about six miles, to Orapakes, a hunting town in the 
 upper part of the Chickahominy swamp, and about twelve 
 miles northeast from the falls of James Eiver [Eichmond]. 
 At this town, consisting of thirty or forty houses, built 
 like arbors and covered with mats, the women and chil- 
 dren came forth to meet them, staring in amazement at 
 Smith. Opechancanough and his followers performed their 
 military exercises, and joined in the war-dance. Smith 
 was confined in a long house under a guard, and an enor- 
 mous quantity of bread and venison was set before him, 
 as if to fatten him for sacrifice, or because they supposed 
 that a superior being required a proportionately larger 
 supply of food. An Indian who had received some toys 
 from Smith at Jamestown now, in return, brought him a 
 warm garment of fur, a pleasing instance of gratitude, 
 a sentiment often found even in the breast of a savage. 
 Another Indian, whose son had been mortally wounded 
 by Smith, made an attempt to kill him in revenge, and 
 was only prevented by the interposition of his guards. 
 [Smith then sent a written message to Jamestown, and received a
 
 120 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 reply, the Indians being astonished on perceiving that " paper could 
 talk." The captive was next taken to Pamaunkee, the residence of 
 the chief.] 
 
 Here, for three days, they engaged in their horrid orgies 
 and incantations, with a view to divine their prisoner's 
 secret designs, whether friendly or hostile. They also 
 showed him a bag of gunpowder, which they were re- 
 serving till the next spring, when they intended to sow 
 it in the ground, as they were desirous of propagating so 
 useful an article. 
 
 Smith was hospitably entertained by Opitchapan (Ope- 
 chancanough's brother), who dwelt a little above, on the 
 Pamunkey. Finally, the captive was taken to Werowo- 
 comoco, probably signifying chief place of council, a favorite 
 seat of Powhatan, on the York River, then called the Pa- 
 maunkee or Pamunkey. They found this chief in his rude 
 palace, reclining before the fire, on a sort of throne, re- 
 sembling a bedstead, covered with mats, his head adorned 
 with feathers and his neck with beads, and wearing a long 
 robe of raccoon-skins. At his head sat a young female, 
 and another at his feet ; while on each side of the wigwam 
 sat the men in rows, on mats, and behind them as many 
 young women, their heads and shoulders painted red, some 
 with their heads decorated with the snowy down of birds, 
 and all with strings of white beads falling over their shoul- 
 ders. On Smith's entrance they all raised a terrific yell. 
 The queen of Appomattock brought him water to wash, 
 and another, a bunch of feathers for a towel. After feast- 
 ing him, a long consultation was held. That ended, two 
 large stones were brought, and the one laid upon the other, 
 before Powhatan ; then as many as could lay hold, seizing 
 Smith, dragged him to the stones, and, lajnng his head on 
 them, snatched up their war-clubs, and, brandishing them 
 in the air, were about to slay him, when Pocahontas, Pow-
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 121 
 
 hatan's favorite daughter, a girl of only twelve or thirteen 
 years of age, finding all her entreaties unavailing, flew, 
 and, at the hazard of her life, clasped the captive's head 
 in her arms, and laid her own upon his. The stern heart 
 of Powhatan was touched : he relented, and consented that 
 Smith might live. 
 
 [The story here given is one in which the reader may be advised 
 not to put too great credit, as it is doubted by historical critics, and 
 has, in all probability, been greatly embellished by its chief actor. 
 Two days afterwards Smith was permitted by Powhatan to return to 
 Jamestown, on condition of sending him two great guns and a grind- 
 stone.] 
 
 Smith now treated his Indian guides kindly, and, show- 
 ing Eawhunt, a favorite servant of Powhatan, two pieces 
 of cannon and a grindstone, gave him leave to carry them 
 home to his master. A cannon was then loaded with 
 stones, and discharged among the boughs of a tree hung 
 with icicles, when the Indians fled in terror, but upon 
 being persuaded to return they received presents for Pow- 
 hatan, his wives and children, and departed. 
 
 At the time of Smith's return to Jamestown, he found 
 the number of the colonists reduced to forty. Of the one 
 hundred original settlers, seventy-eight are classified as 
 follows : fifty-four gentlemen, four carpenters, twelve labor- 
 ers, a blacksmith, a sailor, a barber, a bricklayer, a mason, 
 a tailor, a drummer, and a " chirurgeon." Of the gentle- 
 men, the greater part were indolent, dissolute reprobates, 
 of good families; and they found themselves not in a 
 golden El Dorado, as they had fondly anticipated, but in 
 a remote wilderness, encompassed by want, exposure, fa- 
 tigue, disease, and danger. 
 
 The return of Smith, and his report of the plenty that 
 he had witnessed at "Werowocomoco, and of the generous, 
 clemency of Powhatan, and especially of the love of Poca- 
 i. F 11
 
 122 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 hontas, revived the drooping hopes of the survivors at 
 Jamestown. The arrival of Newport at the same juncture 
 with stores and a number of additional settlers, being part 
 of the first supply sent out from England by the treasurer 
 and council, was joyfully welcomed. Pocahontas too, with 
 her tawny train of attendants, frequently visited James- 
 town, with presents of bread, and venison, and raccoons, 
 sent by Powhatan for Smith and Newport. However, the 
 improvident traffic allowed between Newport's mariners 
 and the natives soon extremely enhanced the price of pro- 
 visions, and the too protracted detention of his vessel made 
 great inroads upon the public store. 
 
 [The events described were followed by a visit to Powhatan, and 
 the accidental burning of Jamestown, which took place on their re- 
 turn. Other troubles succeeded.] 
 
 The stock of provisions running low, the colonists at 
 Jamestown were reduced to a diet of meal and water, and 
 this, together with their exposure to cold after the loss 
 of their habitations, cut off upwards of one-half of them. 
 Their condition was made still worse by a rage for gold that 
 now seized them. " There was no talk, no hope, no work, 
 but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold." Smith, not 
 indulging in these empty dreams of imaginary wealth, 
 laughed at their infatuation in loading " such a drunken 
 ship with gilded dust." 
 
 Captain Newport, after a delay of three months and a 
 half, being now ready to sail for England, the planters, 
 having no use for parliaments, places, petitions, admirals, 
 recorders, interpreters, chronologers, courts of plea, nor 
 justices of the peace, sent Master Wingfield and Captain 
 Archer home with him, so that they, who had engrossed all 
 those titles to themselves, might seek some better place of 
 employment. Newport carried with him twenty turkeys,
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 123 
 
 which had been presented to him by Powhatan, who had 
 demanded and received twenty swords in return for them. 
 This fowl, peculiar to America, had been many years before 
 carried to England by some of the early discoverers of 
 North America. 
 
 After Newport's departure, Ratcliffe, the president, lived 
 in ease, peculating on the public store. The spring now 
 approaching, Smith and Scrivener undertook to rebuild 
 Jamestown, repair the palisades, fell trees, prepare the 
 fields, plant, and erect another church. While thus en- 
 gaged they were joyfully surprised by the arrival of the 
 Phoenix, commanded by Captain Nelson, who had left Eng- 
 land with Newport about the end of the year 1607, and, 
 after coining within sight of Cape Henry, had been driven 
 off to the West Indies. He brought with him the re- 
 mainder of the first supply, which comprised one hundred 
 and twenty settlers. Having found provisions in the West 
 Indies, and having economically husbanded his own, he im- 
 parted them generously to the colony, so that now there 
 was accumulated a store sufficient for half a year. 
 
 Powhatan, having effected so advantageous an exchange 
 with Newport, afterwards sent Smith twenty turkeys, but, 
 receiving no swords in return, he was highly offended, and 
 ordered his people to take them by fraud or force, and they 
 accordingly attempted to seize them at the gates of James- 
 town. The president and Martin, who now ruled, remained 
 inactive, under pretence of orders from England not to 
 offend the natives ; but some of them happening to meddle 
 with Smith, he handled them so roughly, by whipping and 
 imprisonment, as to repress their insolence. 
 
 Pocahontas, in beauty of feature, expression, and form, 
 far surpassed any of the natives, and in intelligence and 
 spirit ' was the nonpareil of her country." Powhatan, hear- 
 ing that some of his people were kept prisoners at James-
 
 124 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 town, sent her, with Rawhunt (who was as remarkable for 
 his personal deformity, but shrewd and crafty), with pres- 
 ents of a deer and some bread, to sue for their ransom. 
 Smith released the prisoners, and Pocahontas was dismissed 
 with presents. Thus the scheme of Powhatan to destroy 
 the English with their own swords was happily frustrated. 
 The Phoenix was freighted with a cargo of cedar, and 
 the unserviceable, gold-hunting Captain Martin concluded 
 to return with her to England. Of the one hundred and 
 twenty settlers brought by Newport and Nelson, there 
 were thirty-three gentlemen, twenty-one laborers (some of 
 them only footmen), six tailors, two apothecaries, two jew- 
 ellers, two gold-refiners, two goldsmiths, a gunsmith, a per- 
 fumer, a surgeon, a cooper, a tobacco-pipe maker, and a 
 blacksmith. 
 
 [On the 2d of June, .1608, Smith left Jamestown with the purpose 
 of exploring Chesapeake Bay. During this journey he discovered 
 the Potomac and sailed up it to the head of navigation. He contin- 
 ued his explorations, and during the summer, " with a few men, in a 
 small barge, in his several voyages of discovery he traversed a distance 
 of not less than three thousand miles." In September, 1608, he ac- 
 cepted the office of president, which he had formerly declined.] 
 
 Smith, the president, now set the colonists to work; some 
 to make glass, others to prepare tar, pitch, and soap-ashes ; 
 while he, in person, conducted thirty of them five miles 
 below the fort to cut down trees and saw plank. Two of 
 this lumber party happened to be young gentlemen who 
 had arrived in the last supply. Smith sharing labor and 
 hardship in common with the rest, these woodmen, at first, 
 became apparently reconciled to the novel task, and seemed 
 to listen with pleasure to the crashing thunder of the fall- 
 ing trees ; but when the axes began to blister their unac- 
 customed hands, they grew profane, and their frequent loud 
 oaths echoed in the woods. Smith, taking measures to have
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 125 
 
 the oaths of each one numbered, in the evening, for each 
 offence, poured a can of water down the offender's sleeve ; 
 and this curious discipline, or water-cure, was so effectual 
 that after it was administered an oath would scarcely be 
 heard in a week. Smith found that thirty or forty gentle- 
 men who volunteered to work could do more in a day than 
 one hundred that worked by compulsion ; but he adds that 
 twenty good workmen would have been better than the 
 whole of them put together. 
 
 [Further troubles with the Indians succeeded, and only the energy 
 of the governor defeated the murderous schemes of Opechancanough.] 
 
 Returning [from his visit to this chief], he descended the 
 York as far as Werowocomoco, intending to surprise Pow- 
 hatan there, and thus secure a further supply of corn ; but 
 Powhatan had abandoned his new house, and had carried 
 away all his corn and provisions; and Smith, with his 
 party, returned to Jamestown. In this expedition, with 
 twenty-five pounds of copper and fifty pounds of iron, and 
 some beads, he procured, in exchange, two hundred pounds 
 of deer suet, and delivered to the Cape merchant four 
 hundred and seventy-nine bushels of corn. 
 
 At Jamestown the provision of the public store had been 
 spoiled by exposure to the rain of the previous summer, 
 or eaten by rats and worms. The colonists had been living 
 there in indolence, and a large part of their implements and 
 arms had been trafficked away to the Indians. Smith 
 undertook to remedy these disorders by discipline and labor, 
 relieved by pastimes and recreations ; and he established it 
 as a rule that he who would not work should not eat. The 
 whole government of the colony was now, in effect, de- 
 volved upon him, Captain Wynne being the only other 
 surviving councillor, and the president having two votes. 
 Shortly after Smith's return, he met the chief of Paspahegh 
 i. ' 11*
 
 126 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 near Jamestown, and had a rencontre with him. This 
 athletic savage attempting to shoot him, he closed and 
 grappled, when, by main strength, the chief forced him into 
 the river to drown him. They struggled long in the water, 
 until Smith, grasping the savage by the throat, wellnigh 
 strangled him, and, drawing his sword, was about to cut 
 off his head, when he begged for his life so piteously that 
 Smith spared him, and led him prisoner to Jamestown, 
 where he put him in chains. He was daily visited by his 
 wives, and children, and people, who brought presents to 
 ransom him. At last he made his escape. Captain Wynne 
 and Lieutenant Percy were despatched, with a party of 
 fifty, to recapture him, failing in which they burned the 
 chief's cabin and carried away his canoes. Smith now 
 going out to " try his conclusions" with " the salvages," 
 slew some, and made some prisoners, burned their cabins, 
 and took their canoes and fishing-weirs. Shortly after- 
 wards the president, passing through Paspahcgh, on his 
 way to the Chickahominy, was assaulted by the Indians ; 
 but, upon his firing, and their discovering who he was, 
 they threw down their arms and sued for peace. Oka- 
 ning, a young warrior, who spoke in their behalf, in jus- 
 tifying the escape of their chief from imprisonment at 
 Jamestown, said, " The fishes swim, the fowls fly, and the 
 very beasts strive to escape the snare, and live." Smith's 
 vigorous measures, together with some accidental circum- 
 stances, so dismayed the savages that from this time to the 
 end of his administration they gave no further trouble. 
 
 [In 1609 an addition to the colony of five hundred men and women 
 was sent out, with stores and provisions, in a fleet of nine vessels.] 
 
 Upon the appearance of this fleet near Jamestown, 
 Smith, not expecting such a supply, took them to be Span-
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 127 
 
 iards, and prepared to encounter them, and the Indians 
 readily offered their assistance. The colony had already, 
 before the arrival of the fleet, been threatened with an- 
 archy, owing to intelligence of the premature repeal of 
 the charter, brought out by Captain Argall, and the new 
 settlers had now no sooner landed .than they gave rise to 
 new confusion and disorder. The factious leaders, although 
 they brought no commission with them, insisted on the 
 abrogation of the existing charter, rejected the authority 
 of Smith, whom they hated and feared, and undertook to 
 usurp the government. Their capricious folly equalled 
 their insolence: to-day the old commission must rule, to- 
 morrow the new, the next day neither, thus, by continual 
 change, plunging all things into anarchy. 
 
 Smith, filled with disgust, would cheerfully have em- 
 barked for England, but, seeing little prospect of the ar- 
 rival of the new commission (which was in the possession 
 of Gates on the island of Bermudas), he resolved to put 
 an end to these incessant plots and machinations. The 
 ringleaders, Satcliffe, Archer, and others, he arrested; to 
 cut off another source of disturbance, he gave permission 
 to Percy, who was in feeble health, to embark for Eng- 
 land, of which, however, he did not avail himself. West, 
 with one hundred and twenty picked men, was detached 
 to the falls of James River, and Martin, with nearly the 
 same number, to Nansemond. Smith's presidency having 
 expired about this time, he had been succeeded by Martin, 
 who, conscious of his incompetency, bad immediately 
 resigned it to Smith. Martin, at Nansemond, seized the 
 chief, and, capturing the town, occupied it with his de- 
 tachment ; but owing to want of judgment, or of vigilance, 
 he suffered himself to be surprised by the savages, who 
 slew many of his party, rescued the chief, and carried off
 
 128 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 their corn. Martin not long after returned to Jamestown, 
 leaving his detachment to shift for themselves. 
 
 Smith, going up the river to West's settlement at the 
 falls, found the English planted in a place not only subject 
 to the river's inundation, but " surrounded by many intol- 
 erable inconveniences." To remedy these, by a messenger 
 he proposed to purchase from Powhatan his seat of that 
 name, a little lower down the river. The settlers scorn- 
 fully rejected the scheme, and became so mutinous that 
 Smith landed among them and arrested the chief male- 
 contents. But, overpowered by numbers, being supported 
 by only five men, he was forced to retire on board of a 
 vessel lying in the river. The Indians daily supplied him 
 with provisions, in requital for which the English plun- 
 dered their corn, robbed their cultivated ground, beat 
 them, broke into their cabins, and made them prisoners. 
 They complained to Captain Smith that the men whom 
 he had sent there as their protectors " were worse than 
 their old enemies, the Monacans." Smith, embarking, had 
 no sooner set sail for Jamestown than many of West's 
 party were slain by the savages. 
 
 It so happened that before Smith's vessel had dropped 
 a mile and a half down the river she ran aground, where- 
 upon, making a virtue of necessity, he summoned the 
 mutineers to a parley, and they, now seized with a panic 
 on account of the assault of a mere handful of Indians, 
 submitted themselves to his mercy. He again arrested 
 the ringleaders, and established the rest of the party at 
 Powhatan, in the Indian palisade fort, which was so well 
 fortified by poles and bark as to defy all the savages in 
 Virginia. Dry cabins were also found there, and nearly 
 two hundred acres of ground ready to be planted, and it 
 was called Nonsuch, as being at once the strongest and
 
 CAMPBELL] THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. 129 
 
 most delightful place in the country. Nonsuch was the 
 name of a royal residence in England. 
 
 When Smith was now on the eve of his departure, the 
 arrival of West again threw all things back into confusion. 
 Nonsuch was abandoned, and all hands returned to the 
 falls, and Smith, finding all his eiforts abortive, embarked 
 in a boat for Jamestown. During the voyage he was ter- 
 ribly wounded, while asleep, by the accidental explosion 
 of a bag of gunpowder, and in the paroxysm of pain he 
 leaped into the river, and was wellnigh drowned before 
 his companions could rescue him. Arriving at James- 
 town in this helpless condition, he was again assailed by 
 faction and mutiny, and one of his enemies even presented 
 a cocked pistol at him in his bed ; but the hand wanted 
 the nerve to execute what the heart was base enough to 
 design. 
 
 Ratcliffe, Archer, and their confederates laid plans to 
 usurp the government of the colony, whereupon Smith's 
 faithful soldiers, fired with indignation at conduct so in- 
 famous, begged for permission to strike off their heads ; 
 but this he refused. He refused also to surrender the 
 presidency to Percy. For this Smith is censured by the 
 historian Stith, who yet acknowledges that Percy was in 
 too feeble health to control a mutinous colony. Anarchy 
 being triumphant, Smith probably deemed it useless to ap- 
 point a governor over a mob. He at last, about Michael- 
 mas, 1609, embarked for England, after a stay of a little 
 more than two years in Virginia, to which he never 
 returned. 
 
 Here, then, closes the career of Captain John Smith 
 in Virginia, " the father of the colony," and a hero like 
 Bayard, " without fear and without reproach."
 
 130 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Howisow 
 
 THE INDIAN MASSACRE IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 EGBERT R. HOWISON. 
 
 [No sooner had Captain Smith departed from the Jamestown colony 
 than all order and subordination ceased. His energy and good sense 
 had alone held the reckless colonists in check, and they quickly con- 
 sumed all their provisions, and provoked the hostility of the Indians, 
 who refused to furnish them with supplies. Famine succeeded. Within 
 six months, vice, anarchy, and starvation reduced the colony from four 
 hundred and ninety to sixty persons, and these so feeble and miserable 
 that had not relief come all must soon have perished. This period 
 was long remembered under the name of the starving time. 
 
 Soon after, Sir Thomas Gates arrived, but without supplies, and 
 as the only escape from starvation he took' the surviving colonists 
 on his ships and set sail for Newfoundland. Fortunately, when they 
 reached the mouth of the river they met Lord Delaware, who had 
 been sent out as governor of the colony, with supplies and emigrants. 
 The colonists were induced to return, and order and contentment were 
 soon regained under the wise management of the new governor. 
 Shortly afterwards seven hundred more men arrived, and the land, 
 which had been held in common, was divided among the colonists, 
 much to the advancement of agriculture. In 1613 occurred the mar- 
 riage of John Kolfe, a young Englishman, with Pocahontas, the 
 daughter of Powhatan, an event which improved the relations between 
 the colonists and the Indians. Pocahontas was taken to England in 
 1616, and died in 1617, leaving one son, from whom are descended some 
 of the most respectable families in Virginia. In 1613, Captain Argall 
 sailed from Virginia for the purpose of protecting the English fisher- 
 men on the coast of Maine. He broke up a settlement which the 
 French had made on Mt. Desert Island, near the Penobscot, reduced 
 the French settlement at Port Royal, in Acadia, and entered the harbor 
 of New York, where he compelled the Dutch traders to acknowledge 
 the sovereignty of England. The effect of the last two operations, 
 however, continued only till the disappearance of his ship. In 1615 
 the colonists went eagerly into tobacco-culture, which soon became 
 a mania ; the culture of corn and other grain being so neglected 
 as to threaten renewed scarcity. In 1617 it is said that the yards,
 
 HOWISON] THE INDIAN MASSACRE IN VIRGINIA. 131 
 
 the market square, and the very streets of Jamestown were full 
 of the plants of this new article of commerce, to which the soil and 
 climate of Virginia proved well adapted. In 1617, Captain Argall 
 was made governor, and at once established a system of strict mili- 
 tary rule which, in time, became almost a reign of terror. He was 
 removed in 1619, and Sir George Yeardly sent out, under whose ad- 
 ministration the colony flourished. In 1619 a representative body was 
 organized, and met in Jamestown, where it adopted a colonial con- 
 stitution. This was the first legislative fiction in America, and the 
 first step towards American liberty. In the succeeding year (1620) a 
 Dutch man-of-war sailed up the James and landed twenty negroes, 
 who were quickly sold to the colonists. A happier introduction than 
 this of African slavery was effected the same year, in the sending 
 over of ninety young women, who were also sold to the colonists as 
 wives ; the price paid for each being one hundred and twenty pounds 
 of tobacco. Sixty others were soon after sent, and the price rose to 
 one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. 
 
 But the Virginian colonists were now to pass through a danger as 
 threatening as that of the " starving time." The death of Powhatan 
 had removed their best friend among the Indians. The rapid increase 
 of the colonists, and the spread of their settlements, alarmed the sav- 
 ages, who, in 1622, formed a conspiracy to destroy the whole colony. 
 The story of this thrilling event we extract from Howison's " History 
 of Virginia."] 
 
 SINCE the marriage of Pocahontas with John Eolfe, the 
 Indians had preserved the most peaceful relations with the 
 settlers, and hopes were entertained that permanent friend- 
 ship would be established between them. The dominion 
 of Powhatan had descended to his brother Opitchapan, a 
 feeble and decrepit chieftain, who was neither dreaded by 
 the whites nor respected by his own subjects. But there 
 was one mind among the natives which now exercised all 
 the sway of superior genius and courage. Opecancanough 
 has heretofore been mentioned. It is doubtful whether 
 he was in any manner related to Powhatan, though he is 
 often spoken of as his brother. Among the Indians and 
 some of the whites prevailed a belief that he came from a
 
 132 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 tribe far in the southwest, perhaps from the interior of 
 Mexico. But in talents and influence he was now the 
 ruling power among the savages. Profound in dissimula- 
 tion, cruel by nature and habit, patient of suffering, skilled 
 in every species of treachery, and possessed of a ready 
 eloquence, always at his command, he soon gained over the 
 minds of his inferiors an ascendency as resistless as it was 
 dangerous. . . . 
 
 The English had become careless and unsuspecting. 
 Believing the natives to be their friends, they admitted 
 them freely to their houses, sometimes supplied them with 
 arms, employed them in hunting and fishing for their 
 families, and in all respects treated them as faithful allies. 
 As habits of industry and steady labor gained ground, the 
 colonists relaxed their martial discipline. The plough was 
 a more useful implement than the musket, and the sword 
 had given place to the hoe and the pickaxe. Seduced by 
 the present tranquillity, and by the fertile soil found in 
 belts of land upon all the rivers running into the bay, they 
 had extended their settlements until they were now nearly 
 eighty in number and spread in scattered plantations over 
 a space of several hundred miles. They were lulled into 
 complete security by the demeanor 'of the natives, and 
 those who were most zealous for religion were beginning to 
 hope that the seeds of the truth were taking root in many 
 untutored minds, and would, after a season, produce fruits 
 of joy and peace. Some were not thus sanguine ; and 
 among those who looked with most suspicion upon the 
 Indians we mark the name of Jonas Stockam, a minister, 
 who has left on record an open acknowledgment of his dis- 
 trust. His strong common sense, his knowledge of human 
 nature, and his observations upon the natives around him, 
 all confirmed his belief that they were yet highly dangerous, 
 and that until their priests and " ancients" were destroyed
 
 HOWISON] THE INDIAN MASSACRE IN VIRGINIA. 133 
 
 no hope of their conversion need be entertained. But his 
 warnings, and slight proofs of enmity in the savages, were 
 alike disregarded. The colonists remained immersed in 
 unruffled security. 
 
 In the mean time Opecancanough was preparing the 
 actors in his infernal drama. Either in person or by his 
 emissaries, he visited all the tribes composing the con- 
 federacy over which Powhatan had held dominion. He 
 roused them to revenge; represented their wrongs; wrought 
 their passions to intensity by mingled promises of blood 
 and of rapine; pointed to the defenceless state of the 
 colonists, and established a complete organization for the 
 work of death. . . . The savages of Virginia were now 
 embodied for their fatal purpose, and awaited but the 
 signal from their leader to fall upon the unsuspecting col- 
 onists. . . . 
 
 On Friday, the 22d day of March (1622), the tragedy 
 began. So perfect was the confidence of the settlers that 
 they loaned the savages their boats to cross the rivers for 
 their deadly purpose ; many of them even came in to take 
 the morning meal with the whites, and brought deer, 
 turkeys, fish, and fruits, which they offered for sale in the 
 usual manner. But at mid-day the scene of blood was 
 opened. Instantly, and as if by magic, the savages appeared 
 at every point, and fell upon their victims with the weapons 
 which first presented themselves. Neither age nor sex was 
 spared. The tender infant was snatched from the mother 
 to be butchered before her eyes ; wives were left weltering 
 in blood in the presence of their husbands ; men helpless 
 from age, or wholly without defence, were stricken down 
 ere they could see the foe who assailed them. In one 
 morning three hundred and forty-nine settlers were slain 
 upon the several plantations. The murderers were lashed 
 into frenzied excitement by their own passions ; and, not 
 i. 12
 
 134 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowisoN 
 
 content with the work of death, they mutilated the corpses 
 in a manner so revolting that the original recorders of this 
 massacre shrink from the task of describing them. . . . 
 
 It is remarkable that wherever resistance was made to 
 these fiends it was entirely successful. Too cruel to be 
 brave, they fled from the first vigorous onset ; and had the 
 colonists received one hour's warning, no life would have 
 been lost that was not dearly atoned for. An old soldier 
 who had served under John Smith, although surrounded by 
 Indians and severely wounded, clove the skull of one assail- 
 ant with a single stroke of an axe, and the rest instantly 
 took to flight. A Mr. Baldwin, whose wife was lying before 
 his eyes, profusely bleeding from many wounds, by one well- 
 directed discharge drove a crowd of murderers from his 
 house. Several small parties of settlers obtained a few 
 muskets from a ship that happened to be lying in the 
 stream near their plantations, and with these tbcy routed 
 the savages in every direction and dispersed them in great 
 alarm. 
 
 [Jamestown was saved through information given "by a young In- 
 dian convert. Preparations for defence were hastily made, and the 
 savages did not venture an assault.] 
 
 The immediate effects of this blow upon the colony 
 were most disastrous. Horror and consternation per- 
 vaded every mind ; nearly one-fourth of their whole num- 
 ber had, in a single hour, been stricken down. The rest 
 were hastily drawn together around Jamestown. Distant 
 plantations were abandoned, and in a short time eighty 
 settlements were reduced to six. Some few bold spirits 
 (and among them a woman) refused to obey the order, 
 and remained in their country-seats, among their ser- 
 vants, mounting cannon at weak points, and preparing to 
 meet the treacherous foe with becoming courage. But
 
 HOWISON] THE INDIAN MASSACRE IN VIRGINIA. 135 
 
 they were compelled by law to abandon their strongholds 
 and to unite their resources in the common fund. 
 
 A terrible reaction in the feelings of the colonists im- 
 mediately took place. ... A war ensued, in which the 
 fiercest impulses that man can feel were called into being. 
 No truce was ever declared. The Indians were shot 
 down at any time and in any place in which they showed 
 themselves. When seed-time approached, hostilities de- 
 clined from absolute necessity. The English resorted to 
 a stratagem which cannot be justified. Offering peace to 
 the savages, they seduced them from their places of con- 
 cealment ; but in the midst of their labor they rushed 
 upon them, cut down their corn, and put to death a large 
 number, among whom were several of their greatest war- 
 riors and most skilful chieftains. So embittered and so 
 deep was the feeling of hatred thus engendered between 
 the races that for many years it was transmitted from 
 father to son. The colonists looked upon the Indians as 
 their hereditary foes, and the unhappy natives never spoke 
 of the " long knives" without fear and execration. 
 
 [During the immediately succeeding period no events of any marked 
 importance occurred in Virginia. In 1624 the London Company was 
 dissolved, and Virginia became a royal government. But the rights of 
 trial by jury and of a representative Assembly, which had been granted 
 by the Company, were retained, and all succeeding colonies claimed 
 the same, so that from the formation of the colonial Assembly of Vir- 
 ginia we may date the beginning of the evolution of American liberty. 
 In 1643 another Indian massacre took place, instigated by the same 
 implacable chief.] 
 
 The Indians were now inveterate enemies. Peace was 
 never thought of. Successive enactments of the Assem- 
 bly made it a solemn duty to fall upon the natives at 
 stated periods of the year, and heavy penalties were vis- 
 ited upon all who traded with them or in any way pro-
 
 136 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowisoN 
 
 vided them with arms and ammunition. The whites 
 were steadily increasing both in moral and physical 
 strength ; the Indians were as rapidly wasting away be- 
 fore the breath of civilization. A few incursions, a few 
 convulsive efforts, always attended by heavy loss to them- 
 selves, one final struggle, these will complete their his- 
 tory in eastern Yirginia. 
 
 The illegal grants favored by Sir John Ilervey had pro- 
 voked the natives into active hostility. They saw their 
 hunting-grounds successively swept away by a power 
 which they were unable to resist, and all the passions of 
 the savage arose to demand revenge. . . . Among the na- 
 tives there still lived a hero who had proved himself a for- 
 midable advei*sary even when encountered by European 
 skill. Opecancanough had attained the hundredth year 
 of his life. Declining age had bowed a form once emi- 
 nent in stature and manly strength. Incessant toil and 
 watchfulness had wasted his flesh and left him gaunt and 
 withered, like the forest-tree stripped of its foliage by the 
 frosts of winter. His eyes had lost their brightness, and 
 so heavily did the hand of age press upon him that his 
 eyelids drooped from weakness, and he required the aid 
 of an attendant to raise them that he might see objects 
 around him. Yet within this tottering and wasted body 
 burned a soul which seemed to have lost none of its origi- 
 nal energy. A quenchless fire incited him to hostility 
 against the settlers. He yet wielded great influence 
 among the members of the Powhatan confederacy ; and 
 by his wisdom, his example, and the veneration felt for 
 his age, he roused the savages to another effort at general 
 massacre. 
 
 The obscurity concerning the best records which remain 
 of this period has rendered doubtful the precise time at 
 which this fatal irruption occurred ; yet the most proba-
 
 HO-WISON] THE INDIAN MASSACRE IN VIRGINIA. 137 
 
 ble period would seem to be the close of the year 1643. 
 The Indians were drawn together with great secrecy and 
 skill, and were instructed to fall upon the colonists at the 
 same time, and to spare none who could be safely butch- 
 ered. Five hundred victims sank beneath their attack. 
 The assault was most violent and fatal upon the upper 
 waters of the Pamunkey and the York, where the settlers 
 were yet thin in number and but imperfectly armed. But 
 in every place where resistance was possible the savages 
 were routed with loss, and driven back in dismay to their 
 fastnesses in the forest. 
 
 Sir William Berkeley instantly placed himself at the head 
 of a chosen body, composed of every twentieth man able 
 to bear arms, and marched to the scene of devastation. 
 Finding the savages dispersed, and all organized resistance 
 at an end, he followed them with a troop of cavalry. The 
 aged chief had taken refuge in the neighborhood of his 
 seat at Pamunkey. His strength was too much enfeebled 
 for vigorous flight. His limbs refused to bear him, and his 
 dull vision rendered him an easy prey. He was overtaken 
 by the pursuers, and carried in triumph back to James- 
 town. 
 
 Finding the very soul of Indian enmity now within his 
 power, the governor had determined to send him to Eng- 
 land as a royal captive, to be detained in honorable cus- 
 tody until death should close his earthly career. . . . But 
 .a death of violence awaited him. A brutal wretch, urged 
 on by desire to revenge injuries to the whites which had 
 long been forgotten or forgiven, advanced with his musket 
 behind the unhappy chieftain and shot him through tho 
 back. . . . 
 
 The wound thus given was mortal. Opecancanough 
 lingered a few days in agony ; yet to the last moment of 
 his life he retained his majesty and sternness of demeanor, 
 i. 12*
 
 138 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ScHAKF 
 
 A crowd of idle beings collected around him to sate their 
 unfeeling curiosity with a view of his person and his con- 
 duct. Hearing the noise, the dying Indian feebly motioned 
 to his attendants to raise his eyelids, that he might learn 
 the cause of this tumult. A flash of wounded pride and 
 of just indignation, for a moment, revived his waning 
 strength. He sent for the governor, and addressed to him 
 that keen reproach which has so well merited preserva- 
 tion : " Had I taken Sir William Berkeley prisoner, I 
 would not have exposed him as a show to my people." 
 In a short time afterwards he expired. . . . 
 
 After the death of this warrior, the celebrated confed- 
 eracy of Powhatan was immediately dissolved. ... It 
 was without a head, and the members fell away and 
 speedily lost all tendency to cohesion. The Indians had 
 learned, by fatal experience, that they contended in vain 
 with the whites. . . . They have faded away and gradu- 
 ally disappeared, never more to return. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND. 
 
 J. THOMAS SCHARF. 
 
 [The country near the head of Chesapeake Bay was first explored hy 
 Captain John Smith. It afterwards formed part of the grant that was 
 made by Charles I. to Sir George Calvert, by title Lord Baltimore, a 
 Boman Catholic nobleman. Inspired by the same feeling that had 
 moved the Puritans, he sought to establish a refuge in America for men 
 of his religious faith, who were persecuted in England. With this 
 purpose he planted, in 1621, a Catholic colony in Newfoundland. But 
 the unfavorable soil and climate, and annoyances from the hostile 
 French, soon ended his hopes in that quarter. He next visited Vir- 
 ginia, but found there a religious intolerance hostile to his purposes.
 
 SCHARF] THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND. 139 
 
 The territory finally granted him extended from the upper Chesapeake 
 to the fortieth degree, the latitude of Philadelphia. 
 
 The charter given to Lord Baltimore, unlike any previously granted, 
 secured to the emigrants equality in religious rights and civil freedom, 
 aud an independent share in the legislation of the province. The 
 colony was formed in 1634 by two hundred emigrants, mostly Roman 
 Catholics, who entered the Potomac and purchased of the Indians a 
 village on the St. Mary's River, about ten miles from its junction with 
 the Potomac. The policy of paying the Indians for their land, and 
 their subsequent equitable treatment, inaugurated peaceful relations, 
 though these did not remain long undisturbed. The treaty of Calvert 
 with the Indians, though less dramatic, resembled in principle the 
 celebrated one made many years afterwards by William Penn. Its 
 character is clearly stated by J. T. Scharf in his excellent " History 
 of Maryland."] 
 
 INSTEAD of treating the aborigines as wild beasts, or 
 savages toward whom no moral law was binding, he dealt 
 
 o o* 
 
 with them as with men whose rights had a claim to respect. 
 He raised no sophistical question whether savages could 
 acquire or transfer any rights in the soil, or whether it 
 was worth while to pay them any price for what they 
 were preparing to abandon. The quantity of goods given 
 them is not known ; but the compensation was satisfactory, 
 and there is no reason for alleging that it was not ample. 
 The land ceded was mostly forest hunting-grounds ; and 
 the former possessors left them only to remove to others 
 chosen in the boundless wilderness. The articles given in 
 exchange were not trinkets and cheap gewgaws to pamper 
 savage vanity, nor the maddening draught that has been 
 the bane of the race, nor the arms that would render their 
 internal wars more deadly and hasten their extermination; 
 they were not merely of intrinsic worth, but of absolutely 
 inestimable value to the Indian, who could procure nothing 
 comparable to them, and was at once raised a degree in 
 civilization by their acquisition. The possession of an
 
 140 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SCHARF 
 
 axe of steel instead of his rude tool of stone multiplied 
 his strength and efficiency a hundredfold. If the whites 
 occupied his fields, they gave him, in improved imple- 
 ments, the means of raising larger crops, with less labor, 
 in his new abode ; if they restricted his hunting-grounds, 
 they taught him to dispense with his rude garment of 
 skin, and clothed him in the warmer fabric of the loom. 
 
 The Indians, on their side, faithfully performed their 
 part of the contract. They shared at once their cabins 
 with the strangers and prepared to abandon them and the 
 cultivated fields as soon as the corn was harvested. In the 
 mean time they mingled freely with the colonists, who 
 employed many of their women and children in their fami- 
 lies. From them the wives and daughters of the settlers 
 learned the modes of preparing maize and other products 
 of the soil. While the colonist of New England ploughed 
 his field with his musket on his back, or was aroused from 
 his slumber by the hideous war-whoop to find his dwelling 
 in flames, the settlers of St. Mary's accompanied the red 
 warrior to the chase and learned his arts of woodcraft ; 
 and the Indian coming to the settlement with wild tur- 
 keys or venison found a friendly reception and an honest 
 market, and, if belated, wrapped himself in his mantle of 
 skins or duffield cloth and lay down to sleep by the white 
 man's fireside, unsuspecting and unsuspected. 
 
 Such were the happy results of the truly Christian spirit 
 that animated the first Maryland colonists. 
 
 [Trouble with the Indians began as early as 1641, in the incursions 
 of the Susquehannoughs, a fierce tribe, which had always been hostile 
 to the colonists. These savages had now acquired the possession and 
 learned the use of fire-arms. The sale of arms and ammunition to 
 them had been made penal in the colony, but the Swedes and Dutch 
 on the Delaware freely supplied them with these dangerous articles. 
 There resulted a war with the Indians, which extended from 1642 to
 
 SCHARF] THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND. 141 
 
 1644. In the mean time Calvert was given great trouble by "William 
 Claiborne, a Virginian who had in 1631 established a trading-station 
 on the island of Kent and one near the mouth of the Susquehanna, 
 and who for years continued to contest the rights of the lord pro- 
 prietary. He even organized a rebellion, and for a time drove the 
 governor from the province. 
 
 Maryland has the honor of being the first country to establish the 
 principle of religious toleration to people of all faiths. George Cal- 
 vert "was the first," says Bancroft, "in the history of the Christian 
 world, to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of jus- 
 tice and not by the exercise of power ; to plan the establishment of 
 popular institutions with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience ; to 
 advance the career of civilization by recognizing the rightful equality 
 of all Christian sects." The religious toleration which already ex- 
 isted by charter was further established by a law of the Maryland 
 Assembly, of April 2, 1649. Khode Island had previously passed a 
 similar law. We quote the significant section of this important en- 
 actment.] 
 
 " And whereas the inforcing of the conscience in mat- 
 ters of religion hath frequently fallen out to bee of danger- 
 ous consequence in those commonwealths where it hath 
 beene practiced, and for the more quiet and peaceable gov- 
 ernment of this province, and the better to preserve mutuall 
 love and unity among the inhabitants here, Bee it, there- 
 fore, also by the lord proprietary, with the advice and 
 assent of this assembly, ordained and enacted, . . . that 
 no person or persons whatsoever within this province or 
 the islands, ports, harbours, creeks, or havens thereunto 
 belonging, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from 
 henceforth be any waies ti'oubled, molested, or discounte- 
 nanced, for or in respect of his or her religion, nor in the 
 free exercise thereof within this province or the islands 
 thereunto belonging, nor any way compelled to the be- 
 liefe or exercise of any other religion against his or her 
 consent, so as they be not unfaithfull to the lord proprie- 
 tary, or molest or conspire against the civill government,
 
 142 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SCHAEF 
 
 estabblished or to be established in this province under 
 him or his heyres ; and that all and every person or persons 
 that shall presume contrary to this act and the true intent 
 and meaning thereof, directly or indirectly, eyther in per- 
 son or estate, wilfully to wrong, disturbe, or trouble, or 
 molest any person or persons whatsoever within this 
 province, professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in 
 respect of his or her religion, or the free exercise thereof 
 within this province, . . . shall be compelled to pay treble 
 damages to the party so wronged or molested, and for 
 every such offence shall also forfeit 20s. sterling in money 
 or the value thereof, ... or if the party so offending as 
 aforesaid, shall refuse or bee unable to recompence the 
 party so wronged or to satisfie such fine or forfeiture, 
 then such offender shall be severely punished by publick 
 whipping and imprisonment during the pleasure of the 
 lord proprietary or his lieutenant or chiefs governour of 
 this province for the time being, without baile or main- 
 prise." 
 
 [The act here given also punishes with fine whoever shall denomi- 
 nate any person as "an Heretick, Schismatiek, Idolater, Puritan, 
 Presbyterian, Independent, Popish Priest, Jesuit, Jesuited Papist, 
 Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, 
 Koundhead, Separatist, or other name or terme in a reproachful man- 
 ner, relating to matters of religion," or shall blaspheme or deny any of 
 the persons of the Holy Trinity, or speak reproachfully of the Virgin 
 Mary, or shall break the Sabbath by drunkenness, swearing, disorderly 
 recreation, or work except when absolutely necessary. 
 
 The enactment here described was one worthy to be printed in let- 
 ters of gold, as an example of remarkable breadth of view and spirit 
 of tolerance for the age of religious bigotry in which it was passed. 
 Its principle was not long permitted to continue in force. During the 
 Puritan ascendency in England the government was taken from the 
 proprietor, and the Catholics of Maryland were disfranchised, excluded 
 from the Assembly, and declared not entitled to the protection of the 
 law. In January of the following year (1655), Stone, the lieutenant
 
 SCHARF] THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND. 143 
 
 of Lord Baltimore, resumed his office, and a civil war ensued, which 
 is worth describing, as the first instance of civil war in America.] 
 
 Lord Baltimore, learning the surrender of Governor 
 Stone, and that the affairs of the province were adminis- 
 tered by commissioners appointed by Claiborne, and his 
 associates, in the latter part of 1654, despatched a special 
 messenger . . . with a severe rebuke to the governor for 
 so tamely yielding his authority, and an order to him to 
 resume it immediately. 
 
 The ship arrived in January, 1655, N. S., and Captain 
 Stone proceeded to issue commissions to officers, and to 
 organize an armed force in the county of St. Mary's. In 
 a short time he found himself at 'the head of about one 
 hundred and thirty men. 
 
 ["With this force he recovered the records of the province, and cap- 
 tured a magazine of arms and ammunition from the Puritans.] 
 
 About the twentieth of March, Stone set out with his 
 little army for Providence. He had pressed into his ser- 
 vice eleven or twelve small vessels for the transportation 
 of part of his forces, and part marched by land along the 
 bay shore. . . . Governor Stone, with his little fleet and 
 army, entered the outer harbor of Providence (Annapolis 
 harbor) late in the evening of March 24. ... 
 
 Stone had no sooner drawn up his force in array upon 
 the shore, than the Golden Lyon and Captain Cut's vessel 
 opened fire upon them, killing one man, and compelling 
 him to retire a little up the neck of land. In the mean 
 time, Captain Fuller, at the head of one hundred and sev- 
 enty men, embarked in boats, and, having gone " over the 
 river some six miles distant from the enemy," landed, and 
 made a circuit around the head of the creek, proposing to 
 take Stone's force in flank and rear. On their approach 
 the sentry fired a gun, and an engagement followed, which
 
 144 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ScnARF 
 
 is thus described by Leonard Strong, one of Fuller's 
 council, in his pamphlet, " Babylon's Fall." 
 
 " Captain Fuller, still expecting that then, at last, pos- 
 sibly they might give a reason of their coming, commanded 
 his men, on pain of death, not to shoot a gun, or give the 
 first onset; setting up the standard of the commonwealth 
 of England, against which the enemy shot five or six guns 
 and killed one man in the front before a shot was made by 
 the other. Then the word was given : In the name of God, 
 fall on ; God is our strength that was the word for Provi- 
 dence : the Marylanders' word was Hey for Saint Maries. 
 The charge was fierce and sharp for the time ; but, through 
 the glorious presence of the Lord of hosts manifested in 
 and towards his poor oppressed people, the enemy could 
 not endure, but gave back, and were so effectually charged 
 home that they were all routed, turned their backs, threw 
 down their arms, and begged mercy. After the first vol- 
 ley of shot, a small company of the enemy, from behind 
 a great tree fallen, galled us, and wounded divers of our 
 men, but were soon beaten off. Of the whole company of 
 the Marylanders there escaped only four or five, who ran 
 away out of the army to carry news to their confederates. 
 Captain Stone, Colonel Price, Captain Gerrard, Captain 
 Lewis, Captain Kendall, Captain Guither, Major Chandler, 
 and all the rest of the councillors, officers, and soldiers of 
 the Lord Baltimore, among whom, both commanders and 
 souldiers, a great number being Papists, were taken, and so 
 were all their vessels, arms, ammunition, provision ; about 
 fifty men slain and wounded. "We lost only two in the 
 field ; but two died since of their wounds. God did appear 
 wonderful in the field and in the hearts of the people ; all 
 confessing Him to be the only worker of this victory and 
 deliverance." 
 
 Strong's pamphlet is, no doubt, strongly colored by
 
 PALFREY] THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 145 
 
 partisanship, but, whatever the exact details, the Puritans 
 were completely victorious. ..." Two or three days after 
 the victoi's condemned ten to death, and executed foure, 
 and had executed all, had not the incessant petitioning 
 and begging of some good women saved some, and the 
 souldiers others ; the governor himself being condemned 
 by them, and since beg'd by the souldiers ; some being 
 saved just as they were leading out /to execution." 
 
 [In 1658, on the restoration of monarchy in England, the proprie- 
 tor regained his authority in Maryland. A new disturbance between 
 Protestants and Catholics occurred in 1689, at the period of the Eng- 
 lish revolution, and Lord Baltimore was deprived of his rights by the 
 king in 1691. Religious toleration was abolished, and the Church of 
 England established as the slate religion. After more than twenty 
 years, the infant heir of Lord Baltimore, then a Protestant, was restored 
 to his proprietorship, and Maryland remained a proprietary govern- 
 ment until the Revolution.] 
 
 THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 JOHN GORHAM PALFREY. 
 
 [The discovery and settlement of New England was a slow process. 
 It possibly began with the voyages of the Northmen, though the 
 locality of Vinland can never be definitely known. The English 
 claim to the territory was based on the voyages of the Cabots, in 
 which the coast was visited from the far north to the thirty-eighth (or 
 perhaps to the thirty-sixth) degree of north latitude. The New Eng- 
 land coast was afterwards visited by Cortereal, by Verrazano, and by 
 several later voyagers. Yet during the sixteenth century no part of it 
 was explored, and no effort made at colonization. Gosnold, in 1602, 
 made an unsuccessful attempt to plant a colony on Martha's Vineyard. 
 Martin Pring made a trading-voyage to the coast in 1603. In 1605 
 George Weymouth entered the Kennebec or the Penobscot River. 
 About the same time the French essayed to plant a colony on Cape 
 I. o k 13
 
 146 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PALFREY 
 
 Cod, but were driven off by the Indians. In 1606 the Plymouth and 
 London Companies, for the purpose of planting colonies in America, 
 were formed in London, the patent of the first-named covering the 
 coast of New England, to which a colony was sent in 1607. It landed 
 at the mouth of the Kennebec River, but the colonists became dis- 
 couraged, and returned on the ships, with the exception of forty-live, 
 who spent a long and severe winter on the coast and returned to Eng- 
 land in the following spring. A party of French established them- 
 selves on Mount Desert Inland in 1613, but were driven off after a few 
 weeks' stay by Captain Argal, of Virginia. The next effort to colo- 
 nize this region was made by Captain John Smith, who had already 
 given permanence to the Virginia colony by his shrewdness and energy. 
 He explored the coast in 1614, and made a map of it, giving its pres- 
 ent name to the country. But his earnest efforts to found a colony 
 failed, through discouraging circumstances, and despite his persistent 
 endeavors. Other voyages were made\ and a trading-party remained 
 on the coast during the winter of 1616-17, but all such efforts to es- 
 tablish trading-colonies ended in failure, and it was not until the ar- 
 rival of the Puritan agriculturists in 1620 that a permanent colony 
 was formed. 
 
 No detailed explanation as to who the Puritans were is here de- 
 manded. It will suffice to say that long before the establishment of 
 the English Episcopal Church by Henry VIII. there had been in 
 England a large body of religious reformers, and that after that 
 period these continued to exist, under the titles of Non- Conformists, 
 Separatists, Brownists, etc., despite the persecutions to which they were 
 subjected. Among the congregations of Separatists are two with 
 which we are particularly concerned. One was gathered at Gains- 
 borough, in Lincolnshire, the other at the village of Scrooby, in 
 Nottinghamshire. They were composed of simple agriculturists, yet 
 they found the repression of religious liberty to which they were sub- 
 jected so intolerable that they determined to emigrate to Holland, 
 where they had heard that freedom of thought was permitted. After 
 great difficulty, the Scrooby congregation succeeded in reaching Am- 
 sterdam, where they found the Gainsborough people, and a London 
 congregation that had emigrated some twelve or fifteen years before. 
 In 1616 they removed to Leyden. But the political agitation which 
 arose in Holland made that country a disagreeable place of residence, 
 and they finally determined to emigrate to America, where they might 
 be free to worship God in their own way without hinderance.
 
 PALFREY] THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 147 
 
 They well knew the perils and difficulties they would have to en- 
 counter, and even magnified them, but were prepared to endure them 
 all for the blessing of religious liberty. Some thought of joining the 
 colony in Virginia ; others, of going to Guiana, where Sir Walter 
 Kaleigh then was, on a second visit. Negotiations were entered into 
 with the Dutch, with a view to emigrate to the Hudson. But they 
 finally concluded to establish a new colony on the northern American 
 coast, where they would be free from any interference with their fixed 
 purposes. In July, 1620, they embarked for England in the ship 
 Speedwell. Here, in the port of Southampton, they found the May- 
 flower, a vessel of one hundred and eighty tons' burden, which had 
 been engaged for the voyage. Two starts were made, but in each case 
 they were obliged to return, the Speedwell proving unseaworthy. 
 Finally, on September 6, the Mayflower sailed alone, and " put to sea 
 with a prosperous wind." Among the leading spirits of the expedi- 
 tion may be named Bradford and Brewster, members of the original 
 Scrooby congregation, Winslow, a personage of superior condition to 
 his companions, who had joined them in Holland, and Miles Standish, 
 who was not a member of the church, but who loved adventure, and 
 whose military knowledge was of great value to the emigrants. The 
 story of the voyage and landing we extract from Palfrey's admirable 
 " History of New England."] 
 
 THE colonists, men, women, and children, who were 
 now embarked on board the Mayflower, were a hundred 
 and two in number. Concerning ve v y few of them is it 
 known to this day from what English homes they came. 
 . . . Little is recorded of the incidents of the voyage. 
 The first part was favorably made. As the wanderers 
 approached the American continent, they encountered 
 storms which their overburdened vessel was scarcely able 
 to sustain. Their destination was to a point near the Hud- 
 son River, yet within the territory of the London Company, 
 by which their patent had been granted. This description 
 corresponds to no other country than the sea-coast of the 
 State of New Jersey. At early dawn of the sixty-first 
 day of their voyage (November 9, 1620) they came in 
 sight of the white sand-banks of Cape Cod. In pursuance
 
 148 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PALFREY 
 
 of their original purpose, they veered to the south, but 
 by the middle of the day they found themselves " among 
 perilous shoals and breakers," which caused them to re- 
 trace their course. An opinion afterwards prevailed, on 
 questionable grounds, that they had been purposely led 
 astray by the master of the vessel, induced by a bribe 
 from the Dutch, who were averse to having them near 
 the mouth of the Hudson, which Dutch vessels had begun 
 to visit for trade. 
 
 The narrow peninsula, sixty miles long, which termi- 
 nates in Cape Cod, projects eastwardly from the mainland 
 of Massachusetts, in shape resembling the human arm 
 bent rectangularly at the elbow and again at the wrist. 
 In the basin enclosed landward by the extreme point of 
 this projection, in the roadstead of what is now Province- 
 town, the Mayflower dropped her anchor at noon on a 
 Saturday near the close of autumn (November 11). 
 
 [Here was drawn up and signed an instrument constituting a brief 
 governmental compact, and John Carver, who had been instrumental 
 in obtaining from the king permission for their enterprise, was chosen 
 governor of the colony.] 
 
 In the afternoon, " fifteen or sixteen men, well armed," 
 were sent on shore to reconnoitre and collect fuel. They 
 returned at evening, reporting that they had seen neither 
 person nor dwelling, but that the country was well wooded, 
 and that the appearance as to soil was promising. 
 
 Having kept their Sabbath in due retirement, the men 
 began the labors of the week by landing a shallop from 
 the ship, and hauling it up the beach for repairs, while 
 the women went on shore to wash clothes. While the 
 carpenter and his men were at work on the boat, sixteen 
 others, armed and provisioned, with Standish for their 
 commander, set off on foot to explore the country. The 
 only incident of this day was the sight of five or six sav-
 
 PALFREY] THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 149 
 
 ages, who, on their approach, ran away too swiftly to be 
 overtaken. At night, lighting a fire and setting a guard, 
 the party bivouacked at the distance, as they supposed, 
 of ten miles from their vessel. Proceeding southward next 
 
 O 
 
 morning, they observed marks of cultivation, some heaps 
 of earth, which they took for signs of graves, and the re- 
 mains of a hut, with "a great kettle, which had been, 
 some ship's kettle." In a heap which they opened, they 
 found two baskets containing four or five bushels of In- 
 dian corn, of which they took as much as they could carry 
 away in their pockets and in the kettle. Farther on they 
 saw two canoes and " an old fort or palisado, made by 
 some Christians," as they thought. The second night, 
 which was rainy, they encamped again, with more pre- 
 cautions than before. On Friday evening, having lost 
 their way meanwhile, and been amused by an accident to 
 Bradford, who was caught in an Indian deer-trap, they 
 returned to their friends " both weary and welcome, and 
 delivered in their corn into the store to be kept for seed, 
 for they knew not how to come by any, and therefore 
 were very glad, proposing, as soon as they could meet 
 with any of the inhabitants of that place, to make them 
 large satisfaction." 
 
 [The succeeding week was passed in necessary labors, and in explo- 
 ration of the coast in the shallop. Landing, they found some more 
 corn and a bag of beans, and several miles inland a grave containing 
 "bowls, trays, dishes," "a knife, a pack-needle," "a little bow," and 
 some " strings and bracelets of fine white beads." Two wigwams were 
 seen. On December 6 another exploration was made. The cold was 
 extreme. Coasting for six or seven leagues, they saw a party of In- 
 dians, who ran away. They continued to explore during the next day, 
 but found no inhabitants.] 
 
 The. following morning, at daylight, they had just ended 
 their prayers, and were preparing breakfast at their cam]) 
 i. 13*
 
 150 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PALFREY 
 
 on the beach, when they heard a yell, and a flight of 
 arrows fell among them. The assailants turned out to 
 be thirty or forty Indians, who, being fired upon, retired. 
 Neither side had been harmed. A number of the arrows 
 were picked up, "some whereof were headed with brass, 
 others with hart's horn, and others with eagles' claws." 
 
 Getting on board, they sailed all day along the shore in 
 a storm of snow and sleet, making, by their estimate, a 
 distance of forty or fifty miles, without discovering a 
 harbor. In the afternoon, the gale having increased, their 
 rudder was disabled, and they had to steer with oars. At 
 length the mast was carried away, and they drifted in the 
 dark with a flood-tide. With difficulty they brought up 
 under the lee of a " small rise of land." Here a part of 
 the company, suffering from wet and cold, went on shore, 
 though not without fear of hostile neighbors, and lighted 
 a fire by which to pass the inclement night. In the 
 morning " they found themselves to be on an island secure 
 from the Indians, where they might dry their stuff, fix 
 their pieces, and rest themselves ; and, this being the last 
 day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath." 
 
 " On Monday they sounded the harbor, and found it fit 
 for shipping, and marched also into the land, and found 
 divers cornfields and little running brooks, a place, as they 
 supposed, fit for situation ; ... so they returned to their 
 ship again with this news to the rest of their people, 
 which did much to comfort their hearts." Such is the 
 record of that event which has made the twenty-second of 
 December a memorable day in the calendar.* 
 
 * A trustworthy tradition has preserved a knowledge of the landing- 
 place, naturally an object of interest both to the inhabitants and to 
 strangers. It was PLYMOUTH ROCK. Part of it is now embedded in 
 a wharf. ... In 1775 the rock was broken into two pieces in an at- 
 tempt to remove it to the town square. The large fragment which was
 
 PALFREY] THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 151 
 
 No time was now lost. By the end of the week the 
 Mayflower had brought her company to keep their Sab- 
 bath by their future home. Further examination con- 
 firmed the agreeable impressions which had been received. 
 There was found a convenient harbor, "compassed with 
 a goodly land." The country was well wooded. It had 
 clay, sand, and shells, for bricks, mortar, and pottery, and 
 stone for wells and chimneys ; the sea and beach promised 
 abundance of fish and fowl, and " four or five small running 
 brooks" brought a supply of "very sweet fresh water." 
 After prayer for further divine guidance, they fixed upon 
 a spot for the erection of their dwellings, in the neighbor- 
 hood of a brook " and many delicate springs," and of a 
 hill suitable for a lookout and a defence. A storm inter- 
 rupted their proceeding. When it was past, " so many of 
 them as could went on shore, felled and carried timber, 
 to provide themselves stuff for building." Then came 
 Sunday, when " the people on shore heard a cry of some 
 savages, as they thought, which caused an alarm and to 
 stand on their guard, expecting an assault; but all was 
 quiet." They were still without the shelter of a roof. At 
 the sharp winter solstice of New England, there was but 
 
 " A screen of leafless branches 
 Between them and the blast." 
 
 But it was the Lord's hallowed time, and the work of 
 
 separated was in 1834 placed before Pilgrim Hall and enclosed within 
 an iron railing. The tradition does not appear to have unequivocally 
 determined who it was that landed upon the rock, whether the ex- 
 ploring party of ten men who went ashore at Plymouth, December 11 
 (Old Style), or the whole company who came into Plymouth harbor in 
 the Mayflower on Saturday, December 16, and who, or a part of whom, 
 " went a land" two days after. The received opinion, that the same 
 landing-place, as being the most convenient within sight, was used on 
 both occasions, appears altogether probable.
 
 152 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PALFREY 
 
 building must wait. Next followed the day solemnized, 
 in the ancient fanes of the continent they had left, with 
 the most pompous ritual of what they esteemed a vain 
 will-worship. And the reader pauses to ponder and analyze 
 the feeling of stern exultation with which its record was 
 made : " Monday, the 25th da} r , we went on shore, some 
 to fell timber, some to saw, some to rive, and some to 
 carry ; so no man rested all that day." 
 
 The first operations were the beginning of a platform for 
 the ordnance, and of a building, twenty feet square, for a 
 storehouse and for cominon occupation. Nineteen plots 
 for dwellings were laid out, on the opposite sides of a way 
 running along the north side of the brook. The number 
 of plots corresponded to that of the families into which 
 the company was now divided ; the appropriation was 
 made by lot ; and the size of each plot was such as to allow 
 half a rod in breadth, and three rods in depth, for each 
 person included in the family. It " was agreed that each 
 man should build his own house." " The frost and foul 
 weather hindered them much." " Seldom could they work 
 half the week." Time was lost in going to and from the 
 vessel, to which in the severe cold they were obliged often 
 to repair for lodging. They were delayed in unloading 
 for want of boats ; and stone, mortar, and thatch were 
 slowly provided. 
 
 These were discouraging circumstances ; but far worse 
 troubles were to come. The labor of providing habita- 
 tions had scarcely begun, when sickness set in, the con- 
 sequence of exposure and bad food. Within four months 
 it carried off nearly half their number. Six died in Decem- 
 ber, eight in January, seventeen in February, and thirteen 
 in March. At one time during the winter only six or seven 
 had strength enough left to nurse the dying and bury the 
 dead. Pestitute of every provision which the weakness
 
 PALFREY] THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS. 153 
 
 and the daintiness of the invalid require, the sick lay 
 crowded in the unwholesome vessel, or in half-built cabins 
 heaped around with snow-drifts. The rude sailors refused 
 them even a share of those coarse sea-stores which would 
 have given a little variety to their diet, till disease spread 
 among the crew, and the kind ministrations of those whom 
 they had neglected and affronted brought them to a better 
 temper. The dead were interred in a bluff by the water- 
 Bide, the marks of burial being carefully effaced, lest the 
 natives should discover how the colony had been weakened. 
 The imagination vainly tasks itself to comprehend the 
 horrors of that fearful winter. The only mitigations were 
 that the cold was of less severity than is usual in the 
 place, and that there was not an entire want of food and 
 shelter. 
 
 Meantime, courage and fidelity never gave out. The 
 well carried out the dead through the cold and snow, and 
 then hastened back from the burial to wait on the sick ; 
 and as the sick began to recover, they took the places of 
 those whose strength had been exhausted. There was no 
 time and there was no inclination to despond. The lesson 
 rehearsed at Leyden was not forgotten, "that all great and 
 honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, 
 and must be both enterprised and overcome with answer- 
 able courages." The dead had died in a good service, and 
 the fit way for survivors to honor and lament them was to 
 bo true to one another, and to work together bravely for 
 the cause to which dead and living had alike been conse- 
 crated. The devastation increased the necessity of prepa- 
 rations for defence ; and it was at the time when the com- 
 pany was diminishing at the rate of one on every second 
 day, that a military organization was formed, with Stand- 
 ish for the captain, and the humble fortification on the hill 
 overlooking the dwellings was mounted with five guns.
 
 154 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ROBERTSON 
 
 " Warm and fair weather" came at length, and " the 
 birds sang in the woods most pleasantly." Never was 
 spring more welcome than when it opened on this afflicted 
 company. 
 
 [Their fears of trouble with the Indians proved not unfounded. 
 The friendliness at first displayed by the savages soon gave way to 
 threats of hostilities. In 1622 the Narragansetts sent to the colony 
 a bundle of arrows tied with a snake-skin, as a declaration of war. 
 Bradford, the governor, with grim humor, filled the snake-skin with 
 powder and ball, and returned it. The frightened savages refused to 
 keep it. It passed from hand to hand, and at length came back to 
 Plymouth. A conspiracy to murder the settlers was discovered in 
 1623, and repressed by Standish, who killed the ringleaders of the plot. 
 This settled all Indian troubles for years. The colony of Plymouth 
 prospered from that time forward. It never attained great dimen- 
 sions, the Boston colony proving more attractive to settlers, but " the 
 virtue displayed in its institution and management, and the great 
 consequences to which it led," will always claim for it the attention 
 of mankind. After several efforts to found other colonies, one was 
 established at Salem in 1628. This " Colony of Massachusetts Bay" 
 made rapid progress, and by 1634 "between three and four thousand 
 Englishmen were distributed among twenty hamlets along and near 
 the sea-shore." The work of establishing an English agricultural set- 
 tlement in New England had been accomplished.] 
 
 RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTSON. 
 
 [The New England colonists made vigorous efforts to establish firmly 
 their political rights. The original charter contained no provision for 
 the self-government or religious freedom of the people, who were left, 
 in these particulars, at the mercy of the Company and the king. In 
 furtherance of their democratic sentiments, the bold step was taken, in 
 1630, of removing the governing council from England to Massachu-
 
 KOBEBTSON] RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS. 155 
 
 setts, while the provincial government took every precaution to prevent 
 the Church of England from extending its authority over the colony. 
 
 In matters of conscience the colonists manifested from the first an 
 autocratic tendency, and the determination that God should be wor- 
 shipped in their province in only one way, and that the way of the 
 Puritans. That thought could be confined to so narrow a channel 
 was, however, impossible, and there began at an early date that strenu- 
 ous effort to weed out what was to them heresy which forms an im- 
 portant part of the history of New England. To the earliest of these 
 troubles, that connected with the name of Eoger Williams, the settle- 
 ment of the province of Ehode Island was due. Similar religious dis- 
 sensions had their share in the settlement of the provinces of Connec- 
 ticut, Maine, and New Hampshire. We select a description of these 
 events from Kobertson's " History of America," a favorite historical 
 work of the last century. 
 
 We may premise by saying that Roger Williams was a young Puri- 
 tan minister, of fine talents and education, who had been driven out 
 of England by the intolerance of Archbishop Laud. On landing in 
 Boston he found himself unable to join the church in that place, from 
 its opposition to his views respecting religious freedom. He was sub- 
 sequently called to the church in Salem, but was prevented from 
 officiating through the opposition of Governor Winthrop. Two years 
 afterwards he again received a pastoral call to Salem. Here his doc- 
 trine gave great offence to the colony, though he was warmly sup- 
 ported by the people of Salem.] 
 
 HOWEVER liberal their system of civil policy might be, 
 as their religious opinions were no longer under any re- 
 straint of authority, the spirit of fanaticism continued to 
 spread, and became every day wilder and more extrava- 
 gant. Williams, a minister of Salem, in high estimation, 
 having conceived an antipathy to the cross of St. George 
 in the standard of England, declaimed against it with so 
 much vehemence as a relic of superstition and idolatry 
 winch ought not to be retained among a people so pure 
 and sanctified, that Endicott, one of the members of the 
 court of assistants, in a transport of zeal, publicly cut out 
 the cross from the ensign displayed before the governor's
 
 156 AMERICAN HISTORY. [KOBERTSON 
 
 gate. This frivolous matter interested and divided the 
 colony. Some of the militia scrupled to follow colors in 
 which there was a cross, lest they should do honor to an 
 idol ; others refused to serve under a mutilated banner, 
 lest they should be suspected of having renounced their 
 allegiance to the crown of England. After a long contro- 
 versy, carried on by both parties with that heat and zeal 
 which, in trivial disputes, supply the want of argument, 
 the contest was terminated by a compromise. The cross 
 was retained in the ensigns of forts and ships, but erased 
 from the colors of the militia. Williams, on account of 
 this, as well as of some other doctrines deemed unsound, 
 was banished out of the colony. 
 
 [Among these obnoxious doctrines were, that it was wrong to en- 
 force an oath of allegiance to the sovereign, or of obedience to the 
 magistrate ; that the king had no right to usurp the power of dis- 
 posing of the territory of the Indians, and, more particularly, that all 
 religious sects had the right to claim equal protection from the laws, 
 and that the civil magistrates had no right to restrain the consciences 
 of men, or to interfere with their modes of worship or religious beliefs. 
 It was decided to send the heretical pastor to England, and he was 
 ordered to repair to Boston. As he did not obey this order, a party 
 was sent to Salem to arrest him. On reaching there they found that 
 Williams had left the settlement, and was making his way through 
 the forest wilderness and the cold and hardship of a New England 
 winter in search of a locality where he might have the privilege of 
 worshipping God in accordance with the dictates of his conscience.] 
 
 The prosperous state of New England was now so 
 highly extolled, and the simple frame of its ecclesiastic 
 policy was so much admired by all whose affections were 
 estranged from the Church of England, that crowds of 
 new settlers flocked thither (1635). Among these were 
 two persons whose names have been rendered memorable 
 by the appearance which they afterwards made on a more 
 conspicuous theatre : one was Hugh Peters, the enthusi-
 
 ROBERTSON] RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS. 157 
 
 astic and intriguing chaplain of Oliver Cromwell; the 
 other, Mr. Henry Vane, son of Sir Henry Vane, a privy 
 counsellor, high in office, and of great credit with the 
 king: a young man of a noble family, animated with such 
 zr;il for pure religion and such love of liberty as induced 
 him to relinquish all his hopes in England and to settle in 
 a colony hitherto no further advanced in improvement 
 than barely to afford subsistence to its members, was re- 
 ceived with the fondest admiration. His mortified ap- 
 pearance, his demure look, and rigid manners, carried 
 even beyond the standard of preciseness in that society 
 which he joined, seemed to indicate a man of high spirit- 
 ual attainments, while his abilities and address in business 
 pointed him out as worthy of the highest station in the 
 community. With universal consent, and high expecta- 
 tions of advantage from his administration, he was elected 
 governor in the year subsequent to his arrival (1636). 
 But as the affairs of an infant colony afforded not objects 
 adequate to the talents of Vane, his busy pragmatical 
 spirit occupied itself with theological subtleties and specu- 
 lations unworthy of his attention. These were excited 
 by a woman, whose reveries produced such effects, both 
 within the colony and beyond its precincts, that, frivolous 
 as they may now appear, they must be mentioned as an 
 occurrence of importance in its history. 
 
 It was the custom at that time in New England among 
 the chief men in every congregation to meet once a 
 week, in order to repeat the sermons which they had 
 heard, and to hold religious conferences with respect to 
 the doctrine contained in them. Mrs. Hutchinson, whose 
 husband was among the most respectable members of the 
 colony, regretting that persons of her sex were excluded 
 from the benefit of those meetings, assembled statedly in 
 her house a number of women, who employed themselves 
 i. 14
 
 158 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ROBERTSON 
 
 in pious exercises similar to those of the men. At first 
 she satisfied herself with repeating what she could recol- 
 lect of the discourses delivered by their teachers. She 
 began afterwards to add illustrations, and at length pro- 
 ceeded to censure some of the clergy as unsound, and to 
 vent opinions and fancies of her own. These were all 
 founded on the system which is denominated Antinomian 
 by divines, and tinged with the deepest enthusiasm. She 
 taught that sanctity of life is no evidence of justification, 
 or of a state of favor with Grod ; and that such as incul- 
 cated the necessity of manifesting the reality of our faith 
 by obedience preached only a covenant of works : she 
 contended that the spirit of God dwelt personally in good 
 men, and by inward revelations and impressions they 
 received the fullest discoveries of the divine will. The 
 fluency and confidence with which she delivered these 
 notions gained her many admirers and proselytes, not 
 only among the vulgar, but among the principal inhab- 
 itants. The whole colony was interested and agitated. 
 Vane, whose sagacity and acuteness seemed to forsake 
 him whenever they were turned toward religion, espoused 
 and defended her wildest tenets. Many conferences were 
 held, days of fasting and humiliation were appointed, a 
 general sjaiod was called, and, after dissensions so violent 
 as threatened the dissolution of the colony, Mrs. Hutch- 
 inson's opinions were condemned as erroneous, and she 
 herself banished (1637). Several of her disciples with- 
 drew from the province of their own accord. Yane 
 quitted America in disgust, unlamented even by those 
 who had lately admired him ; some of whom now re- 
 garded him as a mere visionary, and others as one of 
 those dark turbulent spirits doomed to embroil every 
 society into which they enter. 
 
 However much these theological contests might disquiet
 
 EOBERTSON] RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS. 159 
 
 the colony of Massachusetts Bay, they contributed to the 
 more speedy population of America. When Williams was 
 banished from Salem, in the year one thousand six hundred 
 and thirty-four, such was the attachment of his hearers to 
 a pastor whose piety they revered, that a good number 
 of them voluntarily accompanied him in his exile. They 
 directed their march towards the south ; and having pur- 
 chased from the natives, a considerable tract of land, to 
 which Williams gave the name of Providence, they settled 
 there. They were joined soon after by some of those to 
 whom the proceedings against Mrs. Hutchinson gave dis- 
 gust ; and by a transaction with the Indians they obtained 
 a right to a fertile island in Narragansett Bay, which ac- 
 quired the name of Ehode Island. Williams remained 
 among them upwards of forty years, respected as the 
 father and the guide of the colony which he had planted. 
 His spirit differed from that of the Puritans in Massachu- 
 setts ; it was mild and tolerating ; and, having ventured 
 himself to reject established opinions, he endeavored to 
 secure the same liberty to other men, by maintaining that 
 the exercise of private judgment was a natural and sacred 
 right ; that the civil magistrate had no compulsive juris- 
 diction in the concerns of religion ; that the punishment 
 of any person on account of his opinions was an encroach- 
 ment on conscience and an act of persecution. These 
 humane principles he instilled into his followers, and all 
 who felt or dreaded oppression in other settlements re- 
 sorted to a community in which universal toleration was 
 known to be a fundamental maxim. In the plantations 
 of Providence and Ehode Island, political union was es- 
 tablished by voluntary association and the equality of 
 condition among the members, as well as their religious 
 opinions ; their form of government was purely democrat- 
 ical, the supreme power being lodged in the freemen per-
 
 160 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ROBERTSON 
 
 sonally assembled. In this state they remained until they 
 were incorporated by charter. 
 
 To similar causes the colony of Connecticut is indebted 
 for its origin. The rivalship between Mr. Cotton and Mr. 
 Hooker, two favorite ministers in the settlement of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay, disposed the latter, who was least success- 
 ful in this contest for fame and power, to wish for some 
 settlement at a distance from a competitor by whom his 
 reputation was eclipsed. A good number of those who 
 had imbibed Mrs. Hutchinson's notions, and were offended 
 at such as combated them, offered to accompany him. 
 Having employed proper persons to explore the country, 
 they pitched upon the west side' of the great river Con- 
 necticut as the most inviting station ; and in the year one 
 thousand six hundred and thirty-six, about an hundred 
 persons, with their wives and families, after a fatiguing 
 march of many days through woods and swamps, arrived 
 thei-e, and laid the foundations of the towns of Hartford, 
 Springfield, and Wethersfield. 
 
 [As appears in the selection which, immediately follows this one, 
 previous settlements had been made in the same locality.] 
 
 The history of the first attempts to people the provinces 
 of New Hampshire and Main, which form the fourth and 
 most extensive division in New England, is obscure and 
 perplexed by the interfering claims of various proprietors. 
 The company of Plymouth -had inconsiderately parcelled 
 out the northern part of the territory contained in its 
 grant among different persons ; of these only Sir Ferdi- 
 nando Gorges and Captain Mason seem to have had any 
 serious intention to occupy the lands allotted to them. 
 Their efforts to accomplish this were meritorious and per- 
 severing, but unsuccessful. The expense of settling colo- 
 nies in an uncultivated country must necessarily be great
 
 ROBERTSON] RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS. 161 
 
 and immediate ; the prospect of a return is often uncer- 
 tain and always remote. The funds of two private adven- 
 turers were not adequate to such an undertaking. Nor 
 did the planters whom they sent out possess that principle 
 of enthusiasm which animated their neighbors of Massa- 
 chusetts with vigor to struggle through all the hardships 
 and dangers to which society, in its infancy, is exposed in a 
 savage land. Gorges and Mason, it is probable, must have 
 abandoned their design if, from the same motives that 
 settlements had been made in Rhode Island and Connecti- 
 cut, colonists had not unexpectedly migrated into New 
 Hampshire and Main. Mr. Wheelwright, a minister of 
 some note, nearly related to Mrs. Hutchinson, and one 
 of her most fervent admirers and partisans, had, on this 
 account, been banished from the province of Massachu- 
 setts Bay. In quest of a new station, he took a course 
 opposite to the other exiles, and, advancing towards the 
 north, founded the town of Exeter, on a small river flow- 
 ing into Piskataqua Bay. His followers, few in number, 
 but firmly united, were of such rigid principles that even 
 the churches of Massachusetts did not appear to them 
 sufficiently pure. From time to time they received some 
 recruits, whom love of novelty, or dissatisfaction with the 
 ecclesiastical institutions of the other colonies, prompted 
 to join them. Their plantations were widely dispersed, 
 but the country was thinly peopled, and its political state 
 extremely unsettled. The colony of Massachusetts Bay 
 claimed jurisdiction over them, as occupying lands situ- 
 ated within the limits of their grant. Gorges and Mason 
 asserted the rights conveyed to them as proprietors by 
 their charter. In several districts the planters, without 
 regarding the pretensions of either party, governed them- 
 selves by maxims and laws copied from those of their 
 brethren in the adjacent colonies. The first reduction of 
 i. I 14*
 
 162 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLLISTER 
 
 the political constitution in the provinces of New Hamp- 
 shire and Main into a regular and permanent form was 
 subsequent to the Eevolution. 
 
 THE PEQUOT WAR. 
 
 G. H. HOLLISTER. 
 
 [The settlement of Connecticut began in 1631, in which year an 
 Indian sachem, named Wahquimacut, visited the governors of the 
 Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. He described the country oc- 
 cupied by his own and kindred tribes as a rich and beautiful valley, 
 abounding in game and corn, and traversed by a river called " Con- 
 necticut," a noble stream, of surpassing purity of waters, and full 
 of excellent fish. He begged each settlement to send Englishmen to 
 the valley, offering to give each emigrant eighty beaver-skins annu- 
 ally, and to supply them with corn. This anxiety for white settlers 
 was probably instigated by the desire to obtain their aid against the 
 Pequot Indians, who dominated the region. Governor Winslow, of 
 Plymouth, went to see for himself this Indian Paradise. His report 
 must have been very favorable, for other explorers followed, and in 
 1633 a trading-settlement was made on the Connecticut coast. This 
 excited the ire of the Dutch, who had already established themselves 
 at Hartford. Wouter van Twiller, the Dutch governor, proceeded in 
 martial array to suppress the intruders, but as the latter stood boldly 
 on the defensive he marched back again, concluding that he could 
 best show his wisdom by letting them alone. In 1635 several settle- 
 ments were made in the new colony, and John "Winthrop, the agent 
 of Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook, the proprietors, was sent to 
 build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut, which he did just in 
 time to scare back the Dutch, who had sent an expedition for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 The succeeding winter was one of excessive severity, and the colo- 
 nists and the garrison of the fort at Saybrook suffered terribly. Most 
 of them made their way back to Boston, by land or water, to escape 
 the danger of starvation. The few that remained barely survived the
 
 HOLLISTER] THE PEQUOT WAR. 163 
 
 horrors of the winter. But with the coming of April again upon the 
 land many of the fugitives returned, while others followed them, and 
 the colony rapidly augmented. It was not long, however, before 
 trouble with the Indians began. The most important of the Connec- 
 ticut Indians were the Pequots and the Mohegans, the former under a 
 head sachem named Sassacus, who was bitterly hostile to the whites, 
 the latter under the celebrated Uncas, who allied himself with the 
 settlers. The Narragansetts and other tribes, from their hostility to 
 the warlike Pequots, favored the English, through whom they hoped 
 to be revenged upon their dreaded foes. 
 
 A series of murders by Indians followed the settling of the colony. 
 In 1634 two traders were slaughtered. The next year other murders 
 took place. In reprisal an expedition from Massachusetts attacked 
 the Indians, much to the dissatisfaction of the Connecticut settlers, 
 who feared they would pay bitterly for this assault. Their prevision 
 was correct. The Pequots lurked about the fort, torturing all who fell 
 into their hands. They similarly waylaid the settlers, killing and de- 
 stroying, until the situation grew unbearable. War was resolved upon, 
 and on the 10th of May, 1637, an army of ninety Englishmen, under 
 John Mason, and seventy Mohegans, under Uncas, embarked at Hart- 
 ford for the Pequot strongholds. Fort Mistick,"tne smaller of the two 
 Pequot forts, was approached at night, with the intention of effecting 
 a surprise. The story of this Indian war we select from G. H. Hollis- 
 ter's "History of Connecticut," in which it is detailed in homely but 
 graphic language.] 
 
 ABOUT two hours before day, the men were roused up 
 and commanded to make themselves ready for battle. 
 The moon still shone in their faces as they were sum- 
 moned to prayer. They now set forward with alacrity. 
 The fort proved to be about two miles off. A long way it 
 seemed over the level though stony ground, .and the offi- 
 cers began at last to fear that the} 7 had been led upon the 
 wrong track, when they came at length to a second field 
 of corn, newly planted, at the base of a high hill. Here 
 they halted, and " gave the word for some of the Indians 
 to come up." At first not an Indian was to be seen ; but 
 finally Uncas and Wequash the guide showed themselves.
 
 164 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLLISTEB 
 
 " Where is the fort ?" demanded Mason. " On the top of 
 that hill," was the answer. " Where are the rest of the 
 Indians ?" asked the fearless soldier. The answer was, 
 what he probably anticipated, " Behind, and very much 
 afraid." " Tell them," said Mason, " not to fly, but to 
 stand as far off as they please, and see whether English- 
 men will fight." 
 
 There were two entrances to the fort, one on the north- 
 eastern side, the other on the west. It was decided that 
 Mason should lead on and force open the former, while 
 Underbill, who brought up the rear, was to pass around 
 and go in at the western gate. 
 
 Mason had approached within about a rod of the fort, 
 when he heard a dog bark, and almost in a breath this 
 alarm was followed up by the voice of an Indian, crying, 
 " Owanux ! Owanux !" Englishmen ! Englishmen ! No 
 time was to be lost. He called up his forces with all haste 
 and fired upon the enemy through the palisades. The 
 Pequots, who had spent the night in singing and dancing 
 (under the belief that the English had retreated), were 
 now in a deep sleep. The entrance, near which Mason 
 stood, was blocked up with bushes about breast high. 
 Over this frail obstruction he leaped, sword in hand, 
 shouting to his men to follow him. But Seely, his lieu- 
 tenant, found it more easy to remove the bushes than to 
 force the men over them. When he had done so, he also 
 entered, followed by sixteen soldiers. It had been deter- 
 mined to destroy the enemy with the sword, and thus 
 save the corn and other valuables that were stored in the 
 wigwams. With this view the captain, seeing no Indians, 
 entered one of the wigwams. Here he found many war- 
 riors, who crowded hard upon him, and beset him with 
 great violence ; but they were so amazed at the strange 
 apparition that had so suddenly thrust itself upon them,
 
 HOLLISTKR] THE PEQUOT WAR. 165 
 
 that they could make but a feeble resistance. Mason was 
 soon joined by William Hayden, who, as he entered the 
 wigwam through the breach that had been made by his 
 impetuous captain, stumbled against the dead body of a 
 Pequot, whom Mason had slain, and fell. Some of the 
 Indians now fled from the wigwam; others, still stupefied 
 with sleep, crept under mats and skins to hide them- 
 selves. 
 
 The palisades embraced an area of about twenty acres, 
 a space sufficient to afford room for a large Indian village. 
 There were more than seventy houses in this space, with 
 lanes or streets passing between them. Mason, still intent 
 on destroying the Pequots and at the same time saving 
 their property, now left the wigwam, and passed down 
 one of these streets, driving the crowd of Indians that 
 thronged it before him from one end of it to the other. 
 At the lower extremity of this lane stood a little company 
 of Englishmen, who, having effected an entrance from the 
 west, met the Indians as they fled from Mason, and killed 
 about half a dozen of them. The captain now faced about, 
 and went back the whole length of the lane, to the spot 
 where he had entered the fort. He .was exhausted, and 
 quite out of breath, and had become satisfied that this was 
 not the way to exterminate the Indians, who now swarmed 
 from the wigwams like bees from a hive. Two of his 
 soldiers stood near him, close to the palisades, with their 
 useless swords pointed to the ground. " We shall never 
 kill them in this way," said the captain ; and then added, 
 with the same laconic brevity, "We must burn them!" 
 With these words the decree of the council of war to save 
 the booty of the enemy was annulled ; for, stepping into 
 the wigwam where he had before forced an entrance, he 
 snatched a firebrand in his hand, and, instantly returning, 
 applied it to the light mats that formed the covering of
 
 166 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLLISTER 
 
 their rude tenements. Almost in an instant the whole 
 village was wrapped in flames, and the frightened Pequots 
 fled in dismay from the roofs that had just before sheltered 
 them. Such was their terror that many of them took 
 refuge from the English in the flames, and perished there. 
 Some climbed the palisades, where they formed but too 
 fair a mark for the muskets of their enemies, who could 
 Bee to take a dead aim in the light of the ghastly con- 
 flagration. Others fled from the beds of mats or skins 
 where they had sought a temporary concealment, and were 
 arrested by the hand of death in the midst of their flight. 
 Others still, warping up to the windward, whence the fire 
 sped with such fatal velocity, fell flat upon the ground and 
 plied their destroyers with arrows. But their hands were 
 so palsied with fear that the feathered messengers either 
 flew wide of their aim or fell with spent force upon the 
 ground. A few, of still stouter heart, rushed forth with 
 the tomahawk, to engage the invaders of their homes in 
 a hand-to-hand combat. But they were nearly all, to the 
 number of about forty, cut in pieces by the sword. The 
 vast volume of flame, the lurid light reflected on the dark 
 background of the horizon, the crack of the muskets, the 
 yells of the Indians who fought, and of those who sought 
 vainly to fly, the wail of women and children as they 
 writhed in the flames, and the exulting cries of the Narra- 
 gansetts and Mohegans without the fort, formed a contrast, 
 awful and sublime, with the quiet glories of the peaceful 
 May morning, that was just then breaking over the woods 
 and the ocean. 
 
 Seventy wigwams were burned to ashes, and proba- 
 bly not less than five hundred men, women, and children 
 were destroyed. The property, too, shared the same fate. 
 The long-cherished wampum-belt, with the beads of blue, 
 purple, and white, the war-club, the eagle plume, the
 
 HOLLISTER] THE PEQUOT WAR. 167 
 
 tufted scalps, trophies of many a victory, helped only to 
 swell the blaze that consumed alike the young warrior 
 and the superannuated counsellor, the squaw and the little 
 child that clung helplessly to her bosom. Of all who 
 were in the fort, only seven were taken captive, and 
 about the same number escaped. 
 
 [The English, however, were in no enviable situation. Two of 
 them had been killed, and about twenty wounded. They were with- 
 out provisions, in the midst of an unfamiliar country, and within a 
 short distance of the fort of Sassacus, tenanted by hundreds of fierce 
 warriors. Fortunately, the vessels were now seen, gliding into the 
 Pequot harbor.] 
 
 By this time the news of the destruction that had 
 fallen upon his tribe at Mistick, heralded, no doubt, not 
 only by the handful of men who had escaped from the 
 fort, and by the clouds of smoke that floated from the 
 fatal scene, but by the dismal cries that attended this 
 exterminating sacrifice, had reached the fort of Sassacus, 
 and three hundred warriors came rushing towards the 
 English with the determination to revenge themselves for 
 an injury not yet half revealed to them. Mason led out a 
 file of his best marksmen, who soon gave the Pequots a 
 check. Seeing that they could not stand his fire, he com- 
 menced his march towards Pequot harbor. Of the twenty 
 wounded men, four or five were so disabled that it was 
 necessary to employ about twenty other men to carry 
 them ; so that he had but about forty men who could 
 engage in battle, until he succeeded in hiring some In- 
 dians to take charge of the wounded. They had marched 
 about a quarter of a mile, when the Pequot warriors, 
 who had withdrawn out of the range of their muskets, 
 reached the spot where, not two hours before, their fort 
 had sheltered so much that was sacred to them. When
 
 168 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLLISTEK 
 
 they came to the top of the hill, venerable to them from 
 so many associations connected with the history and glory 
 of their tribe, when they saw the smoking palisades, the 
 flames of their wigwams, not yet extinguished, the black- 
 ened bodies that lay scattered where death had overtaken 
 them, in their grief and rage they stamped upon the 
 ground, tore the hair from their heads, and then rushed 
 madly down the hill, as if they would have swept the 
 enemy from the face of the earth. Captain Underbill, 
 with a file of the bravest men, was ordered to defend the 
 rear. This he did with such efficiency that the Indians 
 were soon compelled to fall back. Yet such was their re- 
 solve to have their revenge upon the English that during 
 their march for the next six miles they pursued them, 
 sometimes hanging upon their rear, sometimes hidden 
 behind trees and rocks in front, discharging their arrows 
 in secret, at others making desperate attacks, that could 
 be repelled only by the too deadly use of the musket. 
 They fought at fearful odds, as was evinced by the dead 
 bodies of their warriors picked up by the Mohegans 
 who followed in their train, while not an Englishman was 
 injured during the whole line of their march. At last, 
 wearied with a pursuit that only brought harm to them- 
 selves, they abandoned it, and left the English to con- 
 tinue their march unmolested, with their colors flying, to 
 Pequot harbor. Here they were received on board their 
 vessels with many demonstrations of joy. 
 
 [This disaster utterly disheartened the Pequots. They accused Sas- 
 sacus of having brought ruin upon them, and in dismay burned their 
 remaining fort and fled for safety. Sassacus and about eighty of his 
 principal warriors made their way towards the Hudson. They were 
 rapidly followed, and at length traced to a swamp within the limits 
 of the old town of Fairfield.] 
 
 In this swamp were hidden about eighty Pequot war-
 
 HOLLISTKR] THE PEqUOT WAR. 169 
 
 riors, with their women and children, and about two hun- 
 dred other Indians. A dismal, miry bog it was, covered 
 with tangled bushes. Dangerous as it was, Lieutenant 
 Davenport rushed into it with his men, eager to en- 
 counter the Pequots. 
 
 The sharp arrows of the enemy flew from places that 
 hid the archers, wounding the soldiers, who, in their haste 
 to retreat, only sunk deeper in the mire. The Indians, 
 made bold by this adventure, pressed hard upon them, and 
 would have carried off their scalps had it not been for the 
 timely aid of some other Englishmen, who waded into the 
 swamp, sword in hand, drove back the Pequots, and drew 
 their disabled friends from the mud that had threatened 
 to swallow them up. The swamp was now surrounded, 
 and a skirmish followed that proved so destructive to 
 the savages that the Fairfield Indians begged for quarter. 
 They said, what was probably true, that they were there 
 only by accident, and had never done the English any 
 harm. 
 
 [They were permitted to withdraw, with their women and children.] 
 
 But the Pequot warriors, made up of choice men, and 
 burning with rage against the enemy who had destroyed 
 their tribe and driven them from their old haunts, fought 
 with such desperate bravery that the English were glad 
 to confine themselves to the borders of the swamp. . . . 
 
 Some suggested that they should cut down the swamp 
 with the hatchets that they had brought with them ; 
 others, that they should surround it with palisades. 
 Neither of these propositions was adopted. They finally 
 hit upon a plan that was more easily executed. They 
 cut down the bushes that grew upon a little neck of firm 
 upland that almost divided the swamp into two parts. 
 In this way they so lessened the area occupied by the 
 i. H 16
 
 170 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLLISTEB 
 
 Pequots that, by stationing men twelve feet apart, it could 
 all be surrounded by the troops. This was done, and the 
 sentinels all stationed, before nightfall. Thus keeping 
 watch on the borders of the morass, wet, cold, and weary, 
 the soldiers passed the night under arms. Just before 
 day a dense fog arose, that shrouded them in almost total 
 darkness. A friendly mist it proved to the Pequots, for 
 it doubtless saved the lives of many of them. At a favor- 
 able moment they rushed upon the English. Captain 
 Patrick's quarters were first attacked, but he drove them 
 back more than once. Their yells, more terrible from the 
 dai'kness that engulfed the scene of the conflict, were so 
 unearthly and appalling, the attack was so sudden and 
 so well sustained, that, but for the timely interference of 
 a party sent by Mason to relieve him, Patrick would 
 doubtless have been driven from his station or cut to 
 pieces. The siege had by this time given place to a 
 hand-to-hand fight. As Mason was himself marching up 
 to aid Patrick, the Pequots rushed upon him from the 
 thicket. He drove them back with severe loss. They 
 did not resume the attack up^n the man who had recently 
 given them such fearful proofs of his prowess, but turned 
 upon Patrick, broke through his ranks, and fled. About 
 sixty of the Pequot warriors escaped. Twenty lay dead 
 upon the field. One hundred and eighty were taken pris- 
 oners. Most of the property that this fugitive remnant 
 of the tribe had attempted to carry with them fell into 
 the hands of the English. Hatchets of stone, beautiful 
 wampum-belts, polished bows, and feathered arrows, with 
 the utensils employed by the women in their rude do- 
 mestic labors, became at once, a a .difl the wnmfn thmn 
 selves, the property of the conquerors. The captives and 
 the booty were jdiyjilgd between Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut. Some were sent by Massachusetts to the West
 
 HOLLISTBR] THE PEqUOT WAR. 171 
 
 Indies, and there, asslave8,_dragged out a wretched but 
 brief existence. . . . Those who fell to the colony of Con- 
 necticut found their condition more tolerable. Some of 
 them, it is true, spent their days in servitude; yet its 
 rigors softened as the horrors of the war faded from the 
 recollections of the English. 
 
 Sassacus seems not to have been present at this battle. 
 Foiled and discomfited at every turn, he fled far to the 
 westward, and sought a refuge among the enemies of his 
 tribe, the Mohawks. But he looked in vain for protection 
 at their hands. He had defied them in his prosperity, 
 and in his evil days they avenged themselves. They be- 
 headed him, and sent his scalp as a trophy to Connecticut. 
 A lock of his black, glossy hair was carried to Boston in 
 the fall of the same year, as a witness that the proud 
 sachem of the Pequots was no more. 
 
 [So ended the first Indian war in New England. About two hun- 
 dred of the vanquished tribe still survived. These were divided be- 
 tween the Mohegansand Narragansetts, and the tribal organization 
 completely broken up. The bow and arrow and stone axe had been 
 tried against the sword and musket, and had signally failed. In the 
 future wars, of musket against musket, the suppression of the Indians 
 was not to prove so easy a task. It may be said here that this was 
 one of the most justifiable wars ever waged by the settlers against the 
 Indians. The murderous incursions of the Pequots upon the peaceful 
 settlers had become so unbearable that annihilation of one side or the 
 other seemed the only solution of the problem.]
 
 172 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PAKKMAN 
 
 CHAMPLAIN AND THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 FRANCIS PARKMAN. 
 
 [The first permanent French settlement in America, as we have al- 
 ready stated, was made by De Monts in 1605, on the coast of the Bay 
 of Fundy, the settlement heing named Port Eoyal, and the country 
 Acadia. In 1608, De Monts was granted a monopoly of the fur-trade 
 on the St. Lawrence Kiver, and sent out two vessels under Samuel 
 Champlain, who had previously visited that region. Champlain as- 
 cended the river to the site of the present city of Quebec, near the 
 place where Cartier had wintered in 1541. The colony he there estab- 
 lished was the first permanent French settlement in Canada. The 
 history of this colony under Champlain's management, of the explo- 
 rations which he made, and of his hostile relations with the Iroquois 
 Indians, is one of the greatest interest, and reads like a page from 
 romance rather than the detail of sober history. 
 
 Champlain was one of the most active and earnest explorers the 
 world has ever known. " A true hero, after the chivalrous medi- 
 aeval type, his character was dashed largely with the spirit of romance. 
 Earnest, sagacious, penetrating, he yet leaned to the marvellous ; and 
 the faith which was the life of his hard career was somewhat prone 
 to overstep the bounds of reason and invade the alluring domain 
 of fancy." In early life he had been seized with a desire to explore 
 those golden realms from which the Spaniards sedulously excluded the 
 people of other European nations. He entered the Spanish service, 
 and made his way to the "West Indies and Mexico. He afterwards 
 took part in the Port Koyal expedition of De Monts, and explored the 
 New England coast. His enterprising spirit, while of the utmost im- 
 portance to the success of the Canadian colony, brought the colonists 
 into hostile relations with the powerful Iroquois confederacy of In- 
 dians, and started a bitter and unrelenting war through which the 
 settlement was more than once threatened with annihilation. 
 
 The colony of Canada had no thought of agriculture. It was dis- 
 tinctively a trading-settlement, a condition conducive to adventurous 
 excursions, in which movements Champlain was the leading spirit. 
 It, unlike all other American colonies, entered at once into an alliance, 
 offensive and defensive, with the neighboring Indian tribes, aided
 
 PARKMAN] OHAMPLAIS AND THE IROQUOIS. 173 
 
 them in their wars, and roused the undying enmity of powerful foes. 
 A description of the settlement of Quebec, of Champlain's first excur- 
 sion with the Indians, of the discovery of the lake which bears his 
 name, and of his first encounter with the Iroquois, may be taken 
 from Parkman's " Pioneers of France in the New World."] 
 
 AND now, peace being established with the Basques, 
 and the wounded Pontgrave busied, as far as might be, in 
 transferring to the hold of his ship the rich lading of the 
 Indian canoes, Champlain spread his sails, and once more 
 held his course up the St. Lawrence. . . . 
 
 Above the point of the Island of Orleans, a constriction 
 of the vast channel narrows it to a mile : on one hand 
 the green heights of Point Levi ; on the other, the cliffs 
 of Quebec. Here a small stream, the St. Charles, enters 
 the St. Lawrence, and in the angle between them rises the 
 promontory, on two sides a natural fortress. Land among 
 the walnut-trees that formed a belt between the cliffs and 
 the St. Lawrence. Climb the steep height, now bearing 
 aloft its ponderous load of churches, convents, dwellings, 
 ramparts, and batteries, there was an accessible point, 
 a rough passage, gullied downward where Prescott Gate 
 now opens on the Lower Town. . . . Two centuries and a 
 half have quickened the solitude with swarming life, cov- 
 ered the deep bosom of the river with barge and steamer 
 and gliding sail, and reared cities and villages on the site 
 of forests ; but nothing can destroy the surpassing gran- 
 deur of the scene. . . . 
 
 A few weeks passed, and a pile of wooden buildings 
 rose on the brink of the St. Lawrence, on or near the 
 site of the market-place of the Lower Town of Quebec. 
 The pencil of Champlain, always regardless of proportion 
 and perspective, has preserved its semblance. A strong 
 wooden wall, surmounted by a gallery loop-holed for 
 musketry, enclosed three buildings, containing quarters 
 i. 15*
 
 174 AMERICAN HISTORY, 
 
 for himself and his men, together with a court-yard, from 
 one side of which rose a tall dove-cot, like a belfry. A 
 moat surrounded the whole, and two or three small can- 
 non were planted on salient platforms towards the river. 
 There was a large magazine near at hand, and a part of 
 the adjacent ground was laid out as a garden. . . . 
 
 It was on the eighteenth of September that Font- 
 grave set sail, leaving Champlain with twenty-eight men to 
 hold Quebec through the winter. Three weeks later, and 
 shores and hills glowed with gay prognostics of approach- 
 ing desolation, the yellow and scarlet of the maples, the 
 deep purple of the ash, the garnet hue of young oaks, the 
 bonfire blaze of the tupelo at the water's edge, and the 
 golden plumage of birch saplings in the fissure of the cliff. 
 It was a short-lived beauty. The forest dropped its festal 
 robes. Shrivelled and faded, they rustled to the earth. 
 The crystal air and laughing sun of October passed away, 
 and November sank upon the shivering waste, chill and 
 sombre as the tomb. . . . 
 
 One would gladly know how the founders of Quebec 
 spent the long hours of their first winter; but on this 
 point the only man among them, perhaps, who could 
 write, has not thought it necessary to enlarge. He him- 
 self beguiled his leisure with trapping foxes, or hanging 
 a dead dog from a tree and watching the hungry martens 
 in their efforts to reach it. Towards the close of winter, 
 all found abundant employment in nursing themselves or 
 their neighbors, for the inevitable scurvy broke out with 
 virulence. At the middle of May only eight men of the 
 twenty-eight were alive, and of these half were suffering 
 from disease. . . . Great was the joy of Champlain when 
 he saw a sail-boat rounding the Point of Orleans, betoken- 
 ing that the spring had brought with it the longed-for 
 succors.
 
 PARKMAN] CHAMPLAIN AND THE IROQUOIS. 175 
 
 [Pontgrave had returned with supplies and emigrants. After a con- 
 sultation it was decided that he should remain in charge of Quebec 
 while Champlain entered upon his meditated explorations, by which 
 he hoped to find a practicable way to China. It was the same dream 
 of a passage to the Pacific that had animated so many of his prede- 
 cessors.] 
 
 But there was a lion in the path. The Indian tribes, 
 war-hawks of the wilderness, to whom peace was unknown, 
 infested with their scalping-parties the streams and path- 
 ways of the forest, increasing tenfold its inseparable risks. 
 That to all these hazards Champlain was more than indif- 
 ferent, his after-career bears abundant witness ; yet now 
 an expedient for evading them offered itself, so consistent 
 with his instincts that he was fain to accept it. Might he 
 not anticipate surprises, join a war-party, and fight his way 
 to discovery ? 
 
 During the last autumn a young chief from the banks of 
 the then unknown Ottawa had been at Quebec ; and, amazed 
 at what he saw, he had begged Champlain to join him in 
 the spring against his enemies. These enemies were a for- 
 midable race of savages, the Iroquois, or Five Confederate 
 Nations, dwelling in fortified villages within limits now 
 embraced by the State of New York. 
 
 [The Canadian foes of this confederacy were the Hurons, a tribe of 
 their own race, the Algonquins of the St. Lawrence region, and the 
 Montagnais, a less energetic tribe of the same region. "With these 
 Indians Champlain joined himself in a projected expedition against 
 their powerful enemies.] 
 
 It was past the middle of May, and the expected war- 
 riors from the upper country had not come, a delay which 
 seems to have given Champlain little concern, for, without 
 waiting longer, he set forth with no better allies than a 
 band of Montagnais. But as he moved up the St. Law- 
 rence he saw, thickly clustered in the bordering forest, the
 
 176 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAX 
 
 lodges of an Indian camp, and, landing, found his Huron 
 and Algonquin allies. Few of them had ever seen a white 
 man. They surrounded the steel-clad strangers in speech- 
 less wonderment. Champlain asked for their chief, and 
 the staring throng moved with him towards a lodge where 
 sat, not one chief, but two, for each band had its own. 
 There were feasting, smoking, speeches ; and, the needful 
 ceremony over, all descended together to Quebec ; for the 
 strangers were bent on seeing those wonders of architect- 
 ure whose fame had pierced the recesses of their forests. 
 
 [On May 28 the expedition again set out, passing down the St. Law- 
 rence to the " Kiviere des Iroquois," since called the Kichelieu, or the 
 St. John. Here the warriors encamped for two days, hunted, fished, 
 feasted, and quarrelled, three-fourths of the party seceding, while the 
 rest pursued their course. Champlain outsailed his allies. But he 
 soon found himself in impassable rapids, and was obliged to return. 
 The Indians had lied to him, with the story that his shallop could 
 traverse the river unobstructed.] 
 
 But should he abandon the adventure, and forego the 
 discovery of that great lake, studded with islands and bor- 
 dered with a fertile land of forests, which his red compan- 
 ions had traced in outline and by word and sign had painted 
 to his fancy ? . . . He directed Marais, with the boat and 
 the greater part of the men, to return to Quebec, while 
 he, with two who offered to follow him, should proceed in 
 the Indian canoes. 
 
 The warriors lifted their canoes from the water, and in 
 long procession through the forest, under the flickering 
 sun and shade, bore them on their shoulders around the 
 rapids to the smooth stream above. Here the chiefs made 
 a muster of their forces, counting twenty-four canoes and 
 sixty warriors. All embarked again, and advanced once 
 more, by marsh, meadow, forest, and scattered islands, 
 then full of game, for it was an uninhabited land, the war-
 
 PARKMAN] CHAMPLAIN AND THE IROQUOIS. 177 
 
 path and battle-ground of hostile tribes. The warriors 
 observed a certain system in their advance. Some were 
 in front as a vanguard, others formed the main body, 
 while an equal number were in the forests on the flanks 
 and rear, hunting for the subsistence of the whole; for, 
 though they had a provision of parched maize pounded 
 into meal, they kept it for use when, from the vicinity of 
 the enemy, hunting should become impossible. 
 
 Late in the day they landed and drew up their canoes, 
 ranging them closely side by side. All was life and bustle. 
 Some stripped sheets of bark, to cover their camp-sheds; 
 others gathered wood, the forest was full of dead, dry 
 trees ; others felled the living trees, for a barricade. They 
 seem to have had steel axes, obtained by barter from the 
 French ; for in less than two hours they had made a strong 
 defensive work, a half-circle in form, open on the river side, 
 where their canoes lay on the strand, and large enough to 
 enclose all their huts and sheds. Some of their number 
 had gone forward as scouts, and, returning, reported no 
 signs of an enemy. This was the extent of their precau- 
 tions, for they placed no guard, but all, in full security, 
 stretched themselves to sleep, a vicious custom from which 
 the lazy warrior of the forest rarely departs. 
 
 [An important part of the subsequent proceedings was the operation 
 of the medicine-man, who entered his magic lodge and invoked the 
 spirits in mumbling tones, while his dusky audience listened in awe 
 and wonder. Suddenly the lodge rocked with violence to and fro, as 
 alleged, by the power of the spirits, though Champlain could see the 
 fist of the medicine-man shaking the poles. The diviner was now 
 seized with convulsions, and invoked the spirit in an unknown lan- 
 guage, while the answer came in squeaking and feeble accents. This 
 mummery over, the chief stuck sticks in the earth in a certain order, 
 each stick representing a warrior and indicating his position in the 
 expected battle. They all gathered round and studied the sticks, then 
 formed, broke, and reformed their ranks with alacrity and skill.]
 
 178 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 Again the canoes advanced, the river widening as they 
 went. Great islands appeared, leagues in extent, Isle a 
 ]a Motte, Long Island, Grande Isle. Channels where ships 
 might float and broud reaches of expanding water stretched 
 between them, and Champlain entered the lake which pre- 
 serves his name to posterity. Cumberland Head was 
 passed, and from the opening of the great channel between 
 Grande Isle and the main he could look forth on the wil- 
 derness sea. Edged with woods, the tranquil flood spread 
 southward beyond the sight. Far on the left the forest 
 ridges of the Green Mountains were heaved against the 
 sun, patches of snow still glistening on their tops; and on 
 the right rose the Adirondacks, haunts in these later years 
 of amateur sportsmen from counting-rooms or college halls, 
 nay, of adventurous beauty, with sketch-book and pencil. 
 Then the Iroquois made them their hunting-ground ; and 
 beyond, in the valleys of the Mohawk, the Onondaga, and 
 the Genesee, stretched the lon<; line of their five cantons 
 
 ' O 
 
 and palisaded towns. . . . 
 
 The progress of the party was becoming dangerous. 
 They changed their mode of advance, and moved only in 
 the night. ... At twilight they embarked again, paddling 
 their cautious way till the eastern sky began to redden. 
 Their goal was the rocky promontory where Fort Ticon- 
 deroga was long afterward built. Thence they would 
 pass the outlet of Lake George, and launch their canoes 
 again on that Comq of the wilderness. . . . Landing at 
 the future site of Fort William Henry, they would carry 
 their canoes through the forest to the river Hudson, and, 
 descending it, attack, perhaps, some outlying town of the 
 Mohawks. . . . 
 
 The allies were spared so long a progress. On the morn- 
 ing of the twenty-ninth of July, after paddling all night, 
 they hid as usual in the forest on the western shore, not
 
 PARKMAN] CHAMPLAIN AND THE IROqUOIS. 179 
 
 far from Crown Point. The warriors stretched themselves 
 to their slumbers, and Champlain, after walking for a time 
 through the surrounding woods, returned to take his repose 
 on a pile of spruce boughs. . . . 
 
 It was ten o'clock in the evening, when they descried 
 dark objects in motion on the lake before them. These 
 were a flotilla of Iroquois canoes, heavier and slower than 
 theirs, for they were made of oak bark (or more probably 
 elm bark). Each party saw the other, and the mingled 
 war-cries pealed over the darkened water. The Iroquois, 
 who were near the shore, having no stomach for an aquatic 
 battle, landed, and, making night hideous with their clam- 
 ors, began to barricade themselves. Champlain could see 
 them in the woods laboring like beavers, hacking down 
 trees with iron axes taken from the Canadian tribes in 
 war, and with stone hatchets of their own making. The 
 allies remained on the lake, a bowshot from the hostile 
 barricade, their canoes made fast together by poles lashed 
 across. All night they danced with as much vigor as the 
 frailty of their vessels would permit, their throats making 
 amends for the enforced restraint of their limbs. It was 
 agreed on both sides that the fight should be deferred till 
 daybrea'k ; but meanwhile a commerce of abuse, sarcasm, 
 menace, and boasting gave unceasing exercise to' the lungs 
 and fancy of the combatants, " much," says Champlain, 
 " like the besiegers and besieged in a beleaguered town." 
 
 As day approached, he and his two followers put on the 
 light armor of the time. Champlain wore the doublet and 
 long hose then in vogue. Over the doublet he buckled on 
 a breastplate, and probably a back-piece, while his thighs 
 were protected by cuisses of steel,- and his head by a plumed 
 casque. Across his shoulder lay the straps of his bandoleer, 
 or ammunition-box ; at his side was his sword, and in his 
 hand his arquebuse, which he had loaded with four balls.
 
 180 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 Such was the equipment of this ancient Indian-fighter, 
 whose exploits date eleven years before the landing of the 
 Puritans at Plymouth, and sixty-six years before King 
 Philip's War. 
 
 Each of the three Frenchmen was in a separate canoe, 
 and, as it grew light, they kept themselves hidden, either 
 by lying in the bottom, or covering themselves with an 
 Indian robe. The canoes approached the shore, and all 
 landed without opposition at some distance from the Iro- 
 quois, whom they presently could see filing out of their 
 barricade, tall, strong men, some two hundred in number, 
 of the boldest and fiercest warriors of North America. 
 They advanced through the forest with a steadiness which 
 excited the admiration of Champlain. Among them could 
 be seen several chiefs, made conspicuous by their tall 
 plumes. Some bore shields of wood and hide, and some 
 were covered with a kind of armor made of tough twigs 
 interlaced with a vegetable fibre supposed by Champlain to 
 be cotton. 
 
 The allies, growing anxious, called with loud cries for 
 their champion, and opened their ranks that he might pass 
 to the front. He did so, and, advancing before his red 
 companions-in-arms, stood revealed to the astonished gaze 
 of the Iroquois, who, beholding the warlike apparition in 
 their path, stared in mute amazement. But his arquebuse 
 was levelled ; the report startled the woods, a chief fell 
 dead, and another by his side rolled among the bushes. 
 Then there rose from the allies a yell, which, says Cham- 
 plain, would have drowned a thunder-clap, and the forest 
 was full of whizzing arrows. For a moment, the Iroquois 
 stood firm and sent back their arrows lustily ; but when 
 another and another gunshot came from the thickets on 
 their flank, they broke and fled in uncontrollable terror. 
 Swifter than hounds, the allies tore through the bushes
 
 PARKMAN] CHAMPLAIN AND THE IROqUOIS. 181 
 
 in pursuit. Some of the Iroquois were killed ; more were 
 taken. Camp, canoes, provisions, all were abandoned, and 
 many weapons flung down in the panic flight. The arque- 
 buse had done its work. The victory was complete. . . . 
 
 The victors made a prompt retreat from the scene of 
 their triumph. Three or four days brought them to the 
 mouth of the Eichelieu. Here they separated; the Hurons 
 and the Algonquins made for the Ottawa, their homeward 
 route, each with a share of prisoners for future torments. 
 At parting they invited Champlain to visit their towns 
 and aid them again in their wars, an invitation which 
 this paladin of the woods failed not to accept. 
 
 [Thus ended the first Indian battle in the northern United States, 
 the fruitful seed of an abundant crop of future disasters. The subse- 
 quent history of Champlain may be rapidly epitomized. In the next 
 year (1610) he took part in another successful war-expedition. In 
 1611 he founded the city of Montreal. The year 1613 he employed 
 in an exploration of the Ottawa Kiver, deceived by a statement that 
 it led to a great lake which was connected with the North Sea. In 
 1614 he made another long journey, up the Ottawa, then overland to 
 Lake Huron, and then south, in company with a war-party of Hurons, 
 to the Iroquois country, where an attack was made on a strong fortifi- 
 cation. The assault proved a failure. The Iroquois defended them- 
 selves valiantly, and finally drove off their foes, Champlain being twice 
 wounded. In 1629, twenty years after the settlement of Quebec, it 
 contained less than a hundred persons, and these the prey of a severe 
 famine, from whose consequences they were saved only by a surrender 
 of the place to the English, then at war with France. At the end of 
 the war it was restored to France. The history of Canada during the 
 remainder of the century is largely made up of the revenge taken by 
 the Iroquois for their earlier disasters. Their dreaded foe, Champlain, 
 died in 1635. He had aided in making a treaty of peace between the 
 Hurons and the Iroquois in 1622, but in 1648 the latter broke the truce, 
 and suddenly fell upon the French and their allies, slaughtering the 
 whites without distinction of sex or age, and causing a complete dis- 
 persal of the Hurons, who ceased to exist as a separate tribe. For 
 years afterwards the Iroquois remained lords of the situation, keeping 
 I. 16
 
 182 AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAGHAN 
 
 the French shut up in their fortified posts, while their allies were left 
 without succor. The Algonquins were dispersed, the Eries obliterated, 
 and the war ended in 1672, after more than twenty years' duration, 
 in the conquest of the Andastes, a powerful Huron tribe. In 1687 the 
 war was renewed, through a treacherous act of Denonville, the Cana- 
 dian governor, and in the succeeding year the Iroquois made a descent 
 on the Island of Montreal, which they laid waste, and carried off two 
 hundred prisoners. This brings us to the era of war between the 
 French and the English, in which the services of the Indians were freely 
 called into requisition, and desolating raids and massacres abounded.] 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 
 
 E. B. O'CALLAGHAN. 
 
 [The Dutch showed less enterprise in planting colonies in America, 
 and less persistence in sustaining them, than any other of the maritime 
 nations of Europe. Their only settlement in North America was that 
 of New Amsterdam, occupying Manhattan Island, and sending branch 
 hamlets up the Hudson and to the shores of Long Island Sound and 
 the South or Delaware River. This colony was held with very little 
 vigor. The Dutch permitted themselves to be supplanted in Con- 
 necticut by the English Puritans, with scarcely any resistance. The 
 Swedes came into collision with them on the Delaware, though these 
 intruders were eventually subjected to Dutch authority. And in their 
 central seat on the Hudson they had to contend with unwarranted 
 English invasions, and were finally conquered by the English, in times 
 of peace, and without resistance either by the colony or by the mother- 
 country. The story of this colony is of less interest than that of most 
 of the other American settlements. It had its contests, its intestine 
 difficulties, its troubles with the Indians, yet none of these were 
 of striking importance. We extract from O'Callaghan's " History of 
 New Netherland" some passages descriptive of the rise and progress 
 of the settlement. Henry Hudson, the discoverer of the river that 
 bears his name, was an English mariner, who, in the years 1607 and
 
 O'CALLAGHAN] THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 183 
 
 1608, made two voyages in search of a northwest passage to India. 
 He afterwards entered the service of the Dutch East India Company, 
 and in April, 1609, sailed on a third voyage with the same purpose. 
 Touching at Newfoundland, he continued his course till he sighted 
 the American coast, and then turned southward, with the hope of 
 finding a passage-way to the Pacific through the continent. He 
 entered Penohscot Bay, and landed at Cape Cod, which he named 
 New Holland.] 
 
 THE Half Moon hence pursued a course south and west 
 for the next ten days, and at length arrived, about the 
 middle of August, at the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay, 
 where the first effectual attempt to plant an English col- 
 ony had been commenced only two years before. Hudson 
 now retraced his steps, and in a few days afterwards dis- 
 covered, in latitude thirty-nine degrees five minutes, a 
 great bay, which has since been called Delaware. Here 
 he anchored the Half Moon in eight fathom water, and 
 took possession, it is said, of the country. From this 
 place he coasted northward, the shore appearing low, like 
 sunken ground, dotted with islands, and at length descried 
 the Highlands of Navesinck, which, the journalist re- 
 marks, is a very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant 
 land to see. He found himself, on the following day, at 
 the mouth of three great rivers, the northernmost of 
 which he attempted to enter ; but, having been prevented 
 by a shoal bar at its mouth, he cast about to the south- 
 ward, and, after due examination of the sounding, rounded 
 a low " sandy hook," and moored the Half Moon, on the 
 following morning, in latitude forty degrees thirty min- 
 utes, at a short distance from the shore, in the waters of 
 " The Great North River of New Netherland." 
 
 While the ship lay here at anchor, the natives from the 
 western shore came on board, and seemed to be highly 
 pleased at the arrival of the Europeans. They brought
 
 184 AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAGHAN 
 
 green tobacco, which they desired to exchange for knives 
 and beads. They had divers ornaments, as well as pipes, 
 made of copper; plenty of maize, or Indian corn ; dresses 
 of deerskins, well cured, hung loosely around them. 
 
 The next day some men were sent in the boat to explore 
 the bay farther up. They landed on the western bank, 
 which was lined with men, women, and children, by 
 whom they were very kindly received, and presented 
 with tobacco and dried currants. They found the land 
 covered with dried oaks. The natives continued to flock 
 on board the ship, dressed in mantles of feathers and fine 
 furs ; their necks adorned with ornaments of copper, and 
 some of the women had hemp. 
 
 [Five of the crew were sent to examine the channel of what appeared 
 to be an extensive river. " They described the land as covered with 
 trees, grass, and flowers, and the air filled with delightful fragrance." 
 On their return they were attacked, for no known cause, by a party of 
 Indians, one man being killed and two wounded. This made Hudson 
 very suspicious of the natives. He would permit no more to come on 
 board, except a few who were detained as prisoners, but afterwards 
 escaped, and soon weighed anchor and stood up through the Nar- 
 rows, entering New York harbor.] 
 
 Hudson, having ascended thus far, prepared now to ex- 
 plore the magnificent river which rolled its waters into 
 the sea from unknown regions, in the probable hope that 
 it would lead him to the long-sought-for passage to the 
 Indies. He accordingly weighed in the afternoon of the 
 12th September, and commenced his memorable voyage 
 up that majestic stream which has since handed his name 
 down to posterity. 
 
 [He sailed on up the river, through the highland region, being 
 everywhere received with enthusiasm by the natives, who crowded on 
 board with their commodities.] 
 
 Distrusting the savages all along, Hudson determined
 
 O'CALLAGHAN] THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 185 
 
 now to try an experiment which, by throwing them off 
 their guard, would elicit any treachery which might be 
 latent in their dispositions. He accordingly invited sev- 
 eral of the chiefs into the cabin, and gave them plenty of 
 brandy to drink, so as to make them intoxicated. The 
 result was that one got drunk, and fell sound asleep, to 
 the great astonishment of his companions, who " could 
 not tell how to take it." They all took suddenly to their 
 canoes and hurried ashore, leaving their stupefied coun- 
 tryman behind them. Their anxiety for his welfare 
 soon induced them, however, to return with a quantity 
 of beads which they gave him, to enable him, perhaps, 
 to bribe or exorcise " the foul fiend" which had posses- 
 sion of him. The savage slept soundly all night, and was 
 quite recovered from the effects of his debauch when his 
 friends came to see him next day. So rejoiced were these 
 people at finding their chief restored, as it were, to life, that 
 they returned on board in crowds again in the afternoon, 
 bringing tobacco and more beads, which they presented 
 to Hudson, to whom they made an oration, showing him 
 the country round about. They then sent one qf their 
 company on land, who presently returned with a great 
 platter of dressed venison, which they caused Hudson to 
 eat with them ; after which they made him profound rev- 
 erence and departed, all save the old man, who, having 
 had a taste of the fatal beverage, preferred to remain on 
 board. 
 
 Such was the introduction among the Indians, by the 
 first European that came among them, of that poison 
 which, combined with other causes, has since operated to 
 deprive their descendants of almost a foothold in their 
 native land, and caused, within a few centuries, the almost 
 entire extinction of the Red race. 
 
 The Half Moon had now evidently ascended as high as 
 i. 16*
 
 IQQ AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAGHAN 
 
 she could go. She had reached a little below the present 
 city of Albany, and Hudson, having satisfied himself, by 
 despatching a boat some seven or eight leagues higher 
 up, that he had gained the head of the ship-navigation, 
 prepared to retrace his course. 
 
 [His descent of the river was much more expeditious than the up- 
 ward voyage. On reaching the vicinity of Stony Point he was visited 
 by Indians, one of whom stole some articles from the cabin and was 
 shot and killed by the mate.] 
 
 On the following day they descended about seven leagues 
 farther, and came to anchor. Here they were visited by 
 a canoe, on board of which was one of the savages who 
 had made his escape from the vessel as she was going up. 
 Fearing treachery, Hudson would not allow either him or 
 his companions on board. Two other canoes, filled with 
 armed warriors, now came under the stern, and com- 
 menced an attack with arrows. They were repulsed with 
 a loss of three men. More than a hundred savages now 
 pushed off from the nearest point of land, but one of the 
 ship's cannon, having been brought to bear on these, killed 
 two of the party, and the rest fled, thereupon, to the 
 woods. But the savages were not yet discouraged. Nine 
 or ten of the boldest of the warriors, probably incited by 
 the two who had made their escape from the Half Moon 
 on her way up, threw themselves into a canoe and made 
 for the vessel ; but these fared no better than those who 
 preceded them. A cannon-shot drove a hole through 
 their canoe, and killed one of the men. This was fol- 
 lowed by a discharge of musketry, which killed three 
 or four more, and put an end to the battle. The Half 
 Moon now descended some five miles farther down, prob- 
 ably near Hoboken, and thus got beyond the reach of all 
 enemies.
 
 O'CALLAGHAN] THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 187 
 
 Hudson had now thoroughly explored the river, from its 
 mouth to the head of navigation, and had secured for his 
 employers possessions which would reward them beyond 
 measure for the expense they had incurred. For himself he 
 had won an immortality which was destined to hand down 
 his name to the latest age. Happy at the result, he left 
 " the great mouth of the Great Eiver," and put to sea, with 
 all sails set, to communicate to those in Holland in whose 
 service he was the tidings of his valuable discovery. 
 
 [For years a trading-station was the extent of the Dutch settlement 
 on Manhattan Island ; yet the number of settlers gradually increased, 
 and in 1615 a settlement was made at Albany. The country was called 
 New Netherland. In 1618 the settlers made an important treaty of 
 peace and alliance with the Iroquois.] 
 
 When the Dutch arrived in America the tribes compos- 
 ing the Five Nations were at war with the Algonquin or 
 Canada Indians. But the latter, having formed an alliance 
 with the French, who some years previous to this date had 
 commenced the settlement of New France, as Canada was 
 called, derived such powerful aid from the fire-arms of their 
 European allies that the Iroquois were defeated in almost 
 every rencontre with their ancient enemy. Smarting under 
 the disgrace of these unexpected repulses, the Iroquois hailed 
 the establishment among them, now, of another European 
 nation familiar with the use of these terrible instruments, 
 which, almost without human intervention, scattered death 
 wherever they were directed, and defied the war-club and 
 bow and arrow as weapons of attack or defence. Though 
 jealous by nature, and given to suspicion, the Indians ex- 
 hibited none of these feelings towards the new-comers, 
 whose numbers were too few even to protect themselves or 
 to inflict injury on others. On the contrary, they courted 
 their friendship, for through them they shrewdl} T calculated 
 on being placed in a condition to cope with the foe, or to
 
 188 AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAOHAN 
 
 obtain that bloody triumph for which they thirsted. Such 
 were the circumstances which now led to that treaty of 
 alliance which, as the tradition goes, was concluded on the 
 banks of the Norman's Kill, between the Five Nations and 
 the Dutch. 
 
 Nothing could surpass the importance the warlike in- 
 habitants of those ancient forests attached to the ratifica- 
 tion of this solemn treaty. Each tribe sent its chief as its 
 ambassador to represent it on this occasion. The neigh- 
 boring tribes the Lenni Lenape and Mohegans were in- 
 vited to attend ; and there, in the presence of the earth, 
 their common mother, of the sun, which shed its genial 
 heat on all alike, by the murmurs of that romantic stream, 
 whose waters had been made to flow by their common 
 Maker from all time, was the belt of peace held fast by the 
 Dutch and their aboriginal allies, in token of their eternal 
 union. There was the calumet smoked, and the hatchet 
 buried, w r hile the Dutch traders declared that they should 
 forthwith erect a church over that weapon of war, so that 
 it would no more be exhumed without overturning the 
 sacred edifice, and whoever dared do that should incur the 
 resentment of the white man. By this treaty the Dutch 
 secured for themselves the quiet possession of the Indian 
 trade, and the Five Nations obtained the means to assert 
 that ascendency which they ever after maintained over 
 the other native tribes, and to inspire terror far and near 
 among the other savages of North America. 
 
 [Up to 1623 only trading-settlements existed. In that year the 
 actual colonization of the country took place, though a governor was 
 not appointed till two years afterwards. Captain Mey, who took out 
 the settlers, also ascended Delaware Bay and Eiver in 1623, and built 
 Fort Nassau, a few miles below Camden. This fort was soon aban- 
 doned. In 1631 a colony was planted in Delaware, near the present 
 Lewistown, but the settlers were soon murdered by the Indians. The
 
 O'CALLAGHAN] THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 189 
 
 Dutch claim now extended from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod. This 
 claim was disputed by the New-Englanders, who formed settlements 
 in Connecticut and on Long Island. They endeavored, also, to trade 
 with the Hudson Kiver Indians. In 1633 one Jacob Eelkins arrived 
 at New Amsterdam in an English ship called the "William. He was 
 ordered to depart by Wouter van Twiller, the Dutch governor.] 
 
 After an interval of five days, the factor of the William 
 went again on shore to the fort, to inquire if the director- 
 general would permit him, in a friendly way, to ascend the 
 river, stating at the same time that, if he would not allow 
 it, he [Eelkins] would proceed without his consent, if it 
 should cost him his life. But Yan Twiller was immovable. 
 Instead of consenting, he ordered the ship's crew on shore, 
 and, in the presence of all, commanded the Prince of 
 Orange's flag to be run up the fort, and three pieces of 
 ordnance to be fired in honor of his highness. Eelkins, 
 not to be outdone, immediately ordered his gunner to go 
 on board the William, to hoist the English flag, and fire a 
 salute of three guns in honor of the King of England, 
 which was accordingly done. Yan Twiller now warned 
 Eelkins to take heed that what he was about did not cost 
 him his neck. Eelkins, however, noway daunted, returned 
 on board with the ship's crew. The anchor was weighed, 
 and the William shortly after sailed up the river, "near to 
 a fort called Orange." 
 
 Director van Twiller, incensed at this audacit} 7 , collected 
 all the servants of the company in the fort before his door, 
 ordered a barrel of wine to be broached, and, having taken 
 a bumper, cried out, " Those who love the Prince of Orange 
 and me, emulate me in this, and assist me in repelling the 
 violence committed by that Englishman!" The cask of 
 wine was soon emptied, but the people were noways dis- 
 posed at first to trouble the Englishman. . . . 
 
 The William having, in the mean while, arrived in the
 
 190 AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAGHAN 
 
 neighborhood of Fort Orange, the factor and crew went 
 ashore " about a mile below that fort," set up a tent, and, 
 having landed all their goods, immediately opened an ac- 
 tive trade with the natives. It was not long before the 
 news of these proceedings came to the ears of Houten, the 
 commissary at Fort Orange. He forthwith embarked, with 
 a trumpeter, on board a shallop, over which waved some 
 green boughs, and proceeded to where Eelkins was. " By 
 the way the trumpet was sounded, and the Dutchmen 
 drank a bottle of strong waters of three or four pints, and 
 were right merry." The Dutch set up a tent by the side 
 of that of the English ; did as much as they could to dis- 
 parage their cloth and other goods, with a view to hinder 
 the latter's trade; but the Indians, having been well ac- 
 quainted with Eelkins, who had " heretofore lived four 
 yeares among them," and could speak their language, were 
 a good deal more willing to trade with him than with the 
 others, and he consequently had every prospect of advan- 
 tageously disposing of his merchandise, having been four- 
 teen days there, when a Dutch officer arrived from below, 
 in command of three vessels, a pinnace, a carvel, and a 
 hoy, bearing two letters, protesting against Eelkins, and 
 ordering him to depart forthwith. 
 
 To enforce these commands came soldiers " from both 
 the Dutch forts, armed with muskets, half-pikes, swords, 
 and other weapons," and, after having beaten several of the 
 Indians who had come to trade with Eelkins, ordered the 
 latter to strike his tent. In vain he pleaded that he was 
 on British soil, and that British subjects had a right to 
 trade there; the Dutch would not listen to any remon- 
 strances. They pulled his tent about his ears, sent the 
 goods on board, " and, as they were carrying them to the 
 ship, sounded their trumpet in the boat in disgrace of the 
 English."
 
 O'CALLAGHAK] THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 191 
 
 [In this chronicle of the adventures of the first English ship that 
 sailed up the Hudson we have a scene ridiculous enough to find a place 
 in Knickerbocker's " History of New York." The succeeding troubles 
 of the Dutch were with the Swedes and the Indians. In 1640 war 
 began with the neighboring Indians, which continued till terminated 
 by the mediation of the Iroquois, in 1645. In 1638 the Swedes settled 
 on the Delaware, near the present Wilmington, and gradually extended 
 their settlements until 1655, when they were attacked by the Dutch, 
 and all their forts captured. The Swedes remained, under Dutch gov- 
 ernment. In 1664 the King of England granted to his brother James 
 all the country from the Connecticut to the Delaware, heedless of the 
 claims of the Dutch. A squadron was sent out, and the Dutch were 
 forced to surrender New Amsterdam. Thus, by an act of flagrant in- 
 justice, while England and Holland were at peace, the Dutch domin- 
 ion in North America was overthrown, after half a century of exist- 
 ence. Mr. O'Callaghan gives some brief details of the condition of 
 affairs in New Amsterdam in 1646, which we transcribe.] 
 
 Slaves constituted, as far back as 1628, a portion of the 
 population. The introduction of this class was facilitated 
 by the establishments which the Dutch possessed in Brazil 
 and on the coast of Guinea, as well as by the periodical 
 capture of Spanish and Portuguese prizes, and the circum- 
 stances attendant upon the early settlement of the coun- 
 try. The expense of obtaining labor from Europe was 
 great, and the supply by no means equal to the demand. 
 To add to these embarrassments, the temptations held 
 out by the fur-trade were so irresistible that the servants, 
 or " boere-knechts," who were brought over from Hol- 
 land, were soon seduced from the pursuits of agriculture. 
 Farmers were consequently obliged to employ negroes, 
 and slave-labor thus became, by its cheapness and the 
 necessity of the case, one of the staples of the country. 
 
 The lot of the African under the Dutch was not as hope- 
 less as his situation might lead us to expect. He was a 
 " chattel," it is true ; but he could still look forward to the 
 hour when he too might become a freeman. In the years
 
 192 AMERICAN HISTORY. [O'CALLAGHAN 
 
 1644 and 1646, several negroes and their wives, who had 
 originally been captured from the Spaniards, had been 
 manumitted, in consequence of their long and faithful 
 services. To enable them to provide for their support they 
 obtained a grant of land ; but as the price of their manu- 
 mission they were bound to pay yearly twenty-two bushels 
 and a half of corn, wheat, peas, or beans, and one fat hog 
 valued at eight dollars, failing which, they were to lose 
 their liberty and return again to their former state of ser- 
 vitude. . . . The price of a negro averaged between one 
 hundred and one hundred and fifty dollars. . . . 
 
 The greater number of the houses around Forts Amster- 
 dam and Orange were, in those days, low-sized wooden 
 buildings, with roofs of reed or straw, and chimneys of 
 wood. Wind- or water-mills were erected, here and there, 
 to grind corn, or to saw lumber. One of the latter, situated 
 on Nut or Governor's Island, was leased in 1639 for five 
 hundred merchantable boards yearly, half oak and half pine. 
 Saw- and grist-mills were built upon several of the creeks 
 in the colony of Eensselaerswyck, where "a horse mill" was 
 also erected in 1646. A brewery had been constructed pre- 
 vious to 1637, in the same quarter, by the Patroon, with the 
 exclusive right of supplying retail dealers with beer. But 
 private individuals were allowed the privilege, notwith- 
 standing, to brew whatever quantity of beer they might 
 require for consumption within their own families. 
 
 [These settlements were established under two different systems of 
 government. The "colonies" were governed on a feudal principle, the 
 Patroon, or proprietor, having sovereign authority over his vassals, 
 who swore allegiance to him, and submitted to his special courts, 
 ordinances, and laws. In return he was bound to protect them. The 
 other system was a municipal one, like that of the manors of Hol- 
 land, the qualified electors of cities, villages, and hamlets being em- 
 powered to nominate the magistrates, who needed to be confirmed by 
 the director and council. Through these regulations the democratic
 
 STOUGHTON] THE QUAKER COLONY. 193 
 
 spirit of Holland was carried over to New Amsterdam, and a republican 
 sentiment of a different type from that of the English colonies was 
 instituted.] 
 
 THE QUAKER COLONY. 
 
 JOHN STOUGHTON. 
 
 [In 1638 a colony of Swedes settled on Christiana Creek, in the 
 present State of Delaware. Governor Kieft, of New Amsterdam, 
 considered this an intrusion on his territory, and, as a check to their 
 aggression, rebuilt the previously abandoned Fort Nassau, below the 
 present Camden. The Swedes gradually extended their settlements, 
 the territory occupied reaching from Cape Henlopen to a point op- 
 posite Trenton. Their governor built a fort and a residence on the 
 island of Tinicum, below Philadelphia. In 1655 the Swedes were 
 attacked by the Dutch, and their forts taken. The most of them con- 
 tinued on their estates, under Dutch authority. The territory of New 
 Jersey was granted in 1664 to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. 
 Berkeley sold his share 1n 1674 to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward 
 Byllinge, who subsequently assigned his claim to William Penn and 
 two other Quakers. The province was then divided, Carteret re- 
 ceiving the eastern portion, and the Quaker assignees the western por- 
 tion, on the Delaware. It was in this way that "William Penn first 
 became interested in the settlement of America. As two colonies, 
 Massachusetts and Maryland, had already been formed through the 
 desire for religious liberty, it occurred to him to establish a refuge in 
 the New World for the persecuted sect of which he was a member. 
 This was first attempted in West Jersey. A free constitution was 
 given to the settlers, granting important privileges of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty. Quakers were specially recommended to take advan- 
 tage of it, and more than four hundred emigrated to the province 
 in 1677. In 1682, William Penn and eleven others purchased East 
 Jersey, so that the whole province then came under Quaker control 
 Robert Barclay, author of the " Apology for Quakers," was appointed 
 governor for life. 
 
 In 1681, Penn obtained from Charles II. a grant of all the lands 
 I. i n 17
 
 194 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STOUGHTON 
 
 embraced in the present State of Pennsylvania. His purpose in this 
 was not alone to convert and civilize the Indians, as expressed in 
 the charter, hut also to form an asylum for those desirous of civil and 
 religious liberty, in which the principles of Peace, as advocated by 
 his sect, might be efficiently carried out. He soon after obtained a 
 grant of the present State of Delaware, then called " The Territories." 
 In September, 1682, he set sail for his new province, with a large 
 number of emigrants of his own religious belief. Others had preceded 
 him. The story of his landing and his actions in the New "World we 
 extract from John Stough ton's " William Penn," from the fact that 
 this writer gives the true story of that celebrated " Treaty with the 
 Indians," concerning which so little is actually known, yet which 
 has been made the basis of so many imaginative statements, full of 
 dramatic interest, yet with very small foundation in fact.] 
 
 CONVENIENCE, thoughts of commerce, the selection of a 
 fitting spot for a great city, the choice of a harbor for the 
 shipping of the world, no doubt mainly determined the 
 site of Philadelphia. But utility and the picturesque often 
 go together. . . . Whether the commissioners sent out by 
 Penn, who marked the foundation for the noble metropo- 
 lis of their new State, had much care for landscape beauty, 
 I cannot say ; but, at all events, they managed to secure 
 it, even if aiming at far other things. Nearly forty years 
 before, red Indians were haunting the shore about a mile 
 from Fort Nassau, and there some Dutchmen bought land 
 from these wild children of the west, and mounted the 
 flag of their country on a tall boundary-mark as a sign 
 of possession. 
 
 [A quarrel ensued with the neighboring Swedes, who tore down 
 the flag.] 
 
 Between thirty and forty years afterwards the region 
 remained infested with wolves, and the heads of these 
 animals were brought in to be paid for by the scanty 
 settlers at the rate of fifty-five heads for forty guilders.
 
 STOUGHTON] THE QUAKER COLONY. 195 
 
 Some acres between " the land of "VViccaco" and " the land 
 of Jurian Hartsfielder" were granted on petition in 1677 
 to one Peter Rambo, but on the complaint of a neighbor- 
 ing family, who laid claim to it, the grant was cancelled. 
 This became the site of the new city. 
 
 Penn did not land there. His voyage from England 
 lasted two months, and on its way the Welcome was 
 scourged by the small-pox, which swept off no less than 
 one-third of the hundred passengers who had embarked 
 at Deal. The first point on the American coast which the 
 vessel reached was " the Capes," on the 24th of October, 
 1682, and on the 28th Penn landed at New-Castle. He 
 was "hailed there with acclamation by the Swedes and 
 Dutch," says one authority, who informs us that the 
 Swedes were living in log cabins and clay huts, the men 
 dressed "in leather breeches, jerkins, and match coats," 
 the women "in skin jackets and linsey petticoats;" but 
 the old records of New-Castle give a more stately descrip- 
 tion of the arrival. Penn produced two deeds of enfeoff- 
 ment, and John Moll, Esq., and Ephraim Hannan, gentle- 
 man, performed livery of seisin by handing over to him 
 turf and twig, water and soil, and with due formality the 
 act was recorded in a document signed with nine names. 
 The inhabitants of the little settlement afterwards gave a 
 pledge of obedience. . . . 
 
 After this Penn visited New York, and returned at the 
 end of a month, when he went to a place called Upland, 
 and, turning round to a Quaker friend who had come with 
 him in the Welcome, he said, "Providence has brought us 
 here safe ; thou hast been the companion of my perils : what 
 wilt thou that I should call this place ?" Pearson said, 
 " Chester," in remembrance of the city whence he came. . . . 
 
 The Great Law, as it was called, or rather the body 
 of laws, of the province of Pennsylvania, was passed at
 
 196 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STOTTGHTON 
 
 Chester the 7th of December, 1682 ; and here we have 
 the scheme of legislation devised by the founder. It re- 
 quires attention, as expressing his political views. It 
 lays down the principle of liberty of conscience for the 
 whole province, and it recognizes intolerance as intolera- 
 ble. " If any person shall abuse or deride any other for 
 his or her different persuasion or practice in matter of 
 religion, such shall be looked upon as disturber of the 
 peace, and be punished accordingly." The observance of 
 the Lord's Day is prescribed, but is not enforced by 
 penalties. All government officers and servants are to 
 profess belief in the Divinity of Christ ; profaneness and 
 blasphemy are to be punished, and several criminal of- 
 fences are carefully specified. Drinking healths, and sell- 
 ing rum to Indians, come under the same category ; so do 
 stage plays, and other amusements fashionable in the days 
 of Charles II. Days and months are not to be called by 
 heathen names. These are the only peculiar laws ; the 
 rest being provisions for trial by jury, for purity of elec- 
 tion, and for strictly legal taxation. 
 
 [This code bears a close resemblance, in its provisions for religious 
 tolerance, to that previously passed in Maryland, already quoted.] 
 
 The Assembly which passed the laws of Pennsylvania 
 sat for three days, and after its adjournment Penn paid a 
 visit to Maryland, and had an interview with Lord Balti- 
 more respecting the boundaries of the two provinces. . . . 
 Penn returned to Chester, and thence proceeded to the 
 spot where, in after-time, the capital city of his province 
 was to rise and spread in all its magnificence. His ar- 
 rival is an event of great interest ; but he himself has 
 given no account of it, nor have any of his contempo- 
 raries left a connected description of the circumstances. 
 By piecing together scattered fragments of tradition, how-
 
 STOUQHTON] THE QUAKER COLONY. 197 
 
 ever, something like a full narrative of what occurred 
 may be constructed. 
 
 He proceeded along the river in an open boat till he 
 reached " a low and sandy beach," at the mouth of what 
 was called the Dock Creek ; on the opposite side of it was 
 a grassy and wet soil, yielding an abundance of whortle- 
 berries ; beyond was the " Society Hill," rising up to what 
 is now Pine Street, covered then with wild outgrowths, 
 the neighborhood containing woods in which rose lofty 
 elms and masses of rich laurels. The margin of the creek 
 here and there produced evergreen shrubs, and near them 
 were wigwams of red Indians, who had settled down for 
 a while as a starting-point for favorite hunting-grounds. 
 "When Penn and his companions arrived they found some 
 men busy building a low wooden house, destined, under 
 the name of the Blue Anchor, to be an object of interest 
 and a subject of controversy. These men, and a few 
 European colonists who were scattered about the locality, 
 pressed towards the boat to give a cordial welcome as the 
 Englishmen stepped on shore. 
 
 If not immediately, we may be sure that soon afterwards 
 the Indians would come forward to gaze on the white men 
 from the other side of the world ; and then would begin 
 those manifestations of kindness towards the children of 
 the forest which made an indelible impression on them, 
 and on others who witnessed the interviews. A lady, who 
 lived to be a hundred, used to speak of the governor as 
 being of "rather short stature, but the handsomest, best- 
 looking, lively gentleman she had ever seen." "He en- 
 deared himself to the Indians by his marked condescension 
 and acquiescence in their wishes. He walked with them, 
 sat with them on the ground, and ate with them of their 
 roasted acorns and hominy. At this they expressed their 
 great delight, and soon began to show how they could 
 i. 17*
 
 198 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STOUGHTON 
 
 hop and jump; at which exhibition, William Penn, to cap 
 the climax, sprang up and beat them all." Probably a 
 little imagination enlivened the old lady's recollections, and 
 she condensed several meetings into one ; but as Penn was 
 at that time under forty, and he had been fond of active 
 sports in earlier days, the story, on the whole, is quite 
 credible ; and it is curious to find an old journalist leaving 
 on record that the founder of Pennsylvania was " too prone 
 to cheerfulness for a grave public Friend," especially in the 
 eye of those of them who held "religion harsh, intolerant, 
 severe." 
 
 Blue Anchor Tavern was pulled down years ago, but 
 some archaeological Philadelphians still preserve relics of 
 the old timbers. 
 
 The city had been planned beforehand, the streets 
 marked, and the names given ; and these being Vine, Wal- 
 nut, Pine, Sassafras, and Cedar, we may believe that such 
 trees abounded in the woods into the midst of which the 
 city ran. The name of Philadelphia was chosen by the 
 founder, its scriptural and historical associations being 
 probably present to his mind; but the chief object of the 
 choice was a lesson to its inhabitants " touching broth- 
 erly love, upon which he had come to these parts, which he 
 had shown to Dutch, Swedes, Indians, and others alike, 
 and which he wished might forever characterize his new 
 dominions." 
 
 [The fact stated concerning the founding of Philadelphia is of in- 
 terest, since it seems to be the only city that was planned and definitely 
 laid out by the early settlers of America. The other ancient cities 
 of the country grew as chance willed. The rectangularity of Penn's 
 idea has its advantages, but its disadvantages as well, and some greater 
 degree of chance growth would have been useful. Penn is said to 
 have purchased the land for his city from its Swedish occupants, and 
 to have made with the Indians a treaty, which has attained great celeb- 
 rity, though very little is known about it.]
 
 STOUGHTON] THE QUAKER COLONY. 199 
 
 The Treaty-Elm locality the spot where stood the tra- 
 ditionary elm is known, and is identified by a monument 
 on the spot ; but as to the treaty said to have been ratified 
 there, imagination has had play, for historical information 
 is wanting. Everybody has seen Benjamin West's picture 
 of the treaty between Penn and the Indians, and the artist's 
 fancy has been made the basis of historical description. 
 So unsatisfactory was the state of the question years ago, 
 that the Historical Society of Philadelphia appointed a 
 committee of inquiry. They reported that a treaty did 
 take place, probably in November, 1682 [this date does 
 not agree with that of Penn's first visit to Philadelphia as 
 above given], at Shackamaxon, under an elm-tree blown 
 down in 1810. The treaty was probably made with the 
 Delaware tribes as " a treaty of amity and friendship," 
 and not for the purchase of territory. The speeches made, 
 the dresses worn, and the surrounding scene, appear now 
 to be altogether fictitious. 
 
 Materials, however, exist for forming some idea of the 
 manner in which the treaty would be conducted. " I have 
 had occasion," says Penn, "to be in council with them 
 upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. 
 Their order is thus : 
 
 "The king sits in the middle of an half-moon, and has 
 his council, the old and wise, on each hand. Behind them, 
 or at a little distance, sit the younger fry, in the same 
 figure. Having consulted and resolved their business, the 
 king ordered one of them to speak to me. He stood up, 
 came to me, and in the name of his king saluted me, then 
 took me by the hand, and told me that he was ordered by 
 his king to speak to me, and that now it was not he but 
 the king who spoke, because what he should say was the 
 king's mind. He first prayed with me to excuse them 
 that they had not complied with me the last time. He
 
 200 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STOUGHTON 
 
 feared there might be some fault in the interpreter, being 
 neither Indian nor English. Besides, it was the Indian 
 custom to deliberate and take up much time in council 
 before they resolved ; and that if the young people and 
 owners of the land had been as ready as he, I had not 
 met with so much delay. Having thus introduced his 
 matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed 
 to dispose of, and the price, which now is little and dear ; 
 that which would have bought twenty miles not buy- 
 ing now two. During the time that this person spoke, 
 not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile, the 
 old grave, the young reverent, in their deportment. They 
 speak little, but fervently, and with elegance. I have 
 never seen more natural sagacity, considering them with- 
 out the help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition ; 
 and he will deserve the name of wise who outwits them 
 in any treaty about a thing they understand. When the 
 purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us 
 of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the English 
 and Indians must live in love as long as the sun gave 
 light ; which done, another made a speech to the Indians 
 in the name of all the sachamakers or kings ; first, to tell 
 them what was done; next, to charge and command them 
 to love the Christians, and particularly to live in peace 
 with me and the people under my government ; that 
 many governors had been in the river, but that no gov- 
 ernor had come himself to live and stay there before ; 
 and having now such an one, who had treated them well, 
 they should never do him or his any wrong; at every 
 sentence of which they shouted, and said Amen in their 
 way." 
 
 [It is stated that by the terms of one of Penn's treaties of land- 
 purchase with the Indians, the land granted was to extend as far back
 
 STOTTGHTON] THE qUAKER COLONY. 201 
 
 as a man could walk in three days. Penn and some of his friends, 
 and a number of Indian chiefs, started to measure this territory, and 
 walked leisurely up the Delaware from the mouth of the Neshaminy 
 for a day and a half, and then stopped, concluding that that was suffi- 
 cient for the present, and that the remainder might be measured when 
 needed. In 1733 the then Governor of Pennsylvania undertook to 
 measure the remainder. He employed a walker noted for his speed, 
 who succeeded in covering eighty-six miles in his day and a half. 
 This shrewd and rascally trick caused the first breach in the confidence 
 of the Indians, and it is significant that the first murder of a white 
 man by an Indian in Pennsylvania was upon the ground of which 
 they had been thus robbed.] 
 
 "When Penn had enjoyed possession of his territory a 
 little while, he wrote an account of it to the " Free Society 
 of Traders of Pennsylvania," and in it he manifests a power 
 of graphic description really admirable. It brings the whole 
 country vividly before our eyes ; the land, " the best vales 
 of England watered by brooks ; the air, sweet ; the heavens, 
 serene like the south of France; the seasons, mild and 
 temperate ; vegetable productions abundant, chestnut, wal- 
 nut, plums, muscatel grapes, wheat and other grain; a 
 variety of animals, elk, deer, squirrel, and turkeys weighing 
 forty or fifty pounds, water-birds and fish of divers kinds, 
 no want of horses ; and flowers lovely for color, greatness, 
 figure, and variety." . . . 
 
 " Philadelphia, the expectation of those who are concerned 
 in this province, is at last laid out, to the great content of 
 those here who are any way interested therein. The situation 
 is a neck of land, and lieth between two navigable rivers, 
 Delaware and Sculkill, whereby it hath two fronts upon the 
 water, each a mile ; and two from river to river. Delaware 
 is a glorious river ; but the Sculkill, being a hundred miles 
 boatable above the falls, and its course northwest toward 
 the fountain of Susquehanna (that tends to the heart of 
 the province, and both sides our own), it is like to be a
 
 202 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STOUGHTON 
 
 great part of the settlement of this age. I say little of the 
 town itself, because a platform will soon be shown you by 
 my agent, in which those who are purchasers of me will 
 find their names and interests. But this I will say, for the 
 good providence of God, of all the places I have seen in the 
 world, I remember not one better seated ; so that it seems to 
 me to have been appointed for a town, whether we regard 
 the rivers, or the conveniency of the coves, docks, and 
 springs, the loftiness and soundness of the land, and the 
 air, held by the people of these parts to be very good. It 
 is advanced within less than a year to about fourscore 
 houses and cottages, such as they are, where merchants and 
 handicrafts are following their vocations as fast as they can ; 
 while the countrymen are close at their farms." 
 
 [Within two years of his arrival the infant city contained three 
 hundred houses, and the population was reckoned at two thousand 
 five hundred. Penn returned to England in 1684. There he met with 
 misfortunes, and in 1692 his proprietary right was taken from him ; 
 but it was restored in 1694. In 1699 he again visited America. He 
 found the people dissatisfied, and demanding further concessions and 
 privileges. He framed a new charter, more liberal than the former. 
 The city now contained seven hundred houses, and was very pros- 
 perous. He returned to England in 1701, after having made new 
 treaties with the Indians and done all in his power to settle the affairs 
 of his province. He died in 1718, leaving his interest in Pennsylvania 
 to his sons. It continued in the family until the Kevolution, when 
 the claims of the Proprietors were purchased by the commonwealth 
 for a value of about five hundred and eighty thousand dollars.]
 
 WILLIAMSON] THE " GRAND MODEL" GOVERNMENT. 203 
 THE "GRAND MODEL" GOVERNMENT. 
 
 HUGH WILLIAMSON. 
 
 [The settlement of the three southern colonies of the United States 
 may be dealt with briefly, as it was attended with no events of special 
 importance. Of these colonies Georgia was not settled until 1732. The 
 consideration of it, therefore, properly belongs to the succeeding sec- 
 tion of this work. The provinces of North and South Carolina origi- 
 nally constituted but one. We have already described the early ef- 
 forts to colonize this region, those of Ribaut at Port Eoyal and of 
 Raleigh on Roanoke Island. About 1630, Sir Robert Heath was 
 granted a tract embracing the Carolinas, but no settlements were made 
 under the grant. The earliest emigrants came from Virginia about 
 1650. In 1663 the province of Carolina was granted to Lord Claren- 
 don and seven others. The charter secured religious freedom and a 
 voice in legislation to the people, but retained the main power and 
 privilege in the hands of the proprietaries. In 1660 or 1661 a party 
 of New-Englanders settled on Cape Fear River near Wilmington. 
 The settlement was soon abandoned, on account of Indian hostilities, 
 but a permanent colony was established in the same locality in 1665, 
 by a party of planters from Barbadoes. 
 
 The charter of the proprietaries embraced the whole region from 
 Virginia to Florida, and in 1670 a colony was planted on the Ashley 
 River, in the South Carolina region, which was known as the Carteret 
 County Colony, on the site of Old Charleston. Slaves from Barba- 
 does were soon introduced, Dutch settlers came from New Netherland, 
 then recently taken by the English, and afterwards from Holland, a 
 colony of Huguenot refugees from France was sent out by the King 
 of England, and the new settlement prospered. In 1680 the city of 
 Charleston was founded, and was at once declared the capital of the 
 province. The growth of the settlements in North Carolina was less 
 rapid, many of the colonists removing south, while domestic dissen- 
 sions retarded prosperity. 
 
 The most interesting feature attending the colonization of the prov- 
 ince of Carolina, however, was the remarkable system of government 
 devised, at the request of the proprietaries, by the celebrated English 
 philosopher John Locke. Made in the retirement of his study, and 
 based upon conditions of society utterly unlike those of the thinly-.
 
 204 AMERICAN HISTORY. [WILLIAMSON 
 
 settled wilderness of America, Locke's scheme was absurdly unsuited 
 to the purpose designed, while its autocratic character was entirely 
 out of accordance with the democratic sentiments of the settlers. As 
 a strenuous effort, however, was made to carry out the provisions of 
 this magnificently-absurd "Grand Model" of government, we may 
 give its leading features, as epitomized by Hugh Williamson in his 
 "History of North Carolina."] 
 
 As it was to be expected that a great and fertile province 
 would become the residence of a numerous and powerful 
 body of people, the lords proprietors thought fit in the 
 infant state of these colonies to establish a permanent form 
 of government. Their object, as they expressed them- 
 selves, was "to make the government of Carolina agree, 
 as nearly as possible, to the monarchy of which it was a 
 part, and to avoid erecting a numerous democracy." Lord 
 Ashley, one of the proprietors, who was afterwards created 
 Earl of Shaftesbury, a man of fine talents, was requested 
 by the proprietors to prepare a form of government ; but 
 he availed himself of the abilities of John Locke, the cele- 
 brated philosopher and metaphysician, who drew up a plan, 
 consisting of one hundred and twenty articles or fundamen- 
 tal constitutions, of which the following are the outlines : 
 
 Carolina shall be divided into counties. Each county 
 shall consist of eight signiories, eight baronies, and four 
 precincts. Each precinct shall consist of six colonies. 
 Each signiory, barony, or colony shall consist of twelve 
 thousand acres. The signiories shall be annexed unaliena- 
 bly to the proprietors ; the baronies, to the nobility ; and 
 the precincts, being three-fifths of the whole, shall remain 
 to the people. . . . 
 
 There shall be two orders of nobility, chosen by the pro- 
 prietors, viz., landgraves and casiques. 
 
 There shall be as many landgraves as counties, and twice 
 as many casiques.
 
 WILLIAMSON] THE " GRAND MODEL" GOVERNMENT. 205 
 
 Each landgrave shall hold four baronies, and each casique 
 two baronies. 
 
 [From the year 1701 the proprietaries and nobility were to be in- 
 alienably hereditary.] 
 
 There may be manors, to consist of not less than three 
 thousand acres or more than twelve thousand in one tract 
 or colony. 
 
 The lord of every signiory, barony, or manor shall have 
 the power of holding court leet. for trying causes civil or 
 criminal, with appeal to the precinct or county court. 
 
 No leet man shall remove from the land of his lord 
 without permission. 
 
 There shall be eight supreme courts. The oldest pro- 
 prietor shall be palatine ; and each of the other proprie- 
 tors shall hold a great office, viz., the several offices of 
 chancellor, chief justice, constable, admiral, treasurer, high 
 steward, and chamberlain. 
 
 [The formation of the courts of the proprietors is here laid down, 
 and the various officers are designated.] 
 
 Of the forty-two counsellors, in the several courts, the 
 greater number shall be chosen out of the nobles or the 
 sons of proprietors or nobles. 
 
 There shall be a grand council, which is to consist of the 
 palatine, the other seven proprietors, and the forty-two 
 counsellors from the courts of the several proprietors. 
 They shall have the power of making war and peace, 
 etc. 
 
 [The formation of the minor courts is then designated.] 
 
 No cause of any freeman, civil or criminal, shall be tried 
 in any court, except by a jury of his peers. 
 
 Juries are to consist of twelve men, of whom it shall be 
 sufficient that a majority are agreed, 
 i. 18
 
 206 AMERICAN HISTORY. [WILLIAMSON 
 
 It shall bo a base and infamous thing, in any court, to 
 plead for money or reward. 
 
 The parliament shall meet once every two years. It shall 
 consist of all the proprietors or their deputies, the land- 
 graves, the casiques, and one commoner from each precinct, 
 chosen by the freeholders in their respective precincts. 
 These four estates shall sit in one room, each man having 
 one vote. . . . 
 
 No matter shall be proposed in parliament that had not 
 previously been prepared and passed by the grand council. 
 
 No act shall continue in force longer than to the next 
 biennial meeting of parliament, unless in the mean time it 
 shall have been ratified by the palatine and a quorum of 
 the proprietors. 
 
 While a bill is on its passage before the parliament, any 
 proprietor or his deputy may enter his protest against it, 
 as being contrary to any of the fundamental constitutions 
 of government. In which case, after debate, the four orders 
 shall retire to four separate chambers ; and if a majority 
 of either of the four estates determines against the bill, it 
 shall not pass. . . . 
 
 The Church of England being deemed the only true 
 orthodox church, no provision shall be made by parliament 
 for any other church. . . . 
 
 No man, above the age of seventeen years, shall have 
 any benefit of the laws, whose name is not recorded as a 
 member of some church or religious profession. 
 
 These fundamental and unalterable constitutions were 
 signed by the lords proprietors the first of March, 1669. 
 It would be difficult to account for some of the articles 
 that are contained in this plan of government, except by re- 
 curring to the old adage that respects Scylla and Charybdis. 
 
 The proprietors, or some of them, had lately smarted 
 under a government that was called republican. They
 
 WILLIAMSON] THE "GRAND MODEL" GOVERNMENT. 207 
 
 were zealous royalists ; and they expected, by the help of a 
 powerful aristocracy, to obviate the return of republican 
 measures; but we are sorry to find among the works of 
 John Locke, who was an advocate for civil and religious 
 liberty, a plan of government that in some articles does not 
 consist with either. 
 
 It will readily be perceived that a government to be ad- 
 ministered by nobles was not well adapted to a country 
 in which there was not one nobleman. . . . The lords pro- 
 prietors, in the mean time, resolved to come as near to 
 the great model as possible. For this purpose, Governor 
 Stevens of Albemarle and Sayle of Carteret were instructed 
 to issue writs requiring the freeholders to elect five persons, 
 who, with five others to be chosen by the proprietors, were 
 to form a grand council for the governor. 
 
 The parliament was to be composed of this great council 
 and twenty delegates, who were also to be chosen by the 
 freemen. In the mean time the proprietors made tem- 
 porary laws for the preservation of good order in the 
 several colonies, laws that were little respected by men 
 who had not been consulted in forming them. 
 
 [Locke's governmental scheme never took root in Carolina. It was 
 a government of theory, not the result of a natural growth, as all 
 persistent government must be, and was utterly unsuited to the condi- 
 tions of a thinly-settled colony inhabiting a wilderness and composed 
 of persons little disposed to submit to regulations more aristocratic 
 than those from which they had emigrated. The plain and simple 
 laws under which the colonists had previously lived were suited to 
 their circumstances, while the "great model," with its nobles, pala- 
 tines, and other grand officers, was in ridiculous contrast with the 
 actually existing condition of sparse population, rude cabins, and 
 pioneer habits. A strong effort was made to establish it, but the 
 people effectually resisted, and, after twenty years of contest, Locke's 
 constitution, which had simply kept the country in a state of discord, 
 was voluntarily abrogated by the proprietaries.]
 
 208 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Du PBATZ 
 
 LOUISIANA AND THE NATCHEZ. 
 
 LE PAGE DU PRATZ. 
 
 [One more colony whose settlement was effected in the seventeenth 
 century here demands attention, that of Louisiana. After the death 
 of De Soto on the Mississippi, in 1642, that great river was not visited 
 by the whites until more than a century had elapsed. It was next 
 reached, in its upper courses, by Jesuit missionaries from Canada, 
 whose efforts to convert the heathen made them among the most 
 daring and persistent explorers of the interior of America. As early 
 as 1634 they penetrated the wilderness to Lake Huron, and established 
 missions among the savages of that region. [Failing in similar efforts 
 to convert the Iroquois, they pushed farther west, and in 1665 Father 
 Allouez reached Lake Superior, and landed at the great village of 
 the Chippewas. Learning from the Indians of the existence of a 
 great river to the westward, called by them the Mes-cha-ce-be, or 
 " Father of Waters," two missionaries, Marquette and Joliet, set out 
 from Green Bay to make its discovery, under the illusory hope that it 
 might furnish the long-sought water-way to China. They reached 
 the stream on June 17, 1673, and floated down it as far as the mouth 
 of the Arkansas, where they found the natives in possession of Euro- 
 pean articles, and became convinced that the river must flow into 
 the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The Mississippi was again reached, in 1680, by Father Hennepin, 
 the advance pioneer of the exploring party under La Salle, who had 
 set out to investigate thoroughly the great river. Hennepin ascended 
 the stream to beyond the Falls of St. Anthony, where he was held 
 captive for a while by the Sioux Indians. La Salle did not reach the 
 Mississippi until two years afterwards, when he embarked on its 
 mighty flood, and floated down it until its mouth was reached and 
 the adventurers found themselves on the broad surface of the Gulf 
 of Mexico. To the territories through which he passed he gave the 
 name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV. of France. In 1684 he 
 sailed from France, with a party of settlers, for the mouth of the 
 Mississippi, which, however, he failed to find, landing his colonists 
 at the head of Matagorda Bay, in Texas. La Salle was afterwards 
 murdered while journeying overland to the Illinois, and the Matagorda 
 Bay settlement was broken up by Indian hostility.
 
 Du PRATZ] LOUISIANA AND THE NATCHEZ. 209 
 
 In Upper Louisiana a Jesuit mission was established in 1685 at 
 Kaskaskia, the first permanent colony in the Mississippi region. In 
 1698, Lemoine d'Iberville, a French officer, obtained a patent for 
 planting a colony in the southern part of the territory. He succeeded 
 in finding the mouth of the Mississippi, and was the first to enter that 
 stream from the sea. He sailed up it as far as the mouth of the Ked 
 Kiver, and, returning, erected a fort at the head of the Bay of Biloxi. 
 It proved an unhealthy station, and in 1701 he removed the colonists 
 to the western bank of the Mobile River, thus founding the first Euro- 
 pean settlement in Alabama. The colonizing of southern Louisiana 
 proved a slow process. At successive periods colonists arrived there, 
 but no permanency was attained until 1718, when John Law, the 
 promoter of the notorious "Mississippi Company," sent out eight 
 hundred emigrants. Some of these settled on the Bay of Biloxi, some 
 on the site of New Orleans. With this party was Du Pratz, the 
 historian of the colony. The subsequent disastrous failure of the Mis- 
 sissippi Company did not break up the colony, though the scattered 
 settlements found themselves environed with many difficulties, chief 
 among which were troubles with hostile Indians. These difficulties 
 were principally with the Natchez, who massacred a French settle- 
 ment and were in turn totally destroyed, and with the Chickasaws, 
 who held their own valiantly against the French, after a war of several 
 years' duration. We append, from Du Pratz's " History of Louisi- 
 ana," his curiously-interesting story of the war with the Natchez, a 
 tribe which was in several respects the most remarkable among the 
 Indians of the region of the United States. We have already, in our 
 article on the Aborigines of America, described its principal peculi- 
 arities.] 
 
 IN the beginning of the month of December, 1729, we 
 heard at New Orleans, with the most affecting grief, of 
 the massacre of the French at the post of the Natchez, 
 occasioned by the imprudent conduct of the commandant. 
 I shall trace that whole affair from its rise. 
 
 The Sieur de Chopart had been commandant of the post 
 of the Natchez, from which he was removed on account 
 of some acts of injustice. M. Perier, commandant-gen- 
 eral, but lately arrived, suffered himself to be prepossessed 
 i. o 18*
 
 210 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Du PRATZ 
 
 in his favor, on his telling him that he had commanded 
 that post with applause; and thus he obtained the com- 
 mand from M. Perier, who was unacquainted with his 
 character. 
 
 This new commandant, on taking possession of his post, 
 projected the forming one of the most eminent settlements 
 of the whole colony. For this purpose he examined all 
 the grounds unoccupied by the French, but could not find 
 anything that came up to the grandeur of his views. 
 Nothing but the village of the White Apple, a square 
 league at least in extent, could give him satisfaction ; 
 where he immediately resolved to settle. This ground 
 was distant from the fort about two leagues. Conceited 
 with the beauty of his project, the commandant sent for 
 the Sun of that village to come to the fort. 
 
 The commandant, upon his arrival at the fort, told him, 
 without further ceremony, that he must look out for an- 
 other ground to build his village on, as he himself resolved, 
 as soon as possible, to build on the village of the Apple; 
 that he must directly clear the huts and retire somewhere 
 else. The better to cover his design, he gave out that it 
 
 O i O 
 
 was necessary for the French to settle on the banks of 
 the rivulet where stood the Great Village and the abode 
 of the Grand Sun. The commandant, doubtless, supposed 
 that he was speaking to a slave whom we may command 
 in a tone of absolute authority. But he knew not that 
 the natives of Louisiana are such enemies to a state of 
 slavery that they prefer death itself thereto; above all, 
 the Suns, accustomed to govern despotically, have still a 
 greater aversion to it. 
 
 The Sun of the Apple thought that if he was talked to 
 in a reasonable manner he might listen to him; in this he 
 had been right, had he to deal with a reasonable person. 
 He therefore made answer that his ancestors had lived in
 
 Du PRATZ] LOUISIANA AND THE NATCHEZ. 211 
 
 that village for as many years as there were hairs in his 
 double cue, and therefore it was good they should continue 
 there still. 
 
 Scarce had the interpreter explained this answer to the 
 commandant, but he fell into a passion, and threatened the 
 Sun if he did not quit his village in a few days he might 
 repent it. The Sun replied, when the French came to ask 
 us for lands to settle on, they told us there was land 
 enough still unoccupied, which they might take ; the same 
 sun would enlighten them all, and all would walk in the 
 
 O ' 
 
 same path. He wanted to proceed further in justification 
 of what he alleged ; but the commandant, who was in a 
 passion, told him he was resolved to be obeyed, without 
 any further reply. The Sun, without discovering any 
 emotion or passion, withdrew, only saying he was going 
 to assemble the old men of his village, to hold a council 
 on this affair. 
 
 [At this council it was resolved to represent to the French that the 
 corn was just out of the ground and the chickens were laying their 
 eggs, and to ask for delay. This the commandant rejected, with a 
 threat to chastise them if they did not obey quickly. It was next 
 proposed that each hut in the village would pay him a basket of corn 
 and a fowl for the privilege of remaining till the harvest had been 
 gathered. To this the avaricious commandant agreed. But the Sun 
 had other objects in view. Meetings of the old men of the village 
 were held, at which it was resolved to destroy the insolent intruders 
 who had treated them like slaves and soon would deprive them of all 
 their liberty. It was proposed to cut off the French to a man, in a 
 single hour. The oldest chief advised that, on the day fixed for the 
 contribution, the warriors should carry some corn to the commandant, 
 as an instalment on their payment. He further advised them] 
 
 " also to carry with them their arms, as if going out to 
 hunt, and that to every Frenchman in a French house there 
 shall be two or three Natchez; to ask to borrow arms and 
 ammunition for a general hunting-match on account of
 
 212 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Du PRATZ 
 
 a great feast, and to promise to bring them meat ; the 
 report of the firing at the commandant's to be the signal to 
 fall at once upon and kill the French ; that then we shall 
 be able to prevent those who may come from the old French 
 village (New Orleans) by the great water (Mississippi) ever 
 to settle here." 
 
 He added that, after apprising the other nations of the 
 necessity of taking that violent step, a bundle of rods in 
 number equal to that they should reserve for themselves 
 should be left with each nation, expressive of the number 
 of days that were to precede that on which they were to 
 strike the blow at one and the same time. And to avoid 
 mistakes, and to be exact in pulling out a rod every day 
 and breaking and throwing it away, it was necessary to 
 give this in charge to a person of prudence. Here he 
 ceased, and sat down. They all approved his counsel, and 
 were to a man of his mind. 
 
 The project was in like manner approved of by the Sun 
 of the Apple ; the business was to bring over the Grand 
 Sun, with the other petty Suns, to their opinion; because, 
 all the princes being agreed as to that point, the nation 
 would all to a man implicitly obey. They, however, took 
 the precaution to forbid apprising the women thereof, not 
 excepting the female Suns (princesses), or giving them the 
 least suspicion of their designs against the French. 
 
 [Within a short time the Grand Sun, the Stung Serpent, his uncle, 
 and all the Suns and aged nobles, were brought into the scheme. It 
 was kept secret from the people, and none but the female Suns had a 
 right to demand the object of these many meetings. The grand female 
 Sun was a princess scarce eighteen, but the Stung Arm, mother of the 
 Grand Sun, a woman of experience, and well disposed towards the 
 French, induced her son to tell her of the scheme which had been 
 devised. He also told her that the bundle of rods lay in the temple.] 
 
 The Stung Arm, being informed of the whole design,
 
 Du PKATZ] LOUISIANA AND THE NATCHEZ. 213 
 
 pretended to approve of it, and, leaving her son at ease, 
 henceforward was only solicitous how she might defeat this 
 barbarous design : the time was pressing, and the term pre- 
 fixed for the execution was almost expired. 
 
 [She vainly attempted to convey a warning to the commandant. 
 The hints of danger she sent him by soldiers were blindly ignored.] 
 
 The Stung Arm, fearing a discovery, notwithstanding 
 her utmost precaution and the secrecy she enjoined, re- 
 paired to the temple and pulled some rods out of the fatal 
 bundle ; her design was to hasten or forward the term pre- 
 fixed, to the end that such Frenchmen as escaped the 
 massacre might apprise their countrymen, many of whom 
 had informed the commandant, who clapt seven of them in 
 irons, treating them as cowards on that account. . . . 
 
 Notwithstanding all these informations, the commandant 
 went out the night before [the fatal day] on a party of 
 pleasure, with some other Frenchmen, to the grand village 
 of the Natchez, without returning to the fort till break of 
 day ; where he was no sooner come, but he had pressing 
 advice to be upon his guard. 
 
 The commandant, still flustered with his last night's 
 debauch, added imprudence to his neglect of these last 
 advices, and ordered his interpreter instantly to repair to 
 the grand village and demand of the Grand Sun whether 
 he intended, at the head of his warriors, to come and kill 
 the French, and to bring him word directly. The Grand 
 Sun, though but a young man, knew how to dissemble, and 
 spoke in such a manner to the interpreter as to give full 
 satisfaction to the commandant, who valued himself on his 
 contempt of former advices : he then repaired to his house, 
 situate below the fort. 
 
 The Natchez had too well taken their measures to be 
 disappointed in the success thereof. The fatal moment
 
 214 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Du PRATZ 
 
 was at last come. The Natchez set out on the eve of St. 
 Andrew, 1729, taking care to bring with them one of the 
 lower sort, armed with a wooden hatchet, in order to 
 knock down the commandant : they had so high a con- 
 tempt for him that no warrior would deign to kill him. 
 The houses of the French filled with enemies, the fort in 
 like manner with the natives, who entered in at the gate 
 and breaches, deprived the soldiers, without officers or even 
 a sergeant at their head, of the means of self-defence. In 
 the mean time the Grand Sun arrived, with some warriors 
 loaded with corn, in appearance as the first payment of 
 the contribution; when several shots were heard. As this 
 firing was the signal, several shots were heard at the 
 same instant. Then at length the commandant saw, but 
 too late, his folly : he ran into the garden, whither he was 
 pursued and killed. The massacre was executed every- 
 where at the same time. Of about seven hundred per- 
 sons, but few escaped to carry the dreadful news to the 
 capital ; on receiving which the governor and council were 
 sensibly affected, and orders were despatched everywhere 
 to put people on their guard. 
 
 The other Indians were displeased at the conduct of the 
 Natchez, imagining they had forwarded the term agreed 
 on, in order to make them ridiculous, and proposed to take 
 vengeance the first opportunity, not knowing the true 
 cause of the precipitation of the Natchez. 
 
 After they had cleared the fort, warehouse, and other 
 houses, the Natchez set them all on fire, not leaving a 
 single building standing. 
 
 [Steps were immediately taken by the French to revenge themselves 
 upon their enemies. A force, partly made up of Choctaw allies, as- 
 sailed the fort of the Natchez, who offered to release the French women 
 and children prisoners if peace was promised them. This was agreed 
 to, and the Natchez took advantage of the opportunity to vacate the
 
 Du PRATZ] LOUISIANA AND THE NATCHEZ. 215 
 
 fort by stealth, under cover of night, with all their baggage and plun- 
 der, leaving only the cannon and ball behind. They took refuge in a 
 secret place to the west of the Mississippi, which proved difficult to 
 discover. As soon as the place of concealment was found, the French 
 set out to chastise the murderers.] 
 
 The Messrs. Perier set out with their army in very- 
 favorable weather, and arrived at last, without obstruc- 
 tion, near to the retreat of the Natchez. To get to that 
 place, they went up the Eed River, then the Black River, 
 and from thence up the Silver Creek, which communicates 
 with a small lake at no great distance from the fort which 
 the Natchez had built in order to maintain their ground 
 against the French. 
 
 The Natchez, struck with terror at the sight of a vigi- 
 lant enemy, shut themselves up in their fort. Despair 
 assumed the place of prudence, and they were at their 
 wits' end on seeing the trenches gain ground on the fort : 
 they equip themselves like warriors, and stain their bodies 
 with different colors, in order to make their last efforts by 
 a sally which resembled a transport of rage more than 
 the calmness of valor, to the terror, at first, of the soldiers. 
 
 The reception they met from our men taught them, 
 however, to keep themselves shut up in their fort ; and 
 though the trench was almost finished, our generals were 
 impatient to have the mortars put in a condition to play 
 on the place. At last they are set in battery ; when the 
 third bomb happened to fall in the middle of the fort, the 
 usual place of residence of the women and children, they 
 set up a horrible screaming ; and the men, seized with 
 grief at the cries of their wives and children, made the 
 signal to capitulate. 
 
 The Natchez, after demanding to capitulate, started dif- 
 ficulties, which occasioned messages to and fro till night, 
 which they wanted to avail themselves of, demanding till
 
 216 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Du PRATZ 
 
 next day to settle the articles of capitulation. The night 
 was granted them, but, being narrowly watched on the 
 side next the gate, they could not execute the same pro- 
 ject of escape as in the war with M. de Loubois. How- 
 ever, they attempted it, by taking advantage of the ob- 
 scurity of the night, and of the apparent stillness of the 
 French ; but they were discovered in time, the greatest 
 part being constrained to retire into the fort. Some of 
 them only happened to escape, who joined those that were 
 out a-hunting, and all together retired to the Chickasaws. 
 The rest surrendered at discretion, among whom were the 
 Grand Sun, and the female Suns, with several warriors, 
 many women, young people, and children. 
 
 The French army re-embarked, and carried the Natchez 
 as slaves to New Orleans, where they were put in prison ; 
 but afterwards, to avoid an infection, the women and chil- 
 dren were disposed of in the king's plantation, and else- 
 where ; among these women was the female Sun called 
 the Stung Arm, who then told me all she had done in 
 order to save the French. 
 
 Some time after, these slaves were embarked for St. 
 Domingo, in order to root out that nation in the colony ; 
 which was the only method of effecting it, as the few 
 that escaped had not a tenth of the women necessary to 
 recruit the nation. And thus that nation, the most con- 
 spicuous in the colony, and most useful to the French, was 
 destroyed.
 
 GRAHAME] THE PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 217 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 THE PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 
 
 JAMES GRAHAME. 
 
 [The history of Massachusetts during the latter half of the seven- 
 teenth century presents several occurrences of particular interest, such 
 as the Quaker persecution, King Philip's Indian war, and the witch- 
 craft delusion. The first of these now calls for attention. We may 
 premise with a hrief statement of preceding events. One of these was 
 an effort in England to prevent Puritan emigration, which is said to 
 have had the effect to retain John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell in 
 that country. If so, the king in this committed an error which in 
 the end proved fatal to himself. In 1638, John Harvard, a minister 
 of Charlestown, left something over three thousand dollars in support 
 of a school previously founded by the colony. This was the origin of 
 Harvard College. In 1643 the four colonies of Plymouth, Massachu- 
 setts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire formed a confederacy, under 
 the title of THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND. Rhode 
 Island was, at a later date, refused admission into the confederacy, 
 which continued in existence for over forty years. Each colony was 
 to contribute men and money to the common defence, while two com- 
 missioners from each colony formed an annual assembly for the 
 settlement of all questions relating to the confederacy. 
 
 The religious dissensions which had formerly agitated the colony 
 were renewed by the emigration of persons of other sectarian views, 
 who were little disposed to submit to the intolerance of the Puritan 
 churches and tribunals. In 1651 a party of Anabaptists reached Mas- 
 sachusetts. The doctrines they advocated raised a storm of opposition 
 in the colony ; they were arrested, tried, fined, and one of them severely 
 I. K 19
 
 218 'AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAME 
 
 flogged, and a law was passed banishing from the colony any one who 
 should oppose the dogma of infant baptism. The treatment received 
 by the Quakers was of sufficient severity and importance to demand 
 special consideration, and we therefore select a description of it from 
 James Grahame's " History of the United States."] 
 
 THE treatment which the Quakers experienced in Mas- 
 sachusetts was much more severe [than that of the Ana- 
 baptists], but certainly much more justly provoked. It is 
 difficult for us in the calm and rational deportment of the 
 Quakers of the present age to recognize the successors 
 of those wild enthusiasts who first appeared in the north 
 of England about the year 1644 and received from the 
 derision of the world the title which they afterwards 
 adopted as their sectarian denomination. . . . When the 
 doctrines of Quakerism were first promulgated, the effects 
 which they produced on many of their votaries far ex- 
 ceeded the influence to which modern history restricts 
 them, or which the experience of a rational and calcu- 
 lating age finds it easy to conceive. In England, at that 
 time, the minds of men were in a state of feverish agita- 
 tion and excitement, inflamed with the rage of innovation, 
 strongly imbued with religious sentiment, and yet strongly 
 averse to restraint. The bands that so long repressed 
 liberty of speech being suddenly broken, many crude 
 thoughts were eagerly broached, and many fantastic 
 notions that had been vegetating in the unwholesome 
 shade of locked bosoms were abruptly brought to light : 
 and all these were presented to the souls of men roused 
 and whetted by civil war, kindled by great alarms or by 
 vast and indeterminate designs, and latterly so accustomed 
 to partake or contemplate the most surprising changes, 
 that with them the distinction between speculation and 
 certainty was considerably effaced. . . . 
 
 It was the wildest and most enthusiastic visionaries of
 
 GKAHAME] THE PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 219 
 
 the age whom Quakerism counted among its earliest vota- 
 ries, and to whom it afforded a sanction and stimulus to 
 the boldest excursions of unregulated thought, and a 
 principle that was adduced to consecrate the rankest 
 absurdity of conduct. . . . The unfavorable impression 
 which these actions created long survived the extinction 
 of the frenzy and folly that produced them. 
 
 While, in pursuance of their determination to prosely- 
 tize the whole world, some of the Quakers travelled to 
 Rome, in order to illuminate the Pope, and others to Con- 
 stantinople, for the purpose of converting the Grand Turk, 
 a party of them embarked for America and established 
 themselves in Ehode Island, where persons of every re- 
 ligious (Protestant) denomination were permitted to settle 
 in peace, and no one gave heed to the sentiments or prac- 
 tices of his neighbors. From hence they soon made their 
 way into the Plymouth territory, where they succeeded 
 in persuading some of its inhabitants to embrace the doc- 
 trine that a sensible experience of inward light and spirit- 
 ual impression was the meaning and end of Christianity 
 and the essential characteristic of its votaries, and to op- 
 pose all regulated order, forms, and discipline, whether 
 civil or ecclesiastical, as a vain and Judaizing substitution 
 of the kingdom of the flesh for the kingdom of the spirit. 
 
 On their first appearance in Massachusetts (July, 1656), 
 where two male and six female Quakers arrived from 
 Rhode Island and Barbadoes, they found that the reproach 
 entailed on their sect by the insane extravagance of some 
 of its members in England had preceded their arrival, and 
 that they were regarded with the utmost terror and dis- 
 like by the great bulk of the people. They were instantly 
 arrested by the magistrates, and diligently examined for 
 what were considered bodily marks of witchcraft. No 
 such indications having been found, they were sent back
 
 220 AMERICAN HISTORY. [&KAHAME 
 
 to the places whence they came, by the same vessels that 
 had brought them, and prohibited with threats of severe 
 punishment from ever again returning to the colony. A 
 law was passed at the same time, subjecting every ship- 
 master importing Quakers or Quaker writings to a heavy 
 fine; adjudging all Quakers who should intrude into the 
 colony to stripes and labor in the house of correction, and 
 all defenders of their tenets to fine, imprisonment, or 
 exile. . . . 
 
 The penal enactments resorted to by the other settle- 
 ments [than Ehode Island] served only to inflame the 
 impatience of the Quaker zealots to carry their ministry 
 into places that seemed to them to stand so greatly in 
 need of it; and the persons who had been disappointed in 
 their first attempt returned almost immediately to Massa- 
 chusetts, and, dispersing themselves through the colony, 
 began to proclaim their mystical notions, and succeeded in 
 communicating them to some of the inhabitants of Salem. 
 They were soon joined by Mary Clarke, the wife of a 
 tailor in London, who announced that she had forsaken 
 her husband and six children in order to convey a message 
 from heaven, which she was commissioned to deliver to 
 New England. Instead of joining with the provincial 
 missionaries in attempts to reclaim the neighboring sav- 
 ages from their barbarous superstition and profligate im- 
 moralities, or themselves prosecuting separate missions 
 with a like intent, the apostles of Quakerism raised their 
 voices in vilification of everything that was most highly 
 approved and revered in the doctrine and practice of the 
 provincial churches. Seized, imprisoned, and flogged, they 
 were again dismissed with severer threats from the colony, 
 and again they returned by the first vessels they could 
 procure. The government and a great majority of the 
 colonists were incensed at their stubborn pertinacity, and
 
 GRAHAME] THE PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 221 
 
 shocked at the impression which they had already pro- 
 duced on some minds, and which threatened to corrupt 
 and subvert a system of piety Avhose establishment, fru- 
 ition, and perpetuation supplied their fondest recollections, 
 their noblest enjoyment, and most energetic desire. New 
 punishments were introduced into the legislative enact- 
 ments against the intrusion of Quakers and the profession 
 of Quakerism (1657) ; and in particular the abscission of 
 an ear was added to the former ineffectual severities. 
 Three male Quaker preachers endured the rigor of this 
 cruel law. 
 
 But all the exertions of the provincial authorities proved 
 unavailing, and seemed rather to stimulate the zeal of the 
 obnoxious sectaries to brave the danger and court the 
 glory of persecution (1658). Swarms of Quakers descended 
 upon the colony ; and, violent and impetuous in provoking 
 persecution, calm, resolute, and inflexible in sustaining 
 it, they opposed their power of enduring cruelty to their 
 adversaries' power of inflicting it, and not only multiplied 
 their converts, but excited a considerable degree of favor 
 and pity in the minds of men who, detesting the Quaker 
 tenets, yet derived from their own experience a peculiar 
 sympathy with the virtues of heroic patience, constancy, 
 and contempt of danger. ... It was by no slight provo- 
 cations that the Quakers attracted these and additional 
 severities upon themselves. ... In public assemblies and 
 in crowded streets, it was the practice of some of the 
 Quakers to denounce the most tremendous manifestations 
 of divine wrath on the people, unless they forsook their 
 carnal system. One of them, named Faubord, conceiving 
 that he experienced a celestial encouragement to rival the 
 faith and imitate the sacrifice of Abraham, was proceed- 
 ing with his own hands to shed the blood of his son, when 
 his neighbors, alarmed by the cries of the lad, broke into 
 i. 19*
 
 222 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAMB 
 
 the house and prevented the consummation of this blas- 
 phemous atrocity. Others interrupted divine service in 
 the churches by loudly protesting that these were not 
 the sacrifices that God would accept ; and one of them il- 
 lustrated his assurance by breaking two bottles in the 
 face of the congregation, exclaiming, " Thus will the Lord 
 break you in pieces!" They declared that the Scriptures 
 were replete with allegory, that' the inward light was the 
 only infallible guide to religious truth, and that all were 
 blind beasts and liars who denied it. 
 
 The female preachers far exceeded their male associates 
 in folly, frenzy, and indecency. One of them presented 
 herself to a congregation with her face begrimed with 
 coal-dust, announcing it as a pictorial illustration of the 
 black pox, which Heaven had commissioned her to predict 
 as an approaching judgment on all carnal worshippers. 
 Some of them in rueful attire perambulated the streets, 
 proclaiming the speedy arrival of an angel with a drawn 
 sword to plead with the people ; and some attempted feats 
 that may seem to verify the legend of Godiva of Coventry. 
 One woman, in particular, entered stark naked into a 
 church in the middle of divine service, and desired the 
 people to take heed to her as a sign of the times, and 
 an emblem of the unclothed state of their own souls ; and 
 her associates highly extolled her submission to the inward 
 light, that had revealed to her the duty of illustrating the 
 spiritual nakedness of her neighbors by the indecent ex- 
 hibition of her own person. Another Quakeress was ar- 
 rested as she was making a similar display in the streets 
 of Salem. The horror justly inspired by these insane 
 enormities was inflamed into the most vehement indigna- 
 tion by the deliberate manner in which they were defended, 
 and the disgusting profanity with which Scripture was 
 linked in impure association with notions and behavior at
 
 GBAHAME] THE PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 223 
 
 once ridiculous and contemptible. Among other singulari- 
 ties, the Quakers exemplified and inculcated the forbear- 
 ance of even the slightest demonstration of respect to 
 courts and magistrates ; they declared that governors, 
 judges, lawyers, and constables were trees that cumbered 
 the ground, and presently must be cut down, in order that 
 the true light might have leave to shine and space to rule 
 alone ; and they freely indulged every sally of distempered 
 fancy which they could connect, however absurdly, with 
 the language of the Bible. . . . 
 
 It has been asserted by some of the modern apologists 
 of the Quakers that these frantic excesses, which excited 
 so much attention and produced such tragical consequences, 
 were committed, not by genuine Quakers, but by the Rant- 
 ers, or wild separatists from the Quaker body. Of these 
 Banters, indeed, a very large proportion certainly betook 
 themselves to America. ... It is certain, however, that 
 the persons whose conduct we have particularized assumed 
 the name of Quakers, and traced all their absurdities to 
 the peculiar Quaker principle of searching their own 
 bosoms for sensible admonitions of the Holy Spirit, inde- 
 pendent of the scriptural revelation of divine will. And 
 many scandalous outrages were committed by persons 
 whose profession of Quaker principles was recognized by 
 the Quaker body, and whose sufferings are related, and 
 their frenzy applauded, by the pens of Quaker writers. 
 
 Exasperated by the repetition of these enormities, and 
 the extent to which the contagion of their radical princi- 
 ple was spreading in the colony, the magistrates of Mas- 
 sachusetts, in the close of this year (1658), introduced 
 into the Assembly a law denouncing the punishment of 
 death upon all Quakers returning from banishment. This 
 legislative proposition was opposed by a considerable 
 party of the colonists ; and various individuals, who
 
 224 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GKAHAME 
 
 would have hazarded their own lives to extirpate the 
 heresy of the Quakers, solemnly protested against the 
 cruelty and iniquity of shedding their blood. It was at 
 first rejected by the Assembly, but finally adopted by the 
 narrow majority of a single voice. In the course of the 
 two following years (1659, 1660) this barbarous law was 
 carried into execution on three separate occasions, when 
 four Quakers, three men and a woman, were put to death 
 at Boston. It does not appear that any of these unfor- 
 tunate persons were guilty of the outrages which the 
 conduct of their brethren in general had associated with 
 the profession of Quakerism. Oppressed by the preju- 
 .dice created by the frantic conduct of others, they were 
 adjudged to die for returning from banishment and con- 
 tinuing to preach the Quaker doctrines. In vain the 
 court entreated them to accept a pardon on condition 
 of abandoning forever the colony from which they had 
 been repeatedly banished. They answered by reciting the 
 heavenly call to continue there, which on various occa- 
 sions, they affirmed, had sounded in their ears, in the 
 fields and in their dwellings, distinctly syllabling their 
 names and whispering their prophetic office and the scene 
 of its exercise. When they were conducted to the scaf- 
 fold, their demeanor expressed unquenchable zeal and 
 courage, and their dying declarations breathed in general 
 a warm and affecting piety. 
 
 These executions excited much clamor against the gov- 
 ernment; many persons were offended by the exhibition 
 of severities against which the establishment of the colony 
 itself seemed intended to bear a perpetual testimony ; 
 and many wei*e touched with an indignant compassion for 
 the sufferings of the Quakers, that effaced all recollection 
 of the indignant disgust which the principles of these sec- 
 taries had previously inspired. The people began to flock
 
 CHURCH] THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 225 
 
 in crowds to the prisons and load the unfortunate Quakers 
 with demonstrations of kindness and pity. 
 
 [This feeling finally became so strong that the magistrates dared 
 no longer oppose it. After the condemnation of Wenlock Christison, 
 who had defended himself with marked ability, the magistrates felt it 
 necessary to change the sentences of the condemned Quakers to flog- 
 ging and banishment. As the demeanor of the Quakers grew more 
 quiet and orderly, the toleration of them increased, and the flogging 
 of Quakers was soon after prohibited by Charles II.] 
 
 The persecution thus happily closed was not equally 
 severe in all the New England States : the Quakers suf- 
 fered most in Massachusetts and Plymouth, and compara- 
 tively little in Connecticut and New Haven. It was only 
 in Massachusetts that the inhuman law inflicting capital 
 punishment upon them was ever carried into effect. At 
 a subsequent period, the laws relating to vagabond Quakers 
 were so far revived that Quakers disturbing religious as- 
 semblies, or violating public decorum, were subjected to 
 corporal chastisement. But little occasion ever again oc- 
 curred of executing these severities, the wild excursions 
 of the Quaker spirit having generally ceased, and the 
 Quakers gradually subsiding into a decent and orderly 
 submission to all the laws, except such as related to the 
 militia and the support of the clergy, in their scruples 
 as to which the provincial legislature, with reciprocal 
 moderation, consented to indulge them. 
 
 THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 
 
 BENJAMIN CHURCH. 
 
 [After the defeat of the Pequots the New England colonies escaped 
 the horrors of Indian warfare for a period of nearly forty years. This 
 era of peace was destined to be followed by an era of terror and 
 i.p
 
 226 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CHURCH 
 
 massacre, beginning with the celebrated King Philip's War, and con- 
 tinuing through the successive wars between the French and English, 
 known as King William's and Queen Anne's Wars, and at a later 
 period King George's and the French and Indian Wars, in which all 
 the barbarity of savage warfare was let loose upon the devoted colonies 
 of New England. During the life of Massasoit, the sachem of the 
 Wampanoags, the treaty of peace which he had early made with the 
 Plymouth colony continued unbroken. After his death his sons, 
 Alexander and Philip, were suspected of hostile intentions. Alex- 
 ander soon died, and Philip became sachem of the tribe. According 
 to the early New England writers, he for several years occupied him- 
 self in organizing a secret confederacy of the Indian tribes against the 
 whites, of whose growing power he was jealous. Later historians 
 doubt this, and are inclined to believe that he was driven into hos- 
 tility by outrages committed by the whites, and impulsive reprisals by 
 Indians. However that be, the existence of a plot, real or spurious, 
 was declared by an Indian missionary, who was soon after murdered. 
 Three Indians were arrested and hung for the crime. Philip now, by 
 his own inclination, or by the determination of his tribe, prepared for 
 war. The women and children of the tribe were sent to the Narra- 
 gansetts for protection, and in July, 1675, an attack was made 011 the 
 village of Swanzey, in Massachusetts, and several persons were killed. 
 The whole country quickly took the alarm, and troops from Plym- 
 outh and Boston marched in pursuit of the enemy. It must be 
 borne in mind that the long interval of peace had greatly changed 
 the conditions of both parties to the war. On the one hand, the whites 
 of New England had greatly grown in strength, and now numbered 
 about sixty thousand souls, while numerous settlements had been 
 founded. On the other hand, the Indians no longer looked upon 
 powder and ball as " bad medicine," which it was dangerous to touch. 
 On the contrary, they had adopted the European methods of fight- 
 ing, and exchanged the bow and arrow for the musket and bullet. 
 We may briefly relate the events of the war. The pursuing troops 
 made their way to Mount Hope, the residence of Philip, but he fled, 
 with his warriors, at their approach. He was shortly afterwards 
 attacked in a swamp at Pocasset, but after a thirteen days' siege 
 managed to escape. Other tribes were now brought into the war, and 
 a party of twenty whites were ambushed and most of them killed. 
 The remainder intrenched themselves in a house at Brookfield, where 
 they sustained a siege for two days, until relieved.
 
 CHTTRCH] THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 227 
 
 On September 5 the Indians were attacked and defeated at Deer- 
 field, and on the llth they burned the town. On the same day they 
 attacked the town of Hadley. The tradition goes that during the 
 fight a venerable stranger suddenly appeared, put himself at the 
 head of the townsmen, and drove back the foe. This is said to have 
 been General Goflfe, one of the judges of Charles I., then concealed 
 in that town. The story is entirely traditional, and has been called in 
 question. On the 28th a party of eighty teamsters were assailed by 
 a large body of Indians, and nearly all killed. The Indians were sub- 
 sequently repulsed by a reinforcement of soldiers. Philip's next attack 
 was upon Hatfield, where he met with a defeat. 
 
 By this time the hostility to the whites had extended widely among 
 the Indians. The Narragansetts had as yet kept the treaty of peace 
 which had been made with them, but they were suspected of favoring 
 Philip and of intending to break out into hostilities in the spring. It 
 was therefore determined to crush them during the winter. A force 
 of fifteen hundred men marched against their stronghold, a fort 
 in the midst of a great swamp, surrounded with high palisades, and 
 having but a single entrance, over a fallen tree, which but one man at 
 a time could cross. Here three thousand Indians had collected, with 
 provisions, intending to pass the winter. They were attacked with 
 fury, on December 29, by the English, but the latter were driven back 
 with heavy loss. Another party of the invaders waded the swamp, 
 and found a place destitute of palisades. They broke through this, 
 with considerable loss, while others forced their way over the tree. A 
 desperate conflict ensued, ending in a defeat of the Indians. The wig- 
 wams were then set on fire, contrary to the advice of the officers, and 
 hundreds of women and children, and old, wounded, and infirm men, 
 perished in the flames. Of the Narragansett warriors a thousand were 
 killed or mortally wounded, and several hundreds taken prisoners. 
 Cold and famine during the winter killed many more, but the weak 
 remnant of the tribe joined Philip and became bitterly hostile. The 
 war now extended to Maine and New Hampshire, whose settlements 
 were exposed to the fury of Indian attack. The power of the Indians 
 rapidly diminished, however, before the energy and discipline of the 
 whites, and Philip found himself steadily growing weaker. It is said 
 that he endeavored to persuade the Mohawks to join him, but in vain. 
 In August, 1676, he returned, with a small party of warriors, to Poka- 
 noket, or Mount Hope, the seat of his tribe. Tidings of this fact were 
 brought to Captain Church, one of the most active of his adversaries,
 
 228 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CHURCH 
 
 who repaired with a small party to the spot. Captain Church has left 
 on record the story of his connection with this war. It is the artless 
 and prolix narrative of one better acquainted with the sword than with 
 the pen, yet has the merit of being an exact relation of the facts, and 
 of showing clearly the spirit of the Indian-fighters of that day. We 
 therefore extract from the " History of the Great Indian War of 1675 
 and 1676," by this grim old Indian-fighter, an account of the death of 
 King Philip. This history was written by the son of Captain Church, 
 from the notes of his father.] 
 
 CAPTAIN CHURCH being now at Plymouth again, weary 
 and worn, would have gone home to his wife and family, 
 but the government being solicitous to engage him in the 
 service until Philip was slain, and promising him satisfac- 
 tion and redress for some mistreatment that he had met 
 with, he fixes for another expedition. 
 
 He had soon volunteers enough to make up the company 
 he desired, and marched through the woods until he came 
 to Pocasset. And not seeing or hearing of any of the 
 enemy, they went over the ferry to Ehode Island, to re- 
 fresh themselves. The captain, with about half a dozen 
 in his company, took horses and rode about eight miles 
 down the island, to Mr. Sanford's, where he had left his 
 wife. [She] * no sooner saw him, but fainted with surprise ; 
 and by that time she was a little revived, they spied two 
 horsemen coming a great pace. Captain Church told his 
 company that " those men (by their riding) come with 
 tidings." When they came up, they proved to be Major 
 Sanford and Captain Golding. [They]* immediately asked 
 Captain Church, what he would give to hear some news 
 of Philip ? He replied, that was what he wanted. They 
 told him they had rode hard with some hopes of over- 
 taking him, and were now come on purpose to inform him 
 that there were just now tidings from Mount Hope. An 
 
 * " Who," in the original text.
 
 CHURCH] THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 229 
 
 Indian came down from thence (where Philip's camp now 
 was) to Sandy Point, over against Trip's, and hallooed, and 
 made signs to be brought over. And being fetched over, 
 he reported that he was fled from Philip, "who (said he) 
 has killed my brother just before I came away, for giving 
 some advice that displeased him." And said he was fled 
 for fear of meeting with the same his brother had met 
 with. Told them, also, that Philip was now in Mount 
 Hope neck. Captain Church thanked them for their good 
 news, and said he hoped by to-morrow morning to have 
 the rogue's head. The horses that he and his company 
 came on, standing at the door (for they had not been un- 
 saddled), his wife must content herself with a short visit, 
 when such game was ahead. They immediately mounted, 
 set spurs to their horses, and away. 
 
 The two gentlemen that brought him the tidings told 
 him they would gladly wait on him to see the event of 
 the expedition. He thanked them, and told them he 
 should be as fond of their company as any men's ; and 
 (in short) they went with him. And they were soon at 
 Trip's ferry (with Captain Church's company), where the 
 deserter was, who was a fellow of good sense, and told 
 his story handsomely. He offered Captain Church to pilot 
 him to Philip, and to help to kill him, that he might re- 
 venge his brother's death. Told him that Philip was now 
 upon a little spot of upland, that was in the south end of 
 the miry swamp, just at the foot of the mount, which was 
 a spot of ground that Captain Church was well acquainted 
 with. 
 
 By that time they were over the ferry, and came 
 near the ground, half the night was spent. The captain 
 commands a halt, and bringing the company together, 
 he asked Major Sanford's and Captain Gelding's advice, 
 what method was best to take in making the onset ; but 
 i. 20
 
 230 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CHURCH 
 
 they declined giving him any advice, telling him that his 
 great experience and success forbid their taking upon them 
 to give advice. Then Captain Church offered Captain 
 Golding the honor (if he would please accept of it) to 
 beat up Philip's head-quarters. 
 
 [He designed to place the remainder of his men in ambush, and fire 
 upon the Indians when they should endeavor to escape through the 
 swamp.] 
 
 Captain Church, knowing that it was Philip's custom 
 to be foremost in the flight, went down to the swamp, 
 and gave Captain Williams of Scituate the command of 
 the right wing of the ambush, and placed an Englishman 
 and an Indian together behind such shelters of trees, etc., 
 that he could find, and took care to place them at such 
 distance that none might pass undiscovered between them ; 
 charged them to be careful of themselves, and of hurting 
 their friends, and to fire at any that should come silently 
 through the swamp. But, [it] being somewhat farther 
 through the swamp than he was aware of, he wanted men 
 to make up his ambuscade. 
 
 Having placed what men he had, he took Major Sanford 
 by the hand, [and] said, " Sir, I have so placed them that 
 it is scarce possible Philip should escape them." The same 
 moment a shot whistled over their heads, and then the 
 noise of a gun towards Philip's camp. Captain Church, 
 at first, thought it might be some gun discharged by ac- 
 cident ; but before he could speak, a whole volley followed, 
 which was earlier than he expected. 
 
 [Captain Golding had fired at a single Indian whom he perceived.] 
 
 And upon his firing, the whole company that were with 
 him fired upon the enemy's shelter; before the Indians had 
 time to rise from their sleep, and so overshot them. But
 
 CHURCH] THE DEATH OF KING PHILIP. 231 
 
 their shelter was open on that side next the swamp, built 
 so on purpose for the convenience of flight on occasion. 
 They were soon in the swamp, but Philip the foremost, 
 who started at the first gun, threw his petunk and powder- 
 horn over his head, catched up his gun, and ran as fast as 
 he could scamper, without any more clothes than his small 
 breeches and stockings ; and ran directly on two of Cap- 
 tain Church's ambush. They let him come fair within 
 shot, and the Englishman's gun missing fire, he bid the 
 Indian fire away, and he did so to purpose ; sent one 
 musket-ball through his heart, and another not above two 
 inches from it. He fell upon his face in the mud and 
 water, with his gun under him. 
 
 [This event occurred on the 12th of August, 1676.] 
 
 By this time the enemy perceived they were waylaid 
 on the east side of the swamp, [and] tacked short about. 
 One of the enemy, who seemed to be a great, surly old 
 fellow, hallooed with a loud voice, and often called out, 
 "Jootash, Jootash." Captain Church called to his Indian, 
 Peter, and asked him, who that was that called so ? He 
 answered that it was old Annawon, Philip's great captain, 
 calling on his soldiers to stand to it, and fight stoutly. 
 Now the enemy finding that place of the swamp which 
 was not ambushed, many of them made their escape in 
 the English tracks. 
 
 The man that had shot down Philip ran with all speed 
 to Captain Church, and informed him of his exploit, who 
 commanded him to be silent about it and let no man more 
 know it, until they had driven the swamp clean. But 
 when they had driven the swamp through, and found the 
 enemy had escaped, or at least the most of them, and the 
 sun now up, and so the dew gone, that they could not 
 easily track them, the whole company met together at the
 
 232 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CHURCH 
 
 place where the enemy's night shelter was, and then Cap- 
 tain Church gave them the news of Philip's death. Upon 
 which the whole army gave three loud huzzas. 
 
 Captain Church ordered his body to be pulled out of 
 the mire to the upland. So some of Captain Church's 
 Indians took hold of him by his stockings, and some by 
 his small breeches (being otherwise naked), and drew him 
 through the mud to the upland; and a doleful, great, 
 naked, dirty beast he looked like. Captain Church then 
 said that forasmuch as he had caused many an English- 
 man's body to be unburied, and to rot above ground, that 
 not one of his bones should be buried. And calling his 
 old Indian executioner, bid him behead and quarter him. 
 Accordingly he came with his hatchet and stood over him, 
 but before he struck he made a small speech, directing it 
 to Philip, and said " he had been a very great man, and 
 had made many a man afraid of him, but so big as he was, 
 he would now chop him in pieces." And so he went to 
 work and did as he was ordered. 
 
 Philip having one very remarkable hand, being much 
 scarred, occasioned by the splitting of a pistol in it for- 
 merly, Captain Church gave the head and that hand to 
 Alderman, the Indian who shot him, to show to such 
 gentlemen as would bestow gratuities upon him ; and ac- 
 cordingly he got many a penny by it. 
 
 [All this is brutal enough to have been the action of Indians in- 
 stead of whites, and shows that disposition to insult a fallen foe 
 which is a characteristic of the warfare of barbarous peoples, but has 
 happily died out in civilized nations. There was a strong spice of 
 savagery in the Indian-fighters of the pioneer days of America, who 
 looked upon the Indians as little better than wild beasts. The fall of 
 Philip ended the war in southern New England, the tribes suing for 
 peace. But hostilities were continued in Maine and New Hampshire 
 till 1678, when a treaty of peace was concluded with the tribes of this 
 locality. The forces of the Indians, and the results of the war, are
 
 BANCROFT] THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 233 
 
 summarized by Trumbull in the following statement : " When Philip 
 began the war, he and his kinswoman, Wetamoe, had about five hun- 
 dred warriors, and the Narragansetts nearly two thousand. The Nip- 
 muck, Nashawa, Pocomtock, Hadley, and Springfield Indians were con- 
 siderably numerous. It is probable, therefore, that there were about 
 three thousand warriors combined for the destruction of the New 
 England colonies, exclusive of the eastern Indians. The war termi- 
 nated in their entire conquest and almost total extinction. At the same 
 time, it opened a wide door for extensive settlement and population. 
 This, however, in its connection with the war with the eastern Indians, 
 was the most impoverishing and distressing of any that New England 
 has ever experienced from its first settlement to the present time. . . . 
 About six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, the greatest 
 part of whom were the flower and strength of the country, either fell 
 in battle or were murdered by the enemy. A great part of the in- 
 habitants of the country were in deep mourning. There were few 
 families or individuals who had not lost some near relative or friend. 
 Twelve or thirteen towns, in Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Khode 
 Island, were utterly destroyed, and others greatly damaged. About 
 six hundred buildings, chiefly dwelling-houses, were consumed with 
 fire. An almost insuperable debt was contracted by the colonies, 
 when their numbers, dwellings, goods, cattle, and all their resources 
 were greatly diminished."] 
 
 THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 [King Philip's War was followed in New England by a series of 
 interesting events, embracing the actions of Andros, the tyrannical gov- 
 ernor, and the effort to abrogate the colonial charters, the wars with 
 the French and Indians known as King "William's and Queen Anne's 
 Wars, and the remarkable witchcraft delusion, the only striking in- 
 stance in this country of a peculiar form of persecution of which the 
 preceding history of Europe is full. We cannot better present the 
 last-named subject than by an extract from Bancroft's " History of the 
 I. 20*
 
 234 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 United States," in which it is handled with his usual picturesque 
 ability.] 
 
 IN the last year of the administration of Andros, who, 
 as the servant of arbitrary power, had no motive to dispel, 
 superstition, the daughter of John Goodwin, a child of 
 thirteen years, charged a laundress with having stolen 
 linen from the family. Glover, the mother of the laun- 
 dress, a friendless emigrant, almost ignorant of English, 
 like a true woman with a mother's heart, rebuked the 
 false accusation. Immediately the girl, to secure revenge, 
 became bewitched. The infection spread. Three others 
 of the family, the youngest a boy of less than five years 
 old, soon succeeded in equally arresting public attention. 
 They would affect to be deaf, then dumb, then blind, or all 
 three at once ; they would bark like dogs, or purr like so 
 many cats ; but they ate well and slept well. Cotton 
 Mather went to prayer by the side of one of them, and, 
 lo ! the child lost her hearing till prayer was over. What 
 was to be done ? The four ministers of Boston and the 
 one of Charlestown assembled in Goodwin's house, and 
 spent a whole day of fasting in prayer. In consequence, 
 the youngest child, the little one of four years old, was 
 "delivered." But if the ministers could thus by prayer 
 deliver a possessed child, then there must have been a 
 witch ; the honor of the magistrates required a prosecu- 
 tion of the affair ; and the magistrates, William Stoughton 
 being one of the judges, and all holding commissions ex- 
 clusively from the English king, and being irresponsible 
 to the people of Massachusetts, with a " vigor" which the 
 united ministers commended as "just," made "a discovery 
 of the wicked instrument of the devil." The culprit was 
 evidently a wild Irish woman, of a strange tongue. Good- 
 win, who made the complaint, " had no proof that could 
 have done her any hurt;" but "the scandalous old hag,"
 
 BANCROFT] THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 235 
 
 whom some thought "crazed in her intellectuals," was 
 bewildered, and made strange answers, which were taken 
 as confessions ; sometimes, in excitement, using her native 
 dialect. One Hughes testified that, six years before, she 
 had heard one Howen say she had seen Glover come down 
 her chimney. It was plain the prisoner was a Roman 
 Catholic; she had never learned the Lord's prayer in 
 English ; she could repeat the paternoster fluently enough, 
 but not quite correctly ; so the ministers and Goodwin's 
 family had the satisfaction of getting her condemned as a 
 witch, and executed. 
 
 [Boston had its sceptics as to the reality of this tale of witchcraft, 
 but the ministers, and Cotton Mather in particular, did their utmost 
 to inflame the minds of the public on this subject. The Goodwin girl 
 continued bewitched, and Cotton Mather invited her to his house, and 
 made an investigation of the arts of the devil, who proved well skilled 
 in languages, though there was one Indian language which he did not 
 understand, and who could read men's thoughts, though it appeared 
 that " all devils are not alike sagacious." Cotton Mather published a 
 "Discourse" on this subject, and resolved to regard "the denial of 
 devils, or of witches,." as an evidence "of ignorance, incivility, and 
 dishonest impudence." 
 
 The next prosecution for witchcraft took place in 1692, three years 
 later. Samuel Parris, a minister of Salem village, who had had bitter 
 controversies with a'part of his congregation, produced a bewitched 
 daughter and niece. He flogged Tituba, a half Indian, half negro, 
 servant, into confessing herself a witch. Then he accused Sarah Good, 
 a poor, melancholy woman, who was put on trial for witchcraft ] 
 
 Yet the delusion, but for Parris, would have languished. 
 Of his own niece, the girl of eleven years of age, he de- 
 manded the names of the devil's instruments who bewitched 
 the band of " the afflicted," and then became at once in- 
 former and witness. In those days there was no prosecut- 
 ing officer ; and Parris was at hand to question his Indian 
 servants and others, himself prompting their answers and
 
 236 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 acting as recorder to the magistrates. The recollection of 
 the old controversy in the parish could not be forgotten ; 
 and Parris, moved by personal malice as well as by blind 
 zeal, " stifled the accusations of some," such is the testi- 
 mony of the people of his own village, and, at the same 
 time " vigilantly promoting the accusations of others," was 
 " the beginner and procurer of the sore afflictions to Salem 
 village and the country." Martha Cory, who in her ex- 
 amination in the meeting-house before a throng, with a 
 firm spirit, alone, against them all, denied the presence of 
 witchcraft, was committed to prison. RebeccaJSTurse, like- 
 wise, a woman of purest life, an object of the special hatred 
 of Parris, resisted the company of accusers, and was com- 
 mitted. And Parris, filling his prayers with the theme, 
 made the pulpit ring with it. " Have not I chosen you 
 twelve," such was his text, "and one of you is a devil?" 
 At this, Sarah Cloyce, sister to Rebecca Nurse, rose up 
 and left the meeting-house; and she, too, was cried out 
 upon, and sent to prison. 
 
 The subject grew interesting; and, to examine Sarah 
 Cloyce and Elizabeth Procter, the deputy governor and 
 five other magistrates went to Salem. It was a great day ; 
 several ministers were present. Parris officiated ; and, by 
 his own record, it is plain that he himself elicited every 
 accusation. His first witness, John, the Indian servant, 
 husband to Tituba, was rebuked by Sarah Cloyce, as a 
 grievous liar. Abigail Williams, the niece to Parris, was 
 also at hand with her tales ; the prisoner had been at the 
 witches' sacrament. Struck with horror, Sarah Cloyce 
 asked for water, and sank down " in a dying fainting fit." 
 " Her spirit," shouted the band of the afflicted, " is gone 
 to prison to her sister Nurse." Against Elizabeth Procter 
 the niece of Parris told stories yet more foolish than false : 
 the prisoner had invited her to sign the devil's book. " Dear
 
 BANCROFT] THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 237 
 
 child," exclaimed the accused in her agony, "it is not so. 
 There is another judgment, dear child ;" and her accusers, 
 turning towards her husband, declared that he, too, was a 
 wizard. All three were committed. Examinations and 
 commitments multiplied. GilesjCory, a stubborn old man 
 of- more than fourscore years, could not escape the malice 
 of his minister and his angry neighbors, with whom he 
 had quarrelled. Edward Bishop, a farmer, cured the In- 
 dian servant of a fit by flogging him ; he declared, more- 
 over, his belief that he could, in like manner, cure the 
 whole company of the afflicted, and, for his scepticism, 
 found himself and his wife in prison. Mary Easty, of 
 Topsfield, another sister to Rebecca Nurse, a woman of 
 singular gentleness and force of character, deeply religious, 
 yet uninfected by superstition, was torn from her children 
 and sent to jail. Parris had had a rival in George Bur- 
 roughs, a graduate of Harvard College, who, having for- 
 merly preached in Salem village, had had friends there 
 desirous of his settlement. He, too, a sceptic in witch- 
 craft, was accused and committed. Thus far, there had 
 been no success in obtaining confessions, though earnestly 
 solicited. It had been hinted, also, that confessing was 
 the avenue to safety. At last, Deliverance Hobbs owned 
 everything that was asked of her, and was left unharmed. 
 The gallows were to be set up not for those who professed 
 themselves witches, but for those who rebuked the delusion. 
 
 [A court of magistrates, appointed under the royal charter, with 
 Stoughton, a positive, overbearing man, for its chief judge, was now 
 instituted for the trial of these cases. Bridget Bishop, a poor and 
 friendless old woman, was the first to he tried. She had remarkable 
 powers. " She gave a look towards the great and spacious meeting- 
 house of Salem," says Cotton Mather, "and immediately a daemon, 
 invisibly entering the house, tore down a part of it." She was a 
 witch by all the rules and precedents, and was duly hanged. At the 
 next session of the court five women were condemned. Kebecca Nurse
 
 238 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 was at first acquitted, then condemned, and afterwards reprieved. But 
 the influence of Parris secured her condemnation, and she was hanged 
 with the rest.] 
 
 Confessions rose in importance. " Some, not afflicted 
 before confession, were so presently after it." The jails 
 were filled ; for fresh accusations were needed to confirm 
 the confessions. "Some, by these their accusations of 
 others," I quote the cautious apologist Hall, " hoped to 
 gain time, and get favor from the rulers.". . . If the con- 
 fessions were contradictory, if witnesses uttered apparent 
 falsehoods, " the devil," the judges would say, " takes away 
 their memory, and imposes on their brain." And who 
 would now dare to be sceptical ? Who would disbelieve 
 confessors? Besides, there were other evidences. A cal- 
 lous spot was the mark of the devil : did age or amaze- 
 ment refuse to shed tears; were threats after a quarrel 
 followed by the death of cattle or other harm ; did an 
 error occur in repeating the Lord's prayer ; were deeds 
 of great physical strength performed, these were all 
 signs of witchcraft. In spine instances, phenomena of 
 somnambulism would appear to have been exhibited ; and 
 " the afflicted, out of their fits, knew nothing of what they 
 did or said in them." 
 
 Again, on a new session, six were arraigned, and all were 
 convicted. John Willard had, as an officer, been employed 
 to arrest the suspected witches. Perceiving the hypoc- 
 risy, he declined the service. The afflicted immediately 
 denounced him, and he was seized, convicted, and hanged. 
 
 At the trial of George Burroughs, the bewitched per- 
 sons pretended to be dumb. " Whp hinders these wit- 
 nesses," said Stoughton, " from giving their testimonies ?" 
 " I suppose the devil," answered Burroughs. " How oomes 
 the devil," retorted the chief judge, " so loath to have any 
 testimony borne against you?" and the question was effec-
 
 BANCROFT] THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 239 
 
 tive. Besides, he had given proofs of great, if not preter- 
 natural, muscular strength. Cotton Mather calls the evi- 
 dence " enough :" the jury gave a verdict of guilty. 
 
 John Procter, who foresaw his doom, and knew from 
 whom the danger came, sent an earnest petition, not to 
 the governor and council, but to Cotton Mather and the 
 ministers. Among the witnesses against him were some 
 who had made no confessions till after torture. "They 
 have already undone us in our estates, and that will not 
 serve their turns without our innocent blood ;" and he 
 begged for a trial in Boston, or, at least, for a change of 
 magistrates. His entreaties were vain, as also his prayers, 
 after condemnation, for a respite. 
 
 Among the witnesses against Martha Carrier the mother 
 saw her own children. Her two sons refused to perjure 
 themselves till they had been tied neck and heels so long 
 that the blood was ready to gush from them. The con- 
 fession of her daughter, a child of seven years old, is still 
 preserved. 
 
 The aged Jacobs was condemned, in part, by the evi- 
 dence of Margaret Jacobs, his grand-daughter. [She re- 
 tracted her confession, but] the magistrates refused their 
 belief, and, confining her for trial, proceeded to hang her 
 grandfather. 
 
 These five were condemned on the third and hanged on 
 the nineteenth of August ; pregnancy reprieved Elizabeth 
 Procter. To hang a minister as a witch was a novelty ; 
 but Burroughs denied absolutely that there was, or could 
 be, such a thing as witchcraft, in the current sense. This 
 opinion wounded the self-love of the judges, for it made 
 them the accusers and judicial murderers of the innocent. 
 On the ladder Burroughs cleared his innocence by an ear- 
 nest speech, repeating the Lord's prayer composedly and 
 exactly, and with a fervency that astonished. Tears flowed
 
 240 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 to the eyes of many ; it seemed as if the spectators would 
 rise up to hinder the execution. Cotton Mather, on horse- 
 back among the crowd, addressed the people, cavilling at 
 the ordination of Burroughs, as though he had been no 
 true minister; insisting on his guilt, and hinting that the 
 devil could sometimes assume the appearance of an angel 
 of light ; and the hanging proceeded. 
 
 Meantime, the confessions of the witches began to be di- 
 rected against the Anabaptists. Mary Osgood was dipped 
 by the devil. The court still had work to do. On the 
 ninth, six women were condemned ; and more convictions 
 followed. Giles Cory, the octogenarian, seeing that all 
 who denied guilt were convicted, refused to plead, and was 
 condemned to be pressed to death. The horrid sentence, 
 a barbarous usage of English law, never again followed in 
 the colonies, was executed forthwith. 
 
 On the twenty-second of September eight persons were 
 led to the gallows. Of these Samuel Wardwell had con- 
 fessed, and was safe; but, from shame and penitence, he 
 retracted his confession, and, speaking the truth boldly, 
 he was hanged, not for witchcraft, but for denying witch- 
 craft. . . . The chief judge was positive that all had been 
 done rightly, and "was very impatient in hearing anything 
 that looked another way." " There hang eight firebrands 
 of hell," said Noyes, the minister of Salem, pointing to 
 the bodies swinging on the gallows. 
 
 Already twenty persons had been put to death for 
 witchcraft; fifty-five had been tortured or terrified into 
 penitent confessions. With accusations, confessions in- 
 creased ; with confessions, new accusations. Even " the 
 generation' of the children of God" were in danger of 
 " falling under that condemnation." The jails were full. 
 One hundred and fifty prisoners awaited trial; two 
 hundred more were accused or suspected. It was also
 
 BANCROFT] THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT. 241 
 
 observed that no one of the condemned confessing witch- 
 craft had been hanged. No one that confessed, and re- 
 tracted a confession, had escaped either hanging or im- 
 prisonment for trial. No one of the condemned who 
 asserted innocence, even if one of the witnesses confessed 
 perjury, or the foreman of the jury acknowledged the error 
 of the verdict, escaped the gallows. Favoritism was shown 
 in listening to accusations, which were turned aside from 
 friends and partisans. If a man began a career as a witch- 
 hunter, and, becoming convinced of the imposture, declined 
 the service, he was accused and hanged. Persons accused, 
 who had escaped from the jurisdiction in Massachusetts, 
 were not demanded, as would have been done in case of 
 acknowledged crime; so that the magistrates acted as 
 if witch-law did not extend beyond their jurisdiction. 
 Witnesses convict'ed of perjury were cautioned, and per- 
 mitted still to swear away the lives of others. It was 
 certain that people had been tempted to become accusers 
 by promise of favor. Yet the zeal of Stoughton was un- 
 abated, and the arbitrary court adjourned to the first 
 Tuesday in November. 
 
 [In the interval the colonial Assembly met. Eemonstrances were 
 presented against the doings of the witch tribunal. There is no record 
 of the discussions, but a convocation of ministers was ordered, the 
 special court was abrogated, and a legal tribunal established. The 
 meeting of th-is court was delayed till January of the following year. 
 This interval of three months gave the people time to think.] 
 
 When the court met at Salem, six women of Andover, 
 at once renouncing their confessions, treated the witch- 
 craft but as something so called, the bewildered but as 
 "seemingly afflicted." A memorial of like tenor came 
 from the inhabitants of Andover. 
 
 Of the presentments, the grand jury dismissed more 
 than half; and, if it found bills against twenty-six, the 
 i. L q 21
 
 242 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BANCROFT 
 
 trials did but show the feebleness of the testimony on 
 which others had been condemned. The minds of the 
 juries became enlightened before those of the judges. 
 The same testimony was produced, and there, at Salern, 
 with Stoughton on the bench, verdicts of acquittal fol- 
 lowed : " Error died among its worshippers." Three had, 
 for special reasons, been convicted : one was a wife, whose 
 testimony had sent her husband to the gallows, and whose 
 confession was now used against herself. All were re- 
 prieved, and soon set free. Eeluctant to yield, the party 
 of superstition were resolved on one conviction. The 
 victim selected was Sarah Daston, a woman of eighty 
 years old, who for twenty years had enjo} 7 ed the undis- 
 puted reputation of a witch; if ever there were a witch 
 in the world, she, it was said, was one. In the presence 
 of a throng the trial went forward at Charlestown : there 
 was more evidence against her than against any at Salem ; 
 but the common mind was disenthralled, and asserted 
 itself, through the jury, by a verdict of acquittal. 
 
 [Cotton Mather endeavored to cover his confusion by getting up a 
 case of witchcraft in his own parish, the imposture of which was ex- 
 posed to ridicule by Robert Calef, an unlettered but intelligent man. 
 Parris was indignantly driven from Salem. Others begged forgiveness.] 
 
 Stoughton and Cotton Mather never repented. The 
 former lived proud, unsatisfied, and unbeloved ; the latter 
 attempted to persuade others and himself that he had not 
 been specially active in the tragedy. His diary proves 
 that he did not wholly escape the rising impeachment 
 from the monitor within ; and Cotton Mather, who had 
 sought the foundation of faith in tales of wonders, him- 
 self " had temptations to atheism, and to the abandon- 
 ment of all religion as a mere delusion." 
 
 The common mind of New England was more wise. 
 It never wavered in its faith ; more ready to receive every
 
 TRUMBULL] THE TYRANT OF NEW ENGLAND. 243 
 
 tale from the invisible world than to gaze on the universe 
 without acknowledging an Infinite Intelligence. But, 
 employing a cautious spirit of search, eliminating error, 
 rejecting superstition as tending to cowardice and sub- 
 mission, cherishing religion as the source of courage and 
 the fountain of freedom, it refused henceforward to sepa- 
 rate belief and reason. 
 
 THE TYRANT OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 BENJAMIN TRUMBULL. 
 
 [The English colonies in America, with the exception of those of 
 Virginia and the Carolinas, were instituted under conditions of marked 
 liberality, and enjoyed a degree of religious and political freedom un- 
 known in Europe at that day. Small groups of colonists, far removed 
 from European institutions, and struggling with the difficulties of an 
 untamed nature, could not be expected to conform to the intricate 
 regulations of the old nationalities which they had left, and they at 
 once began to govern themselves on the republican principle, in ac- 
 cordance with the simplicity of their conditions. Monarchy made 
 itself felt most fully in Virginia and the Carolinas, j r et even here 
 provincial Assemblies were quickly established, and the rigidity of 
 the earlier systems abated. Maryland and Pennsylvania were organ- 
 ized under highly-liberal constitutions, while the New England QO!O- 
 nies began their existence as provincial republics. 
 
 This state of affairs long continued with but spasmodic interferences 
 from England, and the spirit of republicanism had greatly developed 
 in the American colonies ere any serious effort was made to deprive 
 them of their liberties. The growth of free institutions had been 
 much favored by the strong republican sentiment then prevailing in 
 England, which resulted in the overthrow of monarchy and the for- 
 mation of the Commonwealth. After the death of Cromwell, and 
 the re-establishment of the monarchy, indications of a desire to restrict 
 the liberties of the colonies, now flourishing and important, became
 
 244 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRUMBULL 
 
 manifest. Charles II. granted to his brother James, the Duke of 
 York, the whole territory from the Connecticut Elver to the shores of 
 the Delaware, which grant was quickly followed by the illegal seizure 
 of New Amsterdam, which received the name of New York. 
 
 The Dutch rule over this province had been to a considerable extent 
 autocratic, and this was continued by the English governors, despite 
 the protests of the people. In 1672, during a war between England 
 and Holland, the city was recaptured by the Dutch, but was returned 
 to the English on the conclusion of peace. The Duke of York now 
 obtained a new patent to confirm his title, and made Edmund Andros 
 governor of the province. The rule of this governor was tyrannical. 
 He levied taxes without asking the consent of the people, and refused 
 them a representative Assembly. He attempted to extend his jurisdic- 
 tion over New Jersey, and as far east as the Connecticut Kiver, but 
 failed in this. Under Thomas Dongan, the succeeding governor, a 
 representative government was established in New York, through the 
 advice of William Penn. 
 
 With the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, under the 
 title of James II., a vigorous effort to overthrow the liberties of the 
 colonists was made. A direct tax was decreed, printing-presses were 
 forbidden, and many arbitrary edicts passed. In 1686 the late tyran- 
 nical governor of New York, now Sir Edmund Andros, was sent to 
 Massachusetts, with a commission as governor of all the New England 
 provinces. In 1688 his rule was extended over New York. He at 
 once displayed the intention to act the tyrant, and immediately on his 
 arrival in Boston, in December, 1686, demanded a surrender of all the 
 charters of the colonies, while publishing edicts which annulled the 
 existing liberties of the people. Of the several colonies, Connecticut 
 alone refused to surrender its charter. To enforce his demand Andros 
 marched to Hartford with a body of soldiers in October, 1687. The 
 story of these events we quote from the antique " History of Con- 
 necticut," by Benjamin Trumbull.] 
 
 MR. DUDLEY, while president of the commissioners, had 
 written to the governor and company, advising them to 
 resign the charter into the hands of his majesty, and 
 promising to use his influence in favor of the colony. Mr. 
 Dudley's commission was superseded by a commission to 
 Sir Edmund Andros to be governor of New England. He
 
 TRTTMBULL] THE TYRANT OF NEW ENGLAND. 245 
 
 arrived at Boston on the 19th of December, 1686. The 
 next day his commission was published, and he took on 
 him the administration of government. Soon after his 
 arrival he wrote to the governor and company that he 
 had a commission from his majesty to receive their charter, 
 if they would resign it ; and he pressed them, in obedience 
 to the king, and as they would give him an opportunity 
 to serve them, to resign it to his pleasure. . . . But the 
 colony [of Connecticut] insisted on their charter rights, 
 and on the promise of King James, as well as of his royal 
 brother, to defend and secure them in the enjoyment of 
 their privileges and estates, and would not surrender their 
 charter to either. . . . 
 
 The Assembly met, as usual, in October, and the govern- 
 ment continued according to charter until the last of the 
 month. About this time, Sir Edmund, with his suite, and 
 more than sixty regular troops, came to Hartford, when 
 the Assembly were sitting, demanded the charter, and de- 
 clared the government under it to be dissolved. The As- 
 sembly were extremely reluctant and slow with respect to 
 any resolve to surrender the charter, or with respect to 
 any motion to bring it forth. The tradition is that Gov- 
 ernor Treat strongly represented the great expense and 
 hardships of the colonists in planting the country, the 
 blood and treasure which they had expended in defending 
 it, both against the savages and foreigners ; to what hard- 
 ships and dangers he himself had been exposed for that 
 purpose ; and that it was like giving up his life, now to 
 surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought and 
 so long enjoyed. The important affair was debated and 
 kept in suspense until the evening, when the charter was 
 brought and laid upon the table, whei'e the Assembly were 
 sitting. By this time, gi'eat numbers of people were as- 
 sembled, and men sufficiently bold to enterprise whatever 
 i. 21*
 
 246 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRTJMBITLL 
 
 might be necessary or expedient. The lights were in- 
 stantly extinguished, and one Captain Wadsworth, of Hart- 
 ford, in the most silent and secret manner, carried off the 
 charter, and secreted it in a large hollow tree, fronting the 
 house of the Honorable Samuel Wyllys, then one of the 
 magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all peace- 
 able and orderly. The candles were officiously relighted, 
 but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made 
 of it, or of the person who had conveyed it away. 
 
 [This stirring scene, which is told with more dramatic additions by 
 later authors, unfortunately rests upon traditional evidence only, and 
 is entirely unsupported by documentary testimony. While it may 
 have actually occurred, there is no positive proof that it did. The 
 documents simply tell us that Sir Edmund assumed the government, 
 and closed the colonial records with a statement of this fact, and the 
 ominous word "Finis." It was, for the time being, "the end" of 
 American liberty.] 
 
 Sir Edmund began his government with the most flat- 
 tering protestations of his regard to the public safety and 
 happiness. He instructed the judges to administer justice, 
 as far as might be consistent with the new regulations, 
 according to the former laws and customs. It is, how- 
 ever, well obser-ved by Governor Hutchinson, that " Nero 
 concealed his tyrannical disposition more years than Sir 
 Edmund and his creatures did months." He soon laid a 
 restraint upon the liberty of the press ; and then one far 
 more grievous upon marriage. . . . Magistrates only .were 
 allowed to join people in the bands of wedlock. The 
 governor not only deprived the clergy of the perquisite 
 from marriages, but soon suspended the laws for their 
 support, and would not suffer any person to be obliged to 
 pay anything to his minister. Nay, he menaced the 
 people that, if they resisted his will, their meeting-houses 
 should be taken from them, and that any person who
 
 TRUMBULL] THE TYRANT OF NEW ENGLAND. 247 
 
 should give twopence to a non-conformist minister should 
 be punished. 
 
 The fees of all officers, under this new administra- 
 tion, were exorbitant. . . . Sir Edmund, without an As- 
 sembly, nay, without a major-it}'' of his council, taxed the 
 people at pleasure. He and Eandolph, with four or five 
 others of his creatures, who were sufficiently wicked to 
 join with him in all his oppressive designs, managed the 
 affairs of government as they pleased. But these were 
 but the beginnings of oppression and sorrow. They were 
 soon greatly increased and more extensively spread. . . . 
 
 As the charters were now either vacated, surrendered, 
 or the government under them suspended, it was declared 
 that the titles of the colonists to their lands were of no 
 value. Sir Edmund declared that Indian deeds were no 
 better than "the scratch of a bear's paw." Not the 
 fairest purchases and most ample conveyances from the 
 natives, no dangers, disbursements, nor labors in cultivat- 
 ing a wilderness and turning it into orchards, gardens, and 
 pleasant fields, no grants by charter, nor by legislatures 
 constituted by them, no declarations of preceding kings, 
 nor of his then present majesty, promising them the quiet 
 enjoyment of their houses and lands, nor fifty or sixty 
 years' undisturbed possession, were pleas of any validity 
 or consideration with Sir Edmund and his minions. The 
 purchasers and cultivators, after fifty and sixty years' 
 improvement, were obliged to take out patents for their 
 estates. For these, in some instances, a fee of fifty pounds 
 was demanded. . . . 
 
 The governor, and a small number of his council, in the 
 most arbitrary manner, fined and imprisoned numbers of 
 the inhabitants of Massachusetts, and denied them the 
 benefit of the act of habeas corpus. All town meetings 
 were prohibited, except one in the month of May, for the
 
 248 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRUMBULL 
 
 election of town officers. . . . No person was suffered to 
 go out of the country without leave from the governor, 
 lest complaints should be carried to England against his 
 administration. At the same time, he so well knew the 
 temper and views of his royal master that he feared little 
 from him, even though complaints should be carried over 
 against him. Hence he and his dependants oppressed the 
 people, and enriched themselves without restraint. 
 
 [Despite his efforts, complaints and petitions made their way to 
 England ; yet they proved of little effect upon the king.] 
 
 In the reign of James II., petitions so reasonable and 
 just could not be heard. The prince at home, and his 
 officers abroad, like greedy harpies, preyed upon the people 
 without control. Eandolph was not ashamed to make his 
 boast, in his letters, with respect to Governor Andros and 
 his council, "that they were as arbitrary as the Great 
 Turk." All New England groaned under their oppression. 
 The heaviest share of it, however, fell upon the inhabi- 
 tants of Massachusetts and New Plymouth. Connecticut 
 had been less obnoxious to government than Massachu- 
 setts, and, as it was further removed from the seat of 
 government, was less under the notice and influence of 
 those oppressors. . . . 
 
 All the motives to great actions, to industry, economy, 
 enterprise, wealth, and population, were in a manner anni- 
 hilated. A general inactivity and languishment pervaded 
 the whole public body. Liberty, property, and everything 
 which ought to be dear to men, every day grew more 
 and more insecure. The colonies were in a state of gen- 
 eral despondency with respect to the restoration of their 
 privileges, and the truth of that divine maxim, " When 
 the wicked beareth rule the people mourn," was, in a 
 striking manner, everywhere exemplified.
 
 TRUMBULL] THE TYRANT OF NEW ENGLAND. 249 
 
 [Fortunately, this grinding tyranny was not of long continuance. 
 Early in 1689 tidings reached Boston that James II. was no longer 
 king : in November, 1688, William of Orange had landed in Eng- 
 land and driven the tyrant from his throne. The Bostonians at once 
 rebelled against Andros. His tyranny was denounced by the magis- 
 trates, and he, with several of his creatures, was seized and imprisoned. 
 Andros twice attempted to escape from confinement, and once got as 
 far as Khode Island, but was captured and brought back. In July he 
 was sent to England, where he was acquitted without trial. And so 
 ended the most prominent early effort to take away the liberties of the 
 American people. Andros was subsequently (in 1692) made governor 
 of Virginia. Here, however, his rule was less arbitrary, and he be- 
 came popular with the planters. 
 
 The traditions of early Connecticut present one more scene of great 
 dramatic interest, in which the spirit of liberty of the people, and the 
 energy of Captain Wadsworth, were manifested in the same deter- 
 mined manner as in the incident described. This occurred in 1693, 
 during King William's War. An account of it may be quoted from 
 Trumbull.] 
 
 Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, governor of New York, 
 who had arrived at the seat of his government August 
 29, 1692, had received a commission entirely inconsistent 
 with the charter rights and safety of the colonies. He 
 was vested with plenary powers of commanding the whole 
 militia of Connecticut and the neighboring provinces. He 
 insisted on the command of the militia- of Connecticut. 
 As this was expressly given to the colony, by charter, the 
 legislature would not submit to his requisition. 
 
 [A special Assembly met, and drew up a petition to the king, rep- 
 resenting the true state of affairs in the colony, and the disadvan- 
 tage and danger which might result from giving the command of the 
 militia to the governor of another province.] 
 
 The colony wished to serve his majesty's interest, and 
 as far as possible, consistently with their chartered rights, 
 to maintain a good understanding with Governor Fletcher.
 
 250 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRXJMBXILL 
 
 William Pitkin, Esquire, was therefore sent to New York, 
 to treat and make terms with him respecting the militia, 
 until his majesty's pleasui-e should be further known. 
 But no terms could be made with him short of an explicit 
 submission of the militia to his command. 
 
 On the 26th of October he came to Hartford, while the 
 Assembly were sitting, and, in his majesty's name, de- 
 manded their submission of the militia to his command, as 
 they would answer it to his majesty, and that they would 
 give him a speedy answer in two words, Yes, or No. . . . 
 He ordered the militia of Hartford under arms, that he 
 might beat up for volunteers. It was judged expedient to 
 call the train-bands of Hartford together ; but the Assem- 
 bly insisted that the command of the militia was expressly 
 vested, by charter, in the governor and company, and that 
 they could by no means, consistently with their just rights 
 and the common safety, resign it into any other hands. 
 
 [In response Governor Fletcher made the declaration that he had no 
 design upon the civil rights of the colonists, and offered the command 
 of the militia to Governor Treat, under his commission.] 
 
 The Assembly, nevertheless, would not give up the com- 
 mand of the militia; nor would Governor Treat receive a 
 commission from. Colonel Fletcher. 
 
 The train-bands of Hartford assembled, and, as the tra- 
 dition is, while Captain Wadsworth, the senior officer, was 
 walking in front of the companies and exercising the sol- 
 diers. Colonel Fletcher ordered his commission and instruc- 
 tions to be read. Captain Wadsworth instantly commanded, 
 " Beat the drums ;" and there was such a roaring of them 
 that nothing else could be heard. Colonel Fletcher com- 
 manded silence. But no sooner had Bayard made an at- 
 tempt to read again, than Wadsworth commands, " Drum, 
 drum, I say." The drummers understood their business,
 
 SMITH] THE LEISLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 251 
 
 and instantly beat up with all the art and life of which 
 they were masters. " Silence, silence," says the colonel. 
 No sooner was there a pause, than Wadsworth speaks with 
 great earnestness, " Drum, drum, I say ;" and, turning to 
 his excellency, said, "If I am interrupted again I will 
 make the sun shine through you in a moment." He spoke 
 with such energy in his voice and meaning in his counte- 
 nance that no further attempts were made to read or 
 enlist men. Such numbers of people collected together, 
 and their spirits appeared so high, that the governor and 
 his suite judged it expedient soon to leave the town and 
 return to New York. 
 
 THE LEISLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 
 
 WILLIAM SMITH. 
 
 [The news of the accession of William of Orange to the English 
 throne produced in New York an effect very similar to that which it 
 produced in New England,. an uprising of the people against their 
 tyrannical governor. But the revolt here against the lieutenant of 
 Andros grew into a rebellion against the constituted authorities, of 
 sufficient interest to demand special consideration. Another impor- 
 tant event of the same period was the massacre of the inhabitants of 
 Schenectady by a party of French and Indians, a far-off result of the 
 war then raging in Europe between the French and English. We 
 extract a description of these events from William Smith's " History 
 of New York," one of the oldest of American historical works, as it 
 was originally published in 1756.] 
 
 WHILE these things were transacting in Canada [the 
 massacre of the French on the island of Montreal by the 
 Iroquois], a scene of the greatest importance was opening 
 at New York. A general dissatisfaction to the govern- 
 ment prevailed among the people. Papists began to settle
 
 252 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SMITH 
 
 in the colony under the smiles of the governor. The col- 
 lector of the revenues, and several principal officers, threw 
 off the mask, and openly avowed their attachment to the 
 doctrines of Rome. A Latin school was set up, and the 
 teacher strongly suspected for a Jesuit. The people of 
 Long Island, who were disappointed in their expectation 
 of mighty boons, promised by the governor on his arrival, 
 were become his personal enemies ; and, in a word, the 
 whole body of the people trembled for the Protestant 
 cause. Here the leaven of opposition first began to work. 
 Their intelligence from England, of the designs there in 
 favor of the Prince of Orange, blew up the coals of dis- 
 content, and elevated the hopes of the disaffected. But 
 no man dared to spring in action till after the rupture in 
 Boston. Sir Edmund Andros, who was perfectly devoted 
 to the arbitrary measures of King James, by his tyranny 
 in New England had drawn upon himself the universal 
 odium of the people, animated with the love of liberty and 
 in the defence of it resolute and courageous ; and, there- 
 fore, when they could no longer endure his despotic rule, 
 they seized and imprisoned him, and afterwards sent him 
 to England. The government, in the mean time, was 
 vested in the hands of a committee for the safety of the 
 people, of which Mr. Bradstreet was chosen president. 
 Upon t'he news of this event, several captains of our 
 militia convened themselves to concert measures in favor 
 of the Prince of Orange. Among these, Jacob Leisler was 
 the most active. He was a man in tolerable esteem among 
 the people, and of a moderate fortune, but destitute of 
 every qualification necessary for the enterprise. Milborne, 
 his son-in-law, an Englishman, directed all his councils, 
 while Leisler as absolutely influenced the other officers. 
 
 The first thing they contrived was to seize the garrison 
 in New York ; and the custom, at that time, of guarding
 
 SMITH] THE LEISLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 253 
 
 it every night by the militia, gave Leisler a fine opportu- 
 nity of executing the design. He entered it with forty- 
 nine men, and determined to hold it till the whole militia 
 should join him. Colonel Dongan, who was about to leave 
 the province, then lay embarked in the bay, having a 
 little before resigned the government to Francis Nichol- 
 son, the lieutenant-governor. The council, civil officers, 
 and magistrates of the city were against Leisler, and 
 therefore many of his friends were at first fearful of 
 openly espousing a cause disapproved by the gentlemen 
 of figure. For this reason, Leisler's first declaration in 
 favor of the Prince of Orange was subscribed only by 
 a few, among several companies of the trained bands. 
 While the people for four days successively were in 
 the utmost perplexity to determine what part to choose, 
 being solicited by Leisler on the one hand and threatened 
 by the lieutenant-governor on the other, the town was 
 alarmed with a report that three ships were coming up 
 with orders from the Prince of Orange. This falsehood 
 was very seasonably propagated to serve the interest of 
 Leisler ; for on that day, the 3d of June, 1689, his party 
 was augmented by the addition of six captains and four 
 hundred men in New York, and a company of seventy 
 men from East Chester, who all subscribed a second dec- 
 laration, mutually covenanting to hold the fort for the 
 prince. Colonel Dongan continued till this time in the 
 harbor, waiting the issue of these commotions ; and Nich- 
 olson's party, being now unable to contend with their 
 opponents, were totally dispersed, the lieutenant-governor 
 himself absconding, the very night after the last declara- 
 tion was signed. 
 
 [Leisler at once sent to King William an account of his proceed- 
 ings, but Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson had previously reached 
 England, and had falsely represented the late actions to Leisler's 
 I. 22
 
 254 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SMITH 
 
 prejudice. The authorities of the city, being opposed to the new 
 party in power, retired to Albany.] 
 
 Except the eastern inhabitants of Long Island, all the 
 southern part of the colony cheerfully submitted to Leis- 
 ler's command. The principal freeholders, however, by 
 their respectful letters, gave him hopes of their submis- 
 sion, and thereby prevented his betaking himself to arms, 
 while they were privately soliciting the colony of Con- 
 necticut to take them under its jurisdiction. They had 
 indeed no aversion to Leisler's authority in favor of any 
 other party in the province, but were willing to be incor- 
 porated with a people from whence they had originally 
 colonized ; and, therefore, as soon as Connecticut declined 
 their request, they openly appeared to be advocates for 
 Leisler. . . . The people of Albany, in the mean time, 
 w r ere determined to hold the garrison and city for King 
 "William, independent of Leisler, and on the 26th of Oc- 
 tober, which was before the packet arrived from Lord 
 Nottingham, formed themselves into a convention for that 
 purpose. . . . 
 
 Taking it for granted that Leisler at New York, and 
 the convention at Albany, were equally affected to the 
 revolution, nothing could be more egregiously foolish 
 than the conduct of both parties, who, by their intestine 
 divisions, threw the province into convulsions and sowed 
 the seeds of mutual hatred and animosity, which, for a 
 long time after, greatly embarrassed the public affairs 
 of the colony. When Albany declared for the Prince of 
 Orange, there was nothing else that Leisler could properly 
 require ; and, rather than sacrifice the public peace of the 
 province to the trifling honor of resisting a man who had 
 no evil designs, Albany ought in prudence to have deliv- 
 ered the garrison into his hands, till the king's definitive 
 orders should arrive. But while Leisler, on the one hand,
 
 SMITH] THE LEJSLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 255 
 
 was inebriated with his new-gotten power, so, on the 
 other, Bayard, Courtland, Schuyler, and others, could not 
 brook a submission to the authority of a man mean in his 
 abilities and inferior in his degree. Animated by these 
 principles, both parties prepared, the one to reduce, if I 
 may use the expression, the other to retain, the garrison 
 of Albany. . . . 
 
 Jacob Milborne was commissioned for the reduction of 
 Albany. Upon his arrival there, a great number of the in- 
 habitants armed themselves and repaired to the fort, then 
 commanded by Mr. Schuyler, while many others followed 
 the other members of the convention to a conference with 
 him at the city hall. Milborne, to proselyte the crowd, 
 declaimed much against King James, Popery, and arbi- 
 trary power; but his oratory was lost upon the hearers, 
 who, after several meetings, still adhered to the conven- 
 tion. Milborne then advanced with a few men up to the 
 fort, and Mr. Schuyler had the utmost difficulty to prevent 
 both his own men and the Mohawks, who were then in 
 Albany, and perfectly devoted to his service, from firing 
 upon Milborne's party, which consisted of an inconsid- 
 erable number. In these circumstances, he [Milborne] 
 thought proper to retreat, and soon after departed from 
 Albany. In the spring he commanded another party upon 
 the same errand, and the distress of the country upon 
 an Indian irruption gave him all the desired success. No 
 sooner was he possessed of the garrison than most of 
 the principal members of the convention absconded. Upon 
 which their effects were arbitrarily seized and confiscated, 
 which so highly exasperated the sufferers that their pos- 
 terity, to this day, cannot speak of these troubles with- 
 out the bitterest invectives against Leisler and all his 
 adherents. 
 
 [During these proceedings war broke out between the French and
 
 256 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SMITH 
 
 the English. A French fleet was sent over, with the design of taking 
 New York ; but the distressed condition of the colony in Canada de- 
 feated this project. Efforts were then made to bring over the Iroquois 
 Indians to the French side.] 
 
 Among other measures 'to detach the Five Nations 
 from the British interest and raise the depressed spirit of 
 the Canadians, the Count de Frontenac thought proper 
 to send out several parties against the English colonies. 
 D'Aillebout, De Mantel, and Le Moyne commanded that 
 against New York, consisting of about two hundred French 
 and some Caghnuaga Indians, who, being proselytes from 
 the Mohawks, were perfectly acquainted with that country. 
 Their orders were, in general, to attack New York ; but, 
 pursuing the advice of the Indians, they resolved, instead 
 of Albany, to surprise Schenectady, a village seventeen 
 miles northwest from it, and about the same distance 
 from the Mohawks. The people of Schenectady, though 
 they had been informed of the designs of the enemy, were 
 in the greatest security, judging it impracticable for any 
 men to inarch several hundred miles, in the depth of 
 winter, through the snow, bearing their provisions on their 
 backs. Besides, the village was in as much confusion as 
 the rest of the province, the officers who were posted 
 there being unable to preserve a regular watch, or any 
 kind of military order. . . . 
 
 After two-and-twenty days' march, the enemy fell in 
 with Schenectady on the 8th of February [1690], and 
 were reduced to such straits that they had thoughts of 
 surrendering themselves prisoners of war. But their 
 scouts, who were a day or two in the village entirely un- 
 suspected, returned with such encouraging accounts of the 
 absolute security of the people that the enemy determined 
 on the attack. They entered on Saturday night about 
 eleven o'clock, at the gates, which were found unshut, and,
 
 SMITH] THE LEISLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 257 
 
 that every house might be invested at the same time, 
 divided into small parties of six or seven men. The in- 
 habitants were in a profound sleep, and unalarmed, till 
 their doors were broken open. Never were people in a 
 more wretched consternation. Before they were risen 
 from their beds, the enemy entered their houses and began 
 the perpetration of the most inhuman barbarities. No 
 tongue, says Colonel Schuyler, can express the cruelties 
 that were committed. The whole village was instantly in 
 a blaze. Women with child were ripped open, and their 
 infants cast into the flames, or dashed against the posts of 
 the doors. Sixty persons perished in the massacre, and 
 twenty-seven were carried into captivity. The rest fled 
 naked towards Albany, through a deep snow that fell that 
 very night in a terrible storm ; and twenty-five of these 
 fugitives lost their limbs in the flight, through the severity 
 of the frost. The news of this dreadful tragedy reached 
 Albany about break of day, and universal dread seized the 
 inhabitants of that city, the enemy being reported to be 
 one thousand. four hundred strong. A party of horse was 
 immediately despatched to Schenectady, and a few Mo- 
 hawks, then in the town, feai-ful of being intercepted, were 
 with difficulty sent to apprise their own castles. 
 
 The Mohawks were unacquainted with this bloody scene 
 till two days after it happened, our messengers being 
 scarce able to travel through the great depth of snow. 
 The enemy, in the mean time, pillaged the town of Sche- 
 nectady till noon the next day, and then went off with 
 their plunder and about forty of their best horses. The 
 rest, with all the cattle they could find, lay slaughtered 
 in the streets. 
 
 [This outrage was to some extent revenged by the Mohawks, who 
 pursued and killed a number of the enemy, while during the year the 
 Canadians met with other losses at the hands of the Iroquois. During 
 I. r 22*
 
 258 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SMITH 
 
 this year, also, Sir William Phipps made an expedition against Que- 
 bec, with a fleet of thirty-two sail. His demand for a surrender was 
 contemned by De Frontenac, and he was quickly repulsed, with loss. 
 Shortly afterwards, Colonel Henry Sloughter, the newly-appointed 
 governor of the province, arrived at New York.] 
 
 If Leisler had delivered the garrison to Colonel Slough- 
 ter, as he ought to have done, upon his first landing, 
 besides extinguishing, in a degree, the animosities then 
 subsisting, he would, doubtless, have attracted the favor- 
 able notice both of the governor and the crown. But, 
 being a weak man, he was so intoxicated with the love of 
 power that, though he had been well informed of Slough- 
 ter's appointment to the government, he not only shut 
 himself up in the fort with Bayard and Nichols, whom he 
 had, before that time, imprisoned, but refused to deliver 
 them up or to surrender the garrison. From this moment 
 he lost all credit with the governor, who joined the other 
 party against him. On the second demand of the fort, 
 Milborne and De Lanoy came out, under pretence of con- 
 ferring with his excellency, but in reality to discover his 
 designs. Sloughter, who considered them as rebels, threw 
 them both into jail. Leisler, upon this event, thought 
 proper to abandon the fort, which Colonel Sloughter im- 
 mediately entered. Bayard and Nichols were now re- 
 leased from their confinement, and sworn of the privy 
 council. Leisler, having thus ruined his cause, was appre- 
 hended, with many of his adherents, and a commission of 
 oyer and terminer issued to Sir Thomas Kobinson, Colonel 
 Smith, and others, for their trials.. 
 
 In vain did they plead the merit of their zeal for King 
 "William, since they had so lately opposed his governor. 
 Leisler, in particular, endeavored to justify his conduct, 
 insisting that Lord Nottingham's letter entitled him to 
 act in the quality of lieutenant-governor. Whether it
 
 SMITH] THE LEISLER REVOLT IN NEW YORK. 259 
 
 was through ignorance or sycophancy, I know not, but 
 the judges, instead of pronouncing their own sentiments 
 upon this part of the prisoner's defence, referred it to the 
 governor and council, praying their opinion whether that 
 letter, " or any other letters, or papers, in the packet from 
 Whitehall, can be understood or interpreted to be and 
 contain any power or direction to Captain Leisler to take 
 the government of this province upon himself, or that the 
 administration thereof be holden good in law." The an- 
 swer was, as might have been expected, in the negative ; 
 and Leisler and his son [-in-law] were condemned to death 
 for high treason. 
 
 [Many of Leisler's adherents immediately fled to the other prov- 
 inces, in fear of being apprehended. It may be remarked here that 
 later historians relate that the first demand on Leisler to surrender 
 was made by Kichard Ingoldsby, who arrived before Colonel Slough- 
 ter, and announced his appointment. His demand was peremptorily 
 made, and was refused. On Sloughter's arrival Ingoldsby was again 
 sent to demand a surrender, Leisler's messengers to the governor being 
 detained. Leisler hesitated for a while, but the next day personally 
 surrendered the fort.] 
 
 Colonel Sloughter proposed, immediately after the ses- 
 sion [of the Assembly], to set out to Albany; but, as 
 Leisler's party were enraged at his imprisonment and 
 the late sentence against him, his enemies were afraid 
 new troubles would spring up in the absence of the gov- 
 ernor: for this reason, both the Assembly and council 
 advised that the prisoners should be immediately exe- 
 cuted. Sloughter, who had no inclination to favor them 
 in this request, chose rather to delay such a violent step, 
 being fearful of cutting off two men who had vigorously 
 appeared for the king, and so signally contributed to the 
 revolution. Nothing could be more disagreeable to their 
 enemies, whose interest was deeply concerned in their
 
 260 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 destruction. And, therefore, when no other measures 
 could prevail with the governor, tradition informs us 
 that a sumptuous feast was prepared, to which Colonel 
 Sloughter was invited. When his excellency's reason 
 was drowned in his cups, the entreaties of the company 
 prevailed with him to sign the death-warrant, and before 
 he recovered his senses the prisoners were executed. 
 
 [Sloughter died suddenly shortly afterwards. Leisler's son made 
 complaint to the king, but the execution was sustained by the author- 
 ities in England. Afterwards the attainder of treason was removed, 
 and the estates of Leisler and Milborne were restored to their families. 
 The bodies of the victims were taken up, and interred with great 
 pomp in the old Dutch church of New York city.] 
 
 THE BACON REBELLION. 
 
 CHARLES CAMPBELL. 
 
 [The tyranny that was instituted by Andros in New England was 
 paralleled by despotic proceedings in some of the other colonies. In 
 Virginia these led to a rebellion which was for a time successful. Un- 
 like the inhabitants of the more northerly colonies, the Virginians 
 were stanch advocates of the Church of England and partisans of 
 the king, and were intolerant alike of religious and democratic here- 
 sies. When Charles I. was executed the planters of Virginia declared 
 for his son, and only submitted under show of force to the Common- 
 wealth. They gladly welcomed Charles II. to the throne, and accepted 
 with acclamation a royal governor, Sir William Berkley. It was not 
 long, however, ere they found reason for a change of opinion. Des- 
 potic measures were put in force, the Assembly, instead of being re- 
 elected every two years, was kept permanently in session, and the 
 inhabitants became the prey of venal office-holders. Commercial laws 
 were instituted which bore severely upon the planters. Tobacco could 
 be sent to none but English ports, and every tobacco-laden ship had to 
 pay a heavy duty before leaving Virginia, and another on reaching
 
 CAMPBELL] THE BACON REBELLION. 261 
 
 England. Berkley had the true composition of a tyrant, as is shown 
 in his memorable utterance, " I thank God there are no free schools, 
 nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years ; for 
 learning has brought disobedience into the world, and printing has 
 divulged them and libels against the best governments. God keep us 
 from both !" 
 
 To the evils above mentioned were added a series of Indian depreda- 
 tions, which grew in extent till more than three hundred of the set- 
 tlers had beejn killed. The government showed little disposition to 
 repress these savage outrages, and the people grew exasperated. At 
 this juncture a young man named Nathaniel Bacon came forward as a 
 leader, and the people readily supported him in what soon assumed the 
 proportions of a rebellion against the constituted authorities. The 
 story of this outbreak is well told in Campbell's " History of Virginia," 
 from which we select its leading particulars.] 
 
 " ABOUT the year 1675," says an old writer, " appeared 
 three prodigies in that country, which, from the attending 
 disasters, were looked upon as ominous presages. The one 
 was a large comet, every evening for a week or more at 
 southwest, thirty-five degrees high, streaming like a horse- 
 tail westward, until it reached (almost) the horizon, and 
 setting toward the northwest. Another was flights of 
 wild pigeons, in breadth nigh a quarter of the mid-hemi- 
 sphere, and of their length was no visible end ; whose 
 weights broke down the limbs of large trees whereon 
 these rested at nights, of which the fowlers shot abun- 
 dance, and ate them ; this sight put the old planters under 
 the more portentous apprehensions because the like was 
 seen (as they said) in the year 1644, when the Indians 
 committed the last massacre; but'not after, until that 
 present year, 1675. The third strange phenomenon was 
 swarms of flies about an inch long, and big as the top of 
 a man's little finger, rising out of spigot-holes in the earth, 
 which ate the new-sprouted leaves from the tops of the 
 trees, without other harm, and in a month left us."
 
 262 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 [These prodigies undoubtedly appeared to the superstitious inhab- 
 itants as omens of the disasters which at this time fell upon them in 
 murdering incursions of the Indians. A large body of men proceeded 
 against the Susquehannocks, whom they charged with these outrages. 
 But the violent measures which they adopted only inflamed the pas- 
 sions of the savages, who at once broke into open hostilities.] 
 
 At the falls of the James the savages had slain a ser- 
 vant of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., and his overseer, to whom 
 he was much attached. This was not the place of Bacon's 
 residence : Bacon Quarter Branch, in the suburbs of Eich- 
 mond, probably indicates the scene of the murder. Bacon 
 himself resided at Curies, in Henrico County, on the lower 
 James Eiver. It is said that when he heard of the catas- 
 trophe he vowed vengeance. In that time of panic, the 
 more exposed and defenceless families, abandoning their 
 homes, took shelter together in houses, where they forti- 
 fied themselves with palisades and redoubts. Neighbors, 
 banding together, passed in co-operating parties from plan- 
 tation to plantation, taking arms with them into the fields 
 where they labored, and posting sentinels to give warning 
 of the approach of the insidious foe. No man ventured 
 out of doors unarmed. Even Jamestown was in danger. 
 The red men, stealing with furtive glance through the shade 
 of the forest, the noiseless tread of the moccasin scarce 
 stirring a leaf, prowled around like panthers in quest of 
 prey. At length the people at the head of the James 
 and the York, having in vain petitioned the governor for 
 protection, alarmed at the slaughter of their neighbors, 
 often murdered with every circumstance of barbarity, rose 
 tumultuously in self-defence, to the number of three hun- 
 dred men, including most, if not all the officers, civil and 
 military, and chose Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., for their leader. 
 According to another authority, Bacon, before the murder 
 of his overseer and servant, had been refused the commis-
 
 CAMPBELL] THE BACON REBELLION. 263 
 
 sion, and had sworn that upon the next murder he should 
 hear of he would march against the Indians, " commission 
 or no commission." . . . 
 
 Bacon had been living in the colony somewhat less than 
 three years, having settled at Curies, on the lower James, 
 in the midst of those people who were the greatest suffer- 
 ers from the depredations of the Indians, and he himself 
 had frequently felt the effects of their inroads. ... At the 
 breaking out of these disturbances he was a member of 
 the council. He was gifted with a graceful person, great 
 abilities, and a powerful elocution, and was the most ac- 
 complished man in Virginia; his courage and resolution 
 were not to be daunted, and his affability, hospitality, and 
 benevolence commanded a wide popularity throughout the 
 colony. 
 
 The men who had put themselves under Bacon's com- 
 mand made preparations for marching against the Indians, 
 but in the mean time sent again to obtain from the gov- 
 ernor a commission of general for Bacon, with authority 
 to lead out his followers, at their own expense, against the 
 enemy. He then stood so high in the council, and the ex- 
 igency of the case was so pressing, that Sir William Berk- 
 ley, thinking it imprudent to return an absolute refusal, 
 concluded to temporize. Some of the leading men about 
 him, it was believed, took occasion to foment the differ- 
 ence between him and Bacon, envying a rising luminary 
 that threatened to eclipse them. This conduct is like that 
 of some of the leading men in Virginia who, one hundred 
 years later, compelled Patrick Henry to resign his post in 
 the army. 
 
 Sir William Berkley sent his evasive reply to the ap- 
 plication for a commission, by some of his friends, and 
 instructed them to persuade Bacon to disband his forces. 
 He refused to comply with this request, and, having in
 
 264 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 twenty days mustered five hundred men, marched to the 
 falls of the James. Thereupon the governor, on the 2Uth 
 day of Ma} 7 , 1676, issued a proclamation declaring all such 
 as should fail to return within a certain time rebels. 
 Bacon likewise issued a declaration, setting forth the 
 public dangers and grievances, but taking no notice of 
 the governor's proclamation. Upon this the men of 
 property, fearful of a confiscation, deserted Bacon and 
 returned home ; but he proceeded with fifty-seven men. 
 . . . The movement was revolutionary, a miniature proto- 
 type of the revolution of 1688 in England, and of 1776 in 
 America. But Bacon, as before mentioned, with a small 
 body of men proceeded into the wilderness, up the river, 
 his provisions being nearly exhausted before he discovered 
 the Indians. At length a tribe of friendly Mannakins were 
 found intrenched within a palisaded fort on the further 
 side of a branch of the James. Bacon endeavoring to 
 procure provisions from them and offering compensation, 
 they put him off with delusive promises till the third day, 
 when the whites had eaten their last morsel. They now 
 waded up to the shoulder across the branch to the fort, 
 again soliciting provisions and tendering payment. In 
 the evening one of Bacon's men was killed by a shot from 
 that side of the branch which they had left, and, this 
 giving rise to a suspicion of collusion with Sir William 
 Berkley and treachery, Bacon stormed the fort, burnt it 
 and the cabins, blew up their magazine of arms and gun- 
 powder, and, with a loss of only three of his own party, 
 put to death one hundred and fifty Indians. It is difficult 
 to credit, impossible to justify, this massacre. . . . Bacon 
 with his followers returned to their homes, and he was 
 shortly after elected one of the burgesses for the County 
 of Henrico. . . . Bacon, upon being elected, going down 
 the James Eiver with a party of his friends, was met by
 
 CAMPBELL] THE BACON REBELLION. 265 
 
 an armed vessel, ordered on board of her, and arrested by 
 Major Howe, High Sheriff of James City, who conveyed 
 him to the governor at that place, by whom he was ac- 
 costed thus : " Mr. Bacon, you have forgot to be a gentle- 
 man." He replied, "No, may it please your honor." The 
 governor said, " Then I'll take your parole ;" which he ac- 
 cordingly did, and gave him his liberty ; but a number 
 of his companions, who had been arrested with him, were 
 still kept in irons. 
 
 On the 5th day of June, 1676, the members of the new 
 Assembly, whose names are not recorded, met in the 
 chamber over the general court, and, having chosen a 
 speaker, the governor sent for them down, and addressed 
 them in a brief abrupt speech on the Indian disturbances, 
 and, in allusion to the chiefs who had been slain, exclaimed, 
 " If they had killed my grandfather and my grandmother, 
 my father and mother, and all my friends, yet if they had 
 come to treat of peace they ought to have gone in peace." 
 After a short interval, he again rose, and said, " If there be 
 joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that re- 
 penteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner 
 come before us. Call Mr. Bacon." Bacon, appearing, was 
 compelled upon one knee, at the bar of the house, to con- 
 fess his offence, and beg pardon of God, the king, and 
 governor. 
 
 . . . When Bacon had made his acknowledgment, the 
 governor exclaimed, " God forgive you, I forgive you ;" 
 repeating the words thrice. Colonel Cole, of the council, 
 added, " and all that were with him." " Yea," echoed the 
 governor, "and all that were with him." Sir William 
 Berkley, starting up from his chair for the third time, ex- 
 claimed, " Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly but till next 
 quarter court, I'll promise to restore you again to your 
 place there" (pointing with his hand to Mr. Bacon's seat), 
 i. M 23
 
 266 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 he having, as has been already mentioned, been of the 
 council before those troubles, and having been deposed by 
 the governor's proclamation. But, instead of being obliged 
 to wait till the quarter court, Bacon was restored to his 
 seat on that very day ; and intelligence of it was hailed 
 with joyful acclamations by the people in Jamestown. 
 This took place on Saturday. Bacon was also promised a 
 commission to go out against the Indians, to be delivered 
 to him on the Monday following. But, being delayed or 
 disappointed, a few days after (the Assembly being en- 
 gaged in devising measures against the Indians) he escaped 
 from Jamestown. He conceived the governor's pretended 
 generosity to be only a lure to keep him out of his seat 
 in the house of burgesses, and to quiet the people of the 
 upper country, who were hastening down to Jamestown 
 to avenge all wrongs done him or his friends. . . . 
 
 In a short time the governor, seeing all quiet, issued 
 secret warrants to seize him again, intending probably to 
 raise the militia, and thus prevent a rescue. 
 
 Within three or four days after Bacon's escape, news 
 reached James City that he was some thirty miles above, 
 on the James Eiver, at the head of four hundred men. 
 Sir William Berkley summoned the York train-bands to 
 defend Jamestown, but only one hundred obeyed the sum- 
 mons, and they arrived too late, and one-half of them were 
 favorable to Bacon. Expresses almost hourly brought 
 tidings of his approach, and in less than four days he 
 marched into Jamestown unresisted, at two o'clock P.M., 
 and drew up his force (now amounting to six hundred 
 men), horse and foot, in battle-array on the green in front 
 of the state-house, and within gunshot. In half an hour 
 the drum beat, as was the custom, for the Assembly to 
 meet, and in less than thirty minutes Bacon advanced, 
 with a file of fusileers on either hand, near to the corner
 
 CAMPBELL] THE BACON REBELLION. 267 
 
 of the state-house, where he was met by the governor and 
 council. Sir William Berkley, dramatically baring his 
 breast, cried out, " Here ! shoot me 'fore God, fair mark ; 
 shoot!" frequently repeating the words. Bacon replied, 
 " No, may it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of 
 your head, nor of any other man's; we are come for a 
 commission to save our lives from the Indians, which you 
 have so often promised, and now we will have it before we 
 go." Bacon was walking to and fro between the files of 
 his men, holding his left arm akimbo, and gesticulating 
 violently with his right, he and the governor both like 
 men distracted. In a few moments Sir William withdrew 
 to his private apartment at the other end of the state- 
 house, the council accompanying him. Bacon followed, 
 frequently hurrying his hand from his sword-hilt to his 
 hat ; and after him came a detachment of fusileers, who, 
 with their guns cocked and presented at a window of the 
 Assembly chamber, filled with faces, repeated in menacing 
 tone, " We will have it, we will have it," for half a minute, 
 when a well-known burgess, waving his handkerchief out 
 at the window, exclaimed, three or four times, " You shall 
 have it, you shall have it ;" when, uncocking their guns, 
 they rested them on the ground, and stood still, till Bacon 
 returning, they rejoined the main body. It was said that 
 Bacon had beforehand directed his men to fire in case he 
 should draw his sword. In about an hour after Bacon re- 
 entered the Assembly chamber and demanded a commis- 
 sion authorizing him to march out against the Indians. 
 
 $ $ $ 4c 4 4 4 
 
 The Assembly went on to provide for the Indian war, 
 and made Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., general and commander- 
 in-chief, which was ratified by the governor and council. 
 An act was also passed indemnifying Bacon and his party 
 for their violent acts ; and a highly-applausive letter was
 
 268 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 prepared, justifjnng Bacon's designs and proceedings, ad- 
 dressed to the king and subscribed by the governor, council, 
 and Assembly. Sir William Berkley at the same time com- 
 municated to the house a letter addressed to his majesty, 
 saying, " I have above thirty years governed the most 
 flourishing country the sun ever shone over, but am now 
 encompassed with rebellion like waters, in every respect 
 like that of Masaniello, except their leader." . 
 
 [The new general, who found himself strongly supported by the 
 Assembly and the colonists, at once proceeded with energy to fulfil 
 the duties of his position.] 
 
 His vigorous measures at once restored confidence to the 
 planters, and they resumed their occupations. Bacon, at 
 the head of a thousand men, marched against the Pamun- 
 kies, killing many and destroying their towns. Mean- 
 while the people of Gloucester, the most populous and 
 loyal county, having been disarmed by Bacon, petitioned 
 the governor for protection against the savages. Eeani- 
 mated by this petition, he again proclaimed Bacon a rebel 
 and a traitor, and hastened over to Gloucester. Summon- 
 ing the train-bands of that county and Middlesex, to the 
 number of twelve hundred men, he proposed to them to 
 pursue and put down the rebel Bacon, when the whole 
 assembly unanimously shouted, " Bacon ! Bacon ! Bacon !" 
 and withdrew from the field, still repeating the name of 
 that popular leader, the Patrick Henry of his day, and 
 leaving the aged cavalier governor and his attendants to 
 themselves. The issue was now fairly joined between the 
 people and the governor. . . . 
 
 Bacon, before he reached the head of York Eiver, hear- 
 ing from Lawrence and Drummond of the governor's 
 movements, exclaimed, that " it vexed him to the heart 
 that, while he was hunting wolves which were destroying 
 innocent lambs, the governor and those with him should
 
 CAMPBELL] THE B4CON REBELLION. 269 
 
 pursue him in the rear with full cry ; and that he was 
 like corn between two millstones, which would grind him 
 to powder if he didn't look to it." He marched imme- 
 diately back against the governor, who, finding himself 
 abandoned, again, on the twenty-ninth of July, proclaimed 
 Bacon a rebel, and made his escape, with a few friends, 
 down York Eiver and across the Chesapeake Bay to 
 Accomac, on the Eastern Shore. 
 
 [A series of events of secondary importance succeeded, which we 
 cannot particularize. It will suffice to say that the movement was 
 diverted more and more from an expedition against the Indians to a 
 civil war, in which the adherents of Bacon took strong ground against 
 Berkley and advised his forcible deposal. A successful operation 
 against the Baconites induced the governor to return to Jamestown, 
 from which the friends of Bacon retired.] 
 
 During these events Bacon was executing his designs 
 against the Indians. As soon as he had despatched Bland 
 to Accomac, he crossed the James River at his own house, 
 at Curies, and surprising the Appomattox Indians, who lived 
 on both sides of the river of that name, a little below 
 the falls (now Petersburg), he burnt their town, killed a 
 large number of the tribe, and dispersed the rest. . . . 
 
 From the falls of the Appomattox, Bacon traversed the 
 country to the southward, destroying many towns on the 
 banks of the Nottoway, the Meherrin, and the Roanoke. 
 His name had become so formidable that the natives fled 
 everywhere before him, and, having nothing to subsist 
 upon, save the spontaneous productions of the country, 
 several tribes perished, and they who survived were so 
 reduced as to be never afterwards able to make any firm 
 stand against the Long-knives, and gradually became tribu- 
 tary to them. 
 
 Bacon, having exhausted his provisions, had dismissed 
 i. 23*
 
 270 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 the greater part of his forces before Lawrence, Drum- 
 mond, Hansford, and the other fugitives from Jamestown 
 joined him. Upon receiving intelligence of the govern- 
 or's return, Bacon, collecting a force variously estimated at 
 one hundred and fifty, three hundred, and eight hundred, 
 harangued them on the situation of affairs, and marched 
 back upon Jamestown, leading his Indian captives in tri- 
 umph before him. The contending parties came now to 
 be distinguished by the names of Eebels and Eoyalists. 
 Finding the town defended by a palisade ten paces in 
 width, running across the neck of the peninsula, he rode 
 along the work and reconnoitred the governor's position. 
 Then, dismounting from his horse, he animated his fatigued 
 men to advance at once, and, leading them close to the 
 palisade, sounded a defiance with the trumpet, and fired 
 upon the garrison. The governor remained quiet, hoping 
 that want of provisions would soon force Bacon to retire ; 
 but he supplied his troops from Sir William Berkley's 
 seat, at Greenspring, three miles distant. He afterwards 
 complained that " his dwelling-house at Greenspring was 
 almost ruined ; his household goods, arid others of great 
 value, totally plundered ; that he had not a bed to lie on ; 
 two great beasts, three hundred sheep, seventy horses and 
 mares, all his corn and provisions, taken away." 
 
 Bacon adopted a singular stratagem, and one hardly 
 compatible with the rules of chivalry. Sending out small 
 parties of horse, he captured the wives of several of the 
 principal loyalists then with the governor, and among 
 them the lady of Colonel Bacon, Sr., Madame Bray, Ma- 
 dame Page, and Madame Ballard. Upon their being 
 brought into the camp, Bacon sends one of them into 
 Jamestown to carry word to their husbands that his pur- 
 pose was to place their wives in front of his men in case 
 of a sally. Colonel Ludwell reproaches the rebels with
 
 CAMPBKLL] THE BACON REBELLION. 271 
 
 "ravishing of women from their homes, and hurrying 
 them about the country in their rude camps, often threat- 
 ening them with death." But, according to another and 
 mor3 impartial authority, Bacon made use of the ladies 
 only to complete his battery, and removed them out of 
 harm's way at the time of the sortie. He raised by moon- 
 light a circumvallation of trees, earth, and brushwood 
 around the governor's outworks. At daybreak next morn- 
 ing the governor's troops, being fired upon, made a sortie ; 
 but they were di'iven back, leaving their drum and their 
 dead behind them. Upon the top of the work which he 
 had thrown up, and where alone a sally could be made, 
 Bacon exhibited the captive ladies to the views of their 
 husbands and friends in the town, and kept them there 
 until he completed his works. 
 
 [As a result of these active proceedings, the followers of Berkley, 
 though superior in numbers to those of Bacon, and well intrenched, 
 hastily retired, leaving their antagonist master of the situation. Bacon 
 at once determined to burn the town, so that the "rogues should 
 harbor there no more." It was accordingly set on fire and laid in 
 ashes. Jamestown, at this period, consisted of a church and some six- 
 teen or eighteen well-built brick houses. Its population was about a 
 dozen families, since all the houses were not inhabited.] 
 
 Bacon now marched to York Eiver, and crossed at Tin- 
 dall's (Gloucester) Point, in order to encounter Colonel 
 Brent, who was marching against him from the Potomac 
 with twelve hundred men. But the greater part of his 
 men. hearing of Bacon's success, deserting their colors 
 declared for him, " resolving, with the Persians, to go and 
 worship the rising sun." Bacon, making his head-quarters 
 at Colonel Warmer's, called a convention in Gloucester, 
 and administered the oath to the people of that county, 
 and began to plan another expedition against the Indians, 
 or, as some report, against Accomac, when he fell sick of a
 
 272 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CAMPBELL 
 
 dysentery brought on by exposure. Retiring to the house 
 of a Dr. Pate, and lingering for some weeks, he died. 
 Some of the loyalists afterwards reported that he died of 
 a loathsome disease, and by a visitation of God ; which is 
 disproven by T. M.'s Account, by that published in the 
 Virginia Gazette, and by the Eeport of the King's Com- 
 missioners. Some of Bacon's friends suspected that he 
 was taken off by poison ; but of this there is no proof. . . . 
 The place of Bacon's interment has never been dis- 
 covered, it having been concealed by his friends, lest his 
 remains should be insulted by the vindictive Berkley, in 
 whom old age appears not to have mitigated the fury of 
 the passions. According to one tradition, in order to screen 
 Bacon's body from indignity, stones were laid on his coffin 
 by his friend Lawrence, as was supposed; according to 
 others, it was conjectured that his bod} 7 had been buried 
 in the bosom of the majestic York, where the winds and 
 the waves might still repeat his requiem. 
 
 [The death of Bacon ended the rebellion, though disastrous conse- 
 quences to his adherents followed. Berkley sated his revengeful spirit 
 upon those who fell into his hands, many of whom were executed. 
 The governor had sent to England for troops, and employed them in 
 executing his schemes of revenge. The Assembly at last insisted that 
 these executions should cease. Nothing decisive was gained by the 
 rebellion, yet it clearly showed the spirit of resistance to tyranny in 
 the Virginians. 
 
 The determination not to submit to tyranny, of which we have par- 
 ticularized several instances in the colonies, declared itself in the Caro- 
 linas at the same period. Several open revolts there took place, which 
 mav be briefly described. Many of the adherents of Bacon had taken 
 refuge in North Carolina, where they were welcomed, and it is proba- 
 ble that their influence intensified the democratic sentiment of the 
 people, who soon after broke out into rebellion against the arbitrary 
 revenue laws. A vessel from New England was seized as a smuggler, 
 upon yb.ich the people flew to arms, and imprisoned the president of 
 the colony and six of his council. The people chose their own gov-
 
 GARHEAU] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 273 
 
 ernors for several years thereafter. In 1688 another revolt occurred 
 against Seth Sothel, one of the proprietors, and governor of the prov- 
 ince. He was tried for oppressing the people, and banished from the 
 colony. Revolts of a like character took place in South Carolina. 
 Governor Colleton, who sought to carry out Locke's system of govern- 
 ment, and to collect the rents claimed by the proprietors, drove the 
 people into a rebellion. They took possession of the public records, 
 and held an Assembly despite the governor, who thereupon called out 
 the militia and proclaimed martial law. This increased the exaspera- 
 tion of the colonists, and the governor was impeached and banished. 
 He was succeeded by Seth Sothel, who had been banished from North 
 Carolina. In 1692, after two years of tyranny, this governor was also 
 deposed and banished. The " Grand Model" of government of Locke 
 had by this time very effectually lost its potency.] 
 
 COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 
 
 F. X. GARNEAU. 
 
 [In previous articles we have briefly reviewed the history of the 
 French in Canada, down to the futile expedition of Denonville against 
 the Iroquois in 1687, and the severe reprisal of the Indians, in which 
 they massacred the inhabitants of the island of Montreal and endan- 
 gered the very existence of the colony. At this juncture Denonville 
 was recalled, and Count de Frontenac sent out. The succeeding his- 
 tory of the colony is largely one of war with the English colonists, in 
 which the Indian allies of the hostile whites took active part. On the 
 English side were the Iroquois, the most warlike and powerful of all 
 the aborigines, of whom the French had made enemies upon their 
 first entrance into the country. The French were supported by the 
 Hurons and other Indians of Canada, and by the tribes of northern 
 New England, while the southern New England tribes were allies of 
 the English. 
 
 The several wars which raged in Europe between France and Eng- 
 land roused the colonies to invasions of one another's territory, in 
 which the Indians gave full vent to their savage instincts in murder- 
 ing the helpless settlers. King William's War, which continued from
 
 274 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GARNEATT 
 
 1689 to 1697, was marked by several such atrocities. At the very 
 opening of the war, Dover, in New Hampshire, was attacked, and 
 revenge taken upon Major Waldron, who had acted treacherously 
 towards the Indians during King Philip's "War. During the succeed- 
 ing year occurred the massacre at Schenectady, which we have already 
 described. Other settlements were assailed, and several of the English 
 forts taken. In reprisal, an expedition under Sir William Phipps 
 captured Port Royal, and essayed to conquer Quebec, but was driven 
 oft'. At the same time a fruitless land-expedition was sent from New 
 York against Montreal. The Indian depredations upon the English 
 frontiers continued, the latest being an attack on Haverhill, Massachu- 
 setts, in 1697, in which forty persons were killed or taken captive. 
 Among these latter were a Mrs. Duston, her nurse, and a boy, who on 
 their way to Canada attacked their captors while sleeping, killed ten 
 out of twelve of them, and returned in safety to their friends: During 
 this war the French attempted to punish the hostile Iroquois, and 
 Frontenac marched into their territory, where he committed much 
 damage. On his return, however, he was severely harassed by the 
 Indians. 
 
 In 1702 another war broke out between France and England, which 
 continued till 1713. In America it was marked by the same atrocities 
 as the previous war. The Iroquois were neutrals during most of 
 this war, and New York was preserved from danger, the weight of 
 the war falling on the New England colonies. In 1704 the town 
 of Deerfield was captured by a French and Indian force, forty of the 
 inhabitants killed, and one hundred and twelve captured, who were 
 marched through the winter snows to Canada. Throughout the war 
 the frontier settlements were continually harassed by the savage foe. 
 In 1707 the English attacked Port Royal, but were repulsed. In 1710 
 it was again assailed, and captured, its name being changed to An- 
 napolis, in honor of Queen Anne, and the province of Acadia, or 
 Nova Scotia, was permanently added to the English possessions. In 
 the succeeding year an extensive invasion of Canada was projected, 
 which met with an unfortunate termination. The story of this 
 expedition we select from Andrew Bell's translation of Garneau's 
 " L'Histoire du Canada."] 
 
 IN spring, 1711, an expedition was got up to act in con- 
 junction with such forces as the plantations could supply
 
 GARNEAU] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 275 
 
 for the invasion of Canada. The fleet, under the orders 
 of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, had companies of seven 
 regiments of regulars on board, drafted from the army 
 Marl borough was leading from victory to victory. The 
 force was put under the charge of Brigadier-General Hill. 
 
 Walker arrived in Boston harbor, June 25, where his 
 presence was impatiently expected. The land-force was 
 now augmented by the junction of the militias of New 
 York, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc., which raised it to a 
 total of six thousand five hundred infantry. The fleet now 
 consisted of eighty -eight ships and transports. The army 
 which was intended to act simultaneously with the ascent 
 to Quebec by an advance on Montreal, and was now re- 
 constituted, got ready to act, under the orders of General 
 Nicholson. It was composed of four thousand Massachu- 
 setts and other militia-men, and six hundred Iroquois. 
 Having moved his corps to the banks of Lake George, 
 Nicholson there awaited the event of the attack on Que- 
 bec. Meantime, the invading fleet sailed from Boston, 
 July 30. 
 
 The opposing force of the Canadians was proportionally 
 small, in number at least. It did not exceed five thousand 
 men of all ages between fifteen and seventy, and included 
 at the most five hundred savages. But Quebec was now 
 in a better state for defence than ever it had been before, 
 there being more than one hundred cannons mounted upon 
 the works. The banks of the St. Lawrence immediately 
 below the city were so well guarded that it would have 
 been perilous to an enemy to land anywhere ; above it 
 the invaders would hardly adventure. The garrison was 
 carefully marshalled, and every man assigned to an ap- 
 pointed place, with orders to repair to it as soon as the 
 enemy's fleet appeared. 
 
 But the elements were now the best defenders of Can-
 
 276 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GAKNEAU 
 
 ada, which Providence seemed to have taken under his 
 special protection. During the night of August 22, a 
 storm from the southwest arose, accompanied by a dense 
 fog, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and the hostile fleet 
 was put in imminent jeopardy for a time. The admiral's 
 ship barely escaped wreck upon breakers. Eight of the 
 transports were driven ashore on the Ile-aux-CEufs, one 
 of the Seven Islands, and nine hundred out of seventeen 
 hundred persons on board perished in the waves. Among 
 the corpses strewed on the beach afterwards were found 
 the bodies of a number of emigrants from Scotland, in- 
 tended colonists for Anglicized Canada ; and among other 
 waifs found at the same time were copies of a proclama- 
 tion to the Canadians, in Queen Anne's name, asserting 
 the suzerainty of Britain, in right of the discovery of 
 their country by Cabot. 
 
 Admiral Walker now altered his course, and rendez- 
 voused with his scattered fleet, as soon as it could be col- 
 lected, at Cape Breton, where he called a council of war, 
 in which it was decided to renounce the enterprise. The 
 British division of the fleet left for England, and the colo- 
 nial vessels returned to Boston. But disasters ceased not 
 to attend this ill-starred expedition; for the Feversham, 
 an English frigate of thirty-six guns, and three trans- 
 ports, were lost when still in the Laurentian gulf; while 
 the Edgar, of seventy guns, Walker's flag-ship, was blown 
 up at Portsmouth, October 15, with four hundred men on 
 board. 
 
 [A strong Canadian force was now collected at Montreal, in prepa- 
 ration for Nicholson's advance. No advance was made, however, 
 though the militia were kept under arms, on guard against a Canadian 
 invasion. But the Canadians, just now, had work enough at home. 
 The Outagamis, a warlike tribe from beyond Lake Michigan, had 
 moved eastward to the locality of Detroit, under British instigation.
 
 GARNEATJ] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 277 
 
 It was their purpose to burn the settlement and kill all the French. 
 In this they were joined by the Mascoutins. On the other hand, some 
 six hundred warriors of friendly tribes were banded in defence of the 
 French, and forced the hostiles to take a defensive attitude.] 
 
 The Outagamis and Mascoutins took refuge in an in- 
 trenched camp they had formed near the French fort. 
 M. Dubuisson, the governor, finding that they presented 
 so imposing a front, was willing that they should retire 
 peacefully to their villages on seeing that their hostile 
 intents were anticipated and provided against; but his 
 native allies would not allow of this, and proceeded to 
 invest their fastness. This was so well defended, how- 
 ever, that the assailants became dispirited, and wished to 
 retire from the contest ; but Dubuisson, now encouraging 
 them to remain, turned the siege into a blockade. In a 
 short time provisions, even water, failed the besieged ; and 
 when any of them issued from the enclosure to procure 
 the latter, they were set on by their foes, killed on the 
 spot, or burnt alive to make a savage holiday. 
 
 The beleaguered tried, by every means, to detach the 
 native auxiliaries present from the French interest ; but 
 all in vain. They then sent envoys to the governor to 
 crave a truce of two days, to enable their foragers to pro- 
 cure food. This singular request was refused, but had 
 better been accorded ; for in revenge the Outagamis shot 
 fire-arrows against the straw-roofed houses of the village, 
 which were thereby entirely consumed. The cannon of 
 the fort avenged this act of desperation. Already from 
 three to four score of the besieged were dead of hunger 
 and thirst, and the air was tainted with putrefaction. A 
 thii'd deputation came to implore quarter. Pemousa, a 
 chief, who brought with him his wife and children as hos- 
 tages, adjured the governor to " take pity on his flesh" 
 and on the other women and children about to be put at 
 i.' 24
 
 278 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GARNEAU 
 
 French discretion. Some of the allied chiefs present at 
 this piteous scene, instead of being moved by it, coolly 
 proposed to Dubuisson to cut down four of the envoys, 
 who, they alleged, were the chief defenders of the place. 
 This much, at least, was refused. 
 
 The besieged, despairing of success, and hopeless of 
 quarter if they surrendered, prepared to take advantage 
 of any moment of relaxed vigilance in their besiegers, and 
 try to escape. One stormy night they succeeded in this 
 attempt, but, exhausted by the privations they had under- 
 gone, halted on peninsular ground near St. Clair, whither 
 they were soon followed. They intrenched themselves 
 again, stood a siege of four days more, and then gave in. 
 Not one of the men escaped, and it is very doubtful 
 whether any of the women were spared ; but the con- 
 temporary reports of what passed at the time are in dis- 
 accord on this point. 
 
 [The remnant of the Outagami or Fox nation, however, long car- 
 ried on a harassing warfare with the French, and rendered the routes 
 between the posts in Canada and those on the Mississippi so dangerous 
 as to he almost impassable. The peace of Utrecht, in 1713, put an end 
 to this desolating war. During the succeeding thirty years but few 
 events of importance occurred in the English colonies or in Canada. 
 It was a much-needed era of tranquillity, during which the colonies 
 grew rapidly in population and importance. The Canadian settlements 
 were principally confined to the St. Lawrence region, from Quebec to 
 Montreal. Farther west there were detached foils and stations, with 
 a weak settlement at Detroit, but nothing which could properly be 
 called a colony. Yet the spirit of exploration of the French continued. 
 In 1731 an effort was made to reach the Pacific overland. M. Veren- 
 drye, a trader with the Indians, who had learned much from the West- 
 ern tribes of the country that lay beyond, undertook an exploring ex- 
 pedition westward. He proceeded to Lake Superior, where his trading 
 interests kept him till 1733. Meanwhile, some of his people made 
 their way to the Lake of the Woods, and thence to Lake Winnipeg, 
 extending their journey to the point of branching of the river Sas-
 
 GARNEAU] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 279 
 
 katchewan. In 1738 the explorers reached the country of the Man- 
 dans, and in 1742 followed the upper Missouri as far as the Yellow- 
 stone. Finally, on January 1, 1743, two of the sons of M. Verendrye 
 found themselves in front of the great range of the Rocky Mountains, 
 sixty years in advance of the discovery of this mighty mountain- 
 system by the American explorers Lewis and Clarke. 
 
 In 1744 another war, known in America as " King George's "War," 
 broke out between France and England, and at once brought the 
 colonists into hostile relations. The most important event of this war 
 was the capture of Louisburg, a powerful stronghold founded by the 
 French in 1720 on the island of Cape Breton and intended to be made 
 impregnable. The town grew until it contained several thousand in- 
 habitants and was a mile in length. We extract from Garneau an 
 account of its siege and capture.] 
 
 France and Britain were now on the eve of war, chiefly 
 for the good pleasure of the German king of the latter, 
 as the chief of a petty Continental principality, who set 
 about trimming what was called the " balance of power 
 in Europe." This had been deranged, it appeared, by the 
 part which the French king had taken against the empress 
 Theresa when a coalition was formed against her by Prus- 
 sia, Bavaria, Saxony, etc., in Germany, with Spain and Sar- 
 dinia. In January, 1745, a treaty of alliance was signed 
 between the empress (already at war with the French), 
 the King of Great Britain, the King of Poland, the Elec- 
 tor of Saxony, and the United States of Holland, against 
 France. 
 
 As on former occasions, the colonial dependencies of the 
 two great nations had perforce to go to war also, whether 
 they understood the points in dispute which led to hos- 
 tilities between their mother-countries or not. There was 
 also a " balance of power" between New France and New 
 England, getting more and more difficult every year satis- 
 factorily to adjust. Canada, however, like the snorting 
 war-horse, seemed to scent the coming hostilities while
 
 280 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GARNEATT 
 
 yet distant; for her administrators had already repaired 
 and munitioned all the frontier posts, especially Fort St. 
 Frederic and Fort Niagara. The defensive works of 
 Quebec, also, were augmented. Other demonstrations 
 were made, about the same time, by the Canadian gov- 
 ernment and its colonists, which showed that a continued 
 state of peace with the British plantations was neither 
 expected nor desired. 
 
 After the belligerents were in full tilt in Europe, for 
 the king of Britain and his favorite son were battling, not 
 with much honor to either, on that eternal fighting ground, 
 Flanders, there was no appearance, for a time, of either 
 government sending any expedition against the North 
 American dependencies of the other. . . . During its early 
 stages the war in America between the two rival races 
 was carried on almost entirely without European aid. 
 
 In a few months after the declaration of war, the Amer- 
 ican waters swarmed with French privateers. Several 
 were equipped at Louisburg, Cape Breton, with amazing 
 despatch, and made a great number of prizes before ves- 
 sels of war could arrive to protect the British colonial 
 shipping. Louisburg became, in all respects, a kind of 
 hornets' nest in regard to New England, its trade and 
 fisheries, which it was now determined to dig out if pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Meanwhile, M. Duquesnel, governor of Cape Breton, 
 embarked part of the garrison of Louisburg with some 
 militia and made a descent upon the settlement of Canso, 
 in Acadia, which he burnt, and made the garrison and 
 settlers prisoners of war. He then summoned Annapolis, 
 but was deterred from investing it by the arrival of a 
 reinforcement from Massachusetts. Duquesnel returned 
 to Louisburg, where he died shortly thereafter. Gov- 
 ernor Shirley had for some time conceived the project of
 
 GARNKATJ] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 281 
 
 taking possession of Cape Breton, now rightly regarded 
 as the seaward bulwark of Canada, and a highly-impor- 
 tant post as a safeguard to the French fisheries and to 
 American trade. The fortifications of Louisburg, the capi- 
 tal, even in their uncompleted state, had taken twenty -five 
 years to construct, at a cost, it was reported, of thirty 
 .million livres (nearly one million five hundred thousand 
 pounds sterling). They comprised a stone rampart nearly 
 forty feet high, with embrasures for one hundred and 
 forty-eight cannon, had several bastions, and strong out- 
 works; and on the land-side was a fosse fully fourscore 
 feet broad. The garrison, as reported afterwards by the 
 French, was composed of six hundred regulars and eight 
 hundred armed inhabitants, commanded by M. Ducham- 
 bois. Upon the same authority we may mention here 
 that at this time there were not more than one thousand 
 soldiers in garrison, altogether, from the lower St. Law- 
 rence to the eastern shore of Lake Erie. 
 
 [At a council held by Governor Shirley, it was decided that an 
 effort to take Louisburg would be too costly and hazardous. But the 
 colonists, learning of the scheme, were so enthusiastic that the council 
 was forced into it. In a few weeks more than four thousand militia 
 were raised in the several colonies, and placed under the command of 
 a New England merchant, named Pepperel. The expedition sailed 
 about the last of March, and reached Canso on April 5, 1745.] 
 
 Colonel Pepperel having sent some shallops to ascertain 
 whether the coast was clear of ice, and the report being 
 favorable, the expedition resumed its voyage, and a disem- 
 barkation on Cape Breton Island was begun at Chapeau 
 Kouge on the 27th of April. The garrison was, through 
 the promptitude of the invaders, taken completely by sur- 
 prise. The descent could not have been effected much 
 earlier with safety ; for till the end of March or beginning 
 of April the ocean in that region is covered with thick 
 i. 24*
 
 282 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GARNEAU 
 
 fogs, while both the seaboard and the harbors of Cape 
 Breton are choked with thick-ribbed ice. 
 
 By this time Admiral Warren arrived with a few ships, 
 and more were expected. His seamen assisted during 
 fourteen days in dragging a siege-train of ordnance, 
 through marshy ground, to the neighborhood of Louis- 
 burg, which was thought at first to be too strongly de- 
 fended on the seaward side to be confronted by the fleet. 
 Meanwhile, the garrison was in a state of revolt, having 
 demurred to being employed to put the works into a 
 proper state, a duty which had been too long postponed. 
 The men had other grievances besides, being ill paid, and 
 otherwise badly treated ; but, their feelings of military 
 honor being appealed to, they resumed their arms and 
 prepared to defend the place. 
 
 During the night of May 13, Mr. Yaughan, son of the 
 lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire, who knew the 
 localities well, having visited the place the year before, 
 landed with four hundred men, marched to the northeast 
 part of the bay, and fired some buildings filled with brandy, 
 etc., and naval stores. A party in a neighboring fort, 
 thinking probably that the incendiaries were the van of 
 a large attacking force, quitted their post and took refuge 
 in the town. Next morning Vaughan was able to surprise 
 a battery and hold possession of it until the arrival of a 
 reinforcement. 
 
 A great mischance for the French now hastened the fall 
 of the place. La Vigilante, a ship of sixty-four guns, with 
 five hundred and sixty soldiers and supplies for the gar- 
 rison on board, was captured by Admiral Warren. Had 
 this succor reached its destination, it is very doubtful 
 whether Pepperel could have captured the strongest for- 
 tress in America, and which was reported to be impreg- 
 nable. The next operation was not so favorable to the
 
 GARNEAU] COLONIAL HOSTILITIES. 283 
 
 besiegers, who, having tried, with four hundred men, to 
 carry a battery on the island of St. John, which protected 
 the entry of the harbor, were driven off, leaving sixty dead, 
 and one hundred and sixteen of their men, wounded or 
 whole, in the hands of the French. But this gleam of 
 success only delayed the certain capture of the place, now 
 that all further hope of succor from without was gone, and 
 its defenders were as discouraged as they were malcon- 
 tent before. In a word, Duchambois capitulated, and was 
 allowed to march out with the honors of war. In terms 
 of the capitulation, the garrison, and about two thousand 
 people, the entire population of Louisburg, were embarked 
 in British transports and landed at Brest. 
 
 Great was the exultation, naturally enough, at the suc- 
 cess of this expedition thus admirably planned and spir- 
 itedly executed. Messrs. Shirley and Pepperel were re- 
 warded with baronetcies ; and the British Parliament voted 
 a sum of money to repay the cost incurred by the colo- 
 nists in getting up the enterprise. The discouragement 
 in New France for the loss of Cape Breton was commen- 
 surate with the elation at its capture in New England and 
 the other Anglo-American provinces. 
 
 [An effort was made by the French to recapture the place, but their 
 fleet was scattered by a storm, while a deadly epidemic broke out 
 among the soldiers and marines. Acadia was at the same time assailed 
 by the Canadians, with considerable success. A force of five hundred 
 New England militia, sent to oppose them, was attacked by the French 
 and Indians, and nearly half the men killed or wounded, and the rest 
 forced to surrender.] 
 
 Beinnnin<; with the autumn of 1745, the frontiers of 
 
 O O ' 
 
 the British plantations themselves were cruelly ravaged 
 in twenty-seven successive raids of the Canadians during 
 three years. Fort Massachusetts, fifteen miles above Fort 
 St. Frederic, surrendered to M. Kigaud, who, with seven
 
 284 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STEVENS 
 
 hundred colonists and savages, devastated the country for 
 fifty miles beyond. M. Corne de St. Luc attacked Fort 
 Clinton, and signally defeated an American corps. Sara- 
 toga was taken, and its people massacred. Fort Bridgman 
 was taken by De Lery. In a word, the frontier-line, from 
 Boston to Albany, being no longer tenable, the inhabitants 
 fled into the interior, and left their lands at the discretion 
 of the enemy. 
 
 [A treaty of peace was concluded October 7, 1748. By its stipula- 
 tions the British and French mutually gave up whatever territory each 
 had taken, and, greatly to the dissatisfaction of the English colonists, 
 Cape Breton, with its fortress, was surrendered to its old masters, and 
 the vigorous effort of the New-Englanders thus rendered useless. 
 From that time peace prevailed in Europe, but hardly in America, 
 hostilities scarcely ceasing during the interval from the treaty to the 
 outbreak of the French and Indian War.] 
 
 THE SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA. 
 
 WILLIAM BACON STEVENS. 
 
 [While the Northern colonies were at war with the French and 
 their Indian allies, the Southern were similarly at war with the Span- 
 iards of Florida, and the Indian wars of the North had their coun- 
 terparts in the South. The troubles with the Indians of Virginia we 
 have already described. Of the Indians of North Carolina, those in 
 contact with the settlers rapidly disappeared, destroyed by strong drink 
 and other accompaniments of civilization. The settlers came next into 
 collision with more remote tribes, the Tuscaroras and the Corees, who 
 showed decided symptoms of hostility and organized a secret attack. 
 On the night of October 2, 1711, they suddenly fell upon the settle- 
 ments and massacred one hundred and thirty persons. A war ensued, 
 the whites being aided by a large body of friendly Indians from the 
 more southern tribes. In 1713 the Tuscaroras were besieged in their 
 fort, and eight hundred taken prisoners. The remainder migrated
 
 STKVKNS] THE SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA. 285 
 
 north, and joined their kindred, the Iroquois of New York. Peace 
 was concluded with the Corees in 1715. 
 
 South Carolina, when settled,, contained comparatively few of the 
 aborigines. A long and destructive war between two tribes, and a 
 fatal epidemic which afterwards prevailed, had decimated the Indians, 
 and left their lands open to the settlers. In 1702, during the war of 
 England against France and Spain which broke out that year, Gov- 
 ernor Moore of Carolina organized an expedition against the Spanish 
 settlement of St. Augustine in Florida. He proceeded by sea, while 
 Colonel Daniel led a land-expedition of twelve hundred men, half of 
 whom were Indians. The Spanish fortification proving too strong for 
 their means of assault, Daniel was sent to Jamaica for siege-guns. 
 During his absence two Spanish ships appeared off the harbor, and 
 Moore, in a panic, abandoned his fleet and hastily retreated. Daniel, 
 on his return, stood in towards the harbor, and narrowly escaped cap- 
 ture. This useless and expensive expedition gave great dissatisfaction 
 to the people of Carolina. It was followed by a^successful expedition 
 against the Appalachian Indians, allies of Spain. They were com- 
 pletely defeated, their towns burned, and their whole province made 
 English territory. 
 
 In 1706 a French and Spanish fleet appeared before Charleston. 
 But the city was valiantly defended, and the invaders driven off with 
 loss. A general Indian war broke out in 1715, comprising numerous 
 tribes, the Yamassees at their head. For a while the colony was threat- 
 ened with destruction. The frontier settlements were ruined, Port 
 Koyal abandoned, and Charleston in serious peril. At length the set- 
 tlers made head, drove back the enemy, and on the banks of the Sal- 
 kehatchie gained a complete victory. The Yamassees were driven 
 from their territory, and retired to Florida. In 1719 a revolution 
 against the Proprietors broke out in South Carolina : the settlers refused 
 to pay their exorbitant claims, and in the name of the king proclaimed 
 James Moore governor. The difficulty was settled in 1729, when 
 seven of the eight Proprietors sold out to the king, and the two Caro- 
 linas were separated and became royal governments. 
 
 The colony of Georgia was first devised in 1732, by James Ogle- 
 thorpe, an English philanthropist, as an asylum for the poor of Eng- 
 land and for the oppressed Protestants of all countries. He reached 
 America in February, 1733, with one hundred and twenty emigrants, 
 and planted a settlement on the site of Savannah. A treaty of peace 
 and friendship was at once concluded with the Creek Indians, a power-
 
 286 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STEVENS 
 
 ful neighboring confederacy. The colony rapidly increased in num- 
 bers. But trouble soon arose with the Spaniards of Florida, who 
 claimed that the English were intruding on their territory. Hostilities 
 being threatened, Oglethorpe returned to England, and brought out a 
 regiment of six hundred men for the defence of his frontier. Soon 
 afterwards, in 1739, war broke out between England and Spain, and 
 Oglethorpe invaded Florida. He had with him five hundred men 
 of his regiment, with other troops, and Indian allies. Several Span- 
 ish forts were taken, but St. Augustine was boldly defended, and, after 
 being nearly reduced by famine, obtained supplies from vessels that 
 ran the blockade of the English fleet. This destroyed all hopes of 
 success, and Oglethorpe returned to Georgia. Two years later, the 
 Spaniards, in reprisal, invaded Georgia with a large fleet and a numer- 
 ous army. Oglethorpe, with a much smaller force, withdrew to his 
 fort at Frederica, on St. Simon's Island, near the mouth of the Alta- 
 maha Kiver. The interesting story of this invasion we extract from 
 the " History of Georgia," by Kev. "William Bacon Stevens.] 
 
 IN May [1742] the armament destined for the conquest 
 of Georgia, consisting of fifty-six vessels and about seven 
 thousand men, left Havana for St. Augustine. One of 
 their large vessels, with one hundred and fifty men, was 
 lost in passing the Moro castle ; and soon after the fleet 
 was dispersed hy a storm. . . . Of the arrival of this force 
 in St. Augustine, Oglethorpe was informed by his Indian 
 spies, deserters, and the letters of Captain Hamar; and 
 he addressed himself at once to the task of preparing for 
 their attack. 
 
 [The Spanish fleet was unsuccessful in its first efforts against the 
 English forts.] 
 
 On the 28th [of June] the Spanish fleet, largely rein- 
 forced, again appeared off St. Simon's bar, and, having 
 taken the bearings and soundings, lay off and on, waiting 
 for a fair wind, to run up to Frederica. All was now 
 activity on St. Simon's. The general raised another troop 
 of rangers, armed the planters, extended his fortifications, 
 dismantled many of the small vessels, and from them
 
 STEVENS] THE SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA. 287 
 
 rigged out a merchant-ship, called the Success, with an 
 armament of twenty-two guns, which he placed under the 
 command of Captain Thompson. . . . 
 
 The following day [July 5], favored by a strong easterly 
 wind and a flood tide, the squadron of thirty- [fifty-] six 
 vessels, comprising one of twenty-four guns, two ships 
 of twenty guns, two large scows of fourteen guns, four 
 schooners, four sloops, and the rest half-galleys, entered 
 St. Simon's harbor. . . . For four hours the vessels and 
 two small batteries of the English maintained the unequal 
 contest; but the fleet was too numerous, and they passed 
 up the river with a leading breeze, sinking one guard 
 schooner and disabling several of the trading-craft. 
 
 [The English now spiked the guns and destroyed the munitions at 
 Fort St. Simon's, and withdrew to Frederica. The Spanish vessels 
 passed up the river, and landed about five thousand men four miles 
 below Frederica. These marched down and took possession of the 
 dismantled fort.] 
 
 They made their camp at the fort which he [Oglethorpe] 
 had abandoned, and, hoisting the bloody flag on the com- 
 modore's ship, erected a battery and planted in it twenty 
 eighteen-pounders. Among the troops landed were a 
 regiment of artillery, a regiment of dismounted dragoons, 
 a regiment of negroes, officered by negroes, in the style 
 and pay of grenadiers, and a regiment of mulattoes, besides 
 the Havana battalion, the Havana militia, and the St. 
 Augustine forces. On the seventh a part of this force was 
 put in motion, and reached within a mile of Frederica, 
 when they were discovered by the rangers, and the alarm 
 given. Oglethorpe immediately advanced with a party 
 of Indians, rangers, and the Highland company, that were 
 then on parade, ordering the regiment to follow, being 
 resolved to engage them in the defiles of the wood before 
 they could get out and deploy in the open savannah. He
 
 288 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STEVENS 
 
 charged at the head of his force with such effect that 
 nearly all of the party, consisting of one hundred and 
 twenty-five of their best woodsmen, and forty-five Indians, 
 were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. . . . The 
 pursuit was continued several miles, to an open meadow 
 or savannah, upon the edge of which he posted three 
 platoons of the regiment and a company of Highland 
 foot, so as to be covered by the woods from the enemy, 
 who were obliged to pass through the meadow under 
 the English fire. Hastening back to Frederica, he got in 
 readiness the rangers and marines ; but scarcely were they 
 in marching order when he heard firing in the direction 
 of his ambushed troops, and, speeding thither, met two of 
 the platoons, who, in the smoke and drifting rain, had 
 retreated before the advance of Don Antonio Barba, who, 
 with one hundred grenadiers and two hundred infantry, 
 consisting of Indians and negroes, had pushed into the 
 meadow and drove out the ambuscade with loud huzzas 
 and rolling drums. The soldiers informed Oglethorpe that 
 all his force was routed ; but, finding one platoon and a 
 company of rangers missing, and still hearing firing in 
 the direction of the woods, he ordered the officers to 
 rally their men and follow him. 
 
 In the mean time this platoon and company of rangers, 
 under the command of Lieutenants Sutherland and Mac- 
 kay, instead of retreating with their comrades, no sooner 
 reached the wood than by a skilfully-executed detour they 
 gained the rear of the pursuing enem} 7 , and, at a point 
 where the road passed from the forest to the open marsh 
 across a small semicircular cove, planted themselves in 
 ambuscade in the thick palmettoes by which this narrow 
 pass was nearly surrounded. 
 
 Scarcely had they secreted themselves near this defile, 
 when the Spaniards, on their return, marched out of the
 
 STEVENS] THE SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA. 289 
 
 wood, and, supposing themselves secure from attack, pro- 
 tected as they were on the one side by an open morass 
 and on the other by the crescent-shaped hedge of palmet- 
 toes and underwood, they stacked their arms and yielded 
 themselves to repose. Sutherland .and Mackay, who from 
 their hiding-places had anxiously watched all their move- 
 ments, now raised the signal of attack, a Highland cap 
 upon a sword, and the soldiers poured in upon the un- 
 suspecting enemy a well-delivered and most deadly fire. 
 Volley succeeded volley, and the sand was strewed with 
 the dead and dying. A few of the Spanish officers at- 
 tempted, though in vain, to re-form their broken ranks ; 
 discipline was gone, orders were unheeded, safety alone 
 was sought ; and when, with a Highland shout of triumph, 
 the platoon burst among them with levelled bayonet and 
 flashing claymore, the panic-stricken foe fled in every di- 
 rection, some to the marsh, where they mired, and were 
 taken, some along the defile, where they were met by 
 the tomahawk and the broadsword, and some into the 
 thicket, where they became entangled and lost ; and a few 
 only escaped to their camp. Their defeat was complete. 
 Barba was taken, after being mortally wounded ; another 
 captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants, two drummers, and 
 one hundred and sixty privates, were killed, and a captain 
 and nineteen men were taken prisoners. This was a feat 
 of arms as brilliant as it was successful, and won for the 
 gallant troops the highest praise. Oglethorpe, with the 
 two platoons, did not reach the scene of this action, which 
 has ever since borne the appropriate name of "Bloody 
 Marsh," until the victory was achieved ; and, to show his 
 sense of their services, he promoted the brave young offi- 
 cers who had gained it, on the very field of their valor. 
 
 [The retreating enemy were pursued into their camp. On the next 
 day Oglethorpe withdrew his forces to Frederica. The misfortunes of 
 I. N t 25
 
 290 AMERICAN HISTORY. [STEVENS 
 
 the Spaniards caused dissensions among their leaders, learning of which, 
 Oglethorpe resolved to surprise them by a night attack.] 
 
 For this purpose he marched down, on the twelfth July, 
 five hundred men, and, leaving them within a mile of the 
 Spanish quarters, went forward at night with a small party 
 to reconnoitre, intending to surprise them, but was pre- 
 vented by the treachery of a Frenchman among Captain 
 Carr's marines, who, firing his musket, sounded the alarm, 
 and, favored by the darkness, deserted to the enemy. Find- 
 ing himself thus discovered, the general distributed the 
 drums about the wood, to represent a large force, and 
 ordered them to beat the grenadiers' march, which they 
 did for half an hour, and then, all being still, noiselessly 
 returned to Frederica. 
 
 Aware of his weakness, and fearing that the disclosures 
 which the Frenchman might make would embolden them 
 to surround and destroy him, which their superior force 
 by land and sea easily enabled them to do, he devised an 
 ingenious stratagem to defeat his information and retrieve 
 the effects of his desertion. The next day he prevailed 
 with a prisoner, and gave him a sum of money, to carry 
 a letter privately and deliver it to that Frenchman who 
 had deserted. This letter was written in French, as if 
 from a friend of his, telling him he had received the money ; 
 that he should strive to make the Spaniards believe the 
 English were weak ; that he should undertake to pilot up 
 their boats and galleys, and then bring them under the 
 woods where he knew the hidden batteries were ; and 
 that if he could bring that about, he should have double 
 the reward he had already received ; but if he failed in thus 
 decoying them under the guns of the water-battery, to use 
 all his influence to keep them at least three days more at 
 Fort St. Simon's, as within that time, according to advices 
 just received, he should be reinforced by two thousand in-
 
 STEVENS] THE SPANISH INVASION OF GEORGIA. 291 
 
 fantry and six men-of-war, which had already sailed from 
 Charleston ; and, by way of postscript, he was cautioned 
 against mentioning that Admiral Vernon was about to 
 make a descent upon St. Augustine. The Spanish prisoner 
 got into the camp, and was immediately carried before the 
 general, Don Manuel de Montiano. He was asked how 
 he escaped, and whether he had any letters, but, denying 
 his having any, was strictly searched, and the letter found 
 in his possession. Under a promise of pardon, he confessed 
 that he had received money to deliver it to the Frenchman, 
 for the letter was not directed. The Frenchman denied 
 his knowing anj'thing of its contents, or having received 
 any money, or having had any correspondence with Ogle- 
 thorpe, and vehemently protested that he was not a spy. 
 
 [The contents of the captured letter seriously perplexed the Spanish 
 commander, for whom the Frenchman had acted as a spy among the 
 English. Most of the council looked on him as a double spy, believed 
 the information of the letter, and advised an immediate retreat. While 
 the council grew warm in their debate, word was brought to the com- 
 mander that three vessels had been seen off the bar. Supposing this 
 to be part of the threatened fleet, the council no longer doubted the truth 
 of the letter, and resolved to fly before they should be hemmed in by 
 sea and land. They set fire to the fort, and hastily embarked, aban- 
 doning a quantity of their military stores in their hurry to escape. 
 Oglethorpe followed them with the vessels at his command, and has- 
 tened the rapidity of their flight.] 
 
 Thus the vigilance of Oglethorpe, the skilfulness of his 
 plans, the determined spirit of resistance, the carnage of 
 Bloody Marsh, the havoc done to the enemy's ships, and 
 his ingenious stratagem to defeat the designs of the French 
 deserter, saved Georgia and Carolina from falling into the 
 hands of the Spaniards. The force employed by the Span- 
 iards in this invasion comprised . . . over five thousand 
 men, commanded by Montiana, governor of St. Augustine, 
 and brought to Georgia in fifty-six vessels. The command
 
 292 . AMERICAN HISTORY. [BOOTH 
 
 of Oglethorpe consisted of only six hundred and fifty-two 
 men, including Indians and militia. The triumph of Ogle- 
 thorpe was complete. For fifteen days, with only two 
 ships and six hundred men, he had baffled the Spanish gen- 
 eral with fifty-six vessels and five thousand men, and at 
 last compelled him to retreat, with the loss of several sail, 
 scores of his best troops, and much of his provisions, mu- 
 nitions, and artillery. The repulse of such a formidable 
 invasion by such a handful of troops is unparalleled in 
 colonial history. 
 
 [The news of this victory was received with universal joy in the 
 North, and Oglethorpe was warmly congratulated on his victory by 
 the governors of the other English provinces. In the succeeding year 
 an attack was made on St. Augustine hy an army under Oglethorpe. 
 This expedition proved unsuccessful. There were no further move- 
 ments of invasion, though Georgia experienced annoyance from the 
 Florida Indians, who Avere stirred up by Spanish hostility.] 
 
 THE NEGRO PLOT IN NEW YORK. 
 
 MARY L. BOOTH. 
 
 [The witchcraft delusion of Salem had its counterpart in an equally 
 baseless epidemic" of suspicion and cruelty in New York, of suffi- 
 cient importance to call for special consideration. The only other 
 event of marked importance in that city, between the Leisler rebellion 
 and the French and Indian "War, was a conflict between the demo- 
 cratic and aristocratic parties in 1732. These parties divided the prov- 
 ince, and were in violent opposition. The editor of a popular journal 
 was imprisoned and sued for libel for an attack upon the measures of 
 the governor and council. He was acquitted upon trial, and Alexan- 
 der Hamilton, one of his defenders, was presented with an elegant 
 gold box by the magistrates, for his defence of popular rights and the 
 liberty of the press. The other occurrence referred to, the negro plot
 
 BOOTH] THE NEGRO PLOT IN NEW FORK. 293 
 
 of 1741, which for a while threw the city into an unreasoning panic, 
 is fully described in Mary L. Booth's "History of the City of New 
 York," from which we extract its leading particulars.] 
 
 THE negro plot of the city of New York will long con- 
 tinue to be classed in the foremost rank of popular delu- 
 sions, even exceeding in its progress and its fearful denoue- 
 ment the celebrated Popish Plot concocted by Titus Gates. 
 At this distance, it is difficult to ascertain how many 
 grains of truth were mingled in the mass of prejudice, or 
 to discover the wild schemes which may have sprung up 
 in the brains of the oppressed and excitable negroes, but 
 certain it is that nothing can justify the wholesale panic 
 of a civilized community, or the indiscriminate imprison- 
 ment and execution of scores of ignorant beings without 
 friends or counsel, on no other evidence than the incohe- 
 rencies of a few wretches more degraded than they, sup- 
 ported by the horror of a terror-struck imagination. "We 
 shall endeavor to follow the development of this singular 
 plot clearly and simply, leaving the reader to draw his 
 own inference from the facts and to determine how much 
 credence should be given the testimony. 
 
 At this time New York contained about ten thousand 
 inhabitants, nearly one-fifth of whom were negro slaves. 
 Since the first introduction of slavery into the province in 
 the days of Wilhelm Kieft, it had increased and flourished 
 to an alarming extent. Every householder who could 
 afford it was surrounded by negroes, who were contemptu- 
 ously designated as " the black seed of Cain," and deprived 
 not only of their liberty, but also of the commonest rights 
 of humanity. . . . The ordinances [against them] were of 
 the most stringent character. " All blacks were slaves," 
 says a late historian, " and slaves could not be witnesses 
 against a freeman. They were incapable of buying any- 
 thing, even the minutest necessary of life ; they were pun- 
 i. 25*
 
 294 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BOOTH 
 
 ishable by master or mistress to any extent short of life or 
 limb; as often as three of them were found together, they 
 were punished with forty lashes on the bare back ; and the 
 same legal liability attended the walking with a club out- 
 side the master's grounds without a permit. Two justices 
 might inflict any punishment short of death or amputation 
 for a blow or the smallest assault upon a Christian or a 
 Jew." Such was the spirit of the laws of the times. 
 
 It had been the constant policy, both of the Dutch 
 and English governments, to encourage the importation of 
 slaves as much as possible ; the leading merchants of the 
 city were engaged in the traffic, which was regarded by the 
 public as strictly honorable, and at the time of which we 
 speak New York was literally swarming with negroes, and 
 presented all the features of a present* Southern city, 
 with its calaboose on the Commons and its market-place 
 at the foot of Wall Street. The people were not blind to 
 the possible danger from this oppressed yet powerful host 
 that was silently gathering in their midst, and the slight- 
 est suspicious movement on the part of the negroes was 
 sufficient to excite their distrust and alarm. Since the 
 supposed plot of 1712, of which we have already spoken, 
 a growing fear of the slaves had pervaded the city, and 
 the most stringent measures had been adopted to prevent 
 their assemblages and to keep them under strict surveil- 
 lance. But it was difficult to restrain the thieving pro- 
 pensities of the negroes; petty thefts were constantly 
 committed, and it was one of these that first paved the 
 way to the real or supposed discovery of a plot to murder 
 the inhabitants and take possession of the city. 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1741, some goods and silver were 
 stolen from the house of a merchant named Robert Hogg, 
 
 * 1859.
 
 BOOTH] THE NEGRO PLOT IN NEW FORK. 295 
 
 on the corner of Broad and Mill or South William Streets. 
 The police immediately set to work to discover the thieves, 
 and, suspicion having fallen upon John Hughson, the 
 keeper of a low negro tavern on the shores of the North 
 River, his house was searched, but to no effect. Soon after, 
 an indentured servant-girl of Hughson's, by the name of 
 Mary Burton, told a neighbor that the goods were really 
 hidden in the house, but that Hughson would kill her if he 
 knew she had said so. This rumor soon came to the ears 
 of the authorities, who at once arrested Mary Burton and 
 lodged her in the city jail, promising her her freedom if 
 she would confess all that she knew about the matter. 
 
 [On a hearing, Mary Burton charged a negro named Caesar with 
 complicity in the robbery, and he and another slave, named Prince, 
 were arrested and imprisoned. Shortly afterwards the governor's 
 house at the fort took fire and burned to the ground. Other fires took 
 place in rapid succession, and there spread among the alarmed inhab- 
 itants a rumor that the negroes had plotted to burn the city. This 
 suspicion soon took the form of certainty. Some free negroes had 
 recently been brought into the port, as the crew of a Spanish prize 
 vessel, and had been sold as slaves. They were exasperated by this 
 harsh usage, and indulged in murmurs and threats. One of them 
 being questioned about a tire, his answers seemed evasive, and " Take 
 up the Spanish negroes 1" became the instant cry. They were at once 
 arrested and thrown into prison.] 
 
 The magistrates met the same afternoon to consult 
 about the matter, and while they were still in session 
 another fire broke out in the roof of Colonel Philipse's 
 storehouse. The alarm became universal; the negroes 
 were seized indiscriminately and thrown into prison, 
 among 'them many who had just helped to extinguish the 
 fire. People and magistrates were alike panic-struck, and 
 the rumor gained general credence that the negroes had 
 plotted to burn the city, massacre the inhabitants, and 
 effect a general revolution.
 
 296 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BOOTH 
 
 On the llth of April, 1741, the Common Council as- 
 sembled, and offered a reward of one hundred pounds 
 and a full pardon to any conspirator who would reveal his 
 knowledge of the plot, with the names of the incendiaries. 
 Many of the terrified inhabitants removed with their 
 household goods and valuables from what they began to 
 deem a doomed city, paying exorbitant prices for vehicles 
 and assistance. The city was searched for strangers and 
 suspicious persons, but none were found, and the negroes 
 were examined without effect. Cuff Philipse,* who had 
 been among those arrested, was proved to have been among 
 the most active in extinguishing the fire at his master's 
 house, yet he was held in prison to await further develop- 
 ments. 
 
 [Before the grand jury, which soon after met, Mary Burton deposed 
 that she had overheard a plot to burn the city and kill the whites. 
 Hughson was then to be governor, and Cuff king. Peggy Carey, an 
 Irishwoman who lived in Hughson's house, was charged with com- 
 plicity in the plot. She was convicted of having received and secreted 
 the stolen goods, and was sentenced to death along with Prince and 
 Caesar.] 
 
 Terrified at the prospect of a speedy death, the wretched 
 Peggy endeavored to avert her fate by grasping the means 
 of rescue which had before been offered her, and begged 
 for a second examination, and, this being granted her, 
 confessed that meetings of negroes had been held in the 
 last December at the house of John Romme, a tavern- 
 keeper near the new Battery, of the same stamp with 
 Hughson, at which she had been present, and that Romme 
 had told them that if they would set fire to the city, mas- 
 sacre the inhabitants, and bring the plunder to him, he 
 would carry them to a strange country and give them all 
 
 * The negroes were familiarly called by the surnames of their 
 masters.
 
 BOOTH] THE NEGRO PLOT IN NEW YORK. 297 
 
 their liberty. This confession was so evidently vamped 
 up to save herself from the gallows that even the magis- 
 trates hesitated to believe it. Yet Cuff Philipse, Brash 
 Jay, Cura<joa Dick, Caesar Pintard, Patrick English, Jack 
 Beasted, and Cato Moore, all of whom she had named in 
 her confession, were brought before her and identified as 
 conspirators. Roinme absconded, but his wife was arrested 
 and committed to prison, and the accused were locked up 
 for further examination. Upon this, the terrified negroes 
 began to criminate each other, hoping thereby to save 
 themselves from the fate that awaited them. But these 
 efforts availed them nothing, any more than did the con- 
 fession of the miserable Peggy, who was executed at last, 
 vainly denying with her dying breath her former accu- 
 sations. In the mean time several fires had occurred at 
 Hackensack, and two negroes, suspected of being the in- 
 cendiaries, were condemned and burnt at the stake, though 
 not a particle of evidence was found against them. 
 
 On Monday, the llth of May, Caesar and Prince, the 
 first victims of the negro plot, were hung on a gallows 
 erected on the little island in the Fresh Water Pond, de- 
 nying to the last all knowledge of the conspiracy, though 
 they admitted that they had really stolen the goods. 
 
 Hughson and his wife were tried and found guilty, and, 
 with Peggy Carey, were hanged on a gibbet erected on 
 the East River shore, near the corner of Cherry and 
 Catharine streets. . . . Cuff Philipse and Quack were 
 next brought to trial, a negro boy named Sawney appear- 
 ing as witness against them. This boy was at first ar- 
 rested and brought before the magistrates, when he denied 
 all knowledge of the conspiracy. He was told, in reply, 
 that if he would tell the truth he would not be hanged. 
 To tell the truth had now come to be generally understood 
 to mean the confession of a plot for burning the town.
 
 298 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BOOTH 
 
 [The frightened boy told a tissue of doubtful tales, on the strength 
 of which the accused negroes were tried for their lives. All the law- 
 yers of the city were on the side of the prosecution, leaving the 
 prisoners without counsel.] 
 
 Ignorant of the forms of law, and terrified at the pros- 
 pect of their impending danger, it is not strange that their 
 bewildered and contradictory statements were construed 
 by their learned adversaries into evidences of their guilt. 
 Quack and Cuffee were found guilty, and sentenced to be 
 burned at the stake on the 3d of June. 
 
 On the day appointed, the fagots were piled in a grassy 
 valley in the neighborhood of the present Five Points, 
 and the wretched victims led out to execution. The spot 
 was thronged with impatient spectators, eager to witness 
 the terrible tragedy. Terrified and trembling, the poor 
 wretches gladly availed themselves of their last chance 
 for life, and, on being questioned by their masters, con- 
 fessed that the plot had originated with Hughson, that 
 Quack's wife was the person who had set fire to the fort, 
 he having been chosen for the task by the confederated 
 negroes, and that Mary Burton had spoken the truth and 
 could name many more conspirators if she pleased. As a 
 reward, they were reprieved until the further pleasure of 
 the governor should be known. But the impatient popu- 
 lace, which had come out for a spectacle, would not so 
 easily be balked of its prey. Ominous mutterings re- 
 sounded round the pile, with threats of evil import, and 
 the sheriff was ordered to proceed with his duty. Terri- 
 fied by these menaces, he dared not attempt to take the 
 prisoners back to the jail ; and the execution went on. 
 Despite their forced confessions, the terrible pile was 
 lighted, and the wretched negroes perished in the flames, 
 knowing that, with their last breath, they had doomed 
 their fellows to share their fate in vain.
 
 BOOTH] THE NEGRO PLOT IN NEW YORK. 299 
 
 On the 6th of June, seven other negroes, named Jack, 
 Cook, Robin, Caesar, Cuffee, Cuffee, and Jamaica, were tried 
 and found guilty on the dying evidence of Quack and Cuf- 
 fee, with the stories of Mary Burton and the negro boy 
 Sawney. All were executed the next day, with the ex- 
 ception of Jack, who saved his life by promising further 
 disclosures. These disclosures implicated fourteen others, 
 one of whom, to save his life, confessed and accused still 
 more. 
 
 On the llth of June, Francis, one of the Spanish negroes, 
 Albany, and Curagoa Dick were sentenced to be burned at 
 the stake. Ben and Quack were condemned to the same 
 fate five days after. Three others were at the same time 
 sentenced to be hanged, and five of the Spanish negroes 
 were also convicted. 
 
 [On June 19 the governor proclaimed pardon to all who should con- 
 fess and reveal the names of their accomplices before July 1. The 
 accusations at once multiplied. Mary Burton, who had declared that 
 Hughson was the only white man in the plot, now accused John Ury, 
 a schoolmaster and reputed Catholic priest. To the negro plot were 
 now added rumors of a Popish plot. The evidence against Ury was 
 of the most improbable character, yet he was condemned, and sentenced 
 to be hanged.] 
 
 The arrest of Ury was the signal for the implication of 
 others of the whites. It was a true foreshadowing of the 
 Reign of Terror. Every one feared his neighbor, and has- 
 tened to be the first to accuse, lest he himself should be 
 accused and thrown into prison. Fresh victims were daily 
 seized, and those with whom the jails were already full to 
 overflowing were transported or hanged with scarcely the 
 form of a trial in order to make room for the new-comers. 
 So rapid was the increase that the judges feared that the 
 numbers might breed an infection, and devised short meth- 
 ods of ridding themselves of the prisoners, sometimes by
 
 300 AMERICAN HISTORY. [BOOTH 
 
 pardoning, but as often by hanging them. From the llth 
 of May to the 29th of August, one hundred and fifty -four 
 negroes were committed to prison, fourteen of whom were 
 burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, seventy-one trans- 
 ported, and the rest pardoned or dischai'ged for the want 
 of sufficient evidence. In the same time, twenty-four 
 whites were committed to prison, four of whom were 
 executed. 
 
 The tragedy would probably have continued much longer, 
 had not Mary Burton, grown bolder by success, begun to 
 implicate persons of consequence. This at once aroused 
 the fears of the influential citizens, who had been the fore- 
 most when only the negroes were in question, and put a 
 stop to all further proceedings. The fearful catalogue of 
 victims closed on the 29th of August with the execution 
 of John Ury. The 24th of September was set apart as a 
 day of general thanksgiving for the escape of the citizens 
 from destruction; Mary Burton received the hundred 
 pounds that had been promised her as the price of blood, 
 and the city fell back into a feeling of security. 
 
 Whether this plot ever had the shadow of an existence 
 except in the disordered imaginations of the citizens can 
 never with certainty be known. . . . The witnesses were 
 persons of the vilest character, the evidence was contra- 
 dictory, inconsistent, and extorted under the fear of death, 
 and no real testimony was adduced that could satisfy any 
 man in the possession of a clear head and a soundjudg- 
 ment. Terror was really the strongest evidence, and the 
 fear of the Jesuits the conclusive proof. The law passed 
 in 1700 for hanging every Catholic priest who voluntarily 
 came within the province still disgraced the statute-book, 
 while the feeling of intolerance which had prompted it 
 remained as bitter and unyielding as ever.
 
 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 301 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 THE three colonial wars between the French and Eng- 
 lish, which we have described, arose from events taking 
 place on the other side of the Atlantic, and were nearly 
 fruitless in results, so far as America was concerned. The 
 bloodshed, torture, and other horrors which accompanied 
 them might all have been spared, since neither of the 
 contestants gained any important advantages from them. 
 The war which we have yet to describe differed from the 
 others in both the particulars mentioned. It-had its ori- 
 gin in America, and it ended in a very decided change in 
 the relative positions of the contestants. 
 
 The progress of the colonies had by the middle of the 
 eighteenth century aroused conflicting claims to territory 
 which could scarcely fail to result in a struggle. The 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had endeavored to adjust the 
 relative claims to North American territory by the three 
 powers of England, France, and Spain. But as yet these 
 powers occupied only a narrow strip along the Atlantic 
 coast, and though they claimed, by their charters, the 
 whole country from ocean to ocean, yet their ignorance 
 of the vast region thus appropriated on paper was very 
 sure to bring them into disputes concerning boundaries. 
 The English claimed the whole sea-coast from Newfound- 
 i. 26
 
 302 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 land to Florida, in virtue of the discovery by the Cabots, 
 and their grants of territory were assumed as extending 
 westward to the Pacific. This claim to the interior was 
 partly based on treaties with the Iroquois Indians, who, 
 on the pretence that they had at some former time con- 
 quered all the territory from the Alleghanies to the Mis- 
 sissippi, ceded this territory to the English, without heed 
 to the rights of the tribes actually occupying it. 
 
 The French, on the other hand, based their claims to 
 the Mississippi region on actual discovery and exploration. 
 In their view, the half of New York, and the greater 
 portion of New England, fell within the limits of New 
 France and Acadia; while their western provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Louisiana were held to include the 
 entire valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries. 
 
 The original basis of the war which now arose between 
 the French and the English was a dispute as to the owner- 
 ship of the territory bordering on the Ohio. The first 
 step towards it was a grant from the English government 
 to a company of merchants, called the Ohio Company. 
 The movements of this company towards a settlement of 
 the territory assigned them at once roused the apprehen- 
 sions of the French that the English were seeking to de- 
 prive them of their trade with the western Indians and 
 to sever their line of communication between Canada and 
 Louisiana. They immediately took active measures to 
 secure their claim to this territory. 
 
 As for the aboriginal owners of the land, not the slight- 
 est attention was paid to their rights of possession. Two 
 sachems sent a messenger to Mr. Gist, an agent sent out 
 by the Ohio Company, to inquire of him " where the In- 
 dians' land lay, for the French claimed all the land on 
 one side of the Ohio Eiver, and the English on the other." 
 This pertinent question forcibly shows the real merits of
 
 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 303 
 
 the case, and that neither of the colonial contestants had 
 the slightest claim in equity to the territory. 
 
 Yet, disregarding all Indian rights, the pioneer settlers 
 of the two nations proceeded to make good their claims. 
 The first act of hostility was committed by the French, in 
 1753. Three British traders, who had advanced into the 
 disputed territory, were seized by a party of French and 
 Indians and carried prisoners to Presque Isle, on Lake 
 Erie, where the French were then erecting a fort. In 
 reprisal, the Twightwees, a tribe in alliance with the 
 English, seized several French traders, whom they sent to 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 These evident hostilities between the whites aroused 
 the Indians, ever ready for war and bloodshed. Insti- 
 gated, as is supposed, by French emissaries, they began 
 inroads upon the borders. The settlers of the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, who were suffering from these savage raids, 
 called upon Governor Dinwiddie, of Yirginia, for aid. A 
 messenger was sent out to ascertain the temper of the 
 Indians and the intentions of the French. He returned 
 in alarm at the hostility discovered. Orders now arrived 
 from the British ministry to the governor of Virginia, 
 directing him to build two forts near the Ohio, intended 
 to hold in check the Indians and to prevent French en- 
 croachments. The orders arrived too late. The French 
 had already taken possession of the territory, and were 
 securing it by the erection of forts. 
 
 Such were the instigating causes of the Seven Years' 
 War in America, a conflict which continued for several 
 years before any declaration of hostilities was made by 
 the mother-countries, and which resulted in a radical 
 change in the relations of the colonists of America.
 
 304 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SPARKS 
 
 THE OPENING OF THE WAR. 
 
 JAEED SPARKS. 
 
 [It was deemed desirable, before taking any more active measures, 
 to send a messenger to the commander of the French forces on the 
 Ohio and demand his authority for invading the territory of Virginia, 
 and with what designs he was there. Governor Dinwiddie selected for 
 this important mission George Washington, then but twenty-one years 
 of age, yet already holding a commission of major in the Virginia 
 militia, and a man of note in the colony. In addition to his ostensi- 
 ble mission, he was instructed to learn all he could in regard to the 
 disposition of the Indians, the number of French troops in the country, 
 and what reinforcements were expected, with all possible information 
 as to the location, strength, and garrisons of the French forts. Pro- 
 vided with credentials from the governor, he set out from Williams- 
 burg on October 31, 1753. His journey, which was in great part 
 through a wilderness, mainly mountainous, covered a distance of five 
 hundred and sixty miles. Reaching Will's Creek, beyond Winchester, 
 he induced Mr. Gist, an experienced woodsman, to accompany him as 
 guide. The party that there left the extreme limit of civilization 
 and plunged into the primeval forest consisted of eight persons. The 
 season proved severe, and the mountains difficult to cross, but they at 
 length reached the Ohio at the point of junction of its two affluents. 
 The military advantages of this place were perceived by Major Wash- 
 ington, and he advised the erection of the fortification which was 
 soon begun there, and which was destined to prove famous in the 
 coming war. Twenty miles farther, at Logs-town, he called together 
 some of the Indian chiefs, with whom he sought to make an alliance, 
 and whom he asked for an escort. In neither was he fully successful, 
 only four Indians accompanying him. A journey of one hundred 
 and twenty miles farther took him to the station of the French com- 
 mandant, at a fort situated on French Creek, about fifteen miles south 
 of Lake Erie. The journey had occupied forty-one days. He was 
 received with great politeness by M. de St. -Pierre, the commandant, 
 and delivered his letters, which expressed surprise at the French en- 
 croachments, demanded their authority, and urged a speedy and 
 peaceful departure. While the French officers were in consultation, 
 Washington took the opportunity to inspect the fort thoroughly.
 
 SPARKS] THE OPENING OF THE WAR. 305 
 
 Finally he received the answer that the French were there by au- 
 thority and could not retire, and that the message should have been 
 sent to the governor of Canada. 
 
 The return of the party proved a difficult one. They proceeded by 
 canoe to the French post of Venango, at the mouth of French Creek, 
 on the Ohio. Here their horses proved so emaciated as to be fit only 
 to furry the provisions and baggage, and the party determined to 
 proceed on foot. After three days more the horses grew so feeble 
 that Major Washington and Mr. Gist left the rest of the party, and 
 started alone through the woods by a more direct route. They had 
 some exciting adventures, and in crossing the Alleghany, which was 
 full of drifting ice, they narrowly escaped drowning. They managed 
 to escape from their raft to an island, and reached the opposite shore 
 the next morning ; but Mr. Gist's hands and feet were frozen by the 
 intense cold, and the night was one of extreme suffering. Washing- 
 ton finally reached Williamsburg on January 16, after an absence of 
 eleven weeks. 
 
 As the intentions of the French were now evident, no time was lost 
 in preparing for energetic action. Efforts to raise a colonial army 
 were at once made, but Virginia had mainly to depend upon herself, 
 the other colonies taking little interest in the matter. At length, in 
 April, 1754, Washington, now colonel, set out with two companies of 
 recruits, and reached Will's Creek on the 20th. The account of the 
 subsequent events we extract from " The Life of George Washington," 
 by Jared Sparks.] 
 
 A PARTY of Captain Trent's men had already gone to 
 the Ohio, and begun to build a fort. Just before Colonel 
 Washington reached Will's Creek, a rumor came from the 
 interior that these men were taken by the French ; and 
 two days afterwards the alarming intelligence was con- 
 firmed by the ensign of Captain Trent's company. He 
 reported that, while they were at work, forty-one in num- 
 ber, a body of French troops descended the river from 
 Venango, consisting of one thousand men, with eighteen 
 pieces of cannon, sixty bateaux, and three hundred canoes, 
 under the command of Captain Contrecoeur, and summoned 
 them to surrender, threatening to take forcible possession 
 i. it 26*
 
 306 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SPARKS 
 
 of the fort if this summons were not immediately obeyed. 
 No alternative remained, and, the captain and lieutenant 
 being absent, Ensign Ward acceded to articles of capitu- 
 lation, and gave up the fort, but was permitted to retire 
 with his men. He came to Will's Creek, and brought the 
 news of the disaster. His statement, however, as to the 
 numbers of the French, their cannon and boats, turned 
 out to be very much exaggerated. This was the first open 
 act of hostility in the memorable war of seven years that 
 followed. The French enlarged arid completed the fort, 
 which they called Fort Duquesne, in compliment to the 
 governor of Canada. 
 
 [The position of Colonel Washington was now a somewhat critical 
 one. His small force of ill-disciplined recruits might easily be sur- 
 rounded and cut off. But he determined to advance, to construct a 
 road as he did so, and, if he could reach the Monongahela, to huild a 
 fort at the mouth of Eedstone Creek. The progress was a slow one. 
 Great difficulties had to be overcome, and provisions grew scarce. 
 Washington attempted to find a passage by water down the Youghio- 
 gheny, but failed, from obstructions in the river. On his return he re- 
 ceived word from the Half-King, a friendly sachem, that a party of 
 French were marching towards him, determined to attack the first 
 English they should meet.] 
 
 Not knowing their number, or at what moment they 
 might approach, he hastened to a place called the Great 
 Meadows, cleared away the bushes, threw up an intrench- 
 ment, and prepared, as he expressed it, " a charming field 
 for an encounter." He then mounted some of the soldiers 
 on wagon-horses, and sent them out to reconnoitre. They 
 came back without having seen any traces of the enemy ; 
 but the camp was alarmed in the night, the sentries fired, 
 and all hands were kept under arms till morning. Mr. 
 Gist came to the camp, also, and reported that a French 
 detachment, consisting of fifty men, had been at his settle-
 
 SPARKS] THE OPENING OF THE WAR. 307 
 
 ment the day before, and that he had observed their tracks 
 within five miles of the Great Meadows. 
 
 The approach of the French with hostile designs was 
 now deemed certain ; and the best preparation was made to 
 receive them which circumstances would permit. In the 
 mean time, about nine o'clock at night, another express 
 came from the Half-King, who was then with a party of 
 his warriors about six miles from the camp, stating that 
 he had seen the tracks of two Frenchmen, and that the 
 whole detachment was near that place. Colonel "Wash- 
 ington immediately put himself at the head of forty men, 
 leaving the rest to guard the camp, and set off to join the 
 Half-King. The night was dark, the rain fell in torrents, 
 the paths through the woods were narrow and intricate, 
 and the soldiers often lost their way, groping in the bushes, 
 and clambering over rocks and fallen trees. 
 
 The whole night was spent in the march, and they got 
 to the Indian encampment just before sunrise. A council 
 was held with Tanacharison [the Half-King] and his 
 chief warriors, and it was agreed that they should march 
 in concert against the French. Two Indians went out to 
 ascertain the position of the enemy, which was discovered 
 to be in an obscure retreat, surrounded by rocks, half a 
 mile from the road. The plan of attack was then formed. 
 Colonel Washington and his men were to advance on the 
 right, and the Indians on the left. The march was pur- 
 sued in single file, according to the Indian manner, till 
 they came so near as to be discovered by the French, who 
 instantly seized their arms and put themselves in an atti- 
 tude of defence. 
 
 At this moment the firing commenced on both sides. A 
 smart skirmish ensued, which was kept up for a quarter 
 of an hour, when the French ceased to resist. M. de Ju- 
 monville, the commander of the French party, and ten of
 
 308 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SPARKS 
 
 his men, were killed. Twenty-two were taken prisoners, 
 one of whom was wounded. A Canadian made his escape 
 during the action. One of Colonel Washington's men was 
 killed, and two or three wounded. No harm happened to 
 the Indians, as the enemy's fire was directed chiefly against 
 the English. This event occurred on the 28th of May. 
 The prisoners were conducted to the Great Meadows, and 
 thence, under a guard, to Governor Dinwiddie. 
 
 [This action, the opening conflict of arms in the war, acquired a 
 notoriety far beyond its importance. When the news of the event 
 reached Paris it was greatly misrepresented. Jumonville was consid- 
 ered a messenger bearing a civil summons, who had been waylaid and 
 assassinated ; and an able French poet, named Thomas, made it the 
 foundation of an epic poem entitled " Jumonville," and his fiction has 
 become to some extent the fact of modern French historians. Jumon- 
 ville did bear a summons, but it was an order for the English to re- 
 tire, with a threat of compulsion if they failed to obey. This sum- 
 mons he did not show, but approached the English camp stealthily, 
 and brought on himself, by his imprudence, the fate which he expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 Some reinforcements soon after reached Virginia, consisting of three 
 hundred and fifty men from North Carolina, one hundred from South 
 Carolina, and two companies from New York. Of these only those 
 from South Carolina arrived at Great Meadows.] 
 
 It was foreseen by Colonel Washington that when the 
 French at Fort Duquesne should get the news of Ju- 
 monville's defeat a strong detachment would be sent 
 out against him. As a preparation for this event, he 
 set all his men at work to enlarge the intrenchment 
 at the Great Meadows, and to erect palisades. To the 
 structure thus hastily thrown up he gave the name of 
 Fort Necessity. 
 
 The Indians, who leaned to the English interest, fled 
 before the French and flocked to the camp, bringing along 
 their wives and children and putting them under his pro-
 
 SPARKS] THE OPENING OF THE WAR. 309 
 
 tection. Among them came Tanacharison and his people, 
 Queen Aliquippa and her son, and other persons of dis- 
 tinction, till between forty and fifty families gathered 
 around him and laid his magazine of supplies under a 
 heavy contribution. It may be said, once for all, that the 
 burden of supporting these sons of the forest during this 
 campaign, and the perplexities of managing them, were 
 by no means counterbalanced by any advantage derived 
 from their aid. As spies and scouts they were of some 
 service; in the field they did nothing. 
 
 The forces at the Great Meadows, including Captain 
 Mackay's [South Carolina] company, had now increased 
 to about four hundred men. But a new difficulty arose, 
 which threatened disagreeable consequences. Captain 
 Mackay had a royal commission, which in his opinion 
 put him above the authority of Colonel Washington, who 
 was a colonial officer, commissioned by the governor of 
 Virginia. He was a man of mild and gentlemanly man- 
 ners, and no personal difference interrupted the harmony 
 between them; but still he declined receiving the orders 
 of the colonel, and his company occupied a separate en- 
 campment. . . . 
 
 To avoid altercation, and prevent the contagious ex- 
 ample of disobedience from infecting the troops, Colonel 
 Washington resolved to advance with a large part of his 
 army, and, if not obstructed by the enemy, to go on by 
 the shortest route to the Monongahela Eiver. Captain 
 Mackay's company was left at Fort Necessity, as a guard 
 to that post. The road was to be cleared and levelled for 
 artillery-carriages ; and the process was so laborious that 
 it took two weeks to effect a passage through the gorge 
 of the mountains to Gist's settlement, a distance of only 
 thirteen miles. . . . Due vigilance was practised, and 
 scouts were kept abroad, even as far as the neighborhood
 
 310 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SPARKS 
 
 of Fort Duquesne, so that the first motions of the enemy 
 might be detected. 
 
 [It was soon discovered that Fort Duquesne had been reinforced 
 from Canada, and that a force was preparing to march against the 
 English. It was at first decided to make a stand at Gist's settlement, 
 and Mackay's company was ordered up. But another council decided 
 that the enemy's force was too large, and that a retreat was necessary. 
 It was achieved with great difficulty and exertion, the horses being 
 few and weak, and the burden of labor falling on the men.] 
 
 In two days they all got back to the Great Meadows. 
 It was not the intention at first to halt at this place, but 
 the men had become so much fatigued from great labor 
 and a deficiency of provisions that they could draw the 
 swivels no further, nor carry the baggage on their backs. 
 They had been eight days without bread, and at the Great 
 Meadows they found only a few bags of flour. . . . 
 
 Colonel Washington set his men to felling trees, and 
 carrying logs to the fort, with a view to raise a breast- 
 work and enlarge and strengthen the fortification in the 
 best manner that circumstances would permit. The space 
 of ground called the Great Meadows is a level bottom, 
 through which passes a small creek, and is surrounded by 
 hills of a moderate and gradual ascent. This bottom, or 
 glade, is entirely level, covered with long grass and bushes, 
 and varies in width. At the point where the fort stood, 
 it is about two hundred and fifty yards wide, from the 
 base of one hill to that of the opposite. The position of 
 the fort was well chosen, being about one hundred, yards 
 from the upland, or wooded ground, on the one side, and 
 one hundred and fifty on the othei*. and so situated on 
 the margin of the creek as to afford an easy access to 
 water. . . . 
 
 On the 3d of July, early in the morning, an alarm was 
 received from a sentinel, who had been wounded by the
 
 SPARKS] THE OPENING OF THE WAR. 31 1 
 
 enemy ; and at nine o'clock intelligence came that the 
 whole bod}* of the enemy, amounting, as was reported, to 
 nine hundred men, was only four miles off. At eleven 
 o'clock they approached the fort, and began to fire, at the 
 distance of six hundred yards, but without effect. Colonel 
 Washington had drawn up his men on the open and level 
 ground outside of the trenches, waiting for the attack, 
 which he presumed would be made as soon as the en- 
 emy's forces emerged from the woods; and he ordered 
 his men to reserve their fire till they should be near 
 enough to do execution. . . . He maintained his post till 
 he found the French did not incline to leave the woods 
 and attack the fort by an assault, as he supposed they 
 would, considering their superiority of numbers. He 
 then drew his men back within the trenches, and gave 
 them orders to fire according to their discretion, as suita- 
 ble opportunities might present themselves. The French 
 and Indians remained on the side of the rising ground 
 which was nearest to the fort, and, sheltered by the trees, 
 kept up a brisk fire of musketry, but never appeared in 
 the open plain below. The rain fell heavily through the 
 day, the trenches were filled with water, and many of the 
 arms of Colonel Washington's men were out of order and 
 used with difficulty. 
 
 In this way the battle continued from eleven in the 
 morning till eight at night, when the French called and 
 requested a parley. Suspecting this to be a feint to pro- 
 cure the admission of an officer into the fort, that he might 
 discover their condition, Colonel Washington at first de- 
 clined to listen to the proposal. 
 
 [He afterwards agreed to it, and, articles of capitulation being pro- 
 posed by the French commander, they were accepted and signed by 
 both parties.]
 
 312 AMERICAN HISTORY. [SPARKS 
 
 By the terms of the capitulation, the whole garrison 
 was to retire, and return without molestation to the in- 
 habited parts of the country; and the French commander 
 promised that no embarrassment should be interposed, 
 either by his own men or the savages. The English were 
 to take away everything in their possession, except their 
 artillery, and to march out of the fort the next morning 
 with the honors of war, their drums beating and colors 
 flying. As the French had killed all the horses and cattle, 
 Colonel Washington had no means of transporting his 
 heavy baggage and stores; and it was conceded to him 
 that his men might conceal their effects, and that a guard 
 might be left to protect them, till horses could be sent up 
 to take them away. Colonel Washington agreed to restore 
 the prisoners who had been taken at the skirmish with 
 Jumonville ; and, as a surety for this article, two hostages, 
 Captain Yanbraam and Captain Stobo, were delivered up 
 to the French, and were to be retained till the prisoners 
 should return. It was, moreover, agreed that the party 
 capitulating should not attempt to build any more estab- 
 lishments at that place, or beyond the mountains, for the 
 space of a year. 
 
 Early the next morning Colonel Washington began to 
 march from the fort in good order, but he had proceeded 
 only a short distance when a body of one hundred Indians, 
 being a reinforcement to the French, came upon him, and 
 could hardly be restrained from attacking his men. They 
 pilfered the baggage, and did other mischief. He marched 
 forward, however, with as much speed as possible in the 
 weakened and encumbered condition of his army, there 
 being no other mode of conveying the wounded men and 
 the baggage than on the soldiers' backs. As the provis- 
 ions were nearly exhausted, no time was to be lost ; and, 
 leaving much of the baggage behind, he hastened to Will's
 
 FROST] SHADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 313 
 
 Creek, where all the necessary supplies were in store. 
 Thence Colonel Washington and Captain Mackay pro- 
 ceeded to Williamsburg, and communicated in person to 
 Governor Dimviddie the events of the campaign. 
 
 [The narration here given is of especial importance, as recording 
 the first military event in the life of George Washington, who was 
 afterwards to become so famous in the annals of war. Although but 
 a youth, unskilled in war, he had shown remarkable prudence, cour- 
 age, and ability. His conduct, as well as that of his troops, was highly 
 approved by the authorities, and the House of Burgesses passed a vote 
 of thanks to Colonel Washington and his officers " for their bravery 
 and gallant defence of their country."] 
 
 BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 
 
 JOHN FROST. 
 
 [As it was now becoming apparent that war with France was inevi- 
 table, and as the continued advances of the French upon what was 
 claimed by the English colonists as their territory demonstrated the 
 necessity of co-operation in the colonies, the English government rec- 
 ommended that a convention should be held at Albany, for the double 
 purpose of forming a league with the Iroquois and of devising a plan 
 of general defence against the common enemy. The delegates from 
 the colonies met in June, 1754, made a treaty of peace with the Six 
 Nations, and considered the subject of colonial union. Among the 
 delegates was Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, who, starting in 
 life as a printer's boy, was now postmaster-general of America, and 
 was looked upon by many as the ablest of American thinkers. He 
 proposed a plan of union, which the convention adopted on July 4. 
 There was to be a general government of the colonies, presided over 
 by a governor-general appointed by the crown, and conducted by a 
 council chosen by the colonial legislatures. The council was to have 
 the power to raise troops, declare war, make peace, collect money, and 
 pass all measures necessary for the public safety. The governor-gen- 
 i. o 27
 
 314 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FROST 
 
 eral was to have the power to veto its ordinances, while all laws were 
 required to be ratified by the king. This plan was favored by all the 
 delegates except those of Connecticut, who objected to the veto power 
 of the governor-general and to the authority to lay general taxes. 
 But when submitted to the colonial Assemblies and to the British gov- 
 ernment it was rejected by both, the colonies considering that it gave 
 too much power to the king, and the king that it gave too much power 
 to the people. As this plan had failed, the British ministry determined 
 to take the control of the war into their own hands, and to send out 
 an army strong enough to force the French to keep within their own 
 territory. The story of the ensuing events we select from Frost's 
 " Life of General Washington."] 
 
 IN January, 1755, General Braddock was despatched 
 from Ireland, with two regiments of infantry, to co-oper- 
 ate with the Virginian forces in recovering the command 
 of the Ohio. The arrival of Braddock excited enthusias- 
 tic hopes among the colonists. The different provinces 
 seemed to forget their disputes with each other and with 
 Great Britain, and to enter into a resolution to chastise 
 the French, at whatever cost. At the request of the 
 British commander, a meeting of the governors of five 
 of the colonies was held at Alexandria, at which they 
 determined to undertake three simultaneous expeditions. 
 The first. of these was to be conducted by Braddock, 
 with the British troops, against Fort Duquesne; the 
 second, under the command of Governor Shirley, now 
 honored with the commission of a general from the king, 
 was intended for the reduction of the French fort of 
 Niagara, and was composed of American regulars and 
 Indians ; the third was an expedition against Crown 
 Point, to be undertaken by a regiment of militia. 
 
 [The orders brought by Braddock divested the colonial generals and 
 field-officers of all rank while serving with British officers of the same 
 grade, and made company officers subordinate to those of the regular 
 army. This left Washington without rank in the new army ; yet he
 
 FROST] BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 315 
 
 was eager to take part in the expedition, and at Braddock's request he 
 joined him with the rank of aide-de-camp. The army proceeded by 
 way of Frederic Town and Winchester to Will's Creek, which was 
 reached about the middle of May. Here a long halt was made, to 
 obtain wagons and horses, though Washington strongly opposed the 
 delay, and recommended an immediate advance, before the French 
 could reinforce their posts on the Ohio. Finally the wagons were 
 obtained, through the strenuous exertions of Benjamin Franklin and 
 his personal influence with the farmers of Pennsylvania. On the 
 10th of June the army recommenced its march. As it proceeded 
 very slowly, Washington advised a rapid advance of a portion of 
 the troops, leaving the rear division, with the baggage, heavy artil- 
 lery, etc., to follow more slowly.] 
 
 This advice prevailed in the council, and, being ap- 
 proved by the general, he advanced on the 19th of June, 
 with twelve hundred chosen men, and officers from all the 
 different corps, leaving the remainder, with most of the 
 wagons, under the command of Colonel Dunbar, with in- 
 structions to follow as fast as he could. Notwithstanding 
 this arrangement, Braddock advanced very slowly, " halt- 
 ing to level every mole-hill and to erect bridges over every 
 brook, by which means he was four days in advancing 
 twelve miles." 
 
 [Washington was now prostrated with a severe fever, and was 
 obliged to remain with the rear division. He rejoined the general 
 on the day before the battle, and was then able to sit on horseback, 
 though still very weak.] 
 
 On joining Braddock's division on the 8th. at the mouth 
 of the Youghiogheny, Washington was surprised to find 
 them, though within fifteen miles of the fort, marching in 
 regular European order, in as perfect security as if they 
 were on the wide plains of the Eastern Hemisphere, or 
 in a peaceful review, on a field-day, in England. They 
 marched without advanced guai'ds or scouts ; and the 
 pffer of Washington to scour the woods, in front and on
 
 316 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FROST 
 
 the flanks, with his Yirginian provincials, was haughtily 
 rejected. 
 
 A considerable bend in the Monongahela Eiver, and the 
 nature of the banks, made it necessary for the army to 
 cross it twice before they reached the fort. On the morn- 
 ing of the 9th of July, everything being in readiness, the 
 whole train crossed the river in perfect order, a short dis- 
 tance below the mouth of the Youghiogheny, and took 
 up their line of march along its southern bank, in high 
 spirits. The garrison of the fort was understood to be 
 small, and quite inadequate to resist the force now brought 
 to bear upon it ; exulting hope filled every heart ; and no 
 one doubted that he should see the British flag waving, 
 next day, over the battlements, and the enemy obliged 
 to retire to Canada or surrender themselves prisoners 
 of war. The march on that morning is described as a 
 splendid spectacle, being made in full military array, in 
 exact order, the sun glancing from the burnished bayo- 
 nets to the scarlet uniform of the regulars, with a majestic 
 river on the right, and dark, deep woods on the left. Not 
 an enemy appeared, and the most profound silence reigned 
 over this wild territory. The only countenance among 
 them which was clouded with care or concern was that 
 of Washington, who, as he rode beside the general, vainly 
 represented that the profound silence and apparent soli- 
 tude of the gloomy scenes around them afforded no se- 
 curity in American warfare against deadly and imminent 
 danger. Again, and still vainly, did he offer to scour the 
 woods in front and on the left with the provincial troops. 
 The general treated his fears as the effects of fever on his 
 brain, and the provincials were ordered to form the rear- 
 guard of the detachment. 
 
 About noon they reached the second crossing-place, 
 within ten miles of Fort Duquesne, and at one o'clock
 
 FROST] BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 317 
 
 had all crossed the river in safety, Three hundred men 
 under Colonel Gage formed the advanced party, which 
 was closely followed by a party of two hundred ; and last 
 of all followed the general with the main body, consisting 
 of about seven hundred men, the artillery and baggage. 
 
 After crossing the river, the road along which they 
 marched led for about half a mile through a low plain, 
 and then 'commenced a gradual ascent of about three 
 degrees, the prospect being shut in by hills in the distance. 
 About a hundred and fifty yards from the bottom of this 
 inclined plain, and about equidistant from the road leading 
 to the fort, commenced two ravines, from eight to ten feet 
 deep, which led off in different directions until they ter- 
 minated in the plain below. Covered as these ravines 
 were with trees and long grass, and the British having no 
 scouts, it was impossible for them to discover their exist- 
 ence without approaching within a few feet of them. Up 
 this inclined plain, between these ravines, General Brad- 
 dock led his army on the afternoon of the 9th of July. 
 
 While the English were thus leisurely advancing, the 
 scouts of the French kept the commandant at Fort Du- 
 quesne accurately informed of their motions and their 
 numbers. Believing the small force under his command 
 wholly inadequate to the defence of the fort against three 
 thousand men, with a formidable park of artillery, as his 
 scouts had represented them, he was hesitating what course 
 to pursue, when Captain de Beaujeu offered to lead a small 
 party of French and Indians to meet the enemy and harass 
 his march. It required a great deal of persuasion to in- 
 duce the Indians to engage in what they considered an 
 impossible undertaking; but, possessing their confidence, 
 he finally subdued their unwillingness, and induced about 
 six hundred of them to accompany him. With these and 
 about two hundred and fifty French and Canadians, he 
 I. 27*
 
 318 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FROST 
 
 intended to occupy the banks of the Monongahela and 
 harass the English as they crossed the river. It was only 
 on the morning of the 9th that he was ready to start on 
 this expedition, and when he arrived near the river his 
 spies reported that Braddock had already crossed. Find- 
 ing that he was too late to pursue his original plan, De 
 Beaujeu placed his followers in the ravines before men- 
 tioned, between which the English were seen advancing 
 along the road. 
 
 When the three hundred under Gage came near the 
 head of the ravines, a heavy discharge of musketry was 
 poured in upon their front, and immediately after another 
 upon their left flank. This was the first notice which they 
 had of the presence of an enemy. Braddock was 'com- 
 pletely surprised. Gage ordered his men to fire, and 
 though no enemy was visible, yet they poured such a 
 discharge upon the spot where the smoke of the first fire 
 was still to be seen, that the Indians, believing that it pro- 
 ceeded from artillery, were upon the point of retreating. 
 Their indecision was but for an instant, for the advance, 
 falling back upon the main body, threw them into con- 
 fusion ; and instead of following the example of the In- 
 dians and taking to the trees, or opening upon their 
 invisible foe a discharge of grape, they were ordered by 
 Braddock to maintain their ranks and advance. Captain 
 de Beaujeu was killed by the first discharge of Gage's 
 men, and Captain Dumas, who succeeded him in the com- 
 mand, immediately rallied the Indians, and, sending them 
 down the ravines, ordered them to attack the enemy on 
 each flank, while he, with the French and Canadians, 
 maintained his position in front. Then commenced a ter- 
 rible carnage. The British, panic-struck and bewildered, 
 huddled together in squads, heeded not the commands of 
 their officers, who were riding about madly urging them
 
 FROST] BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 319 
 
 to advance, but they only fled from one side of the field to 
 be met by the fire of an invisible foe on the other side ; and 
 then they would gather in small parties as if they hoped 
 to shield themselves behind the bodies of their friends, 
 firing without aim, oftener shooting down their own offi- 
 cers and men than Indians. Their only hope would now 
 have been to separate, rush behind the trees, and fight 
 man to man with their assailants ; but Braddock insisted 
 on forming them into platoons and columns, in order to 
 make regular discharges, which struck only the trees or 
 tore up the ground in front. The Virginians alone seemed 
 to retain their senses. Notwithstanding the prohibition 
 of the general, they no sooner knew the enemy with whom 
 they had to deal, than they adopted the Indian mode of 
 fighting, and each for himself, behind a tree, manifested 
 bravery worthy of a better fate. 
 
 Meanwhile the French and Indians, secure behind their 
 natural breastworks, aimed deliberately first at the officers 
 on horseback, and then at others, each shot bringing down 
 a man. The leaders, selected by unerring aim, fell first. 
 Captains Orme and Morris, two of the three aides-de-camp, 
 were wounded early in the action, and Washington was 
 the only person left to distribute the general's orders, which 
 he was scarcely able to do, as he was not more than half 
 recovered from his illness. Notwithstanding the neglect 
 with which his warnings had been treated, he still aided 
 the general with his mental as well as his physical powers; 
 though the troops lay thick around him in slaughtered 
 heaps, he still gave the aid of salutary counsel to his ill- 
 fated chief, and urged it with all the grace of eloquence 
 and all the force of conviction. Biding in every direction, 
 his manly form drew the attention of the savages, and 
 they doomed him to destruction. The murdering rifles 
 were levelled, the quick bullets flew winged with death,
 
 320 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FROST 
 
 and pierced his garments; but, obedient to the Sovereign 
 will, they dared not shed his blood. One chieftain es- 
 pecially singled Washington out as a conspicuous mark, 
 fired his rifle at him many times, and ordered his young 
 warriors to do the same, until they became convinced 
 that he was under the special protection of the Great 
 Spirit, and would never die in battle, when they desisted. 
 Although four balls passed through Washington's coat, 
 and two horses were shot under him, he escaped unhurt. 
 
 Washington's .conduct in the action is described by an 
 eye-witness whose verbal account is thus given by Mr. 
 Paulding : " I saw him take hold of a brass field-piece as 
 if it had been a stick. He looked like a fury ; he tore the 
 sheet-lead from the touch-hole; he placed one hand on the 
 muzzle, the other on the breech ; he pulled with this, and 
 he pushed with that, and wheeled it round as if it had 
 been nothing. It tore the ground like a barshare. The 
 powder-monkey rushed up with the fire, and then the 
 cannon began to bark, I tell you. They fought and they 
 fought, and the Indians began to holla, when the rest of 
 the brass cannon made the bark of the trees fly, and the 
 Indians come down. That place they call Rock Hill, and 
 there they left five hundred men dead on the gi-ound." 
 
 After the slaughter had thus continued for three hours, 
 General Braddock, after having three horses killed under 
 him, received a shot through the right arm and the lungs, 
 and was borne from the field by Colonel Gage. More 
 than one-half of the soldiers who had so proudly crossed 
 the river three hours before were now killed or wounded, 
 and the rest, on the fall of the general, fled precipitately. 
 The provincials, who were among the last to leave the 
 ground, were kept in order by Washington, and served to 
 cover the retreat of the regulars. The officers in general 
 remained on the field while there seemed any hope of
 
 FROST] BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 321 
 
 rallying their troops, and consequently, out of eighty-six 
 engaged, sixty-three were killed or wounded. Of the pri- 
 vates, seven hundred and fourteen fell. The rout was 
 complete, and the more disgraceful in that it was before 
 an inferior enemy, who attacked without the least hope of 
 such success, and during the whole battle lost but forty 
 men. Most of these were Indians killed in venturing out 
 of the ravine to take scalps. 
 
 Captain Dumas thought his force too weak to pursue the 
 fugitives, who .fled precipitately until they had recrossed 
 the Monongahela, when, being no longer in imminent 
 danger, they again formed. Colonel Washington hastened 
 forward to bring up wagons and other conveyances for 
 the wounded. 
 
 General Braddock, under the particular charge of Cap- 
 tain Stewart of the Virginia forces, was at first conveyed 
 in a tumbril ; afterwards he was placed on horseback, 
 but, being unable to ride, he was obliged to be carried by 
 soldiers. In this way he was transported until the night 
 of the 13th, when they arrived within a mile of Fort 
 Necessity, where he died, and was buried in his cloak, 
 in the road, to elude the search of the Indians. Wash- 
 ington, by the light of a torch, read the funeral service 
 over his remains. 
 
 The news of the defeat soon reached the rear division 
 under Colonel Dunbar. The greatest confusion for a time 
 reigned in his camp. The artillery stores were destroyed, 
 the heavy baggage burned, and as soon as the fugitives 
 arrived he took up the line of march with all speed for 
 Philadelphia. Colonel Washington proceeded to Mount 
 Yernon, justly indignant at the conduct of the regulars in 
 the late engagement, though his own bravery and good 
 conduct in the action gained him the applause of all his 
 countrymen.
 
 322 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 
 
 FRANCIS PARKMAN. 
 
 [Of the three principal operations laid out for the year 1755, that 
 againt Fort Duquesiie ended, as we have seen, in a disastrous defeat 
 for the English. The news of this defeat put an end to the expedition 
 against Fort Niagara, through the discouragement which it produced. 
 The third expedition, that against Crown Point, was more successful, 
 and led to an engagement of such importance as to merit a special de- 
 scription. The forces selected for this purpose were militia-men from 
 New England and New York, under the command of a prominent 
 New-Yorker named William Johnson, a man of great influence with 
 the Five Nations. All his influence and endeavors, however, only in- 
 duced about three hundred of them to enlist for the expected battle. 
 From Parkman's spirited history, entitled " Montcalm and "Wolfe," 
 we select an account of the events of this campaign.] 
 
 WHILE the British colonists were preparing to attack 
 Crown Point, the French of Canada were preparing to 
 defend it. Duquesne, recalled from his post, had resigned 
 the government to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who had at 
 his disposal the battalions of regulars that had sailed in 
 the spring from Brest under Baron Dieskau. His first 
 thought was to use them for the capture of Oswego; but 
 the letters of Braddock, found on the battle-field, warned 
 him of the design against Crown Point, while a reconnoi- 
 tring party which had gone as far as the Hudson brought 
 back news that Johnson's forces were already in the field. 
 Therefore the plan was changed, and Dieskau was ordered 
 to lead the main body of his troops, not to Lake Ontario, 
 but to Lake Champlain. He passed up the Richelieu, and 
 embarked in boats and canoes for Crown Point. The 
 veteran knew that the foes with whom he had to deal 
 were but a mob of countrymen. He doubted not of put- 
 ting them to rout, and meant never to hold his hand till
 
 PARKMAN] THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 323 
 
 he had chased them back to Albany. " Make all haste," 
 Vaudreuil wrote to him ; " for when you return we shall 
 send you to Oswego to execute our first design." 
 
 Johnson, on his part, was preparing to advance. In 
 July about three thousand provincials were encamped near 
 Albany, some on the " Flats" above the town, and some 
 on the meadows below. Hither, too, came a swarm of 
 Johnson's Mohawks, warriors, squaws, and children. 
 They adorned the general's face with war-paint, and he 
 danced the war-dance; then with his sword he cut the 
 first slice from the ox that had been roasted whole for 
 their entertainment. " I shall be glad," wrote the surgeon 
 of a New England regiment, " if they fight as eagerly as 
 they ate their ox and drank their wine." 
 
 [Though promptness was of great importance, there was much delay 
 in bringing the troops together. The army, though crude in its make- 
 up, had in it much good material. Among the men were two who 
 were destined to make their names well known in American history, 
 Israel Putnam, a private in a Connecticut regiment, and John Stark, 
 a New Hampshire lieutenant, the future hero of Bennington.] 
 
 The soldiers were no soldiers, but farmers and farmers' 
 sons who had volunteered for the summer campaign. One 
 of the corps had a blue uniform faced with red. The rest 
 wore their daily clothing. Blankets had been served out 
 to them by the several provinces, but the greater part 
 brought their own guns; some under the penalty of a 
 fine if they came without them, and some under the in- 
 ducement of a reward. They had no bayonets, but car- 
 ried hatchets in their belts as a sort of substitute. At 
 their sides were slung powder-horns, on which, in the lei- 
 sure of the camp, they carved quaint devices with the 
 points of their jack-knives. They came chiefly from plain 
 New England homesteads, rustic abodes, unpainted and 
 dingy, with long well-sweeps, capacious barns, rough fields
 
 324 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 of pumpkins and corn, and vast kitchen-chimneys, above 
 which in winter hung squashes to keep them from frost, 
 and guns to keep them from rust. 
 
 [Mohawk scouts who had been sent to Canada returned with the 
 report that eight thousand men were marching to defend Crown Point. 
 Indecision followed, but it was finally resolved to march to Lake 
 George.] 
 
 The train of Dutch wagons, guarded by the homely 
 soldiery, jolted slowly over the stumps and roots of the 
 newly-made road, and the regiments followed at their 
 leisure. The hardships of the way were not without 
 their consolations. The jovial Irishman who held the 
 chief command made himself very agreeable to the New 
 England officers. " We went on about four or five miles," 
 says Pomeroy in his Journal, " then stopped, ate pieces of 
 broken bread and cheese, and drank some fresh lemon- 
 punch and the best of wine with General Johnson and 
 some of the field officers." It was the same on the next 
 day. " Stopped about noon and dined with General John- 
 son by a small brook under a tree ; ate a good dinner of 
 cold boiled and roast venison; drank good fresh lemon- 
 punch and wine." 
 
 That afternoon they reached their destination, fourteen 
 miles from Fort Lyman. The most beautiful lake in 
 America lay before them ; then more beautiful than now, 
 in the wild charm of untrodden mountains and virgin 
 forests. " I have given it the name of Lake George," 
 wrote Johnson to the Lords of Trade, " not only in honor 
 of His Majesty, but to ascertain his undoubted dominion 
 here." His men made their camp on a piece of rough 
 ground by the edge of the water, pitching their tents 
 among the stumps of the newly-felled trees. In their 
 front was a forest of pitch-pine ; on their right, a marsh,
 
 PARKMAN] THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 325 
 
 choked with alders and swamp-maples ; on their left, the 
 low hill where Fort George was afterwards built; and at 
 their rear, the lake. Little was done to clear the forest in 
 front, though it would give excellent cover to an enemy. 
 Nor did Johnson take much pains to learn the movements 
 of the French in the direction of Crown Point, though he 
 sent scouts towards South Bay and Wood Creek. Every 
 day stores and bateaux, or flat-boats, came on wagons 
 from Fort Lyman ; and preparation moved on with the 
 leisure that had marked it from the first. About three 
 hundred Mohawks came to the camp, and were regarded 
 by the New England men as nuisances. . . . 
 
 While Johnson lay at Lake George, Dieskau prepared a 
 surprise for him. The German baron had reached Crown. 
 Point at the head of three thousand five hundred and 
 seventy -three men, regulars, Canadians, and Indians. He 
 had no thought of waiting there to be attacked. The 
 troops were told to hold themselves ready to move at a 
 moment's notice. Officers so ran the order will take 
 nothing with them but one spare shirt, one spare pair of 
 shoes, a blanket, a bearskin, and provisions for twelve 
 days; Indians are not to amuse themselves by taking 
 scalps till the enemy is entirely defeated, since they can 
 kill ten men in the time required to scalp one. Then 
 Dieskau moved on, with nearly all his force, to Carillon, 
 or Ticonderoga, a promontory commanding both the 
 routes by which alone Johnson could advance, that of 
 Wood Creek and that of Lake George. 
 
 The Indian allies were commanded by Legardeur de 
 Saint-Pierre, the officer who had received Washington 
 on his embassy to Fort Le Bceuf. These unmanageable 
 warriors were a constant annoyance to Dieskau, being a 
 species of humanity quite new to him. "They drive us 
 crazy," he says, " from morning till night. There is no 
 i. 28
 
 326 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 end to their demands. They have already eaten five oxen 
 and as many hogs, without counting the kegs of brandy 
 they have drunk. In short, one needs the patience of an 
 angel to get on with these devils ; and yet one must al- 
 ways force himself to seem pleased with them." 
 
 [Dieskau, being falsely informed by a prisoner that Fort Lyman 
 was indefensible, resolved on a rapid movement to seize it. He passed 
 down Lake Champlain to the site of Whitehall, by canoe, and then 
 took up the line of march through the forest. Word came in now 
 that there was a large force encamped on Lake George, and the 
 Indians decided that they would not attack the fort, but were ready 
 to proceed against the camp. This movement was determined on.] 
 
 They moved rapidly on through the waste of pines, and 
 soon entered the rugged valley that led to Johnson's camp. 
 On their right was a gorge where, shadowed in bushes, 
 gurgled a gloomy brook ; and beyond rose the cliffs that 
 buttressed the rocky heights of French Mountain, seen by 
 glimpses between the boughs. On their left rose gradually 
 the lower slopes of West Mountain. All was rock, thicket, 
 and forest ; there was no open space but the road along 
 which the regulars marched, while the Canadians and In- 
 dians pushed their way through the woods in such order 
 as the broken ground would permit. 
 
 They were three miles from the lake, when their scouts 
 brought in a prisoner who told them that a column of 
 English troops was approaching. Dieskau's preparations 
 were quickly made. While the regulars halted on the 
 road, the Canadians and Indians moved to the front, where 
 most of them hid in the forest along the slopes of West 
 Mountain, and the rest lay close among the thickets on the 
 other side. Thus, when the English advanced to attack 
 the regulars in front, they would find themselves caught 
 in a double ambush. No sight or sound betraj-ed the 
 snare ; but behind every bush crouched a Canadian or a
 
 PARKMAN] THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 327 
 
 savage, with gun cocked and ears intent, listening for the 
 tramp of the approaching column. 
 
 The wagoners who escaped the evening before had 
 reached the camp about midnight, and reported that there 
 was a war-party on the road near Fort Lyman. Johnson 
 had at this time twenty-two hundred effective men, besides 
 his three hundred Indians. He called a council of war in 
 the morning, and a resolution was taken which can only 
 be explained by a complete misconception as to the forces 
 of the French. It was determined to send out two detach- 
 ments of five hundred men each, one towards Fort Lyman, 
 and the other towards South Bay, the object being, accord- 
 ing to Johnson, " to catch the enemy in their retreat." 
 Hendrick, chief of the Mohawks, a brave and sagacious 
 warrior, expressed his dissent after a fashion of his own. 
 He picked up a stick and broke it; then he picked up 
 several sticks, and showed that together they could not be 
 broken. The hint was taken, and the two detachments 
 were joined in one. Still the old savage shook his head. 
 " If they are to be killed," he said, " they are too many ; if 
 they are to fight, they are too few." Nevertheless, he re- 
 solved to share their fortunes ; and, mounting on a gun- 
 carriage, he harangued his warriors with a voice so ani- 
 mated and gestures so expressive that the New England 
 officers listened in admiration, though they understood not 
 a word. One difficulty remained. He was too old and fat 
 to go afoot ; but Johnson lent him a horse, which he be- 
 strode, and trotted to the head of the column, followed by 
 two hundred of his warriors as fast as they could grease, 
 paint, and befeather themselves. . . . 
 
 It was soon after eight o'clock when Ephraim Williams 
 left the camp with his regiment, marched a little distance, 
 and then waited for the rest of the detachment under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Whiting. Thus Dieskau had full time
 
 328 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PAKKMAN 
 
 to lay his ambush. When "Whiting came up, the whole 
 moved on together, so little conscious of danger that no 
 scouts were thrown out in front or flank; and, in full 
 security, they entered the fatal snare. Before they were 
 completely involved in it, the sharp eye of old Hendrick 
 detected some sign of an enemy. At that instant, whether 
 by accident or design, a gun was fired from the bushes. 
 It is said that Dieskau's Iroquois, seeing Mohawks, their 
 relatives, in the van, wished to warn them of danger. If 
 so, the warning came too late. The thickets on the left 
 blazed out a deadly fire, and the men fell by scores. In 
 the words of Dfeskau, the head of the column " was 
 doubled up like a pack of cards." Heridrick's horse was 
 shot down, and the chief was killed with a bayonet as he 
 tried to rise. Williams, seeing a rising ground on his right, 
 made for it, calling on his men to follow; but as he climbed 
 the slope, guns flashed from the bushes, and a shot through 
 the brain laid him dead. The men in the rear pressed 
 forward to support their comrades, when a hot fire was 
 suddenly opened on them from the forest along their 
 right flank. Then there was a panic ; some fled outright, 
 and the whole column recoiled. The van now became the 
 rear, and all the force of the enemy rushed upon it, shout- 
 ing and screeching. There was a moment of total confu- 
 sion ; but a part of Williams's regiment rallied under com- 
 mand of Whiting, and covered the retreat, fighting behind 
 trees like Indians, and firing and falling back by turns, 
 bravely aided by some of the Mohawks and by a detach- 
 ment which Johnson sent to their aid. "And a very 
 handsome retreat they made," writes Pomeroy; "and so 
 continued till they came within about three-quarters of a 
 mile of our camp. This was the last fire our men gave 
 our enemies, which killed great numbers of them ; they 
 were seen to drop as pigeons." So ended the fray long
 
 PARKMAN] THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 329 
 
 known in" New England fireside story as the "bloody 
 morning scout." Dieskau now ordered a halt, and 
 sounded his trumpets to collect his scattered men. His 
 Indians, however, were sullen and unmanageable, and the 
 Canadians also showed signs of wavering. The veteran 
 who commanded them all, Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, had 
 been killed. At length they were persuaded to move again, 
 the regulars leading the way. 
 
 About an hour after Williams and his men had begun 
 their march, a distant rattle of musketry was heard at the 
 camp ; and as it grew nearer and louder, the listeners knew 
 that their comrades were on the retreat. Then, at the 
 eleventh hour, preparations were begun for defence. A 
 sort of barricade was made along the front of the camp, 
 partly of wagons, and partly of inverted bateaux, but 
 chiefly of the trunks of trees hastily hewn down in the 
 neighboring forest and laid end to end in a single row. 
 The line extended from the southern slopes of the hill on 
 the left across a tract of rough ground to the marshes on 
 the right. The forest, choked with bushes and clumps 
 of rank ferns, was within a few yards of the barricade, 
 and there was scarcely time to hack away the inter- 
 vening thickets. Three cannon were planted to sweep the 
 road that descended through the pines, and another was 
 dragged up to the ridge of the hill. The defeated party 
 began to come in : first, scared fugitives, both white and 
 red ; then, gangs of men bringing the wounded ; and at 
 last, an hour and a half after the first fire was heard, the 
 main detachment was seen marching in compact bodies 
 down the road. 
 
 Five hundred men were detailed to guard the flanks of 
 
 the camp. The rest stood behind the wagons or lay flat 
 
 behind the logs and inverted bateaux, the Massachusetts 
 
 men on the right, and the Connecticut men on the left. 
 
 i. 28*
 
 330 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 Besides Indians, this actual fighting force was between 
 sixteen and seventeen hundred rustics, very few of whom 
 had been under fire before that morning. They were 
 hardly at their posts when they saw ranks of white-coated 
 soldiers moving down the road, and bayonets that to them 
 seemed innumerable glittering between the boughs. At 
 the same time a terrific burst of war-whoops rose along 
 the front ; and, in the words of Pomeroy, " the Canadians 
 and Indians, helter-skelter, the woods full of them, came 
 running with undaunted courage right down the hill upon 
 us, expecting to make us flee." Some of the men grew 
 uneasy ; while the chief officers, sword in hand, threatened 
 instant death to any who should stir from their posts. If 
 Dieskau had made an assault at that instant, there could 
 be little doubt of the result. 
 
 This he well knew ; but he was powerless. He had his 
 small force of regulars well in hand ; but the rest, red and 
 white, were beyond control, scattering through the woods 
 and swamps, shouting, yelling, and firing from behind trees. 
 The regulars advanced with intrepidity towards the camp 
 where the trees were thin, deployed, and fired by platoons, 
 till Captain Eyre, who commanded the artillery, opened on 
 them with grape, broke their ranks, and compelled them 
 to take to cover. The fusillade was now general on both 
 sides, and soon grew furious. " Perhaps," Seth Pomeroy 
 wrote to his wife, two days after, " the hailstones from 
 heaven were never much thicker than their bullets came ; 
 but, blessed be God ! that did not in the least daunt or 
 disturb us." Johnson received a flesh-wound in the thigh, 
 and spent the rest of the day in his tent. Lyman took 
 command ; and it is a marvel that he escaped alive, for he 
 was four hours in the heat of the fire, directing and ani- 
 mating the men. " It was the most awful day my eyes 
 ever beheld," wrote Surgeon Williams to his wife ; " there
 
 PARKMAN] THE BATTLE AT LAKE GEORGE. 331 
 
 seemed to be nothing but thunder and lightning and per- 
 petual pillars of smoke." . . . 
 
 Dieskau had directed his first attack against the left and 
 centre of Johnson's position. Making no impression here, 
 he tried to force the right, where lay the regiments of 
 Titcomb, Euggles, and Williams. The fire was hot for 
 about an hour. Titcomb was shot dead, a rod in front of 
 the barricade, firing from behind a tree like a common 
 soldier. At length Dieskau, exposing himself within short 
 range of the English line, was hit in the leg. His adju- 
 tant, Montreuil, himself wounded, came to his aid, and was 
 washing the injured limb with brandy, when the unfortu- 
 nate commander was hit again in the knee and thigh. He 
 seated himself behind a tree, while the adjutant called two 
 Canadians to carry him to the rear. One of them was in- 
 stantly shot down. Montreuil took his place ; but Dieskau 
 refused to be moved, bitterly denounced the Canadians and 
 Indians, and ordered the adjutant to leave him and lead 
 the regulars in a last effort against the camp. 
 
 It was too late. Johnson's men. singly or in small squads, 
 were already crossing their row of logs ; and in a few mo- 
 ments the whole dashed forward with a shout, falling upon 
 the enemy with hatchets and the butts of their guns. The 
 French and their allies fled. The wounded general still 
 sat helpless by the tree, when he saw a soldier aiming at 
 him. He signed to the man not to fire ; but he pulled 
 trigger, shot him across the hips, leaped upon him, and 
 ordered him in French to surrender. " I said," writes 
 Dieskau. " ' You rascal, why did you fire ? You see a man 
 lying in his blood on the ground, and you shoot him !' He 
 answered, ' How did I know that you had not got a pistol ? 
 I had rather kill the devil than have the devil kill me.' 
 'You are a Frenchman?' I asked. 'Yes,' he replied; 'it 
 is more than ten years since I left Canada ;' whereupon
 
 332 AMERICAN HISTORY. [PARKMAN 
 
 several others fell on me and stripped me. I told them to 
 carry me to their general, which they did. On learning 
 who I was, he sent for surgeons, and, though wounded 
 himself, refused all assistance till my wounds were dressed." 
 It was near five o'clock when the final rout took place. 
 Some time before, several hundred of the Canadians and 
 Indians had left the field and returned to the scene of 
 the morning fight, to plunder and scalp the dead. They 
 were resting themselves near a pool in the forest, close 
 beside the road, when their repose was interrupted by 
 a volley of bullets. It was fired by a scouting party 
 from Fort Lyman, chiefly backwoodsmen, under Captains 
 Folsom and McGinnis. The assailants were greatly out- 
 numbered ; but after a hard fight the Canadians and In- 
 dians broke and fled. McGinnis was mortally wounded. 
 He continued to give orders till the firing was over, then 
 fainted, and was carried, dying, to the camp. The bodies 
 of the slain, according to tradition, were thrown into the 
 pool, Avhich bears to this day the name of Bloody Pond. 
 
 [Johnson had great difficulty in preserving the life of Dieskau, the 
 Mohawks, who were furious at the death of Hendrick, making sev- 
 eral efforts to kill him. The wounded baron, however, survived to 
 reach England, where he recovered sufficiently to live for several years, 
 though wretchedly shattered by his wounds. 
 
 The success attained by Johnson was not improved. He failed to 
 follow the flying foe, on the excuse that his men were tired. Yet five 
 hundred of them had stood still all day, and there were boats enough 
 to transport them to where Dieskau had left his canoes and provisions, 
 ten miles down the lake. Nor did he send out scouts to Ticonderoga 
 till a week afterwards. On the contrary, he intrenched himself against 
 a possible assault, and let two weeks pass away, by the end of which 
 time the enemy was intrenched at Ticonderoga in force enough to defy 
 him. Thus the expedition against Crown Point, though attended with 
 such an incidental success, proved a failure. Johnson remained a 
 month longer at the lake, when he sent his army home. With the art 
 of the courtier, he changed the name of Fort Lyman to Fort Edward,
 
 HANNAY] THE- EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 333 
 
 after one of the king's grandsons, and called his new fort at Lake 
 George William Henry, after another. As a result of his victory and 
 his policy he received five thousand pounds from Parliament and was 
 made a baronet by the king.] 
 
 THE- EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 
 
 JAMES HANNAY. 
 
 [The year of the conflicts last described was marked by another 
 event of great importance, and one which has aroused more feeling 
 than any other circumstance of the war. This was the removal of the 
 French settlers from Acadia, and their dispersion through the English 
 settlements. This event has been treated mainly from the stand-point 
 of sentiment, the cruelty of the deportation strongly dwelt on, and the 
 action of the English regarded as indefensible. A calmer and fuller 
 review of the circumstances gives a new face to the situation, and 
 shows that the English action, though it proved of little utility, had 
 much warrant in the circumstances of the case. We extract an ac- 
 count of this deportation from Hannay's valuable " History of Acadia." 
 
 It was preceded by certain military events which need to be out- 
 lined. About the last of May, 1755, Colonel Monckton sailed from 
 Boston, with three thousand troops, with the design of reducing the 
 French settlements on the Bay of Fundy, which were considered as 
 encroachments on the English province of Nova Scotia. This prov- 
 ince, the Acadia of a former period, had been taken by the English 
 in 1710, and was ceded to the English government by the treaty of 
 Utrecht in 1713. The French, however, had steadily encroached upon 
 the peninsula, and had strengthened themselves by forts on its New 
 Brunswick border, from which a hostile influence disseminated itself 
 through the French population of the peninsula. Monckton 's expe- 
 dition was successful in reducing these forts. A block-house on Chig- 
 necto Bay was first carried by assault, and then Fort Beausejour, a 
 strong post on the neck of the peninsula, was invested, and taken after 
 a four days' siege. Fort Gaspereau, on Green Bay, was next captured, 
 after which the French abandoned their post on the St. John's River.
 
 334 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HANNAY 
 
 As the hostility of the Acadians to British rule continued unabated, 
 and as their presence endangered the security of the province, it was 
 resolved to remove them and endeavor to replace them by settlers 
 loyal to the British government. The circumstances of this removal 
 we append in the words of Mr. Hannay.] 
 
 THE English, after a possession of Acadia which lasted 
 nearly forty years, had not succeeded in founding a single 
 English settlement or adding to the English-speaking popu- 
 lation of the province. The French Acadians, on the other 
 hand, had gone on increasing and spi-eading themselves 
 over the land. They were strong and formidable, not only 
 by reason of their number, but because of their knowledge 
 of wood-craft, of the management of canoes, and of many 
 other accomplishments which are essential to those who 
 would live in- a forest country, and which were almost 
 indispensable qualifications for soldiers in such a land as 
 Acadia. All that the English had to show for their thirty- 
 nine years' occupation of the country were the fortifica- 
 tions of Annapolis and a ruined fishing-station at Canso. 
 All the substantial gains of that time belonged to France, 
 for the Acadians were nearly three times as numerous as 
 when Port Eoyal fell, and they were quite as devoted to 
 the interests of France as their fathers had been. Acadia 
 in 1749 was as much a French colony as it had been forty 
 years before. The only diffei'ence was that the English 
 were at the expense of maintaining a garrison instead of 
 the French, and that they sometimes issued orders to the 
 inhabitants, which the latter very seldom chose to obey. 
 
 [Of the various schemes to give Acadia an English population all 
 proved failures, except that of 1749, in which a large colony was es- 
 tablished at a point hitherto unoccupied, where a town rapidly arose 
 from which has sprung the present city of Halifax. The Acadians, 
 however, steadily refused to take the oath of allegiance to Great 
 Britain, and, while professing to be neutral between the English and
 
 HANNAY] THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 335 
 
 the French, secretly abetted the latter. Three hundred of them were 
 found in Fort Beausejour when captured, and their hostility to the 
 English was pronounced.] 
 
 The event for which the year 1755 will be ever memo- 
 rable in the history of this continent was not the capture 
 of Beausejour, nor the defeat of Braddock. These were 
 results which occurred in the ordinary course of warfare, 
 and which grew naturally out of the struggle which Eng- 
 land and France were waging in America. Our interest 
 in them is merely the interest of patriotism ; we feel no 
 sympathy for the individual soldier who lays down his 
 life for his country, for it is the business of the soldier to 
 fight and to die, and to some a death on the field of battle 
 which is lighted by the sun of victory seems the happiest 
 death of all. The event which gives the year 1755 a sad 
 pre-eminence over its fellows the expulsion of the Aca- 
 dians was an occurrence of a very different character. 
 The sufferers were men who were, or ought to have been, 
 non-combatants, and in the common ruin which overtook 
 them their wives and children were involved. The break- 
 ing up of their domestic hearths, their severance from 
 their property, the privations they endured when driven 
 among strangers, and the numberless ills which overtook 
 them as the result of their first misfortune, have an inter- 
 est for the people of every nation, for they appeal to our 
 common humanity. It seems at the first view of the 
 case an outrage on that humanity and a grievous wrong 
 that such an occurrence as the expulsion of the Acadians 
 should have taken place merely from political motives. 
 The misfortunes and sufferings of the Acadiahs stand out 
 prominently, and appeal to every eye; a great poet has 
 sung of their sorrows ;* innumerable writers of books have 
 
 * Longfellow, in " Evangeline."
 
 336 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 referred to their expulsion in terms of condemnation ; and 
 so the matter has grown until it came to be almost a set- 
 tled opinion that the expulsion of the Acadians was some- 
 thing which could not be justified, and of which its au- 
 thors should have been ashamed. That is the view which 
 one historian of Nova Scotia gives of the affair. Perhaps 
 those who examine the whole matter impartially, in the 
 light of all the facts, will come to the conclusion that it 
 would have been a real cause for shame had the Acadians 
 been permitted longer to misuse the clemency of the gov- 
 ernment, to plot against -British power, and to obstruct 
 the settlement of the province by loyal subjects. 
 
 One statement has been very industriously circulated 
 by French writers with a view to throw odium on the 
 transaction. They say that the Acadians were expelled 
 " because the greedy English colonists looked upon their 
 fair farms with covetous eyes," and that the government 
 was influenced by these persons. A more flagrant untruth 
 never was told. . . . None of the lands of the Acadians 
 were settled by the English until several years after the 
 French were expelled, and not until most of the lands had 
 gone back to a state of nature in consequence of the 
 breaking of the dikes. . . . Five years elapsed after the 
 expulsion before the noble diked lands of Grand Pre were 
 occupied by English settlers, and the lands of Annapolis 
 were not occupied by the English until nine or ten years 
 after the French had left them. . . . From motives of 
 economy, if for no other reason, it was considered highly 
 desirable that the Acadians should remain on their lands, 
 in order that they might supply the garrisons with pro- 
 visions at a fair price, and so reduce the cost of maintain- 
 ing them. It was also felt that the French, if they could 
 be induced to become loyal subjects, would be a great 
 source of strength to the colony, from their knowledge
 
 H ANN AY] THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 337 
 
 of wood-craft and from their friendly relations with the 
 Indians. It was, therefore, on no pretext that this desire 
 to keep the French in the province which is attested by 
 more than forty years of forbearance was succeeded by 
 a determination to remove them from it. ... It must be 
 remembered that in 1755 England was entering on a great 
 war with France, which, although it ended disastrously 
 for the latter power, certainly commenced with the bal- 
 ance of advantage in her favor. In such a death-struggle, 
 it was evident that there was no room for half-way meas- 
 ures, and that a weak policy would almost certainly be 
 fatal to British power. Ever since the treaty of Utrecht, 
 a period of more than forty years, the Acadians had lived 
 on their lands without complying with the terms on which 
 they were to be permitted to retain them, which was to 
 become British subjects. Although the soil upon which 
 they lived was British territory, they claimed to be re- 
 garded as " Neutrals," not liable to be called upon to bear 
 arms either for or against the English. Their neutrality, 
 however, did not prevent them from aiding the French to 
 the utmost of their power and throwing every possible 
 embarrassment in the way of the English. It did not 
 prevent many of them from joining with the Indians in 
 attacks on the garrison at Annapolis and on other Eng- 
 lish fortified posts in Acadia. It did not prevent them 
 from carrying their cattle and grain to Louisburg, Beau- 
 sejour, and the river St. John, instead of to Halifax and 
 Annapolis, when England and France were at war. It 
 did not prevent them from maintaining a constant corre- 
 spondence with the enemies of England, or from acting 
 the part of spies on the English and keeping Vergor at 
 Beausejour informed of the exact state of their garrisons 
 from time to time. It did not prevent them from being 
 on friendly terms with the savages, who beset the English 
 i. p w 29
 
 338 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HANNAY 
 
 so closely that an English settler could scarcely venture 
 beyond his barn, or an English soldier beyond musket- 
 shot of his fort, for fear of being killed and scalped. 
 
 [The Acadians seem to have been badly advised. No interference 
 was attempted with their religion, yet some of their priests acted as 
 political agents of France, used all their influence to keep alive hos- 
 tility to the English, and induced many of the inhabitants to emigrate 
 from the province. Several thousand Acadians in all thus emigrated, 
 fourteen hundred of whom, led by a French officer, remained on the 
 borders of the province, armed, and reinforced by a large body of In- 
 dians. This fact made the authorities more persistent in their efforts 
 to force the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance, and induced 
 them to adopt measures to disarm them. Acadian deputies soon after 
 carne to Halifax, demanding that their guns should be restored, but 
 persistently refusing to take the oath " to be faithful and loyal to his 
 majesty George Second." Other negotiations ensued, but the deputies 
 were determined to take no oath except one with a reservation that 
 they should not be obliged to take up arms. Governor Lawrence in- 
 sisted that they should become full British subjects, or they could not 
 be permitted to remain in the country, declaring that they had always 
 secretly aided the Indians, and many of them openly taken up arms 
 against the British. To this they replied that they were determined, 
 one and all, to quit their lands rather than take any other oath than 
 that they had already taken. 
 
 On Monday, the 28th of July, the final memorial of the inhabitants 
 was received. They all firmly refused to take the unconditional oath 
 of allegiance to the British government. In consequence, it was de- 
 cided to expel them from the province.] 
 
 The determination to remove the Acadians having been 
 taken, it only remained to make such arrangements as 
 seemed necessary to cany out the object effectually. The 
 council decided that, in order to prevent them from re- 
 turning and again molesting the English settlers, they 
 should be distributed amongst the colonies from Massachu- 
 setts to Virginia. On the 31st July, Governor Lawrence 
 wrote to Colonel Monckton, stating the determination of
 
 HANNAY] THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADJANS. 339 
 
 the government with reference to the Acadians, and in- 
 forming him that as those about the isthmus had been 
 found in arms, and were therefore entitled to no favor 
 from the government, it was determined to begin with 
 them first. He was informed that orders had been given 
 to send a sufficient number of transports up the bay to 
 take the Acadians of that district on board. Monckton 
 was ordered to keep the measure secret until he could get 
 the men into his power, so that he could detain them until 
 the transports arrived. He was directed to secure their 
 shallops, boats, and canoes, and to see that none of their 
 cattle was driven away, they being forfeited to the crown. 
 He was told that the inhabitants were not to be allowed 
 to carry away anything but their ready money and house- 
 hold furniture. He likewise received explicit directions 
 as to the supply of provisions for the inhabitants while on 
 the voyage. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, who was commanding the 
 troops at Mines, received instructions relative to the re- 
 moval of the Acadians in that district, dated the llth 
 August. He was told to collect the inhabitants together, 
 and place them on board the transports, of which there 
 would be a number sufficient to transport two thousand 
 persons, five hundred of whom were to be sent to North 
 Carolina, one thousand to Virginia, and five hundred to 
 Maryland. After the people were shipped he was ordered 
 to march overland to Annapolis with a strong detachment 
 to assist Major Handfield in removing the inhabitants of 
 that river. Handfield's instructions were similar to those 
 of Winslow, and he was informed that vessels sufficient to 
 transport one thousand persons would be sent to Annapolis. 
 Of these, three hundred were to be sent to Philadelphia, 
 two hundred to New York, three hundred to Connecticut, 
 and two hundred to Boston.
 
 340 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HANNAY 
 
 [Each master of a transport bore a circular letter from Governor 
 Lawrence to the governor of the province to which he was destined, 
 giving his reasons for this extreme measure. These reasons were those 
 already given, that the Acadians had persistently refused to take the 
 oath prescribed by treaty forty years before, that their claim of neu- 
 trality was a false one, that they had continually furnished the French 
 and Indians with intelligence, provisions, and aid in annoying the 
 English, that part of them had acted treacherously and part had 
 broken into armed rebellion, that to drive them into Canada would 
 but strengthen the enemy, and that the step taken was indispensably 
 necessary to the security of the colony.] 
 
 The work of removing the Acadians met with no success 
 at Chignecto, where the population was large and compara- 
 tively warlike. Boishebert, after being driven from the 
 St. John, had betaken himself to Shediac, and from there 
 he directed the movements of the Acadians of the isthmus. 
 When the English tried to collect the inhabitants for the 
 purpose of removing them, they found that they had fled 
 to the shelter of the woods, and when they attempted to 
 follow them they were met by the most determined resist- 
 ance. On the 2d September, Major Frye was sent with 
 two hundred men from the garrison at Fort Cumberland 
 [formerly Fort Beausejour] to burn the villages of Shepody, 
 Petitcodiac, and Memramcook. At Shepody they burnt one 
 hundred and eighty-one buildings, but found no inhabi- 
 tants, except twenty-three women and children, whom 
 they sent on board the vessel they had with them. They 
 sailed up the Petitcodiac Eiver on the following day and 
 burnt the buildings on both sides of it for miles. At 
 length the vessel was brought to anchor, and fifty men 
 were sent on shore to burn the chapel and some other 
 buildings near it, when suddenly they were attacked by 
 three hundred French and Indians under Boishebert and 
 compelled to retreat with a loss of twenty-three men 
 killed and wounded, including Dr. March, who was killed,
 
 HANNAY] THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 341 
 
 and Lieutenant Billings, dangerously wounded. Boishe- 
 bert was found to be too strong to be attacked even with 
 the aid of the main body of troops under Major Frye, so 
 the party had to return to Fort Cumberland, after having 
 destroyed in all two hundred and fifty-three buildings and 
 a large quantity of wheat and flax. 
 
 At Mines Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow succeeded in ac- 
 complishing his unpleasant duty without resistance. On 
 the 2d September he issued an order to the inhabitants of 
 the districts of Grand Pre, Mines, Eiver Canard, and vi- 
 cinity, commanding all the males from ten years upward 
 to attend at the church in Grand Pre on the following 
 Friday, the 5th September, to hear what his majesty had 
 authorized him to communicate to them. The inhabitants 
 attended in obedience to this summons to the number of 
 upwards of four hundred, and were informed by Winslow 
 that, in consequence of their disobedience, their lands and 
 tenements, cattle, live-stock, and all their effects, except 
 their money arid household goods, were forfeited to the 
 crown, and they themselves were to be removed from the 
 province. He told them, however, that he would take in 
 the vessels with them as large a portion of their household 
 effects as could be carried, and that families would not be 
 separated, but conveyed in the same vessel. Finally, he 
 told them that they should remain prisoners at the church 
 until the time came for them to embark. At Piziquid, 
 Captain Murray collected the male inhabitants in the same 
 way to the number of nearly two hundred, and kept them 
 in confinement. Considering the situation in which they 
 were placed, they manifested but little emotion, and offered 
 no resistance worthy of the name. The task of getting so 
 many families together, and embarking them with their 
 household effects, proved tedious, but finally it was accom- 
 plished, .and the inhabitants of Mines and Piziquid, to the 
 i 29*
 
 342 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HANNAY 
 
 number of more than nineteen hundred persons, were got 
 on board the transports, and carried away from their homes 
 in Acadia to lands of which they knew nothing, and where 
 their presence was not desired. 
 
 At Annapolis many families took the alarm when the 
 transports arrived, and fled to the woods for safety, and 
 much difficulty was experienced in collecting them. Hun- 
 ger finally compelled most of them to surrender themselves, 
 and upwards of eleven hundred were placed on board the 
 vessels and sent away.. One vessel with two hundred and 
 twenty-six Acadians on board was seized by them in the 
 Bay of Fundy, and taken into St. John, and the passen- 
 gers she carried were not afterwards recaptured. The 
 total number removed from Acadia in 1755 was somewhat 
 in excess of three thousand souls. Some of them were 
 taken to Massachusetts, some to Pennsylvania, some to 
 Virginia, some to Maryland, some to North and South 
 Carolina, and some even to the British West Indies. 
 Wherever they were taken they became for the time a 
 public charge upon the colony, and were the occasion of 
 much correspondence between the governments which were 
 obliged to maintain them and that of Nova Scotia. Many 
 of those who went to Georgia and South Carolina hired 
 small vessels and set out to return to Acadia, and the gov- 
 ernors of those colonies were very glad to facilitate their 
 movements northward by giving them passes to voyage 
 along their coasts. Several hundred of those who landed 
 in Virginia were sent by the government of that colony 
 to England, where they remained for seven years, finally 
 taking the oath of allegiance, and many of them returning 
 to Acadia. A number of these people went from Virginia 
 to the French West Indies, where they died in large num- 
 bers. The great bulk of the Acadians, however, finally 
 succeeded in returning to the land of their birth. Some
 
 HANNAY] THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. 343 
 
 got back in the course of a few months, others did not 
 succeed in returning until many years had elapsed, yet 
 they succeeded, nevertheless, and the ultimate loss of pop- 
 ulation by their enforced emigration in 1755 was much less 
 than would be supposed. 
 
 [It must be admitted that the preceding narrative is, to a consider- 
 able extent, a case of special pleading, by a writer determined to put 
 the best face on a bad matter. The deportation of a whole people, 
 against their consent, of which there are many cases in history, is 
 necessarily attended with hardship and suffering which only the most 
 extreme need can justify. It cannot fairly be said that this need ex- 
 isted in the case of the Acadians. Though some of them were actively 
 hostile to the English, the bulk of the people were quiet, industrious, 
 and inoffensive, and the extent of their crime was that they refused to 
 take an oath that would oblige them to bear arms against their coun- 
 trymen. The expulsion was one of those instances in which, it being 
 difficult to distinguish between the sheep and the wolves, they were 
 made to suffer together. The position of the English was an awkward 
 one, and their action, though it occasioned much suffering and proved 
 of no special utility, had much good argument in its favor. 
 
 The resistance of the Acadians continued for twelve years longer, 
 and not till 1767 did any considerable number of them consent to take 
 the oath of allegiance required, though the whole country had long 
 been English. Maay of them had emigrated to the French West 
 Indies. Of these a considerable number returned, disgusted with the 
 government of those islands, and fully ready to take the oath. Others, 
 who were surrounded by English colonies, did likewise. Each family, 
 on doing so, received a grant of land from the government, and soon 
 there arose an eagerness to take the oath of allegiance to England 
 equal to the former determination to resist it.]
 
 344 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 THREE YEARS OF WARFARE. 
 
 ABIEL HOLMES. 
 
 [The succeeding events of the war between the colonies we shall de- 
 scribe with more brevity, lest the reader grow wearied with the details 
 of battle and bloodshed which constitute all there is to offer. The 
 year 1755 had ended with a balance of advantages between the two 
 contestants. In the two years succeeding all the advantage lay with 
 the French, and it was not until 1758 that the English began to make 
 head against their opponents, in preparation for the decisive operations 
 of the following year. The events of the years 1756, 1757, and 1758 
 are briefly but clearly described in Holmes's "Annals of America," a 
 useful old work from which we make our present selection. 
 
 Although the war had continued for two years in America, and been 
 actively aided by the home powers, no declaration of war was made 
 until 1756, the English king declaring war against Prance on May 17, 
 and the French king replying with a like declaration in the following 
 month. Both powers now took more active measures to support the 
 war. The Earl of Loudoun was appointed commander-in-chief of the 
 British forces in America, while the Marquis de Montcalm took com- 
 mand of the French forces in Canada. General Abercrombie was 
 sent over in advance of Lord Loudoun, to take immediate command. 
 Three expeditions were planned for the year's campaign, one of ten 
 thousand men against Crown Point, one of six thousand against Ni- 
 agara, and one of three thousand against Fort Duquesne. In addi- 
 tion, two thousand men were to advance up the Kennebec Eiver and 
 keep Canada in alarm. These forces were considerably greater than 
 had hitherto been employed in America.] 
 
 THE command of the expedition against Crown Point 
 was given to Major-General Winslow, who, on reviewing 
 the provincial troops destined for that service, found them 
 not much to exceed seven thousand men, a number which, 
 after deducting from it the necessary garrisons, was de- 
 clared inadequate to the enterprise. The arrival of Brit- 
 ish troops with General Abercrombie, while it relieved this
 
 HOLMES] THREE YEARS OF WARFARE. 345 
 
 difficulty, created a new one, which occasioned a tempo- 
 rary suspension of the projected expedition. The regula- 
 tions of the crown respecting military rank had excited 
 great disgust in America ; and Winslow, when consulted 
 on this delicate subject by- Abercrombie, expressed his 
 apprehensions that, if the result of a junction of British 
 and provincial troops should be the placing of provincials 
 under British officers, it would produce very general dis- 
 content, and perhaps desertion. To avoid so serious an evil, 
 it was finally agreed that British troops should succeed the 
 provincials in the posts then occupied by them, so as to 
 enable the whole colonial force to proceed under Winslow 
 against Crown Point. . . . Scarcely was this point of 
 honor satisfactorily adjusted, when the attention of both 
 British and provincial soldiers was arrested to a more 
 serious subject. 
 
 M. Montcalm, who succeeded the baron Dieskau in the 
 chief command of the French forces in Canada, approached 
 Fort Ontario at Oswego on the 10th of August with more 
 than five thousand regulars, Canadians', and Indians. 
 Having made the necessary dispositions, he opened the 
 trenches on the 12th at midnight, with thirty-two pieces 
 of cannon, besides several brass mortars and howitzers. 
 The garrison having fired away all their shells and am- 
 munition, Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer, ordered 
 the cannon to be spiked up, and crossed the river to Little 
 Oswego Fort, without the loss of a single man. The 
 enemy, taking immediate possession of the deserted fort, 
 began a fire from it which was kept up without intermis- 
 sion. About four miles and a half up the river was Fort 
 George, the defence of which was committed to Colonel 
 Schuyler. On the abandonment of the first fort by Colonel 
 Mercer, about three hundred and seventy of his men had 
 joined Colonel Schuyler, in the intention of having an
 
 346 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 intercourse between his fort and that to which their own 
 commander retreated ; but a body of twenty -five hundred 
 Canadians and Indians boldly swam across the river in the 
 night between the 13th and 14th and cut off that commu- 
 nication. On the 13th, Colonel Mercer was killed by a 
 cannon-ball. The garrison, deprived of their commander, 
 who was an officer of courage and experience, frustrated 
 in their hope of aid, and destitute of a cover to their fort, 
 demanded a capitulation on the following day, arid surren- 
 dered as prisoners of war. They were the regiments of 
 Shirley and Pepperell, and amounted to fourteen hundred 
 men. The conditions required, and acceded to, were that 
 they should be exempted from plunder, conducted to 
 Montreal, and treated with humanity. No sooner was 
 Montcalm in possession of the two forts at Oswego than, 
 with admirable policy, he demolished them in presence of 
 the Indians of the Six Nations, in whose country they 
 had been erected, and whose jealousy they had excited. 
 
 On this disastrous event, every plan of offensive operation 
 was immediately relinquished. 
 
 [All the forces which had been raised remained on the defensive, in 
 anticipation of possible advances by the French. The only active 
 operation was against the Indians of western Pennsylvania, who, 
 since the event of Braddock's defeat, had severely raided the outlying 
 settlements.] 
 
 Fort Granby, on the confines of Pennsylvania, was sur- 
 prised by a party of French and Indians, who made the 
 garrison prisoners. Instead of scalping the captives, they 
 loaded them with flour, and drove them into captivity. 
 The Indians on the Ohio, having killed above a thousand 
 of the inhabitants of the western frontiers, were soon 
 chastised with military vengeance. Colonel Armstrong, 
 with a party of two hundred and eighty provincials,
 
 HOLMES] THREE YEARS OF WARFARE. 347 
 
 marched from Fort Shirley, which had been built on the 
 Juniata Eiver, about one hundred and fifty miles west of 
 Philadelphia, to Kittanning, an Indian town, the rendez- 
 vous of those murdering Indians, and destroyed it. Captain 
 Jacobs, the Indian chief, defended himself through loop- 
 holes of his log-house. The Indians refusing the quarter 
 which was offered them, Colonel Armstrong ordered their 
 houses to be set on fire ; and many of the Indians were 
 suffocated and burnt ; others were shot in attempting to 
 reach the river. The Indian captain, his squaw, and a 
 boy called the King's Son were shot as they were getting 
 out of the window, and were all scalped. It was computed 
 that between thirty and forty Indians were destroyed. 
 Eleven English prisoners were released. 
 
 [The plan of proceedings for the year 1767 was less complex than 
 that for the preceding year, but was no more successful. Leaving the 
 frontier posts strongly garrisoned, Lord Loudoun determined on the 
 siege of the highly-important fortress of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, 
 with all his disposable force. But after reaching Halifax with his 
 fleet and army lie learned that Louisburg was garrisoned with six 
 thousand French regulars, in addition to the provincials, and that 
 seventeen line-of-battle ships were in the harbor. This destroyed all 
 hope of success, and the expedition was abandoned. In September, 
 the British fleet, cruising off Louisburg, narrowly escaped destruction 
 from a violent gale, which drove one frigate ashore and seriously injured 
 most of the others. The only military advantage of the year was 
 gained by the French under Montcalm, in an expedition against Fort 
 William Henry, which had been erected by Johnson at the scene of 
 his victory two years before.] 
 
 The Marquis de Montcalm, availing himself of the ab- 
 sence of the principal part of the British force, advanced 
 with an army of nine thousand men and laid siege to Fort 
 William Henry. The garrison at this fort consisted of be- 
 tween two thousand and three thousand regulars, and its 
 fortifications were strong and in very good order. For the
 
 348 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 farther security of this important post, General Webb was 
 stationed at Fort Edward with an army of four thousand 
 men. The French commander, however, urged his ap- 
 proaches with such vigor that, within six days after the 
 investment of the fort, Colonel Monroe, the commandant, 
 after a spirited resistance, surrendered by capitulation. 
 The garrison was to be allowed the honors of war, and to 
 be protected against the Indians until within the reach of 
 Fort Edward; but no sooner had the soldiers left the 
 place than the Indians in the French army, disregarding 
 the stipulation, fell upon them and committed the most 
 cruel outrages. 
 
 The British officers complained that the troops were pil- 
 laged, and that the men were dragged out of the ranks 
 and tomahawked, before the exertions of the Marquis de 
 Montcalm to restrain the savages were effectual. Carver 
 says the captured troops were, by tbe capitulation, to be 
 allowed covered wagons to transport their baggage to Fort 
 Edward, and a guard to protect them ; that the promised 
 guard was not furnished ; and that fifteen hundred persons 
 were either killed or made prisoners by the Indians. . . . 
 Minot says, " The breach of this capitulation, whether vol- 
 untary or unavoidable on the part of the French, was a 
 most interesting subject of reproach at the time, and long 
 continued to fill the British colonists with indignation and 
 horror." A great part of the prisoners, he observes, were 
 pillaged and stripped, and many of them murdered, by the 
 savages ; some reached Fort Edward in a scattering man- 
 ner, and others returned again to the French. 
 
 [This disastrous event has seriously tarnished the fair fame of the 
 Marquis de Montcalm. To what extent he and his oiBcers intervened 
 to stop the butchery is uncertain, but there is good reason to believe 
 that the French in general permitted the massacre to go on with scarce 
 an effort to stop it. General Webb is also severely blamed by his-
 
 HOLMES] THREE TEARS OF WARFARE. 349 
 
 torians for not reinforcing Monroe, and is accused of cowardice, for 
 which accusation his behavior gave abundant warrant. The mas- 
 sacre was the more terrible in that there were many women and chil- 
 dren in the retreating column, who were killed indiscriminately with 
 the men. The Indians present with the English were taken pris- 
 oners by their foes and reserved for the more horrible fate of death by 
 torture. 
 
 The year 1758 opened gloomily for the British colonies. The suc- 
 cesses of the year before had all been in favor of the French, and 
 they now occupied positions which gave them special advantages in 
 the continuance of the war. The taking of Oswego had destroyed all 
 English control of the Northern lakes ; the capture of Fort William 
 Henry gave the French possession of Lakes Champlain and George, 
 and a position in the heart of the British territory ; and the retention 
 of Fort Duquesne gave them possession of the country west of the 
 Alleghanies, and enabled them to exert a powerful influence over the 
 Indians. Yet, despite this gloomy aspect of affairs, the British pre- 
 pared for the next year's campaign with unabated energy and courage. 
 "William Pitt, now prime minister of England, put all his vigor and 
 ability into the prosecution of the war. Twelve thousand troops were 
 sent over under General Amherst, and General Abercrombie, who was 
 now made commander-in-chief of the British forces, was at the head 
 of much the greatest army as yet ever seen in America, consisting 
 of fifty thousand men, of whom twenty-two thousand were regular 
 troops.] 
 
 Three expeditions were proposed for this year : the first, 
 against Louisburg ; the second, against Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point ; and the third, against Fort Duquesne. On 
 the first expedition, Admiral Boscawen sailed from Hali- 
 fax on the 28th of May, with a fleet of twenty ships of 
 the line and eighteen frigates, and an army of fourteen 
 thousand men under the command of General Amherst, 
 and arrived before Louisburg on the 2d of June. The gar- 
 rison of that place, commanded by the Chevalier de Dra- 
 court, an officer of courage and experience, was composed 
 of two thousand five hundred regulars, aided by six hun- 
 dred militia. The hai'bor being secured by five ships of 
 i. 30
 
 350 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 the line, one fifty-gun ship, and five frigates, three of 
 which were sunk across the mouth of the basin, it was 
 found necessary to land at some distance from the town. 
 "When, with some difficulty but little loss, the landing was 
 effected at the creek of Cormoran, and the artillery and 
 stores were brought on shore, General Wolfe was detached 
 with two thousand men to seize a post occupied by the 
 enemy at the Lighthouse point, from which the ships in 
 the harbor and the fortifications in the town might be 
 greatly annoyed. On the approach of that gallant officer, 
 the post was abandoned ; and several very strong batteries 
 were erected there. Approaches were also made on the 
 opposite side of the town, and the siege was pressed with 
 resolute but slow and cautious vigor. A very heavy can- 
 nonade being kept up against the town and the vessels in 
 the harbor, a bomb at length set on fire and blew up one 
 of the great ships, and the flames were communicated to 
 two others, which shared the same fate. The English 
 admiral now sent six hundred men in boats into the har- 
 bor, to make an attempt on the two ships of the line 
 which still remained in the basin ; and one of them, that 
 was aground, was destroyed, and the other was towed off 
 in triumph. This gallant exploit putting the English in 
 complete possession of the harbor, and several breaches 
 being made practicable in the works, the place was deemed 
 no longer defensible, and the governor offered to capitu- 
 late. His terms, however, were refused ; and it was re- 
 quired that the garrison should surrender as prisoners 
 of war, or sustain an assault by sea and land. These hu- 
 miliating terms, though at first rejected, were afterwards 
 acceded to ; and Louisburg, with all its artillery, provis- 
 ions, and military stoi*es, as also Island Royal, St. John's, 
 and their dependencies, were placed in the hands of the 
 English, who, without further difficulty, took entire pos-
 
 HOLMES] THREE YEARS OF WARFARE. 351 
 
 session of the island of Cape Breton. In effecting this 
 conquest about four hundred of the assailants were killed 
 or wounded. The conquerors found two hundred and 
 twenty-one pieces of cannon and eighteen mortars, with 
 a very large quantity of stores and ammunition. The in- 
 habitants of Cape Breton were sent to France in English 
 ships ; but the garrison, sea-officers, sailors, and marines, 
 amounting collectively to five thousand six hundred and 
 thirty-seven, were carried prisoners to England. The gar- 
 rison lost upwards of fifteen hundred men, and the town 
 was left " almost a heap of ruins." 
 
 The armies intended for the execution of the plans 
 against Ticonderoga and Fort Duquesne were to rendez- 
 vous at Albany and Philadelphia. The first was com- 
 manded by General Abercrombie, and consisted of upwards 
 of fifteen thousand men, attended by a formidable train 
 of artillery. On the 5th of July the general embarked 
 his troops on Lake George, on board of one hundred and 
 twenty-five whale-boats and nine hundred bateaux. His 
 first operations were against Ticonderoga. After debarka- 
 tion at the landing-place in a cove on the west side of the 
 lake, the troops were formed into four columns, the British 
 in the centre and the provincials on the flanks. In this 
 order they marched towards the advanced guard of the 
 French, which, consisting of one battalion only, posted in a 
 logged camp, destroyed what was in their power and made 
 a precipitate retreat. While Abercrombie was continuing 
 his march in the woods, towards Ticonderoga, the columns 
 were thrown into confusion, and in some degree entangled 
 with each other. At this juncture, Lord Howe, at the head 
 of the right centre column, fell in with a part of the ad- 
 vanced guard of the enemy which was lost in the wood in 
 retreating from Lake George, and immediately attacked 
 and dispersed it, killing a considerable number, and taking
 
 352 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 one hundred and forty-eight prisoners. In this skirmish, 
 Lord Howe fell on the first fire. 
 
 The English army, without farther opposition, took pos- 
 session of a post within two miles of Ticonderoga. Aber- 
 crombie, having learned from the prisoners the strength 
 of the enemy at that fortress, and from an engineer the 
 condition of their works, resolved on an immediate storm, 
 and made instant disposition for an assault. The troops, 
 having received orders to march up briskly, rush upon the 
 enemy's fire, and reserve their own till they had passed a 
 breastwork, marched to the assault with great intrepidity. 
 Unlooked-for impediments, however, occurred. In front 
 of the breastwork, to a considerable distance, trees had 
 been felled with their branches outward, many of which 
 were sharpened to a point, by means of which the as- 
 sailants were not only retarded in their advance, but, be- 
 coming entangled among the boughs, were exposed to a 
 very galling fire. Finding it impracticable to pass the 
 breastwork, which was eight or nine feet high, and much 
 stronger than had been represented, General Abercrombie, 
 after a contest of nearly four hours, ordered a retreat, and 
 the next day resumed his former camp on the south side 
 of Lake George. In this ill-judged assault nearly two 
 thousand of the assailants were killed and wounded, of 
 which number towards four hundred were provincials. 
 Almost half of the Highland regiment, commanded by 
 Lord John Murray, with twenty-five of its officers, were 
 either killed or desperately wounded. The loss of the 
 enemy, who were covered during the whole action, was 
 inconsiderable. 
 
 [This severe defeat put an end to the expedition against Crown 
 Point. One success, however, was gained. Abercrombie detached 
 three thousand men under Colonel Bradstreet on an expedition which 
 the colonel had proposed against Fort Frontenac, an important post on
 
 HOLMES] THREE YEARS OF WARFARE. 353 
 
 the western shore of the outlet of Lake Ontario, at the site of the 
 present city of Kingston. Bradstreet marched to Oswego, embarked 
 on the lake, and landed near the fort on August 25. Two days' siege 
 compelled a surrender, and the post with all its contents fell into his 
 hands. Having destroyed it, and the vessels in the harbor, he with- 
 drew his forces.] 
 
 The demolition of Fort Frontenac facilitated the reduc- 
 tion of Fort Duquesne. General Forbes, to whom this 
 enterprise was intrusted, had marched early in July from 
 Philadelphia at the head of the army destined for the 
 expedition ; but such delays were experienced, it was not 
 until September that the Virginia regulars, commanded 
 by Colonel "Washington, were ordered to join the British 
 troops at Raystown. Before the army was put in motion, 
 Major Grant was detached with eight hundred men, partly 
 British and partly provincials, to reconnoitre the fort and 
 the adjacent country. Having invited an attack from the 
 French garrison, this detachment was surrounded by the 
 enemy ; and after a brave defence, in which three hundred 
 men were killed and wounded, Major Grant and nineteen 
 other officers were taken prisoners. General Forbes, with 
 the main army, amounting to at least eight thousand men, 
 at length moved forward from Raystown, but did not 
 reach Fort Duquesne until late in November. On the 
 evening preceding his arrival, the French garrison, de- 
 serted by their Indians, and unequal to the maintenance 
 of the place against so formidable an army, had abandoned 
 the fort, and escaped in boats down the Ohio. The Eng- 
 lish now took possession of that important fortress, and, 
 in compliment to the popular minister, called it Pittsburg. 
 No sooner was the British flag erected on it than the nu- 
 merous tribes of the Ohio Indians came in and made their 
 submission to the English. General Forbes, having con- 
 cluded treaties with these natives, left a garrison of pro- 
 
 30*
 
 354 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HOLMES 
 
 vincials in the fort, and built a block-house near Loyal 
 Hannan; but, worn out with fatigue, he died before he 
 could reach Philadelphia. 
 
 [Other advantages were gained by the English, and, despite the 
 repulse at Ticonderoga, the balance of success in the year's operations 
 was decidedly on the side of the British forces. One remarkable per- 
 sonal adventure of the war we may select, in conclusion, its hero being 
 the afterwards celebrated general Israel Putnam.] 
 
 While the inti-enchments of Abercrombie enclosed him 
 in security, M. de Montcalm was active in harassing the 
 frontiers, and in detaching parties to attack the convoys 
 of the English. Two or three convoys having been cut 
 off by these parties, Major Eogers and Major Putnam 
 made excursions from Lake George to intercept them. 
 The enemy, apprised of their movements, had sent out 
 the French partisan Molang, who had laid an ambuscade 
 for them in the woods. While proceeding in single file in 
 three divisions, as Major Putnam, who was at the head of 
 the first, was coming out of a thicket, the enemy rose, 
 and with discordant yells and whoops attacked the right 
 of his division. Surprised, but not dismayed, he halted, 
 returned the fire, and passed the word for the other divis- 
 ions to advance for his support. Perceiving it would be 
 impracticable to cross the creek, he determined to main- 
 tain his ground. The officers and men, animated by his 
 example, behaved with great bravery. Putnam's fusee 
 at length missing fire, while the muzzle was presented 
 against the breast of a large and well-proportioned In- 
 dian, this warrior, with a tremendous war-whoop, instantly 
 sprang forward with his lifted hatchet and compelled him 
 to surrender, and, having disarmed him and bound him 
 fast to a tree, returned to the battle. The enemy were 
 at last driven from the field, leaving their dead behind
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT qUEBEC. 355 
 
 them ; Putnam was untied by the Indian who had made 
 him prisoner, and carried to the place where they were to 
 encamp that night. Besides many outrages, they inflicted 
 a deep wound with a tomahawk upon his left cheek. It 
 being determined to roast him alive, they led him into 
 a dark forest, stripped him naked, bound him to a tree, 
 piled combustibles at a small distance in a circle round 
 him, and, with horrid screams, set the pile on fire. In 
 the instant of an expected immolation, Molang rushed 
 through the crowd, scattered the burning brands, and 
 unbound the victim. The next day Major Putnam was 
 allowed his moccasons, and permitted to march without 
 carrying any pack ; at night the party arrived at Ticon- 
 deroga, and the prisoner was placed under the care of a 
 French guard. After having been examined by the Mar- 
 quis de Montcalm, he was conducted to Montreal by a 
 French officer, who treated him with the greatest indul- 
 gence and humanity. The capture of Fort Frontenac 
 affording occasion for an exchange of prisoners, Major 
 Putnam was set at liberty. 
 
 WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 [According to the plan of operations for 1759, General Wolfe, whose 
 bravery at Louisburg had gained him great favor, was to ascend the 
 St. Lawrence with a fleet of war-vessels and an army of eight thou- 
 sand men, as soon as the river should be clear of ice, and lay siege to 
 Quebec. General Amherst was to advance by the often-attempted road 
 of Lake George, with the purpose of reducing Ticonderoga and Crown 
 Point, then to cross Lake Champlain and push on to co-operate with 
 Wolfe. A third expedition, under General Prideaux, assisted by Sir
 
 356 AMERICAN HISTORY. [!KVING 
 
 William Johnson and Ms Indians, was to attack Fort Niagara. Atn- 
 herst's expedition consisted of nearly twelve thousand men. The forts 
 threatened had no hope of a successful resistance against such a force, 
 and they were deserted as the English army advanced, their garrisons 
 retiring towards Montreal. Instead of pursuing, Amherst stopped 
 to repair the works at Ticonderoga and build a new fort at Crown 
 Point, useless measures just then, and causing a delay which deprived 
 "Wolfe of very desirable assistance. The expeditions of Prideaux and 
 Wolfe proved more valuable in their results. We select a description 
 of them from Irving's " Life of Washington," in which the exploits 
 of Wolfe are described with all the clearness and rhetorical beauty of 
 this excellent historian.] 
 
 GENERAL PRIDEAUX embarked at Oswego on the 1st of 
 July, with a large body of troops, regulars and provincials, 
 the latter partly from New York. He was accompanied 
 by Sir William Johnson and his Indian braves of the Mo- 
 hawk. Landing at an inlet of Lake Ontario, within a few 
 miles of Fort Niagara, he advanced, without being opposed, 
 and proceeded to invest it. The garrison, six hundred 
 strong, made a resolute defence. The siege was carried 
 on by regular approaches, but pressed with vigor. On the 
 20th of July, Prideaux, in visiting his trenches, was killed 
 by the bursting of a cohorn. Informed by express of this 
 misfortune, General Amherst detached from the main army 
 Brigadier-General Gage, the officer who had led Braddock's 
 advancej to take the command. 
 
 In the mean time the siege had been conducted by Sir 
 "William Johnson with courage and sagacity. He was des- 
 titute of military science, but had a natural aptness for 
 warfare, especially for the rough kind carried on in the 
 wilderness. Being informed by his scouts that twelve 
 hundred regular troops., drawn from Detroit, Venango, 
 and Presque Isle, and led by D'Aubry, with a number of 
 Indian auxiliaries, were hastening to the rescue, he v de- 
 tached a force of grenadiers and light infantry, with some
 
 IBTING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 357 
 
 of his Mohawk warriors, to intercept them. They came 
 in sight of each other on the road between Niagara Falls 
 and the fort, within the thundering sound of the one and 
 the distant view of the other. Johnson's " braves" ad- 
 vanced to have a parley with the hostile red-skins. The 
 latter received them with a war-whoop, and Frenchman 
 and savage made an impetuous onset. Johnson's regulars 
 and pi-ovincials stood their ground firmly, while his red 
 warriors fell on the flanks of the enemy. After a sharp 
 conflict, the French were broken, routed, and pursued 
 through the woods, with great carnage. Among the pris- 
 oners taken were seventeen officers. The next day Sir 
 William Johnson sent a trumpet, summoning the garrison 
 to surrender, to spare the effusion of blood and prevent 
 outrages by the Indians. They had no alternative ; were 
 permitted to march out with the honors of war, and were 
 protected by Sir William from his Indian allies. 
 
 [This victory secured the key of communication between Lakes On- 
 tario and Erie, and to the vast interior region surrounding. But more 
 important events were to follow.] 
 
 Wolfe, with his eight thousand men, ascended the St. 
 Lawrence in the fleet, in the month of June. With him 
 came Brigadiers Monckton, Townshend, and Murray, 
 youthful and brave like himself, and, like himself, already 
 schooled in arms. Monckton, it will be recollected, had 
 signalized himself, when a colonel, in the expedition in 
 1755 in which the French were driven from Nova Scotia. 
 The grenadiers of the army were commanded by Colonel 
 Guy Carleton, and part of the light infantry by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel William Howe, both destined to celebrity in after- 
 years, in the annals of the American Eevolution. Colonel 
 Howe was a brother of the gallant Lord Howe, whose fall 
 in the preceding year was so generally lamented. Among
 
 358 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 the officers of tLe fleet was Jervis, the future admiral, 
 and ultimately Earl St. Yincent, and the master of one of 
 the ships was James Cook, afterwards renowned as a dis- 
 coverer. 
 
 About the end of June, the troops debarked on the large, 
 populous, and well-cultivated Isle of Orleans, a little below 
 Quebec, and encamped in its fertile fields. Quebec, the 
 citadel of Canada, was strong by nature. It was built 
 round the point of a rocky promontory, and flanked by 
 precipices. The crystal current of the St. Lawrence swept 
 by it on the right, and the river St. Charles flowed along 
 on the left before mingling with that mighty stream. The 
 place was tolerably fortified, but art had not yet rendered 
 it, as at the present day, impregnable. 
 
 Montcalm commanded the post. His troops were more 
 numerous than the assailants ; but the greater part were 
 Canadians, many of them inhabitants of Quebec ; and he 
 had a host of savages. His forces were drawn out alone: 
 
 o o 
 
 the northern shore below the city, from the river St. 
 Charles to the Falls of Montmorency, and their position 
 was secured by deep intrenchments. 
 
 The night after the debarkation of Wolfe's troops a 
 furious storm caused great damage to the transports, and 
 sank some of the small craft. While it was still raging, a 
 number of fire-ships, sent to destroy the fleet, came driving 
 down. They were boarded intrepidly by the British sea- 
 men, and towed out of the way of doing harm. After 
 much resistance, Wolfe established batteries at the west 
 point of the Isle of Orleans, and at Point Levi, on the 
 right (or south) bank of the St. Lawrence, within cannon- 
 range of the city, Colonel Guy Carleton commander at 
 the former battery, Brigadier Monckton at the latter. 
 From Point Levi bomb-shells and red-hot shells were dis- 
 charged ; many houses were set on fire in the upper town,
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 359 
 
 the lower town was reduced to rubbish; the main fort, 
 however, remained unharmed. 
 
 Anxious for a decisive action, Wolfe, on the 9th of July, 
 crossed over in boats from the Isle of Orleans to the north 
 bank of the St. Lawrence, and encamped below the Mont- 
 morency. It was an ill-judged position, for there was still 
 that tumultuous stream, with its rocky banks, between 
 him and the camp of Montcalm ; but the ground he had 
 chosen was higher than that occupied by the latter, and 
 the Montmorencj^ had a ford below the falls, passable at 
 low tide. Another ford was discovered, three miles within 
 land, but the banks were steep, and shagged with forest. 
 At both fords the vigilant Montcalm had thrown up breast- 
 works and posted troops. 
 
 On the 18th of July, Wolfe made a reconnoitring expe- 
 dition up the river with two armed sloops and two trans- 
 ports with troops. He passed Quebec unharmed, and care- 
 fully noted the shores above it. Eugged cliffs rose almost 
 from the water's edge. Above them, he was told, was an 
 extent of level ground, called the Plains of Abraham, by 
 which the upper town might be approached on its weakest 
 side; but how was that plain to be attained, when the 
 cliffs, for the most part, were inaccessible, and every prac- 
 ticable place fortified ? 
 
 He returned to Montmorency disappointed, and resolved 
 to attack Montcalm in his camp, however difficult to be 
 approached, and however strongly posted. Townshend 
 and Murray, with their brigades, were to cross the Mont- 
 morency at low tide, below the falls, and storm the redoubt 
 thrown up in front of the ford. Monckton, at the same 
 time, was to cross with part of his brigade, in boats from 
 Point Levi. The ship Centurion, stationed in the channel, 
 was to check the fire of a battery which commanded the 
 ford ; a train of artillery, planted on an eminence, was to
 
 360 AMERICAN HISTORY. [!RVIXO 
 
 enfilade the enemy's intrenchments ; and two armed flat- 
 bottomed boats were to be run on shore, near the 1'edoubt, 
 and favor the crossing of the troops. 
 
 As usual in complicated orders, part were misunder- 
 stood or neglected, and confusion was the consequence. 
 Many of the boats from Point Levi ran aground on a 
 shallow in the river, where they were exposed to a severe 
 fire of shot and shells. Wolfe, who was on the shore, 
 directing everything, endeavored to stop his impatient 
 troops until the boats could be got afloat and the men 
 landed. Thirteen companies of grenadiers and two hun- 
 dred provincials were the first to land. Without waiting 
 for Brigadier Monckton and his regiments, without wait- 
 ing for the co-operation of the troops under Townshend, 
 without waiting even to be drawn up in form, the grena- 
 diers rushed impetuously towards the enemy's intrench- 
 ments. A sheeted fire mowed them down, and drove 
 them to take shelter behind the redoubt, near the ford, 
 which the enemy had abandoned. Here they remained, 
 unable to form under the galling fire to which they were 
 exposed whenever they ventured from their covert. 
 Monckton's brigade at length was landed, drawn up in 
 order, and advanced to their relief, driving back the 
 enemy. Thus protected, the grenadiers retreated as pre- 
 cipitately as they had advanced, leaving many of their 
 comrades wounded on the field, who were massacred and 
 scalped in their sight by the savages. The delay thus 
 caused was fatal to the enterprise. The day was advanced ; 
 the weather became stormy ; the tide began to make ; at 
 a later hour retreat, in case of a second repulse, would 
 be impossible. Wolfe, therefore, gave up the attack, and 
 withdrew across the river, having, lost upwards of four 
 hundred men through this headlong impetuosity of the 
 grenadiers. The two vessels which had been run aground
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 361 
 
 were set on fire, lest they should fall into the hands of 
 the enemy. 
 
 Brigadier Murray was now detached with twelve hun- 
 dred men, in transports, to ascend above the town and 
 co-operate with Rear-Admiral Holmes in destroying the 
 enemy's shipping and making descents upon the north 
 shore. The shipping was safe from attack ; some stores 
 and ammunition were destroyed, some prisoners taken, 
 and Murray returned with the news of the capture of 
 Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point, and that 
 Amherst was preparing to attack the Isle aux Noix. 
 
 Wolfe, of a delicate constitution and sensitive nature, 
 had been deeply mortified by the severe check sustained 
 at the Falls of Montmorency, fancying himself disgraced ; 
 and these successes of his fellow-commanders in other 
 parts increased his self-upbraiding. The difficulties multi- 
 plying around him, and the delay of General Amherst in 
 hastening to his aid, preyed incessantly on his spirits ; he 
 was dejected even to despondency, and declared he would 
 never return without success, to be exposed, like other 
 unfortunate commanders, to the sneers and reproaches of 
 the populace. The agitation of his mind, and his acute 
 sensibility, brought on a fever, which for some time in- 
 capacitated him from taking the field. 
 
 In the midst of his illness he called a council of war, in 
 which the whole plan of operations was altered. It was 
 determined to convey troops above the town, and endeavor 
 to make a diversion in that direction, or draw Montcalm 
 into the open field. Before carrying this plan into effect, 
 Wolfe again reconnoitred the town in company with 
 Admiral Saunders, but nothing better suggested itself. 
 
 The brief Canadian summer was over ; they were in the 
 month of September. The camp at Montmorency was 
 broken up. The troops were transported to Point Levi, 
 i. <j 31
 
 362 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 leaving a sufficient number to man the batteries on the 
 Isle of Orleans. On the 5th and 6th of September the 
 embarkation took place above Point Levi, in transports 
 which had been sent up for the purpose. Montcalm de- 
 tached De Bougainville with fifteen hundred men to keep 
 along the north shore above the town, watch the move- 
 ments of the squadron, and prevent a landing. To deceive 
 him, Admiral Holmes moved with the ships of war three 
 leagues beyond the place where the landing was to be 
 attempted. He was to drop down, however, in the night, 
 and protect the landing. Cook, the future discoverer, also, 
 was employed with others to sound the river and place 
 buoys opposite the camp of Montcalm, as if an attack 
 were meditated in that quarter. 
 
 Wolfe was still suffering under the effects of his late 
 fever. " My constitution.'' writes he to a friend, "is en- 
 tirely ruined, without the consolation of having done any 
 considerable service to the state, and without any prospect 
 of it." Still he was unremitting in his exertions, seeking 
 to wipe out the fancied disgrace incurred at the Falls of 
 Montmorency. It was in this mood he is said to have 
 composed and sung at his evening mess that little cam- 
 paigning song still linked with his name : 
 
 " Why, soldiers, why 
 
 Should we be melancholy, boys ? 
 Why, soldiers, why, 
 "Whose business 'tis to die ?" 
 
 Even when embarked in his midnight enterprise, the 
 presentiment of death seems to have cast its shadow over 
 him. A midshipman who was present used to relate that, 
 as Wolfe sat among his officers, and the boats floated down 
 silently with the current, he recited, in low and touching 
 tones, Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, then just
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 363 
 
 published. One stanza may especially have accorded with 
 his melancholy mood : 
 
 " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
 
 And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
 Await alike the inevitable hour: 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," said he, when he had finished, "I 
 would rather be the author of that poem than take 
 Quebec." 
 
 The descent was made in flat-bottomed boats, past mid- 
 night, on the 13th of September. They dropped down 
 silently with the swift current. "Qui va Id f" (Who goes 
 there ?) cried a sentinel from the shore. " La France" re- 
 plied a captain in the first boat, who understood the French 
 language. II A quel regiment?" was the demand. "De la 
 Heine" (The queen's), replied the captain, knowing that 
 regiment was in De Bougainville's detachment. Fortu- 
 nately, a convoy of provisions was expected down from 
 De Bougainville, which the sentinel supposed this to be. 
 " Passe" cried he, and the boats glided on without further 
 challenge. The landing took place in a cove near Cape 
 Diamond, which still bears Wolfe's name. He had marked 
 it in reconnoitring, and saw that a cragged path straggled 
 up from it to the Heights of Abraham, which might be 
 climbed, though with difficulty, and that it appeared to be 
 slightly guarded at top. Wolfe was among the first that 
 landed and ascended up the steep and narrow path, where 
 not more than two could go abreast, and which had been 
 broken up by cross-ditches. Colonel Howe, at the same 
 time, with the light infantry and Highlanders, scrambled 
 up the woody precipices, helping themselves by the roots 
 and branches, and putting to flight a sergeant's guard 
 posted at the summit. Wolfe drew up the men in order
 
 364 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 as they mounted, and by the break of day found himself 
 in possession of the fateful Plains of Abraham. 
 
 Montcalm was thunderstruck when word was brought 
 to him in his camp that the English were on the heights, 
 threatening the weakest part of the town. Abandoning 
 his intrenchments, he hastened across the river St. Chai'les 
 and ascended the heights which slope up gradually from 
 its banks. His force was equal in number to that of the 
 English, but a great pai-t was made up of colony troops and 
 savages. When he saw the formidable host of regulars 
 he had to contend with, he sent off swift messengers to 
 summon De Bougainville with his detachment to his aid, 
 and De Yaudreuil to reinforce him with fifteen hundred 
 men from the camp. In the mean time he prepared to 
 flank the left of the English line and force them to the 
 opposite precipices. Wolfe saw his aim, and sent Briga- 
 dier Townshend to counteract him with a regiment which 
 was formed en potence, and supported by two battalions, 
 presenting on the left a double front. 
 
 The French, in their haste, thinking they were to repel 
 a mere scouting-party, had brought but three light field- 
 pieces with them; the English had but a single gun, which 
 the sailors had dragged up the heights. With these they 
 cannonaded each other for a time, Montcalm still waiting 
 for the aid he had summoned. At length, about nine 
 o'clock, losing all patience, he led on his disciplined troops 
 to a close conflict with small-arms, the Indians to support 
 them with a galling fire from thickets and corn-fields. 
 The French advanced gallantly, but irregularly, firing 
 rapidly, but with little effect. The English reserved their 
 fire until their assailants were within forty yards, and 
 then delivered it in deadly volleys. They suffered, how- 
 ever, from the lurking savages, who singled out the offi- 
 cers. Wolfe, who was in front of the line, a conspicuous
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT QUEBEC. 365 
 
 mark, was wounded by a ball in the wrist. He bound his 
 handkerchief round the wound and led on the grenadiers, 
 with fixed bayonets, to charge the foe, who began to 
 waver. Another ball struck him in the breast. He felt 
 the wound to be mortal, and feared his fall might dis- 
 
 ' O 
 
 hearten his troops. Leaning on a lieutenant for support, 
 " Let not my brave fellows see me drop," said he, faintly. 
 He was borne off to the rear; water was brought to 
 quench his thirst, and he was asked if he would have a 
 surgeon. " It is needless," he replied ; " it is all over with 
 me." He desired those about him to lay him down. The 
 lieutenant seated himself upon the ground, and supported 
 him in his arms. " They run ! they run ! see how they 
 run !" cried one of the attendants. " Who run ?" de- 
 manded Wolfe, earnestly, like one aroused from sleep. 
 "The enemy, sir; they give way everywhere." The spirit 
 of the expiring hero flashed up. " Go, one of you, my 
 lads, to Colonel Burton ; tell him to march Webb's regi- 
 ment with all speed down to Charles Eiver, to cut off the 
 retreat by the bridge." Then, turning on his side, " Now, 
 God be praised, I will die in peace !" said he, and expired, 
 soothed in his last moments by the idea that victory 
 would obliterate the imagined disgrace at Montmorency. 
 
 Brigadier Murray had indeed broken the centre of the 
 enemy, and the Highlanders were making deadly havoc 
 with their claymores, driving the French into the town or 
 down to their works on the river St. Charles. Monckton, 
 the first brigadier, was disabled by a wound in the lungs, 
 and the command devolved on Townshend, who hastened 
 to re-form the troops of the centre, disordered in pursuing 
 the enemy. By this time De Bougainville appeared at a 
 distance in the rear, advancing with two thousand fresh 
 troops, but he arrived too late to retrieve the day. The 
 gallant Montcalm had received his death-wound near St. 
 i. 31*
 
 366 AMERICAN HISTORY. [IRVING 
 
 John's Gate, while endeavoring to rally his flying troops, 
 and had been borne into the town. 
 
 Townshend advanced with a force to receive De Bougain- 
 ville; but the latter avoided a combat, and retired into 
 woods and swamps, where it was not thought prudent to 
 follow him. The English had obtained a complete victory, 
 slain about five hundred of the enemy, taken above a 
 thousand prisoners, and among them several officers, and 
 had a strong position on the Plains of Abraham, which 
 they hastened to fortify with redoubts and artillery, drawn 
 up the heights. 
 
 The brave Montcalm wrote a letter to G-eneral Town- 
 shend, recommending the prisoners to Bi'itisb humanity. 
 When told by his surgeon that he could not survive above 
 a few hours, " So much the better," replied he ; "I shall 
 not live to see the surrender of Quebec." To De Ramsey, 
 the French king's lieutenant, who commanded the garri- 
 son, he consigned the defence of the city. " To your 
 keeping," said he, " I commend the honor of France. I'll 
 neither give orders, nor interfere any further. I have 
 business to attend to of greater moment than your ruined 
 garrison and this wretched country. My time is short : 
 I shall pass this night with God, and prepare myself for 
 death. I wish you all comfort, and to be happily ex- 
 tricated from your present perplexities." He then called 
 for his chaplain, who, with the bishop of the colony, re- 
 mained with him through the night. He expired early in 
 the morning, dying like a brave soldier and a devout 
 Catholic. Never did two worthier foes mingle their life- 
 blood on the battle-field than Wolfe and Montcalm. 
 
 [This victory was quickly followed by a surrender of the city, 
 whose garrison made no effort to defend it. It capitulated on the 17th 
 of September, and was at once strongly occupied by the British, who 
 hastened to put it in a strong defensive condition. Had Ainherst
 
 IRVING] WOLFE AND MONTCALM AT qUEBEC. 367 
 
 followed up Wolfe's success by a prompt advance, the subjugation 
 of Canada would have been completed that year. His delay gave the 
 French time to rally, and enabled De Levi, the successor of Montcalm, 
 to make a vigorous effort to recover the lost city.] 
 
 In the following spring, as soon as the river St. Law- 
 rence opened, he approached Quebec, and landed at Point 
 au Tremble, about twelve miles off. The garrison had 
 suffered dreadfully during the winter from excessive cold, 
 want of vegetables and of fresh provisions. Many had 
 died of scurvy, and many more were ill. Murray, san- 
 guine and injudicious, and hearing that De Levi was 
 advancing with ten thousand men and five hundred 
 Indians, sallied out with his diminished forces of not more 
 than three thousand. English soldiers, he boasted, were 
 habituated to victory; he had a fine train of artillery, and 
 stood a better chance in the field than cooped up in a 
 wretched fortification. If defeated, he would defend the 
 place to the last extremity, and then retreat to the Isle of 
 Orleans and wait for reinforcements. More brave than 
 discreet, he attacked the vanguard of the enemy. The 
 battle which took place was fierce and sanguinary. Mur- 
 ray's troops had caught his own headlong valor, and 
 fought until near a third of their number were slain. 
 They were at length driven back into the town, leaving 
 their boasted train of artillery on the field. 
 
 De Levi opened trenches before the town the very 
 evening of the battle. Three French ships, which had 
 descended the river, furnished him with cannon, mortars, 
 and ammunition. By the llth of May he had one bomb 
 battery and three batteries of cannon. Murray, equally 
 alert within the walls, strengthened his defences and kept 
 up a vigorous fire. His garrison was now reduced to two 
 hundred and twenty effective men, and he himself, with 
 all his vaunting spirit, was driven almost to despair, when
 
 368 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRTJMBTTLL 
 
 a British fleet arrived in the river. The whole scene was 
 now reversed. One of the French frigates was driven on 
 the rocks above Cape Diamond ; another ran on shore and 
 was burnt ; the rest of their vessels were either taken or 
 destroyed. The besieging army retreated in the night, 
 leaving provisions, implements, and artillery behind them ; 
 and so rapid was their flight that Murray, who sallied 
 forth on the following day, could not overtake them. 
 
 [A last stand was made at Montreal. But a force of nearly ten 
 thousand men, -with a host of Indians, gathered around the town, 
 which was forced to capitulate on the 8th of September, including in 
 the surrender not only Montreal, but all Canada.] 
 
 Thus ended the contest between France and England for 
 dominion in America, in which, as has been said, the first 
 gun was fired in Washington's encounter with De Jumon- 
 ville. A French statesman and diplomatist consoled him- 
 self by the persuasion that it would be a fatal triumph to 
 England. It would remove the only check by which her 
 colonies were kept in awe. " They will no longer need 
 her protection," said he ; " she will call on them to con- 
 tribute towards supporting the burdens they have helped 
 to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all de- 
 pendence."* 
 
 WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 
 
 BENJAMIN TRUMBULL. 
 
 [The year of the taking of Quebec by General Wolfe was' signalized 
 by a war in the South, of much less importance than that just de- 
 scribed, but of no less fury and determination in the combatants. This 
 
 * Count de Vergennes, French ambassador at Constantinople.
 
 TRUMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 369 
 
 was the war with the Cherokee Indians, one of the most vigorously 
 contested of the Indian wars of the United States, but which ended, 
 like all the others, in rapid subjection of the savages. As has been so 
 frequently the case with Indian wars, this conflict originated in an act 
 of cruel injustice on the part of the whites, a murderous outrage which 
 drove the indignant aborigines into deeds of terrible reprisal and kin- 
 dled the flames of war along the whole southern boundary of the colo- 
 nies. The story of this conflict we select from Trumbull's " General 
 History of the United States of America," in which valuable old work 
 it is given in full detail.] 
 
 DURING several of the first years of the war this numer- 
 ous and powerful nation [the Cherokee] had appeared cor- 
 dially to espouse the interests of the English. At their 
 desire a fortress had been built in their country, called 
 Fort Loudon, in honor to the Earl of Loudon, at that time 
 commander-in-chief in America. Parties of them had as- 
 sisted in the late expedition against Fort Duquesne. But 
 it seems that while they were on that enterprise they were 
 treated with such general coolness and neglect, and re- 
 ceived such insults, as made deep impressions on the minds 
 of that vindictive people. These were kindled into flame 
 and outrage by the treatment which they received from 
 some of the Virginians on their return from that expe- 
 dition. Many of the warriors had lost their horses in that 
 service ; and, as they were returning home, through the 
 back parts of Virginia, they caught such as they found 
 running loose in the woods, not knowing that they be- 
 longed to any individual in the province. The Virginians, 
 instead of legally asserting their rights, fell on the unsus- 
 picious warriors, killed twelve or fourteen of them, and 
 took several prisoners. The Cherokees were highly ex- 
 asperated at such ungrateful treatment from allies whose 
 frontiers, by their assistance, had so lately been turned 
 from a field of blood into peaceful habitations. No sooner 
 had they returned, than they reported to the nation the
 
 370 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRUMBTJLL 
 
 bloody treatment which they had received. The flame 
 spread instantly through their towns. The relatives of 
 the slain were implacable, and breathed nothing but ven- 
 geance against such ungrateful and perfidious allies. The 
 French emissaries added fuel to the flames. In vain did 
 the chieftains interpose their authority. Nothing could 
 restrain the fury of the young warriors. They rushed 
 down on the frontier settlements, and perpetrated many 
 cruel ravages and murders on the defenceless inhabitants. 
 
 O 
 
 About two hundred soldiers, under the command of 
 Captains Dewere and Stewart, were stationed at Fort 
 Loudon. These, on every excursion from the fort, were 
 attacked by them : some were killed, and the rest soon 
 confined within the limits of the fort. All communication 
 between them and the distant settlements was cut off, and, 
 as their supplies were scanty, the only prospects before 
 them were famine and death. It was feared, at the same 
 time, that the arts of the enemy would influence the 
 powerful neighboring nation of the Creeks to the same 
 hostile measures. 
 
 In this alarming situation, Governor Littleton gave 
 orders to the commanders of the militia immediately to 
 assemble their men and act on the defensive. The gov- 
 ernor determined, with such independent companies and 
 militia as could be raised, immediately to march into the 
 enemy's country, and to prosecute such measures as should 
 bring them to reasonable terms of accommodation. 
 
 [Despite what had been done by their young warriors, the leaders 
 of the Cherokees had no desire for war. They sent thirty-two of their 
 chief men to Charleston, with the hope of making a peace. These 
 were haughtily received by the governor, who spoke to them with 
 great severity and would not listen to a word of reply. He also held 
 them virtually prisoners, requiring them to accompany his expedition.] 
 
 Soon after the conference, the governor marched for the
 
 TRUMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 371 
 
 Congarees. This was about a hundred and forty miles 
 from Charleston, and the place of general rendezvous for 
 the militia. Hither the sachems marched with the army, 
 putting on the appearance of content, while inwardly they 
 were burning with fury and resentment. The governor, 
 having mustered about fourteen hundred men, of whom 
 about three hundred were regulars, marched for Fort 
 Prince George. When the army marched, the chieftains 
 were all made prisoners ; and, to prevent their escape, a 
 captain's guard was mounted over them. To complete 
 their indignity and ill treatment, when the army arrived 
 at Fort Prince George the thirty-two chieftains were shut 
 up in a hut scarcely fit for the accommodation of half a 
 dozen soldiers. They were not allowed to speak with their 
 friends, nor even to see the light of day. 
 
 When the governor had advanced as far as this post, he 
 found his army so ill armed and disciplined, and so discon- 
 tented and mutinous, that he judged it unsafe to proceed 
 further against the enemy. Here, therefore, he opened a 
 congress with the Indians. For this purpose he had pre- 
 viously sent for Attakullakulla, otherwise Little Carpenter, 
 who was not only esteemed the wisest man in the nation, 
 but the most firmly attached to the English. This old 
 warrior, though just returned from an excursion against 
 the French, in which he had taken a number of prisoners, 
 hastened to the governor's camp, and presented him with 
 one of the captives. 
 
 [The sachem, after a conference with the governor, requested that 
 some of the head-men might be released, in order to assist him in 
 bringing his people to terms of peace.] 
 
 In compliance with his request, the governor released 
 the great warrior Ouconnostota, and two more of the 
 head-men. The next day they delivered up two Indians.
 
 372 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TKTJMBTJH, 
 
 The governor putting them immediately in irons, so 
 alarmed the Cherokees that they fled out of the way and 
 no more could be obtained. 
 
 [As Attakullakulla now left the camp, despairing of making any 
 accommodation, he was sent for to return by the governor, who con- 
 cluded a treaty with him, holding twenty-two of the chieftains as hos- 
 tages until as many of the warriors who had committed murder should 
 be delivered up.] 
 
 Scarcely had the governor finished the treaty, when the 
 small-pox broke out in his camp. Few of the army had 
 been infected with the disease, and the physicians were 
 wholly unprovided for such an event. The men were 
 struck with a general terror, and with the utmost haste 
 returned to their respective settlements. Such was the 
 fear which each had of his fellow, that all intercourse, on 
 the return, was cautiously avoided. By this means the 
 men suffered exceedingly with hunger and fatigue. The 
 governor soon followed them, and arrived safely at 
 Charleston. Here, though a drop of blood had not been 
 spilt, nor scarcely anything achieved but w r hat was highly 
 perfidious and inglorious, he was received as a conqueror. 
 From different societies and professions he received the 
 most flattering addresses. By illuminations and bonfires 
 the citizens expressed the high sense which they enter- 
 tained of his services and of the happy consequences of 
 his expedition. 
 
 [Their congratulations proved somewhat too hasty. The Indians 
 were so incensed by the perfidy with which their messengers had been 
 treated that they ignored the treaty of peace.] 
 
 Attakullakulla, by reason of his known attachment to 
 the English, had little influence with his countrymen. 
 Ouconnostota, whose influence was great, was now become 
 an implacable and vindictive enemy. He determined to
 
 TRTJMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 373 
 
 follow the example of the governor, and to repay mean- 
 ness and perfidy in their own kind. No attention was 
 paid to the treaty, but Ouconnostota, collecting a strong 
 party, killed fourteen men in the neighborhood of Fort 
 Prince George, surrounded the fort, and confined the gar- 
 rison to their works. Finding that he could make no 
 impression upon the fort, he contrived a stratagem for 
 its surprisal, and the relief of his countrymen who were 
 there in confinement. 
 
 As the country was covered with woods and dark 
 thickets, it was favorable to his purposes. Having con- 
 certed his measures, two Indian women, who were known 
 to be always welcome at the fort, made their appearance 
 on the other side of the river, to decoy the garrison. 
 Lieutenant Dogharty went out to them, to inquire what 
 news. While he was conversing with the women, Oucon- 
 nostota joined them, and desired Dogharty to call the 
 commanding officer, saying that he had matters of impor- 
 tance to communicate to him. Accordingly, Captain Coty- 
 more, Ensign Bell, Dogharty, and Foster, their interpreter, 
 went out to him. He said that he was going to Charleston 
 to procure the release of the prisoners, and wished for a 
 white man for a safeguard. The captain told him he 
 should have a safeguard. No sooner had he received the 
 answer than, turning and giving a signal, nearly thirty 
 guns were fired from different ambuscades. The captain 
 was killed, and Bell and Foster were wounded. In con- 
 sequence of this, orders were given that the hostages 
 should be put in irons. In attempting this, one of the 
 soldiers was killed, and another wounded. These circum- 
 stances so exasperated the garrison that, without hesita- 
 tion, they fell on the unfortunate hostages, and butchered 
 them in a manner too shocking to relate. 
 
 In the evening the Indians approached the fort, and, 
 i. 32
 
 374 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRTJMBTTLL 
 
 after firing signal-guns and crying aloud, in the Cherokee 
 language, " Fight manfully and you shall be assisted," they 
 commenced a furious attack on the garrison, and kept up 
 their fire the whole night. But they were so warmly re- 
 ceived that they were obliged to give over the attack. 
 
 Disappointed in their design on the fort, and finding 
 that their chieftains were slain, they wreaked their ven- 
 geance on the English traders in their country. These 
 they butchered, to a man, without mercy or distinction. 
 In the massacre of the hostages the Cherokees had not 
 only lost a great number of their head-men, but most of 
 them had lost a friend or relation. Nothing, therefore, 
 could exceed the resentment and rage of the nation. The 
 leaders of every town seized the hatchet, proclaiming 
 to their fellows that the spirits of mui'dered brothers 
 were flying around them and calling for vengeance on their 
 enemies. With one voice the nation declared for war. 
 Large parties of warriors, from different towns, rushed 
 down on defenceless families on the frontiers of Carolina, 
 where men, women, and children, without distinction, fell 
 a sacrifice to their merciless rage. At Long Canes, and 
 about the forks of Broad Eiver, they made terrible carnage 
 among the inhabitants, who, trusting to the late peace, 
 were reposed in perfect security. 
 
 About two hundred of the enemy made a furious attack 
 on the fort at Ninety-Six ; but they were obliged to retire 
 with considerable loss. This they revenged on the open 
 country, ravaging the English houses in that quarter and 
 all along the frontiers of Virginia. They were not satis- 
 fied barely with pillaging and destroying the inhabitants, 
 but they wantoned in the most horrible acts of barbarity. 
 Many who fled into the woods and escaped the scalping- 
 knife perished with hunger. Those who were made pris- 
 oners were carried into the wildei'ness, where they suffered
 
 TKUMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 375 
 
 inexpressible hardships. So secret and sudden were the 
 motions of the enemy that it was impossible to tell where 
 the storm would fall, or to take the precautions necessary 
 to prevent the mischief. Every day brought to the capital 
 fresh accounts of their murders and desolations. 
 
 [It had become necessary to take energetic measures for defence and 
 reprisal, and Colonel Montgomery was sent from General Amherst's 
 army to Charleston, with a force of twelve hundred men. The prov- 
 ince was now under a new governor, who took judicious measures for 
 defence, while the army advanced rapidly into the enemy's country. 
 Several Indian towns were hurned, the magazines of provisions de- 
 stroyed, and a considerable number of the savages killed and captured. 
 The others escaped to the mountains. Fort Prince George was relieved, 
 and overtures of peace were made to the enemy.] 
 
 Messages of peace producing no good effect, the colonel 
 determined to make an attack on their middle settlements. 
 He immediately began his march ; but his success in this 
 enterprise was noways equal to that in his former. The 
 enemy watched all his motions, and took every advantage 
 and opportunity to distress him on his march. On the 
 third day, as the army was advancing through a dangerous 
 ground, the enemy attacked him in the most furious and 
 obstinate manner. They commenced the action with their 
 usual horrible screams and outcries, maintaining a severe 
 fire from under cover. The troops were ranged in the 
 most judicious manner, and firmly stood the enemy's 
 charge. The fight was long, obstinate, and well maintained 
 on both sides. At length, the colonel making a movement 
 which brought the Royal Scots upon their right, the enemy 
 gave way and fled. The captain of the rangers, and about 
 twenty men, were killed, and nearly eighty wounded. It 
 was supposed that the enemy lost about forty men. The 
 army pushed forward about five miles, the succeeding 
 evening, to Etchowee, one of the most considerable towns
 
 376 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TKUMBULL 
 
 in the middle settlements. But the Indians had removed 
 their most valuable effects, and forsaken the town. The 
 colonel was able to do them no other injury than to destroy 
 a defenceless town. Here they attacked his picket-guard 
 with such fury that they were repulsed with difficulty. 
 They also gave him repeated annoyance by their volleys 
 from the surrounding hills. Though he had gained the 
 field, and been able to advance after the action, yet it 
 had the effect of a defeat. So many of his men had been 
 wounded, and so many of his horses killed, that he found 
 a retreat absolutely necessary to save the wounded men 
 from the massacre of the enemy. In the beginning of 
 July he returned to Fort Prince George. The expedition 
 had cost him five officers and about a hundred men, killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 [This expedition proved eventually more disadvantageous to the 
 English than to their enemies. Colonel Montgomery now felt it 
 necessary, under the orders he had received, to return north with his 
 troops, and left but about four hundred men to assist in defending the 
 frontiers. As a result, the Southern colonies were again raided by the 
 foe, whom Montgomery had but exasperated. Fort Loudon fell into 
 their hands, and the garrison, in their march northward, were parity 
 killed and the remainder made captive. Under these circumstances 
 application was again made to General Amherst for assistance. It 
 was now the year 1761, Canada was captured, and a force could easily 
 he diverted south. It was determined to give the Indians a lesson 
 that would force them to make peace.] 
 
 In May, the army, consisting of two thousand and six 
 hundred men, advanced to Fort Prince George. Here At- 
 takullakulla, having got intelligence of the force advancing 
 against his nation, met Colonel Grant, and repeatedly en- 
 treated him, by his friendship and many good services to 
 the English, to proceed no further till he had once more 
 used his influence with his nation to bring them to an ac-
 
 TKUMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 377 
 
 commodation. But Colonel Grant would not listen to his 
 solicitations. He immediately began his march for the 
 middle settlements. A party of ninety Indians and thirty 
 woodmen painted like Indians marched in front of the 
 army and scoured the wood. After them followed the 
 light infantry and about fifty rangers, consisting of about 
 two hundred men. By the vigilance and activity of these 
 the colonel designed to secure the main body from annoy- 
 ance and surprise. During three days he made forced 
 marches that he might pass several dangerous defiles which 
 might cost him dear should the enemy first get the pos- 
 session and warmly dispute the passage. These he passed 
 without annoyance. But the next day, finding suspicious 
 grounds on all sides, orders were given that the army 
 should prepare for action, and that the guards should ad- 
 vance slowly, doubling their circumspection. As the army 
 advanced in this cautious manner, about eight o'clock in 
 the morning the enemy were discovered, by the advanced 
 guard, nearly in the same ground where they attacked 
 Colonel Montgomery the preceding year. Rushing down 
 from the high grounds, they furiously attacked the ad- 
 vanced guard. These were supported, and the action be- 
 came general. A party of the enemy driven from the low 
 grounds immediately ascended the hills under which the 
 whole line was obliged to pass. On the left was a river, 
 from the opposite banks of which they received a heavy 
 fire as they advanced. While the line faced and gave their 
 whole charge to the Indians on the bank of the river, a 
 party was ordered to ascend the hills and drive the enemy 
 from the heights. No sooner were they dislodged from 
 the heights than they returned with redoubled ardor to 
 the charge in the low grounds. These it appeared their 
 determination obstinately to dispute. The situation of the 
 troops soon became critical and distressing. They had 
 i. 32*
 
 378 AMERICAN HISTORY. [TRUMBULL 
 
 been greatly fatigued by forced marches in rainy weatber. 
 Tbey were galled by the fire of the enemy, so compassed 
 with woods that they could neither discern nor approach 
 them but with the greatest difficulty and danger. When 
 they were pressed they always kept at a distance, but, 
 rallying, returned again with the same fierceness and res- 
 olution to the charge. No sooner were they driven from 
 one place than they sprang up like furies in another. 
 While the attention of the colonel was drawn to the 
 enemy on the banks of the river, and employed in driving 
 them from their lurking-places on that side, so furious an 
 attack was made on his rear-guard that he was obliged to 
 order a detachment back to its relief, to save his cattle, 
 provision, and baggage. From nine to eleven o'clock did 
 the enemy maintain the action. Everywhere the woods 
 resounded with the roar of arms and the hideous shouts 
 and yells of savages. At length the Cherokees gave way, 
 but as they were pursued they kept up a scattering shot 
 till two o'clock. They then wholly disappeared. 
 
 What loss the enemy sustained is not known, but that 
 of Colonel Grant was about sixty men in killed and wounded. 
 The army advanced as soon as possible, and about midnight 
 arrived at Etchoe, a large Indian town. The next day it 
 was reduced to ashes. There were fourteen other towns 
 in the middle settlements, all which shared the same fate. 
 The enemy's magazines, and their cornfields, amounting 
 to not less than fourteen hundred acres, were utterly de- 
 stroyed. The miserable inhabitants stood the silent spec- 
 tators of the general destruction, and were obliged to re- 
 tire, to starve in the thickets and mountains. Nearly the 
 same barbarities were practised towards them, by a civil- 
 ized and Christian people, of which we so loudly complain 
 when, in their manner of warfare, they are practised 
 against us. . . .
 
 TRTJMBULL] WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 379 
 
 After nearly thirty days had been spent in works of 
 destruction, the army returned to Fort Prince George. 
 The various hardships it had endured in the wilderness, 
 from watching, heat, thirst, danger, and fatigue, hardly 
 admit of description. The feet and legs of many of the 
 soldiers were so mangled, and their spirits so exhausted, 
 that they were utterly incapacitated to proceed on their 
 march. Colonel Grant determined, therefore, to encamp 
 awhile at this post, both for the refreshment of his men 
 and to get intelligence with respect to resolutions of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, Attakullakulla and several other 
 chieftains of his nation came to the camp and expressed 
 their wishes for peace. 
 
 [Articles were drawn and signed by both parties.] 
 
 Peace was established, and both parties expressed their 
 wishes that it might continue as long as the rivers should 
 run, or the sun shine. The whole North American conti- 
 nent appeared now to be quieted. 
 
 [But the quiet was only that of desistance from open warfare. A 
 mental disquiet quickly followed which was, ere long, to lead to a war 
 more terrible than any the continent had heretofore known.]
 
 380 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 THE THRESHOLD OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHARLES MORRIS. 
 
 [The French and Indian "War had other important results than that 
 of removing the great rival to English power in America. In this it 
 cleared the field for another and greater war yet to come, while it edu- 
 cated the colonists in the military art, and prepared them for the task 
 of encountering the ablest soldiers of Europe in deadly conflict on their 
 own soil. It served, also, as a school of training for many of the 
 officers who were afterwards to grow prominent in the Kevolutionary 
 War, and in particular gave to George Washington his first lessons in 
 that art in which he was soon to acquire a world-wide fame. Names 
 crop up throughout the course of this conflict which we shall meet in 
 marked prominence in the events next to be described, names not 
 only of soldiers, but also of statesmen, for it is a political as well as a 
 military revolution with which we have to deal, and its grand results 
 are due to the legislator quite as much as to the soldier. The military 
 struggle, indeed, was preceded by a long and fierce political contest, 
 of which it formed the inevitable conclusion. For this contest the 
 people of America had been prepared, not by their years of war, but 
 by their years of peace, for the whole political history of the American 
 colonies is a history of instruction in the principles of democracy, and 
 the republic of the United States was only in an immediate sense the 
 work of the men of the Revolution, but in its fullest sense was the 
 work of the colonists of America from their first entrance upon the 
 trans-Atlantic shores. A consideration of the political struggle lead- 
 ing to the war of independence, therefore, properly requires a pre- 
 ceding review of the political history of the colonies from their first
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 381 
 
 settlement, since only in this way can we comprehend the preparation 
 of the whole people for the radical change of government they were so 
 soon to undergo, and the strong spirit of democracy which stood behind 
 the labors of congresses and conventions and gave the cue to the work 
 which they were to perform. In default of finding any sufficiently 
 brief statement of this political evolution in the works of historians, 
 the editor offers the following outline sketch, as an essential prelimi- 
 nary to the chapter of American history which now demands our 
 attention.] 
 
 THE several British colonies of America were formed 
 under a variety of differing conditions. The settlement 
 of Virginia was the work of a company of London mer- 
 chants, that of New. England of a body of Puritan refugees 
 from persecution. Most of the other colonies were formed 
 through the efforts of proprietors, to whom the king had 
 made large grants of territory. None of them were of 
 royal or parliamentary establishment, the nearest to this 
 being the colony of New York, which was appropriated 
 from its Dutch founders by the king's brother, soon to 
 become king himself. The government of the mother- 
 country, therefore, took no part in the original formation 
 of the government of the colonies, except in the some- 
 what flexible requirements of the charters granted to the 
 proprietors. Lord Baltimore was left at full liberty to 
 establish a form of government for Maryland, William 
 Penn for Pennsylvania, and the body of proprietors for 
 the Carolinas, while the London Company of merchants 
 largely used their own discretion in modelling that of 
 Virginia. As for the government of Plymouth, it was 
 formed without any restriction or suggestion from abroad, 
 by a body of men who had crossed the ocean to enjoy 
 religious liberty and who were prepared by their previous 
 history for the duties of self-government. The Massachu- 
 setts colony was a chartered one, but from the first it took 
 its government into its own hands, and began to exist
 
 382 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 under that same simple form of democracy which had 
 been established by its Plymouth predecessor. In fact, a 
 colony composed of equals, unpro'vided with a royal gov- 
 ernor, and to a large extent unrestricted in its action, 
 could scarcely assume any other than the one form of 
 government, that of a democracy in which every man 
 was a citizen and had a full voice in the management of 
 affairs. There was only one restriction to this universal 
 suffrage and self-government, that of religious orthodoxy. 
 The colonists were Puritan sectaries, and were determined 
 that their form of religion alone should prevail in the 
 colony. Not only were those of heterodox views incapa- 
 ble of exercising full rights of citizenship, but they were 
 soon driven from the community, as an element of dis- 
 cordance hostile to the well-being of this bigoted body poli- 
 tic. To the extent here indicated, therefore, democracy in 
 America was first established in 1620, not in 1776. And 
 it made considerable progress in New England and else- 
 where ere it encountered any decided interference from 
 the crown. The growth of this democratic spirit is of 
 high interest, and is worthy of a much fuller considera- 
 tion than W T C have space to devote to it. 
 
 The first government of New England was formed on 
 board the Mayflower, before the landing of the Pilgrims. 
 It was the democratic government of the Puritan church 
 congregation transferred to the body politic, the Pilgrims 
 choosing their governor as they chose their pastor, by the 
 voice of the congregation. " For eighteen years all laws 
 were enacted in a general assembly of all the colonists. 
 The governor, chosen annually, was but president of a 
 council, in which he had a double vote. It consisted first 
 of one, then of five, and finally of seven members, called 
 assistants." The colonists gradually assumed all the pre- 
 rogatives of government, even the power of capital punish-
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 383 
 
 ment. Yet so little were political honors desired that it 
 because necessaiy to fine those who, being chosen, declined 
 to act as governor or assistant. 
 
 The colony of Massachusetts Bay was organized under 
 a charter granted by the king, but its primary manage- 
 ment was of the same nature as that of Plymouth. In 
 1630 the charter and the government were transferred from 
 England to Massachusetts, John Winthrop was chosen 
 governor by the people, and the first General Court, or 
 legislative assembly, was held at Boston on the 19th of 
 October of that year. From that time until 1686 the 
 people of New England governed themselves, under a 
 system based on general election, all power being in the 
 hands of the people, and the government essentially a 
 republic. The only restriction to the right of franchise 
 was the requirement that all citizens must be members of 
 some church within the limits of the colony. In 1634 
 another important step of progress in self-government was 
 made. Settlements were now dotted around the circum- 
 ference of Massachusetts Bay, and it had become incon- 
 venient for the citizens to exercise the duties of freemen 
 in person. They therefore chose deputies to represent 
 them, and the primitive form of democracy was changed 
 to a representative one. 
 
 In the formation of the other New England colonies 
 the same principle of government was adopted. The con- 
 stitution of the Connecticut settlements, formed in 1639, 
 paid no heed to the existence of a mother-country. The 
 governor and legislature were to be chosen annually by 
 the freemen, whose oath of allegiance was to the common- 
 wealth, not to the English monarch, and the "general 
 court" possessed the sole power of making and repealing 
 laws. The royal charter granted by Charles II. in 1662 
 fully confirmed the constitution which the people had thus
 
 384 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 made for themselves. Ehode Island was chartered by 
 the English Parliament in 1644, and formall} 7 organized its 
 government in 1647, adopting a democracy similar to that 
 of the other colonies, except that there was no religious 
 restriction to the rights of citizenship, it being declared 
 that i all men might walk as their consciences persuaded 
 them, without molestation, every one in the name of his 
 God." The colonies of Maine and New Hampshire became 
 proprietary governments, under royal grants to Sir Ferdi- 
 nando Gorges and Captain John Mason. But they quickly 
 came under the influence of the Massachusetts colony, and 
 in 1641 New Hampshire placed itself under the protection 
 of Massachusetts and ignored the claims of the proprie- 
 tors. Its adopted form of government differed from that 
 of Massachusetts only in the fact that neither the freemen 
 nor the deputies of the colony were required to be church 
 members. 
 
 In 1643 a further step of progress in the evolution of a 
 representative republic was made. As a measure of pro- 
 tection against the Indians and the other dangers which 
 
 o o 
 
 threatened them, the colonies of Massachusetts, Connec- 
 ticut, New Haven, and Plymouth united themselves into a 
 confederacy, under the title of The United Colonies of New 
 England. Rhode Island was not admitted into this con- 
 federacy, because she would not consent to be incorporated 
 with Plymouth. New Hampshire, as we have seen, formed 
 then a portion of the Massachusetts colony. The govern- 
 ing body of the confederacy consisted of an annual As- 
 sembly, composed of two deputies from each colony, which 
 dealt with all matters relating to the common interests, 
 while the separate interests of each colony were managed 
 by its local government, as before. 
 
 "We perceive in the events above described a remarkable 
 progress towards a federal republic, of the same type as
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 385 
 
 that now existing in the United States of America, and 
 constituting a noble school for the teaching of those prin- 
 ciples of self-government which have become so deeply in- 
 stilled into the minds of the American people. It may seem 
 strange that England so quietly permitted this colonial 
 republic to be formed. But the governing powers of Eng- 
 land had work enough for themselves at home. Originally 
 the colonies were too insignificant for their acts to call for 
 much attention, and when the home government did show 
 some disposition to interfere with them, the colonists, with 
 much shrewdness and show of respect, yet with great 
 tenacity, held on to the rights they had acquired, and 
 baffled by a policy of delay and negation every effort to 
 interfere with their privileges. Ere long the English 
 royalists became engaged in a death-struggle with de- 
 mocracy at home, during which they had little leisure to 
 attend to affairs abroad ; and the subsequent overthrow of 
 the government, and the establishment of a military de- 
 mocracy in England, were circumstances highly favorable 
 to the growth of republicanism in America. During this 
 period the self-governing principle made progress in all 
 the colonies, though largely through the example and in- 
 fluence of New England. 
 
 The people knew thoroughly what they were about, in 
 the formation of the New England system of government. 
 The doctrine of rotation in office was early established, 
 " lest there should be a governor for life." When it was 
 proposed that the office should be a life one, the deputies 
 immediately resolved that no magisterial office of any 
 kind should be held for more than a year. In one case 
 where a caucus of justices nominated certain persons for 
 election, the people took good care to elect none of the 
 persons so proposed. Another important democratic prin- 
 ciple was early adopted, that of making provision for the 
 
 I. R 2 83
 
 386 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 pay of public officers annually, and avoiding the fixation 
 of salaries. This system proved very useful subsequently, 
 in the conflict with the representatives of royalty. Origi- 
 nally the councillors, with the governor, constituted the 
 whole governing body. "When representatives were first 
 chosen they sat in the same room with the governor and 
 council. In 1644 it was ordained that the two bodies 
 should meet in separate chambers. Thus was first con- 
 stituted the American legislature of two houses, the coun- 
 cillors being annually chosen by the whole body of free- 
 men, the representatives by the separate settlements. The 
 local government of each township remained in its own 
 hands, and the whole organization was a miniature prede- 
 cessor of that now existing within the United States of 
 America. It was distinctively democratic. The early 
 prejudices in favor of rank and title quickly disappeared, 
 perfect equality was aimed at, and even such titles as those 
 of Esquire and Mr. were applied to but few persons, Good- 
 man and Groodwife being the ordinary appellations. Aris- 
 tocratic connections in time became a bar to public favor. 
 It was not until after the restoration of Charles II. to 
 the throne of England that any disposition to interfere 
 with the republican government that had quietly grown 
 up in New England was manifested. The only restrictions 
 which England had placed upon the freedom of these col- 
 onies were oi a commercial character. These had been 
 removed during the era of the Commonwealth, but were 
 renewed after the Restoration. Only English vessels were 
 permitted to trade with the colonies. All articles of Amer- 
 ican produce for which there was a demand in England 
 were forbidden to be shipped to foreign markets. The 
 colonies were even restricted from the privilege of free 
 trade with one another; and finally they were forbidden 
 to manufacture, for use at home or abroad, any article that
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 387 
 
 would compete with English manufactures. These re- 
 strictions gave rise to much complaint on the part of the 
 colonists, and were evaded at every opportunity. Other 
 sources of difficulty arose from the severe treatment of 
 Quakers and others by the New England churchmen. To 
 settle all such complaints, royal commissioners were sent 
 to Boston in 1664, empowered to act upon all causes of 
 colonial disturbance. 
 
 The coming of these commissioners was not viewed with 
 favor by the colonists. They were naturally alarmed at a 
 measure which might result in a restriction of their liber- 
 ties, and were disposed to oppose the king's agents at every 
 step. The commissioners were resisted, secretly or openly, 
 in all the colonies except Rhode Island, which alone re- 
 ceived them with deference. Massachusetts boldly asserted 
 her rights under the charter, and denied the authority of 
 the commissioners, while professing the sincerest loyalty 
 to the king. Eventually their mission proved a failure, 
 the colonists in great part ignoring their measures. They 
 were recalled, and the 'colonial governments went on as 
 before. Many years passed away before any other active 
 measure was taken by the king against the colonists. In 
 1677 Maine became part of the province of Massachusetts, 
 through a decision against the claim of the proprietors. 
 In 1680 New Hampshire was separated from Massachu- 
 setts, and was made a royal province, the first instance 
 of this kind in. New England. In 1681 new sources of 
 trouble arose. The vigorous resistance which Massachu- 
 setts had long made to the restrictions imposed on the 
 freedom of commerce culminated in the defeat of a custom- 
 house officer who was sent over for the collection of dues. 
 By a policy of passive resistance, delay, and obstruction, 
 all his efforts were negatived, and he was finally obliged 
 to return empty-handed to England.
 
 388 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORKIS 
 
 The time had now arrived for the first open conflict 
 between the throne and the colonies. The king had long 
 entertained the project of taking the government of the 
 colonies into his own hands, and seized this opportunity 
 for effecting his purpose. English judges declared that 
 Massachusetts had forfeited her charter, through disobe- 
 dience to the laws of England. Before any further steps 
 could be taken, the king died ; but his successor, James II., 
 proceeded vigorously to carry out his plans. In 1686 the 
 charter government of Massachusetts was succeeded by a 
 royal government, under Joseph Dudley, appointed by the 
 king. In December of the same year Sir Edmund Andros 
 arrived at Boston with a royal commission as governor of 
 all the New England colonies. The acts of Andros we 
 have already considered, in a former article, with his 
 prompt expulsion from the country on the tidings of the 
 revolution in England. The people at once renewed their 
 former mode of government, with no immediate objection 
 from the new monarch. Earnest efforts were made by 
 Massachusetts to obtain a restoration of her charter, but 
 without success, the king and his councillors secretly deem- 
 ing this too liberal. In 1692 a new charter was granted, 
 which vested the appointment of governor in the king. 
 Beyond this there was little interference with colonial lib- 
 erty, but the representatives of the people for many years 
 kept up a violent controversy with the royal governors. 
 The latter demanded a fixed and permanent salary. With 
 this demand the Assembly refused to comply, claiming the 
 right to vary the salary each year at their pleasure, and 
 so manipulating this right that the amount of the govern- 
 or's salary Was made to depend upon the character of his 
 administration. The people had learned their lesson well, 
 and held firmly in hand this useful method of enforcing a 
 government in accordance with their ideas of justice and
 
 MORKIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 389 
 
 utility. The controversy finally ended in a compromise, 
 in which the claim of the Assembly was admitted, while 
 it was agreed that a fixed sum should be voted annually. 
 
 "We have given special attention to the political history 
 of New England, from its great importance as the birth- 
 place of American democracy. The other colonies, though 
 founded on more aristocratic principles, were strongly 
 affected by its example, and strove vigorously to gain 
 similarly liberal institutions. The earliest of these, that 
 of Virginia, was, by its first charter, under the supreme 
 government of a council residing in England and appointed 
 by the king, who likewise appointed a council of members 
 of the colony, for its local administration. Thus all ex- 
 ecutive and legislative powers were directly controlled by 
 the king, and no rights of self-government were granted 
 the people. Virginia formed the only British colony in 
 America of which the monarch thus retained the control. 
 The colonial councils consisted of seven persons, who were 
 to elect a president from their own number. John Smith 
 was made president in 1608, the year after their arrival. 
 In 1609 a new charter was given to the London Company, 
 by which the English councillors were to have the privi- 
 lege of filling vacancies by their own votes, and were 
 empowered to appoint a governor for Virginia, whose 
 powers were very despotic. The lives, liberty, and prop- 
 erty of the colonists were placed almost at his sole dis- 
 posal. The governor appointed, Lord Delaware, and his 
 successor, Sir Thomas Dale, fortunately proved men of 
 moderate and wise views. In 1612 still another charter 
 was granted. This abolished the superior council, and 
 transferred its powers to the company as a whole. But it 
 failed to give any political rights to the colonists. Under 
 the administration of George Yeardley, appointed gov- 
 ernor in 1619, the first step towards popular rights was 
 i. 33*
 
 390 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 taken. Martial law, which had before prevailed, was 
 abolished, and a colonial Assembly was convened, con- 
 sisting of two burgesses or representatives from each of 
 the eleven boroughs into which the colony was divided. 
 But the measures passed by the Assembly were to be of 
 no force until ratified by the company in England. In 
 1621 a written constitution was granted to the colony by 
 the company, which ratified the arrangement made by 
 Yeardley and added to it the highly-important provision 
 that no orders of the company in England should have 
 binding force upon the colony until ratified by the As- 
 sembly. Trial by jury was also established, and courts 
 on the English model were organized. The privileges 
 granted by this constitution were ever afterwards claimed 
 as rights, and constituted a valuable preliminary towards 
 complete civil liberty in Virginia. Soon afterwards the 
 king, not relishing the freedom of debate manifested in 
 the colonial Assembly, and the contests between the liber- 
 alists and the loyalists, with the growing prevalence of 
 liberal sentiments, sought to overawe the Assemblies and 
 thus control the elections of officers. As this proved in- 
 efficacious, a judicial decision against the corporation was 
 obtained, and the company dissolved, the king taking 
 direct control of the colony and erecting it into a royal 
 government. Yet no effort was made to wrest from the 
 colonists the right to a representative government, which 
 the company had granted them. This privilege they ever 
 afterwards retained, and the fact of its possession under 
 royal auspices formed a valuable lesson for the future 
 proprietaries, who could not hope to obtain colonists for 
 their lands under a constitution more stringent than that 
 of Virginia, though they could not be expected to con- 
 cede the full measure of freedom enjoyed in New England. 
 The government was now administered by a governor
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 391 
 
 and ten councillors, acting under the instructions of the 
 king, but the colonial Assembly continued its annual ses- 
 sions. In fact, Virginia, through its whole history, was 
 the most loyal of the colonies. It was the one colony 
 which had been settled largely by royalists and members 
 of the Established Church, and the Virginians continued 
 warmly loyal to the throne and the Church while Puritan- 
 ism and republicanism were rapidly gaining the control in 
 England. The intolerance in religious matters which New 
 England displayed in favor of Puritanism was here mani- 
 fested in favor of the Church of England, and the legis- 
 lature ordered that no minister should preach except in 
 conformity to the doctrines of that Church. After the 
 formation of the Commonwealth in England the Virginian 
 royalists recognized Charles II. as their sovereign, and it 
 required the presence of a Parliamentary naval force in 
 their harbors to bring them into a recognition of the 
 Commonwealth. The news of the restoration of Charles 
 II. was gladly received in the colony, and the friends of 
 royalty quickly gained controlling power in the Assembly. 
 Yet the people soon had reason to regret the change of 
 government. The policy of commercial restriction was 
 made more stringent than ever, and Virginia suffered 
 from it more severely than any of the other colonies. 
 It was decided that all the export and import trade of 
 the colonies should employ none but English vessels, and 
 that tobacco, the principal product of Virginia, should be 
 sent only to England. The trade between the colonies 
 was likewise taxed for the benefit of England. Eemon- 
 strances against these oppressive laws proved of no avail, 
 while discontent was also caused by large grants of Vir- 
 ginia territory to royal favorites. Meanwhile, the aristo- 
 cratic party in the legislature had seriously abridged the 
 liberties of the people. Eeligious intolerance increased,
 
 392 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 Quakers and Baptists were heavily fined, the taxes became 
 oppressive, and the Assembly, instead of dissolving at the 
 end of its term, continued in session, thus virtually abolish- 
 ing the representative system of government. These were 
 some of the evils which gave rise to the so-called "rebel- 
 lion" of Nathaniel Bacon, and which caused so many of 
 the planters to sustain him. His effort, however, proved 
 of no efficacy in restoring the liberties of the people, and 
 the oppressive system of government long continued. 
 
 Of the proprietary colonies of America the oldest was 
 that of Maryland, which was founded under a grant of 
 land made to Lord Baltimore in 1632. Its charter was 
 of marked liberality, the emigrants having the right to 
 worship God as they wished, while politically they were 
 equals. The laws of the province were to be subject to 
 the approbation of a majority of the freemen or their 
 deputies. At first the members of the colony convened 
 in General Assembly for legislative purposes, the first As- 
 sembly being held in 1635. But in 1639 a representative 
 government was adopted, the people sending delegates to 
 the Assembly. The governor of the province was ap- 
 pointed by the proprietor. In a preceding article we have 
 considered the succession of political events in Maryland, 
 and it will suffice to say here that, after a long subvei-sion 
 of the proprietary government, the Calverts again gained 
 control, and that Maryland continued under their rule 
 until the Revolution. 
 
 The Carolinas were granted to a body of eight propri- 
 etors in 1653, under a charter which gave the people re- 
 ligious freedom and a voice in legislation, but reserved 
 nearly the whole power to the proprietary corporation. 
 Somewhat later Locke's despotic scheme of government 
 (explained in a preceding article) was adopted. Yet the 
 effort to establish it proved abortive. The people saw the
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 393 
 
 colonies to the north of them governing themselves, and 
 refused to submit to a government in which they had no 
 voice. They established a republican government of their 
 own, elected delegates to a popular Assembly, drove out 
 tyrannical governors and replaced them by men of their 
 own choice, and in all displayed an aptness for and a ten- 
 dency to self-government equal to those of any other of the 
 colonies. For a short period the Church of England was 
 made supreme in South Carolina by the proprietors, and 
 all dissenters were excluded from the legislature. Com- 
 plaint was made to the English Parliament, and soon after 
 the disfranchising laws were repealed by the colonial As- 
 sembly ; but the Church of England remained the estab- 
 lished form of religion till the Eevolution. 
 
 In New York, under the Dutch, the example of self- 
 government displayed in New England caused much dis- 
 satisfaction with the arbitrary rule which prevailed, and 
 gave rise to popular demands for greater privileges and a 
 share in the government. The people were very ready, 
 on the occasion of the English invasion, to submit to their 
 new rulers, in the hope of gaining increased liberty. Yet 
 they found themselves under as severe a despotism as be- 
 fore, and made the same protest that had been heard in 
 the other colonies, that taxation without representation 
 was unjust and oppressive. They obtained answer from 
 their governor that the taxes should be made so heavy 
 that they would have time to think of nothing else but 
 how to pay them. This oppression continued till 1683, 
 when, under the advice of William Penn, the Duke of 
 York ordered the governor to call an Assembly of repre- 
 sentatives. This Assembly passed an important " charter 
 of liberties," which was approved by the governor. This 
 charter placed the supreme legislative power in the gov- 
 ernor, council, and people met in general assembly, gave
 
 394: AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 to every freeman full right to vote for representatives, 
 established trial by jury, required that no tax whatever 
 should be assessed without the consent of the Assembly, 
 and- that no professing Christian should be questioned con- 
 cerning his religion. The privileges here claimed were 
 not fully conceded. Several of the governors proved op- 
 pressive and ruled the colony despotically. But the right 
 of self-government, so far as it had been attained, was 
 never again yielded. The dispute, of which we have pre- 
 viously spoken, in 1732, between the liberal and the aristo- 
 cratic parties, which was decided in favor of the former, 
 showed clearly the prevailing liberal sentiments of the 
 people. The editor who had been thrown into prison for 
 a libel against the government was acquitted, and Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, one of his counsel, was highly applauded 
 for his eloquent defence of the rights of mankind and of 
 free speech by the press. 
 
 The charter granted by Charles II. to "William Penn 
 for the government of Pennsylvania was very liberal in 
 its provisions, but not sufficiently so to meet the enlarged 
 views of the proprietor, who at the outstart promised his 
 colonists that they should be a free people and be governed 
 by laws of their own making. In 1682 he published his 
 " frame of government," which was to be submitted to the 
 people of the province for approval. In 1683 this was 
 amended, in the second Assembly of the province, and a 
 charter of liberties granted which made Pennsylvania 
 almost fully a representative democracy. The right of 
 appointment of judicial and executive officers, which was 
 reserved by the proprietors of the other colonies, was sur- 
 rendered by William Penn to the people, and the govern- 
 ment consisted of the proprietor and the Assembly, with 
 no intermediate council, as in Maryland and elsewhere. 
 Yet, liberal as this constitution was, the people soon de-
 
 MORRIS] POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA. 395 
 
 manded further concessions and privileges, and Penn, in 
 his last visit to his province, granted a new charter, still 
 more liberal, and conferring greater powers upon the 
 people, who from this time forward possessed a very full 
 measure of political liberty. 
 
 The brief review we have here given of the develop- 
 ment of political institutions in the English colonies in 
 America will serve to show that they had attained a 
 fair measure of political liberty at the period which we 
 have now reached (the close of the French and Indian 
 War), and had little or no occasion for discontent concern- 
 ing their governmental rights and privileges. Unlike the 
 French and Spanish colonists, who had no experience of 
 parliamentary government and readily submitted to the 
 rule of despotic governors, the British colonists were 
 thoroughly indoctrinated in legislative principles, and 
 came from a country in which at the period of some of 
 the emigrations the people were rising in defence of their 
 natural rights, and at the period of others had subverted 
 the monarchy and founded a democracy on its ruins. Very 
 naturally, therefore, the American colonists insisted upon 
 a considerable degree of self-government in their new 
 home, and extended this civil liberty even beyond the 
 measure of that of the English Commonwealth, taking 
 advantage of the many opportunities afforded them by 
 the dissensions existing in the mother-country. As a con- 
 sequence of this persistent struggle for the privilege of 
 self-government, New England became almost a full repub- 
 lic, Pennsylvania was little behind it in the legislative free- 
 dom of its people, and the other colonies gained the right 
 of making their own laws, with more or less interference 
 
 O ' 
 
 from the royal governors. 
 
 So far, therefore, as legislative power and religious free- 
 dom were concerned, the colonists had little to complain
 
 396 AMERICAN HISTORY. [MORRIS 
 
 of. and had there been no deeper cause of discontent the 
 American Eevolution would never have taken place. And 
 through this long expei'ience of self-government by the 
 people of the colonies was acquired an extended knowl- 
 edge of the principles of government, and a vigorous dem- 
 ocratic sentiment, which rendered the form of government 
 adopted by independent America an inevitable necessity 
 of the situation, while the political ability displayed by 
 its founders was the resultant of a long experience in 
 self-rule, and no original outburst of legislative genius, as 
 is so generally supposed. 
 
 The causes of the discontent which we have now to 
 consider were industrial and executive, not legislative, 
 and consisted of those stringent commercial and manufac- 
 turing regulations, and the claim of the crown to unre- 
 stricted powers of taxation, which had for a long period 
 been resisted by the colonies. In their earlier and weaker 
 days these evils were of secondary importance, but with 
 every step of growth in population, and of development 
 of the resources of America, the right to trade with whom 
 they pleased and to manufacture what they pleased be- 
 came of greater importance to the colonists, until finally 
 the restrictions in these respects grew insupportable. In 
 regard to the question of taxation, the people of Massa- 
 chusetts at an early date strongly disputed the right of 
 taxation without representation. As time went on, this 
 sentiment spread to the other colonies, and had become 
 vigorously implanted in the minds of all Americans by the 
 era immediately preceding the Eevolution. That principle 
 which had been long fought for and eventually gained in 
 the home country, that the people, through their represent- 
 atives, alone had the power to lay taxes, was naturally 
 claimed in America as an essential requisite of a repre- 
 sentative government ; and it was mainly to the effort of
 
 HOWITT] ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 397 
 
 the English authorities to deprive the colonists of this 
 right that the American Eevolution was due. 
 
 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 
 
 MARY HOWITT. 
 
 [From the gracefully-written work of an English author we select 
 a description of the condition of the colonies, and their relations to 
 the mother-country, in the period immediately succeeding the French 
 and Indian War, extending the review to the date of the passage of 
 the Stamp Act. The most important event of the period, outside 
 of the political difficulties, was that known as Pontiac's Conspiracy, 
 an Indian war of extended proportions and, for a time, of phenome- 
 nal success. Pontiac, a Shawnee chief, in the year 1763, organized a 
 scheme of attack upon the frontier forts and settlements, the details 
 of which were arranged with the utmost craft and secrecy. The 
 Cherokees, and the Six Nations with the exception of the Senecas, 
 kept out of the conspiracy, but the tribes of the Ohio, and most of 
 those on the eastern side of the Mississippi, and in the vicinity of 
 Detroit, were included, the leading tribes being the Shawnees and 
 Dela wares. 
 
 At the appointed time the warriors fell furiously upon the fron- 
 tiers of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Great numbers of 
 the settlers were massacred, though many took the alarm in time to 
 escape. For twenty miles inland the settlements were ruined. The 
 traders among the Indians were murdered and their effects seized by 
 the savages. But the most important result of the outbreak, from a 
 military point of view, was the capture of several of the frontier forts. 
 A number of the smaller forts Le Boeuf, Venango, Presque Isle, 
 Michilimackinac, and others were taken by the savages, and the 
 garrisons generally massacred. The large and important forts of De- 
 troit, Niagara, and Pitteburg were fiercely assailed. Amherst quickly 
 sent detachments to relieve these forts. That sent to Detroit, after 
 reinforcing the garrison, fell into an ambuscade of the enemy, and met 
 I. 84
 
 398 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HowiTT 
 
 with heavy loss. The remainder took refuge in the fort, from which 
 the besiegers soon after retired. 
 
 The fort of Pittsburg was assailed with unusual skill and obstinacy 
 for Indian combatants. The post was ill prepared for a siege, and was 
 maintained with difficulty against the furious assault. An expedition 
 under Colonel Bouquet, sent to its relief, was ambuscaded on the 
 march, and furiously assailed. The assault was one of the most per- 
 sistent and skilfully conducted ever made by Indians, and only the 
 steady discipline of the English and the skill of their leader saved 
 them from destruction. For seven hours the battle continued, and it 
 was renewed the next day with undiminished fury. The English 
 were worn out by the repeated assaults of the ferocious enemy, who 
 displayed a combined caution and intrepidity which were gradually 
 wasting away the troops. Advance and retreat became alike impos- 
 sible, and complete destruction seemed inevitable. At this crisis 
 Colonel Bouquet essayed a manoeuvre which fortunately proved suc- 
 cessful. Part of the troops retired as if in flight, while the others 
 seemed endeavoring to cover the flight. On perceiving this, the sav- 
 ages abandoned their cautious tactics, and, emerging from their covers, 
 rushed in rage and triumph on the seemingly flying army. This was 
 what Bouquet had desired, and, the English turning on them with the 
 skill and vigor of disciplined troops, they were routed with immense 
 slaughter. Several of their ablest chiefs fell, and, despairing of success, 
 they fled in terror. Four days afterwards, Bouquet reached the fort, 
 from which the besiegers at once withdrew. 
 
 An assault was now made on the fort at Niagara. The same tactics 
 were applied here. A convoy of provisions was assailed and captured ; 
 and a lake-fight took place between canoes and a provision-schooner, 
 in which the savages were repulsed. Finally the fort was relieved ; 
 but the Indians continued a predatory warfare until the following 
 spring and summer, when they were assailed with such spirit and suc- 
 cess that they were forced to sue for peace. The articles of the treaty 
 were very stringent, and greatly increased the strength of the English 
 hold on the Western country. 
 
 One unfortunate result of this war was the inflaming of the passions 
 of the settlers to deeds of unprovoked murder. A society of peaceful 
 Indians, converted to Christianity by the Moravian missionaries, re- 
 siding in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were attacked and indis- 
 criminately butchered by a party of settlers from the neighboring 
 township of Paxton. These " Paxton Boys" even broke open the jail
 
 HOWITT] ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 399 
 
 at Lancaster, and murdered the Indians who had been placed there as 
 a measure of safety. The proclamations of the governor against these 
 outrages were disdained, and the sanguinary mob marched upon Phila- 
 delphia, with the purpose of slaughtering the Indians who had. been 
 taken thither. There was much sympathy with the murderers in the 
 city ; but a body of the more respectable inhabitants, including many 
 young Quakers, armed in defence of the refugees. The Paxton Boys 
 advanced to Germantown, the governor fled in dismay, and the prov- 
 ince seemed on the brink of civil war. Franklin and some others, 
 however, expostulated with the insurgents, and finally prevailed on 
 them to give up their purpose and return home. 
 
 The accompanying account of political events we extract from Mary 
 Howitt's " History of the United States."] 
 
 THE war between England and France, though at an 
 end on the continent of America, was still continued 
 among the West India islands, France in this case also 
 being the loser. Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vin- 
 cent's, every island, in fact, which France possessed 
 among the Caribbees, passed into the hands of the Eng- 
 lish. Besides which, being at the same time at war with 
 Spain, England took possession of Havana, the key to the 
 whole trade of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 In November, 1763, a treaty of peace was signed at 
 Paris, which led to further changes, all being favorable 
 to Britain ; whilst Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia 
 were restored to France, England took possession of St. 
 Vincent's, Dominica, and Tobago islands, which had 
 hitherto been considered neutral. By the same treaty all 
 the vast territory east of the Mississippi, from its source 
 to the Gulf of Mexico, with the exception of the island 
 of New Orleans, was yielded up to the British ; and Spain, 
 in return for Havana, ceded her possession of Florida. 
 Thus, says Hildreth, was vested in the British crown, as 
 far as the consent of rival European claimants could give 
 it, the sovereignty of the whole eastern half of North
 
 400 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Howrrr 
 
 America, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay and 
 the Polar Ocean. By the same treaty the navigation of 
 the Mississippi was free to both nations. France at the 
 same time gave to Spain, as a compensation for her losses 
 in the war, all Louisiana west of the Mississippi, which 
 contained at that time- about ten thousand inhabitants, to 
 whom this transfer was very unsatisfactory. . . . 
 
 The conquest of Canada and the subjection of the East- 
 ern Indians giving security to the colonists of Maine, that 
 province began to expand and flourish. The counties 
 of Cumberland and Lincoln were added to the former 
 single county of York, and settlers began to occupy the 
 lower Kennebec and to extend themselves along the coast 
 towards the Penobscot. Nor was this northern expansion 
 confined alone to Maine; settlers began to occupy both 
 sides of the upper Connecticut, and to advance into new 
 regions beyond the Green Mountains towards Lake Cham- 
 plain, a beautiful and fertile country which had first be- 
 come known to the colonists in the late war. Homes were 
 growing up in Yermont. In the same manner population 
 extended westward beyond the Allegbanies as soon as the 
 Indian disturbances were allayed in that direction. The 
 go-ahead principle was ever active in British America. 
 The population of Georgia was beginning to increase 
 greatly, and in 1763 the first newspaper of that colony 
 was published, called the " Georgia Gazette." A vital 
 principle was operating also in the new province of East 
 Florida, now that she ranked among the British posses- 
 sions. In ten years more was done for the colony than 
 had been done through the whole period of the Spanish 
 occupation. A colony of Greeks settled about this time 
 on the inlet still known as New Smyrna ; and a body of 
 settlers from the banks of the Roanoke planted themselves 
 in West Florida, near Baton Eouge.
 
 Ho WITT] ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 401 
 
 Nor was this increase confined to the newer provinces : 
 the older ones progressed in the same degree. Hildreth 
 calls this the golden age of Virginia, Maryland, and South 
 Carolina, which were increasing in population and produc- 
 tions at a rate unknown before or since. In the North, 
 leisure was found for the cultivation of literature, art, and 
 social refinement. The six colonial colleges were crowded 
 with students ; a medical college was established in Penn- 
 sylvania, the first in the colonies ; and West and Copley, 
 both born in the same year, the one in New York, the 
 other in Boston, proved that genius was native to the 
 New World, though the Old afforded richer patronage. 
 Besides all this, the late wars and the growing difficulties 
 with the mother-country had called forth and trained able 
 commanders for the field, and sagacious intellects for the 
 control of the great events which were at hand. 
 
 A vast amount of debt, as is always the case with war, 
 was the result of the late contests in America. With 
 peace, the costs of the struggle began to be reckoned. 
 The colonies had lost, by disease or the sword, above thirty 
 thousand men ; and their debt amounted to about four 
 million pounds, Massachusetts alone having been reim- 
 bursed by Parliament. The popular power had, however, 
 grown in various ways ; the colonial Assemblies had re- 
 sisted the claims of the royal and proprietary governors 
 to the management and irresponsible expenditure of the 
 large sums which were raised for the war, and thus the 
 executive influence became transferred in considerable 
 degree from the governors to the colonial Assemblies. 
 Another and still more dangerous result was the martial 
 spirit which had sprung up, and the discovery of the 
 powerful means which the colonists held in their hands for 
 settling any disputed points of authority and right with 
 the mother-country. The colonies had of late been a 
 l.aa 34*
 
 402 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Howrrr 
 
 military college to her citizens, in which, though they had 
 performed the hardest service and had been extremely 
 offended and annoyed by the superiority assumed by the 
 British officers and their own subordination, yet they had 
 been well trained, and had learned their own power and 
 resources. The conquest of New France, in great measure, 
 cost England her colonies. 
 
 England at the close of the war at the close, in fact, 
 of four wars within seventy years found herself burdened 
 with a debt of one hundred and forty million pounds; and 
 as it was necessary now to keep a standing army in her 
 colonies, to defend and maintain her late conquests, the 
 scheme of colonial taxation to provide a regular and certain 
 revenue began again to be agitated. Already England 
 feared the growing power and independence of her colo- 
 nies, and even at one moment hesitated as to whether it 
 were not wiser to restore Canada to France, in order that 
 the proximity of a powerful rival might keep them in 
 check and secure their dependence on the mother-country. 
 As far as the colonists themselves were concerned, we are 
 assured by their earlier historians that the majority had 
 no idea of or wish to separate themselves from England, 
 and that the utmost which they contemplated by the 
 conquest of Canada was the freedom from French and 
 Indian wars, and that state of tranquil prosperity which 
 would leave them at liberty to cultivate and avail them- 
 selves of the productions and resources of an affluent land. 
 The true causes which slowly alienated the colonies from 
 the parent state may be traced back to the early encroach- 
 ments on their civil rights and the restrictive enactments 
 against their commerce. 
 
 The Americans were a bold and independent people from 
 the beginning. They came to the shores of the New 
 "World, the greater and better part of them, republicans
 
 HOWITT] ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 403 
 
 in feeling and principle. " They were men who scoffed at 
 the rights of kings, and looked upon rulers as public ser- 
 vants bound to exercise their authority for the benefit of 
 the government, and ever maintained that it is the inalien- 
 able right of the subject freely to give his money to the 
 crown or to withhold it at his discretion." Such were the 
 Americans in principle, yet were they bound to the mother- 
 country by old ties of affection, and by no means wished 
 to rush into rebellion. It was precisely the case of the 
 son grown to years of discretion, whom an unreasonable 
 parent seeks still to coerce, until the hitherto dutiful 
 though clear-headed and resolute son violently breaks the 
 bonds of parental authority and asserts the independence 
 of his manhood. The human being would have been less 
 'worthy in submission ; the colonies would have belied the 
 strong race which planted them, had they done otherwise. 
 England believed that she had a right to dictate and 
 change the government of the colonies at her pleasure, 
 and to regulate and restrict their commerce ; and for some 
 time this was, if not patiently submitted to, at least allowed. 
 The navigation acts declared that, for the benefit of Brit- 
 ish shipping, no merchandise from the English colonies 
 should be imported into England excepting by English 
 vessels ; and, for the benefit of English manufacturers, pro- 
 hibited exportation from the colonies, nor allowed articles 
 of domestic manufacture to be carried from one colony to 
 another ; she forbade hats, at one time, to be made in the 
 colony where beaver abounded ; at another, that any hat- 
 ter should have above two apprentices at one time ; she 
 subjected rum, sugar, and molasses to exorbitant duties on 
 importation; she forbade the erection of iron-works and 
 the preparation of steel, or the felling of pitch and white- 
 pine trees unless in enclosed lands. To some of these 
 laws, though felt to be an encroachment on their rights,
 
 404 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Howrrr 
 
 the colonies submitted patiently ; others, as, for instance, 
 the duties on sugar and molasses, they evaded and opposed 
 in every possible way, and the British authorities, from 
 the year 1733, when these duties were first imposed, to 
 1761, made but little resistance to this opposition. At this 
 latter date, however, George III. having then ascended 
 the throne, and being, as Charles Townshend described 
 him, " a very obstinate young man," it was determined to 
 enforce this law, and " writs of assistance," in other words, 
 search-warrants, were issued, by means of which the royal 
 custom-house officers were authorized to search for goods 
 which had been imported without the payment of duty. 
 The people of Boston opposed and resented these meas- 
 ures ; and their two most eminent lawyers, Oxenbridge 
 Thacher and James Otis, expressed the public sentiment 
 in the strongest language. Spite of search-warrants and 
 official vigilance, the payment of these duties was still 
 evaded, and smuggling increased to a great extent, while 
 the colonial trade with the West Indies was nearly de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 In 1764 the sugar-duties were somewhat reduced, as a 
 boon to the colonies, but new duties were imposed on arti- 
 cles which had hitherto been imported free ; at the same 
 time, Lord Grenville proposed a new impost in the form 
 of a stamp-tax. All pamphlets, almanacs, newspapers, all 
 bonds, notes, leases, policies of insurance, together with all 
 papers used for legal purposes, in order to be valid were 
 to be drawn on stamped paper, to be purchased only from 
 the king's officers appointed for that purpose. This plan 
 met with the entire approbation of the British Parliament, 
 but its enactment was deferred until the following year, in 
 order that the colonies might have an opportunity of ex- 
 pressing their feelings on the subject. Though deference 
 was thus apparently paid to their wishes, the intention
 
 HOWITT] ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 405 
 
 of the British government was no longer concealed. The 
 preamble of the bill openly avowed the intention of rais- 
 ing revenue from " his majesty's dominions in America ;" 
 the same act gave increased power to the admiralty courts, 
 and provided more stringent means for enforcing the pay- 
 ment of duties and punishing their evasion. 
 
 The colonies received the news of these proposed meas- 
 ures with strong indignation. Massachusetts instructed 
 her agent in London to deny the right of Parliament to 
 impose duties and taxes on a people who were not repre- 
 sented in the House of Commons. " If we are not repre- 
 sented," said they, " we are slaves." A combination of all 
 the colonies for the defence of their common interests was 
 suggested. 
 
 Otis, who had published a pamphlet on Colonial Eights, 
 seeing the tide of public indignation rising very high, 
 inculcated " obedience" and " the duty of submission ;" but 
 this was not a doctrine which the Americans were then in 
 a state of mind to listen to. Better suited to their feeling 
 was Thacher's pamphlet against all Parliamentary taxa- 
 tion. Ehode Island expressed the same ; so did Maryland, 
 by the secretary of the province ; so did Virginia, by a 
 leading member of her House of Burgesses. Strong as 
 the expression of resentment was in the colonies, addresses 
 in a much milder strain were prepared to the king and 
 Parliament from most of them, New York alone express- 
 ing boldly and decidedly the true nature of her feelings, 
 the same tone being maintained by Ehode Island. 
 
 But the minds of the British monarch and his ministers 
 were not to be influenced either by the remonstrances and 
 pleadings of the colonies or their agents in London, or of 
 their few friends in Parliament. Grenville, the minister, 
 according to prearrangement, brought in his bill for col- 
 lecting a stamp-tax in America, and it passed the House
 
 406 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HILDRETH 
 
 of Commons five to one, and in the House of Lords there 
 was neither division on the subject nor the slightest oppo- 
 sition. This act was to come into operation on the 1st 
 day of November of the same year. It was on the occa- 
 sion of its discussion in the House of Commons that 
 Colonel Barre, who had fought with Wolfe at Louisburg 
 and Quebec, electrified the House with his burst of elo- 
 quence in reply to one of the ministers who spoke of the 
 colonists as " children planted by our care, nourished by 
 our indulgence, and protected by our arms." " They 
 planted by your care !" retorted Barre. " No ; your op- 
 pression planted them in America. They nourished by 
 your indulgence ! They grew up by your neglect of them. 
 They protected by your arms ! Those sons of liberty 
 have nobly taken up arms in your defence. I claim to 
 know more of America than most of you, having been 
 conversant in that country. The people, I believe, are as 
 truly loyal subjects as the king has, but a people jealous 
 of their liberties, and who will vindicate them should they 
 ever be violated." 
 
 The day after the Stamp Act had passed the House, 
 Benjamin Franklin, then in London as agent for Phila- 
 delphia, wrote the news to his friend Charles Thomson. 
 " The sun of libei-ty," said he, " is set ; you must light up 
 the candles of industry and economy." " We shall light 
 up torches of quite another kind," was the reply. 
 
 HOW THE STAMP ACT WAS RECEIVED IN AMERICA. 
 
 RICHARD HILDRETH. 
 
 [Although the British Parliament had passed, and refused to repeal, 
 highly oppressive acts regarding commerce and manufactures, it had 
 never hitherto attempted to levy direct taxes. The nearest approach
 
 HILDRETH] HOW THE STAMP ACT WAS RECEIVED. 407 
 
 to this was in the rates for postage ; but in these the pay was volun- 
 tary and for services rendered, and it provoked no opposition. The 
 proposition, therefore, to lay a direct tax on the colonies was re- 
 ceived by them all with disapproval, though the degrees of outspoken 
 dissent widely differed. In Boston, which had always been the centre 
 of democratic sentiment in America, the protest was made in no un- 
 certain tone. The House of Eepresentatives resolved, " That the im- 
 position of duties and taxes by the Parliament of Great Britain, upon 
 a people not represented in the House of Commons, is absolutely ir- 
 reconcilable with their rights." The pamphlet issued by James Otis, 
 mentioned in the preceding article, vigorously asserted this principle, 
 and declared, " If we are not represented, we are slaves." He main- 
 tained, as one of the " natural rights of man," that taxes could not be 
 levied upon the people " but by their consent in person or by deputa- 
 tion." The energetic protests published greatly intensified the feeling 
 of resistance to the Parliamentary scheme. The passage of the Stamp 
 Act, therefore, was regarded throughout America as a high-handed 
 violation of the liberties of the people. At the same time a clause 
 had been inserted into the Mutiny Act, authorizing as many troops to 
 be sent to America as the ministers saw fit. The colonies in which 
 these might be stationed were required to furnish them with quarters,. 
 fire-wood, bedding, drink, soap, and candles. The story of the events 
 which followed the passage of these dictatorial acts we select from 
 Richard Hildreth's " History of the United States of America," a work 
 which, while lacking vivacity of manner, is justly valued for its merit 
 as a trustworthy history.] 
 
 of the passage of these acts reached Virginia 
 while the Assembly was sitting. The aristocratic leaders 
 in that body hesitated. The session approached its close, 
 and not one word seemed likely to be said. But the rights 
 of the colonies did not fail of an advocate. Patrick Henry 
 had already attracted the attention of the House by his 
 successful opposition to Eobinson's proposed paper money 
 loan. Finding the older and more weighty members un- 
 likely to move, he assumed the responsibility of intro- 
 ducing a series of resolutions which claimed for the inhab- 
 itants of Virginia all the rights of born British subjects;
 
 408 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HILDRETH 
 
 denied any authority anywhere, except in the provincial 
 Assembly, to impose taxes upon them; and denounced the 
 attempt to vest that authority elsewhere, as inconsistent 
 with the ancient Constitution, and subversive of British 
 as well as of American liberty. Upon the introduction of 
 these resolutions a hot debate ensued. " Casar had his 
 Brutus," said Henry, " Charles I. his Cromwell, and George 
 
 III. " " Treason ! treason !" shouted the Speaker, and 
 
 the cry was re-echoed from the House. " George III.," 
 said Henry, firmly, " may profit by their example. If that 
 be treason, make the most of it !" In spite of the opposi- 
 tion of all the old leaders, the resolutions passed, the fifth 
 and most emphatic by a majority of only one vote. The 
 next day, in Henry's absence, the resolutions were recon- 
 sidered, softened, and the fifth struck out. But a manu- 
 script copy had already been sent to Philadelphia ; and, 
 circulating through the colonies in their original form, 
 these resolutions gave everywhere a strong impulse to the 
 popular feeling. 
 
 [In Massachusetts a committee recommended that a convention or 
 congress, composed of deputies from the several colonies, should meet 
 at New York in the following October, to consider what action the 
 colonies should take in regard to the recent acts.] 
 
 Before the stamps reached America, symptoms of a 
 violent ferment appeared. A great elm in Boston, at the 
 corner of the present Washington and Essex Streets, under 
 which the opponents of the Stamp Act were accustomed 
 to assemble, soon became famous as " liberty tree." Those 
 persons supposed to favor the ministry were hung in effigy 
 on the branches of this elm. A mob attacked the house 
 of Oliver, secretary of the colony, who had been appointed 
 stamp-distributor for Massachusetts, broke his windows, 
 destroyed his furniture, pulled down a small building sup-, 
 posed to be intended for a stamp office, and frightened
 
 HILDRETH] HO W THE STAMP ACT WAS RECEIVED. 409 
 
 Oliver into a resignation. Jonathan Mayhew, the able 
 minister of the West Church in Boston, . . . preached a 
 warm sermon against the Stamp Act, taking for his text, 
 "I would they were even cut off which trouble you!" 
 The Monday evening after this sermon the riots were re- 
 newed. The mob attacked the house of Story, registrar 
 of the Admiralty, and destroyed not only the public files 
 and records, but his private papers also. Next they en- 
 tered and plundered the house of the controller of the 
 customs ; and, maddened with liquor and excitement, pro- 
 ceeded to the mansion of Hutchinson, in North Square. 
 The lieutenant-governor and his family fled for their lives. 
 The house was completely gutted, and the contents burned 
 in bonfires kindled in the square. Along with Hutchin- 
 son's furniture and private papers perished many invalu- 
 able manuscripts relating to the history of the province, 
 which Hutchinson had been thirty years in collecting, and 
 which it was impossible to replace. 
 
 [These acts were disclaimed by the more respectable citizens. Yet 
 the rioters, though well known, went unpunished, and had undoubtedly 
 the secret sympathy of the community.] 
 
 Throughout the Northern colonies, associations on the 
 basis of forcible resistance to the Stamp Act, under the 
 name of " Sons of Liberty," sprang suddenly into existence. 
 Persons of influence and consideration, though they might 
 favor the object, kept aloof, however, from so dangerous 
 a combination, which consisted of the young, the ardent, 
 those who loved excitement and had nothing to lose. The 
 history of these " Sons of Liberty" is very obscure ; but 
 they seem to have spread rapidly from Connecticut and 
 New York into Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New- 
 Jersey, and to have taken up as their special business the 
 intimidation of the stamp officers. In all the colonies these 
 
 35
 
 410 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HILDRETH 
 
 officers were persuaded or compelled to resign ; and such 
 stamps as arrived either remained unpacked, or else were 
 seized and burned. The Assembly of Pennsylvania unan- 
 imously adopted a series of resolutions denouncing the 
 Stamp Act as " unconstitutional, and subversive of their 
 dearest rights." Public meetings to protest against it were 
 held throughout the colonies. The holding of such meet- 
 ings was quite a new incident, and formed a new era in 
 colonial history. 
 
 [On the day appointed by Massachusetts for the meeting of the 
 First Colonial Congress, committees from nine colonies met in New 
 York. Various reasons prevented the others from joining.] 
 
 In the course of a three weeks' session, a Declaration 
 of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonies was agreed 
 to. All the privileges of Englishmen were claimed by this 
 declaration as the birthright of the colonists, among the 
 rest, the right of being taxed only by their own consent. 
 Since distance and local circumstances made a represen- 
 tation in the British Parliament impossible, these repre- 
 sentatives, it was maintained, could be no other than the 
 several colonial Legislatures. Thus was given a flat neg- 
 ative to a scheme lately broached in England by Pownall 
 and others for allowing to the colonies a representation in 
 Parliament, a project to which both Otis and Franklin 
 seem at first to have leaned. 
 
 A petition to the king and memorials to each House of 
 Parliament were also prepared, in which the cause of the 
 colonies was eloquently pleaded. . . . The several colonial 
 Assemblies, at their earliest sessions, gave to the proceed- 
 ings a cordial approval. . . . 
 
 The first day of November, appointed for the Stamp 
 Act to go into operation, came and went, but not a stamp 
 was anywhere to be seen. Two companies of rioters
 
 HILDBETH] HOW THE STAMP ACT WAS RECEIVED. 411 
 
 paraded that evening the streets of New York, demanding 
 the delivery of the stamps, which Colden, on the resigna- 
 tion of the stamp-distributor and his refusal to receive 
 them, had taken into the fort. Colden was hung in effigy. 
 His carriage was seized, and made a bonfire of under the 
 muzzles of the guns ; after which the mob proceeded to a 
 house in the outskirts, then occupied by Major James, of 
 the Koyal Artillery, who had made himself obnoxious by 
 his free comments on the conduct of the colonists. James's 
 furniture and property were destroyed, as Hutchinson's 
 had been. General Gage, the commander-in- chief of the 
 British forces in America, was at New York, but the 
 regular garrison in the fort was very small. Alarmed for 
 the safety of the city, and not willing to take any respon- 
 sibility, as Sir Henry Moore, the recently-appointed gov- 
 ernor, was every day expected, Colden agreed, by Gage's 
 advice, the captain of a British ship of war in the harbor 
 having refused to receive them, to give up the stamps 
 to the mayor and corporation. They were accordingly 
 deposited in the City Hall, under a receipt given by the 
 mayor. 
 
 [A committee was next day appointed which] soon 
 brought forward an agreement to import no more goods 
 from Great Britain till the Stamp Act was repealed, the 
 commencement of a system of retaliation on the mother- 
 country repeatedly resorted to in the course of the strug- 
 gle. This non-importation agreement, to which a non- 
 consumption agreement was presently added, besides being 
 extensively signed in New York, was adopted also in 
 Philadelphia and Boston. At the same time, and as part 
 of the same plan, a combination was entered into for the 
 support of American manufactures, the wearing of Amer- 
 ican cloths, and the increase of sheep by ceasing to eat 
 lamb or mutton.
 
 412 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HILDRETH 
 
 Business, suspended for a while, was presently resumed. 
 Stamped papers were required in judicial proceedings, but 
 by continuing the cases before them, or going on without 
 notice of the deficiency, even the judges, after some hesita- 
 tion, concurred in nullifying the act. 
 
 [A change in the English ministry, news of which now reached 
 America, encouraged the colonists in their policy of resistance. Gren- 
 ville, the promoter of the Stamp Act, had been succeeded by the 
 Marquis of Roekingham.] 
 
 In the address from the throne at the opening of the 
 session, the new ministry brought the state of colonial 
 affairs before Parliament. They produced the correspond- 
 ence of the colonial governors and other papers relating 
 to the late disturbance. Numerous petitions from British 
 merchants for the repeal of the Stamp Act were also 
 presented to the two Houses. 
 
 Pitt, for some time past withdrawn by sickness from 
 public affairs, was unconnected, at this moment, with 
 either Grenville's or Rockingham's party. He now ap- 
 peared in his place in the House of Commons, and de- 
 livered his opinion " that the kingdom had no right to 
 levy a tax on the colonies." " The Commons in America, 
 represented in their several Assemblies, have invariably 
 exercised the constitutional right of giving and granting 
 their own money ; they would have been slaves if they 
 had not; at the same time, this kingdom has ever pos- 
 sessed the power of legislative and commercial control. 
 The colonies acknowledge your authority in all things, 
 with the sole exception that you shall not take their 
 money out of their pockets without their consent." 
 
 This decisive avowal by Pitt made a profound impres- 
 sion on the House. After a long pause, Grenville rose to 
 vindicate the Stamp Act. The tumults in America bor-
 
 HILDRETH] HOW THE STAMP ACT WAS RECEIVED. 413 
 
 dered, he averred, on open rebellion ; but if the doctrines 
 now promulgated were upheld, they would soon lose that 
 name, and become a revolution. Taxation was a branch 
 of the sovereign power, constantly exercised by Parlia- 
 ment over the unrepresented. Resorting, then, to a 
 method of intimidation common with politicians, "the 
 seditious spirit of the colonies," he said, "owes its birth 
 to the faction in this House." This invidious assault was 
 met by Pitt with characteristic intrepidity. " A charge is 
 brought against gentlemen sitting in this House of giving 
 birth to sedition in America. The freedom with which 
 they have spoken their sentiments against this unhappy 
 act is imputed to them as a crime. But the imputation 
 shall not discourage me." " We are told America is obsti- 
 nate America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I 'rejoice 
 that America has resisted. Three millions of people so 
 dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit 
 to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make 
 slaves of all the rest." " The Americans have been 
 wronged ! They have been driven to madness by in- 
 justice ! "Will you punish them for the madness you have 
 occasioned ? No ! Let this country be the first to resume 
 its prudence and temper; I will pledge myself for the 
 colonies, that on their part animosity and resentment will 
 cease." 
 
 The new ministry were under no obligation to support 
 the policy of their predecessors. Anxious to escape the 
 difficulty by the readiest means, they brought in a bill for 
 repealing the Stamp Act. Franklin, summoned to the bar 
 of the House as a witness, testified that the act could 
 never be enforced. His prompt and pointed answers 
 gained him great credit for information, acuteness, and 
 presence of mind. In favor of repeal, Burke, introduced 
 into Parliament by Eockingham, to whom he" had been 
 i. 35*
 
 414 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FRANKLIN 
 
 private secretary, and for one of whose rotten boroughs 
 he sat, gave his eloquent support. In spite of a very 
 strenuous opposition on the part of the supporters of the 
 late ministry, the bill of repeal was carried in the Com- 
 mons by a vote of two hundred and seventy-five to one 
 hundi'ed and sixty-seven. 
 
 But the ministers by no means went the length of Pitt. 
 They placed the repeal on the ground of expediency 
 merely, and they softened the opposition by another bill 
 previously passed, which asserted the power and right of 
 Parliament " to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." 
 Lord Camden, formerly Chief-Justice Pratt, made a vig- 
 orous opposition to this bill in the House of Lords. " My 
 position is this I repeat it ; I will maintain it to the last 
 hour taxation and representation are inseparable. The 
 position is founded in the law of nature. It is more ; it is 
 itself an eternal law of nature." Lord Mansfield, on the 
 other hand, maintained the sovereign power of Parliament 
 as including the right to tax, an idea quite too flattering 
 to the pride of authority to be easily relinquished. 
 
 A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 [As a very interesting feature of the literature relating to the pas- 
 sage and repeal of the Stamp Act, we select from the works of Frank- 
 lin some of the more striking features of his examination before the 
 House of Commons, referred to in the preceding article. This selec- 
 tion we credit to Franklin (though its actual source is the Journal of 
 the House of Commons), since all in it beyond the brief questions is 
 due to Franklin himself. As a whole it presents an important picture
 
 FRANKLIN] A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 415 
 
 of the condition and sentiments of the Americans, as reflected in the 
 mind of their ablest advocate.] 
 
 1. Q. What is your name, and place of abode ? 
 A. Franklin, of Philadelphia. 
 
 2. Q. Do the Americans pay any considerable taxes 
 among themselves? 
 
 A. Certainly many, and very heavy taxes. 
 
 3. Q. What are the present taxes in Pennsylvania, laid 
 by the laws of the colony ? 
 
 A. There are taxes on all estates real and personal ; a 
 poll-tax ; a tax on all offices, professions, trades, and busi- 
 nesses, according to their profits ; an excise on all wine, 
 rum, and other spirits ; and a duty of ten pounds per head 
 on all negroes imported, with some other duties. 
 
 4. Q. For what purposes are those taxes laid ? 
 
 A. For the support of the civil and military establish- 
 ments of the country, and to discharge the heavy debt 
 contracted in the last war. . . . 
 
 7. Q. Are not all the people very able to pay those 
 taxes? 
 
 A. No. The frontier counties, all along the continent, 
 having been frequently ravaged by the enemy and greatly 
 impoverished, are able to pay very little tax. And there- 
 fore, in consideration of their distresses, our late tax laws 
 do expressly favor those counties, excusing the sufferers j 
 and I suppose the same is done in other governments. . . . 
 
 22. Q. How many white men do you suppose there are 
 in North America ? 
 
 A. About three hundred thousand, from sixteen to sixty 
 years of age. 
 
 23. Q. What may be the amount of one year's imports 
 into Pennsylvania from Britain ? 
 
 A. I have been informed that our merchants compute
 
 416 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FRANKLIN 
 
 the imports from Britain to be above five hundred thou- 
 sand pounds. 
 
 24. Q. What may be the amount of the produce of your 
 province exported to Britain ? 
 
 A. It must be small, as we produce little that is wanted 
 in Britain. I suppose it cannot exceed forty thousand 
 pounds. . . . 
 
 27. Q. Do you think it right that America should bo 
 protected by this country and pay no part of the expense ? 
 
 A. That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed, 
 and paid, during the last war, near twenty-five thousand 
 men, and spent many millions. 
 
 28. Q. Were you not reimbursed by Parliament ? 
 
 A. We were only reimbursed what, in your opinion, 
 we had advanced beyond our proportion, or beyond what 
 might reasonably be expected from us ; and it was a very 
 small part of what we spent. Pennsylvania, in particular, 
 disbursed about five hundred thousand pounds, and the 
 reimbursements, in the whole, did not exceed sixty thou- 
 sand pounds. 
 
 29. Q. You have said that you pay heavy taxes in Penn- 
 sylvania ; what do they amount to in the pound ? 
 
 A. The tax on all estates, real and personal, is eighteen 
 pence in the pound, fully rated ; and 'the tax on the profits 
 of trades and professions, with other taxes, do, I suppose, 
 make full half a crown in the pound. . . . 
 
 36. Q. What was the temper of America towards Great 
 Britain before the year 1763 ? 
 
 A. The best in the world. They submitted willingly to 
 the government of the crown, and paid, in their courts, 
 obedience to the acts of Parliament. Numerous as the 
 people are in the several old provinces, they cost you 
 nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them 
 in subjection. They were governed by this country at the
 
 A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 417 
 
 expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper; they were led 
 by a thread. They had not only a respect, but an affection 
 for Great Britain ; for its laws, its customs and manners, 
 and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased 
 the commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated 
 with particular regard ; to be an Old-England man was 
 of itself a character of some respect, and gave a kind of 
 rank among us. 
 
 37. Q. And what is their temper now ? 
 
 A. Oh, very much altered. . . . 
 
 40. Q. In what light did the people of America use to 
 consider the Parliament of Great Britain ? 
 
 A. They considered the Parliament as the great bul- 
 wark and security of their liberties and privileges, and 
 always spoke of it with the utmost respect and venera- 
 tion. Arbitrary ministers, they thought, might possibly, 
 at times, attempt to oppress them ; but they relied on it 
 that the Parliament, on application, would always give 
 redress. They remembered, with gratitude, a strong in- 
 stance of this, when a bill was brought into Parliament, 
 with a clause to make royal instructions laws in the colo- 
 nies, which the House of Commons would not pass, and it 
 was thrown out. 
 
 41. Q. And have they not still the same respect for 
 Parliament ? 
 
 A. No ; it is greatly lessened. 
 
 42. Q. To what cause is that owing? 
 
 A. To a concurrence of causes : the restraints lately laid 
 on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and 
 silver into the colonies was prevented ; the prohibition 
 of making paper money among themselves, and then de- 
 manding a new and heavy tax by stamps, taking away, 
 at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive 
 and hear their humble petitions, 
 i. bb
 
 418 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FRANKLIN 
 
 43. Q. Don't you think they would submit to the 
 Stamp Act, if it was modified, the obnoxious parts taken 
 out, and the duty reduced to some particulars of small 
 moment ? 
 
 A. No, they will never submit to it. ... 
 
 59. Q. You say the colonies have always submitted to 
 external taxes, and object to the right of Parliament only 
 in laying internal taxes: now can you show that there is 
 any kind of difference between the two taxes to the colony 
 on which they may be laid ? 
 
 A. I think the difference is very great. An external 
 tax is a duty laid on commodities imported ; that duty is 
 added to the first cost and other charges on the com- 
 modity, and, when it is offered to sale, makes a part of 
 the price. If the people do not like it at that price, they 
 refuse it ; they are not obliged to pay it. But an internal 
 tax is forced from the people without their consent, if not 
 laid by their own representatives. The Stamp Act says, 
 we shall have no commerce, make no exchange of property 
 with each other, neither purchase, nor grant, nor recover 
 debts, we shall neither marry nor make our wills, unless 
 we pay such and such sums; and thus it is intended to 
 extort our money from us, or ruin us by the consequences 
 of refusing to pay it. 
 
 60. Q. But supposing the external tax or duty to be 
 laid on the necessaries of life, imported into your colony, 
 will not that be the same thing in its effects as an internal 
 tax? 
 
 A. I do not know a single article imported into the 
 northern colonies, but what they can either do without, 
 or make themselves. 
 
 61. Q. Don't you think cloth from England absolutely 
 necessary to them ? 
 
 A. No, by no means absolutely necessary ; with in-
 
 FRANKLIN] A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 419 
 
 dustry and good management, they may very well supply 
 themselves with all they want. 
 
 62. Q. "Will it not take a long time to establish that 
 manufacture among them? and must they not in the 
 mean while suffer greatly? 
 
 A. I think not. They have made a surprising progress 
 already. And I am of opinion, that before their old 
 clothes are worn out, they will have new ones of their 
 own making. . . . 
 
 82. Q. Can anything less than a military force carry 
 the Stamp Act into execution ? 
 
 A. I do not see how a military force can be applied to 
 that purpose. 
 
 83. Q. Why may it not ? 
 
 A. Suppose a military force sent into America, they will 
 find nobody in arms; what are they then to do? They 
 cannot force a man to take stamps who chooses to do 
 without them. They will not find a rebellion ; they may 
 indeed make one. 
 
 84. Q. If the acjt is not repealed, what do }*ou think 
 will be the consequences? 
 
 A. A total loss of the respect and affection the people of 
 America bear to this country, and of all the commerce 
 that depends on that respect and affection. 
 
 85. Q. How can the commei-ce be affected ? 
 
 A. You will find, that if the act is not repealed, they 
 will take a very little of your manufactures in a short time. 
 
 86. Q. Is it in their power to do without them? 
 A. I think they may very well do without them. 
 
 87. Q. Is it their interest not to take them ? 
 
 A. The goods they take from Britain are either neces- 
 saries, mere conveniences, or superfluities. The first, as 
 cloth, etc., with a little industry they can make at home; 
 the second they can do without, till they are able to pro-
 
 420 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FRANKLIN 
 
 vide them amon<j themselves ; and the last, which are 
 
 O ' 
 
 much the greatest part, they will strike off immediately. 
 They are mere articles of fashion, purchased and consumed 
 because the fashion in a respected country ; but will now 
 be detested and rejected. 
 
 [Here follow a series of questions relating to the operation of the 
 post-office, the duties on tobacco and sugar, the condition of the 
 American people, etc.] 
 
 121. Q. If the act should be repealed, and the legisla- 
 ture should show its resentment to the opposers of the 
 Stamp Act, would the colonies acquiesce in the authority 
 of the legislature ? What is your opinion they would do ? 
 
 A. I don't doubt at all, that if the legislature repeal the 
 Stamp Act, the colonies will acquiesce in the authority. 
 
 122. Q. But if the legislature should think fit to ascer- 
 tain its right to lay taxes, by any act laying a small tax, 
 contrary to their opinion, would they submit to pay the 
 tax? 
 
 A. The proceedings of the people in America have been 
 considered too much together. The proceedings of the 
 Assemblies have been very different from those of the 
 mobs, and should be distinguished, as having no connec- 
 tion with each other. The Assemblies have only peace- 
 ably resolved what they take to be their rights ; they have 
 taken no measures for opposition by force, they have not 
 built a fort, raised a man, or provided a grain of ammu- 
 nition, in order to such opposition. The ringleaders of 
 riots, they think, ought to be punished ; they would pun- 
 ish them themselves, if they could. Every sober, sensible 
 man would wish to see rioters punished, as, otherwise, 
 peaceable people have no security of person or estate ; 
 but as to an internal tax, how small soever, laid by the 
 legislature here on the people there, while they have no
 
 FRANKLIN] A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 421 
 
 representatives in this legislature, I think it will never be 
 submitted to ; they will oppose it to the last; they do not 
 consider it as at all necessary for you to raise money on 
 them by your taxes ; because they are, and always have 
 been, ready to raise money by taxes among themselves, 
 and to grant large sums, equal to their abilities, upon 
 requisition from the crown. 
 
 [Franklin proceeded to express the opinion that the late war had 
 been conducted by England for her own interests, und that it was not, 
 in a proper sense, a war for the good of the colonies.] 
 
 127. Q. Is it not necessary to send troops to America 
 to defend the Americans against the Indians ? 
 
 A. No, by no means; it never was necessary. They 
 defended themselves when they were but a handful, and 
 the Indians much more numerous. They continually 
 gained ground, and have driven the Indians over the 
 mountains, without any troops sent to their assistance 
 from this country. And can it be thought necessary now 
 to send troops for their defence from those diminished 
 Indian tribes, when the colonies have become so populous 
 and so strong? There is not the least occasion for it; 
 they are very able to defend themselves. . . . 
 
 132. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, and an 
 act should pass, ordering the Assemblies of the colonies to 
 indemnify the sufferers by the riots, would they obey it? 
 
 A. That is a question I cannot answer. 
 
 133. Q. "Suppose the King should require the colonies 
 to grant a revenue, and the Parliament should be against 
 their doing it, do they think they can grant a revenue to 
 the King, without the consent of the Parliament of Great 
 Britain ? 
 
 A. That is a deep question. As to my own opinion, I 
 should think myself at liberty to do it, and should do it, 
 if I liked the occasion. . . . 
 i. 86
 
 422 AMERICAN HISTORY. [FRANKLIN 
 
 135. Q. If the act should pass requiring the American 
 Assemblies to make compensation to the sufferers, and 
 they should disobey it, and then the Parliament should, by 
 another act, lay an internal tax, would they then obey it ? 
 
 A. The people will pay no internal tax ; and I think an 
 act to oblige the Assemblies to make compensation is un- 
 necessary ; for I am of opinion that as soon as the present 
 heats are abated they will take the matter into considera- 
 tion, and, if it is right to be done, they will do it of them- 
 selves. . . . 
 
 152. Q. Don't you know that there is in the Pennsyl- 
 vania charter an express reservation of the right of Parlia- 
 ment to lay taxes there ? 
 
 A. I know there is a clause in the charter by which the 
 King grants that he will levy no taxes on the inhabitants, 
 unless it be with the consent of the Assembly, or by act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 153. Q. How, then, could the Assembly of Pennsylvania 
 assert that laying a tax on them by the Stamp Act was an 
 infringement of their rights ? 
 
 A. They understand it thus ; by the same charter, and 
 otherwise, they are entitled to all the privileges and liber- 
 ties of Englishmen ; they find in the Great Charters, and 
 the Petition and Declaration of Rights, that one of the 
 privileges of English subjects is that they are not to be 
 taxed but by their common consent ; they have therefore 
 relied upon it, from the first settlement of the 1 province, 
 that the Parliament never would, nor could, by color of 
 that clause in the charter, assume a right of taxing them, 
 till it had qualified itself to exercise such right, by admit- 
 ting representatives from the people to be taxed, who 
 ought to make a part of that common consent. 
 
 154. Q. Are there any words in the charter that justify 
 that construction ?
 
 FRANKLIN] A PARLIAMENTARY EXAMINATION. 423 
 
 A. "The common rights of Englishmen," as declared 
 by Magna Charta, and the Petition of Eight, all justify 
 it. ... 
 
 166. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would it 
 induce the Assemblies of America to acknowledge the 
 rights of Parliament to tax them, and would they erase 
 their resolutions? 
 
 A. No, never. 
 
 167. Q. Are there no means of obliging them to erase 
 those resolutions ? 
 
 A. None that I know of; they will never do it, unless 
 compelled by force of arms. 
 
 168. Q. Is there a power on earth that can force them 
 to erase them? 
 
 A. No power, how great soever, can force men to change 
 their opinions. 
 
 169. Q. Do they consider the post-office as a tax, or as 
 a regulation? 
 
 A. Not as a tax, but as a regulation and conveniency ; 
 every Assembly encouraged it, and supported it in its 
 infancy, by grants of money, which they would not other- 
 wise have done; and the people have always paid the 
 postage. . . . 
 
 173. Q. What used to bo the pride of the Americans? 
 A. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 174. Q. What is now their pride? 
 
 A. To wear their old clothes over again till they can 
 make new ones.
 
 424 AMERICAN HISTORY. [Locos 
 
 THE GROWTH OF DISCONTENT. 
 
 HENRY C. LODGE. 
 
 [One important result of the dissensions between America and Eng- 
 land, and of the revolutionary sentiment which was rapidly extending, 
 was the growth of a powerful school of oratory, the necessary outcome 
 of political agitation. Numbers of glowing orators appeared, whose 
 eloquent appeals did much towards spreading the flame of discontent 
 and sustaining the people in their ardent resistance to the tyranny of 
 the British Parliament. The most important of these political leaders 
 and orators were natives of Virginia, Massachusetts, and South Caro- 
 lina. In Virginia the brilliant declamations of Patrick Henry were 
 firebrands of revolution. Other skilled and accomplished orators were 
 Edmund Pendleton, Richard Bland, George Wythe, Peyton Randolph, 
 and Richard Henry Lee. Two other Virginians of extraordinary abili- 
 ties we may here name, George Washington, already the greatest sol- 
 dier in America, and Thomas Jeiferson, a man of remarkable powers, 
 all of which were steadily exerted in the cause of American liberty. 
 
 To the skill and ardor of Otis and Thacher, as defenders of the 
 rights of their countrymen, we have already adverted. Not less ardent 
 and fearless was Samuel Adams, one of the greatest of ante-Revolu- 
 tionary Americans. Other prominent leaders in Massachusetts were 
 John Hancock, Thomas Gushing, and James Bowdoin, merchants ; 
 Samuel Cooper, a clergyman ; Josiah Quincy and Robert Treat Paine, 
 lawyers ; and John Winthrop, a Harvard professor. The notable ora- 
 tors of South Carolina were John Rutledge, whose powers rivalled 
 those of Patrick Henry ; Christopher Gadsden, a fearless republican ; 
 Henry Laurens, David Ramsay, and Edward Rutledge, brother of John, 
 and whose eloquence was as graceful as his brother's was impetuous. 
 "We might add to these names those of men of equal ability, daring, 
 and patriotism in the other provinces, but it will suffice here to name 
 Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, to whose services in the cause of 
 liberty we have already given some attention, and who, mentally, was 
 one of the greatest men that the world has ever produced. To his 
 name may be added that of Thomas Paine, an advocate of liberty of 
 remarkable brilliance of style and uncompromising courage in pub- 
 lishing his sentiments. Of the stirring events which followed the re-
 
 LODGE] THE GROWTH OF DISCONTENT. 425 
 
 peal of the Stamp Act we give a brief but lucid review from Lodge's 
 " Short History of the English Colonies in America."] 
 
 THE sound of the rejoicings called forth by the repeal 
 of the Stamp Act had hardly died away before it was seen 
 how little had really been gained beyond immediate and 
 temporary relief. The Stamp Act was gone, but the 
 Declaratory Act, and the Sugar Act, and the Mutiny Act, 
 requiring quarters to be provided for English troops, and 
 recently extended to the colonies, remained unmodified 
 and unchanged. The Rockingham ministry was dissolved ; 
 Pitt came again to the helm, and was made the Earl of 
 Chatham. The clouds of his strange illness gathered 
 about the prime minister, and the conduct of affairs fell 
 into the hands of Charles Townshend, a believer in the 
 Stamp Act, and with no faith in Pitt's distinction between 
 internal and external taxation. He was determined to 
 pursue the policy of Grenville, and laid his plans to quar- 
 ter garrisons in the large towns of America and have 
 them supported by the colonial Assemblies, and to exact 
 a revenue from the colonies. The trouble had, indeed 
 already begun in New York, where the Assembly, which 
 had passed a limited act for the supply of two regiments 
 in December, 1766, refused to provide for quartering 
 troops, and stood firm through a long controversy with 
 Sir Henry Moore. In the following spring. Parliament, 
 under the lead of Townshend, suspended the legislative 
 powers of New York, as a punishment for their disobedi- 
 ence. This was a warning which could not be mistaken. 
 In the other colonies, even when requisitions were com- 
 plied with, there was careful evasion of obedience to the 
 terms of the act, and sympathy with New York spread 
 far and wide, carrying with it deep disquiet and indigna- 
 tion. Not content with beginning to enforce the Mutiny 
 Act, Townshend carried measures to impose port duties 
 
 80*
 
 426 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LODGE 
 
 on wine, oil, and fruit from Spain and Portugal, and on 
 glass, paper, lead, colors, and tea. The revenue thus raised 
 was to be used for the payment of the crown officers, and 
 for the establishment of a civil list. This was a blow at 
 the most vital rights of the colonies, for it took from them 
 the control of their governments. The new policy, un- 
 checked by the death of Townshend in the autumn of 
 1767, excited the utmost apprehension in America, and 
 fanned into flame the smouldering embers of the oppo- 
 sition to the Stamp Act. Again non-importation agree- 
 ments were discussed, but without combination or effect ; 
 and Massachusetts, thoroughly alarmed at the prospect of 
 independent crown officers, determined on stronger meas- 
 ures. The Assembly resolved to send a petition to the 
 king, and letters to the statesmen of England. In the 
 petition, drawn, probably, by Samuel Adams, the Assembly 
 set forth the conditions of their settlement, argued against 
 taxation without representation, and protested against the 
 presence of a standing army, and the project of render- 
 ing the judicial and executive officers independent of the 
 people. They followed this action by a resolve inviting 
 the other colonies to unite with them in petitions to the 
 king against the new taxation. At every step Bernard and 
 Hutchinson resisted the Assembly, which moved forward 
 steadily, cautiously, and firmly, making no mistakes, and 
 giving no openings. Bernard and the crown officers met 
 the action of the Assembly by a counter-memorial, inveigh- 
 ing against the freedom and independent temper of the 
 colonists, and advising the immediate presence of fleets and 
 armies, supporting their requests with tales of projected 
 riots, for the people had begun to be restless, although 
 there was really no danger of any serious outbreak. 
 
 Hillsborough, the new Secretary of State, and the king's 
 friends were indignant at the action of Massachusetts, and
 
 LODGE] THE GROWTH OF DISCONTENT. 427 
 
 letters were sent to the other colonies denouncing the 
 Massachusetts circular, and to Bernard instructing him to 
 order the House to rescind their resolve, and, if they re- 
 fused, to dissolve them. Meantime, the excitement in- 
 creased. John Hancock's sloop Liberty was seized, on the 
 ground of evasion of the customs. There was a slight 
 disturbance, and revenue officers, in pretended fear of their 
 lives, took refuge on the Eomney man-of-war, while the 
 town and the governor quarrelled about the affair. "When 
 the general court met, strengthened by the sympathy of 
 Connecticut and New Jersey, and by the letter of Virginia, 
 where their principles had been sustained by resolutions 
 of the Burgesses, Hillsborough's letter was presented. 
 The House, by an overwhelming vote, refused to rescind; 
 the court was dissolved, and Massachusetts was left with- 
 out a legislature. Boston town meeting took into its hands 
 the power which Hillsborough and Bernard sought to 
 crush. They called a convention of delegates from the 
 towns of the province while troops were on their way to 
 Massachusetts; and this convention came together, de- 
 manded in vain a general court, passed strong resolutions 
 against taxation and a standing army, and adjourned, 
 while the Council refused to make provision for the ex- 
 pected soldiers until the barracks were filled, and the old 
 beacon was prepared as in the days of Andros. Soon after 
 the convention dissolved, two regiments, presently in- 
 creased to four, and artillery, landed and marched into the 
 town. The Council refused quarters until the barracks 
 were occupied ; and, after camping for some time in the 
 open air, the troops were finally quartered and supplied at 
 the expense of the crown. No measure could possibly 
 have been taken better calculated to produce civil war. 
 The troops were sent to overawe, and they merely irritated 
 the people. Into a peaceful town, into a province which
 
 428 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LODGE 
 
 had simply remonstrated and petitioned legally and prop- 
 erly in defence of their rights, were suddenly thrust royal 
 regiments. The strong feeling of independence in a coun- 
 try where garrisons were absolutely unknown was out- 
 raged, while the bad character and licentious habits of the 
 soldiery incensed a rigid, austere, and sober people. At- 
 tempts at military coercion and the presence of troops 
 were sure to breed trouble; and, worse than this, they not 
 only awakened the sympathy of the other colonies, but 
 alarmed them for their own safety. It was outside press- 
 ure and peril in its strongest form, and nothing tended 
 BO strongly to produce the union which alone could be 
 fatal to English rule. 
 
 In Virginia, when the Burgesses met, resolutions were 
 passed declaring against taxation, and asserting the right 
 to trial by a jury of the vicinage, and to combination 
 among the colonies. Botetourt dissolved the Assembly, 
 and the Burgesses met in convention and formed a strin- 
 gent non-importation agreement. Virginia carried with 
 her the Southern colonies, and her example was followed 
 in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and when the general 
 court came together again in Massachusetts they promptly 
 adopted the resolutions. Some of the troops had been 
 withdrawn ; but two regiments were kept on Bernard's 
 request, and he and the legislature were in no good humor 
 when they met at Cambridge, whither the governor ad- 
 journed them. The House refused flatly to provide for 
 ti'oops, or to give a salary for the year to Bernai'd, who 
 was recalled, and who soon after, having prorogued the 
 refractory Assembly, departed from Boston, amid the 
 noisy rejoicings of the populace, leaving Hutchinson to 
 rule in his stead. While Massachusetts and Virginia were 
 thus coming together and preparing the American Union, 
 the ministry in England, halting and undecided, rather
 
 LODGE] THE GROWTH OF DISCONTENT. 429 
 
 frightened at the results of their energetic policy, and 
 desperately embroiled with Wilkes, decided to recede. 
 They sent a circular to the colonies, promising to lay no 
 more taxes, and to repeal the duties on glass, paper, and 
 colors, retaining only that on tea. Their action was that 
 of well-meaning, narrow, and weak men. They should 
 either then and there have enforced their policy at the 
 point of the bayonet, or they should have fully and frankly 
 given way on every point. To save their pride, maintain 
 their doctrines, and please the king, they retained one 
 paltry tax, yielding perhaps three hundred pounds a year, 
 but which carried the vital principle with it as surely and 
 clearly as revenue involving millions. The course of the 
 ministry had slowly brought the conflict to the point at 
 which complete victory on one side or the other was alone 
 possible. The colonies were fully alive to the situation, 
 and saw that while one tax remained nothing had been 
 gained. The non-importation agreements spread every- 
 where, and were strongly enforced, and all society was 
 drawn into a refusal to use tea. Conflicts with the rev- 
 enue officers in Ehode Island and elsewhere grew more 
 and more frequent, and the relations of the people with 
 the soldiery in New York and Boston more and more 
 strained. In New York there were violent affrays between 
 the soldiers and the people over the erection of the liberty- 
 pole, and there was fighting in the streets. These out- 
 breaks heightened the feeling in Boston, where the soldiers 
 were taunted and insulted, and where recurring fights 
 between populace and red-coats showed that a crisis was 
 at hand. On the 3d of March there was an ugly brawl, 
 and on the evening of the 5th there was another fray, and 
 trouble with the sentry. Before quiet was restored there 
 was renewed fighting, and a crowd gathered round the 
 sentry in King Street. Alarmed and angry, the man
 
 430 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LODGE 
 
 called out the guard ; the mob rapidly increased ; insults 
 were followed by missiles ; one soldier discharged his gun ; 
 there was a scattering fire from the troops, and three of 
 the citizens were killed and two mortally wounded. Blood 
 had been shed, and it looked as if civil war had begun. 
 The regiments were turned out, the people poured into 
 the streets ; it was a mere chance that the American Rev- 
 olution was not then to open. But Hutchinson appeared 
 in the balcony of the State-House, promised an investiga- 
 tion, and besought peace. The people dispersed, and war 
 was for the moment averted ; but nothing could efface the 
 memory of this affray. Eegular troops had fired upon 
 the citizens, human life had been sacrificed, and the ex- 
 aggerated title of the " Boston Massacre" showed the im- 
 portance attached to this event, which served for years to 
 keep alive and develop resistance to England. 
 
 The morning after the massacre the select-men waited 
 on Hutchinson and urged the removal of the troops. At 
 eleven the town meeting came together, and chose a com- 
 mittee, with Samuel Adams at its head, to wait upon the 
 governor and demand the withdrawal of the troops. 
 Hutchinson wished to delay and postpone. He offered to 
 have the Twenty-Ninth Regiment, which had fired on the 
 people, removed to the Castle, and the other put under 
 proper restraint. The committee went back through 
 thronged streets, and made its report, which was pro- 
 nounced unsatisfactory, and a new committee, again headed 
 by Adams, went back to the governor. The interview 
 which followed in the council-chamber, as the daylight 
 slowly faded, was one of the great dramatic scenes of the 
 American Revolution. In that moment Samuel Adams 
 was pre-eminent, and all the greatness and force of his 
 mind and character concentrated to raise him up as the 
 great tribune of the people. The incarnation of right and
 
 GRAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 431 
 
 justice, the true champion of the people, he stood before 
 the fit representative of a weak, vacillating, proud, and 
 stupid ministry, and made the representative quail before 
 him. " If you can remove one, you can remove both," he 
 said to Hutchinson ; " there are three thousand people in 
 yonder town meeting ; the country is rising ; night is fall- 
 ing ; and we must have an answer." Hutchinson hesitated 
 a moment, trembled, and gave way. Before a week elapsed, 
 all the troops were withdrawn ; and meantime they had 
 watched the funerals of their victims, seen their compan- 
 ions arrested for murder, beheld a town meeting called to 
 hurry their departure, and had been kept under strict 
 guard by the militia of the town they went forth to gar- 
 rison. Staying and going were alike full of humiliation 
 and defeat. It was a great triumph ; and as the news of 
 the events at Boston spread, a strong sense of relief filled 
 the colonies. 
 
 THE TEA TAX AND THE BOSTON PORT BILL. 
 
 JAMES GRAHAME. 
 
 [The state of irritation into which America had been thrown by the 
 injudicious measures of the British Parliament was not allayed by its 
 subsequent action. Before proceeding with the record of these events, 
 reference may be made to an outbreak which at this time occurred 
 in North Carolina, not directly due to English action, yet arising 
 from the corruption and inefficiency of functionaries of the British 
 government. Abuses in the collection of exorbitant fees by public 
 officers, and in permitting the sheriffs and tax-collectors to delay the 
 payment of public moneys, produced an association of the poorer colo- 
 nists, who claimed that they were being overtaxed for the support 
 of dishonest officers, and who assumed the title of Regulators. Other 
 events added to their discontent, and they broke out into wild out-
 
 432 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GKAHAME 
 
 rages, assembling in 1771 to the number of two thousand, and de- 
 claring their purpose to abolish courts of justice, exterminate lawyers 
 and public officers, and overturn the provincial government in favor 
 of some mad scheme of democracy devised by their foolish or knavish 
 leaders. The respectable part of the community rose in opposition to 
 these insurgents, and in a battle at Almansee, on May 16, the Regu- 
 lators were routed, three hundred of them being left dead on the field. 
 Others were condemned and executed for high treason, and peace was 
 restored to the province. Events more directly connected with the 
 struggle between the colonies and Great Britain rapidly succeeded in 
 the other provinces, a statement of the more important of which we 
 select from Grahame's " Colonial History of the United States."] 
 
 AN act of violence committed by the colonists of Rhode 
 Island, though less memorable in respect of its intrinsic 
 importance than the insurrection of the Eegulators in 
 North Carolina, excited more general attention from its 
 significance as an indication of the height to which the 
 general current of American sentiment was rising. The 
 commander of the Gaspee, an armed British schooner 
 stationed at Providence, had exerted much activity in 
 supporting the trade laws and punishing the increasing 
 contraband traffic of the Americans, and had provoked 
 additional resentment by firing at the Providence packets 
 in order to compel them to salute his flag by lowering 
 theirs as they passed his vessel, and by chasing them even 
 into the docks in case of refusal. The master of a packet 
 conveying passengers to Providence (June 9, 1772), which 
 was fired at and chased by the Gaspee for neglecting to 
 pay the requisite tribute of respect, took advantage of the 
 state of the tide (it being almost high water) to stand in 
 so closely to the shore that the Gaspee in the pursuit 
 might be exposed to run aground. The artifice succeeded ; 
 the Gaspee presently stuck fast, and the packet proceeded 
 in triumph to Providence, where a strong sensation was 
 excited by the tidings of the occurrence, and a project was
 
 GRAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 433 
 
 hastily formed to improve the blow and destroy the ob- 
 noxious vessel. Brown, an eminent merchant, and Whip- 
 pie, a ship-master, took the lead in this bold adventure, 
 and easily collected a sufficient band of armed and resolute 
 men, with whom they embarked in whale-boats to attack 
 the British ship of war. At two o'clock the next morning 
 they boarded the Gaspee so suddenly and in such num- 
 bers that her crew were instantly overpowered, without 
 hurt to any one except her commanding officer, who was 
 wounded. The captors, having despatched a part of their 
 number to convey him, together with his private effects 
 and his crew, ashore, set fire to the Gaspee and destroyed 
 her, with all her stores. The issue of this daring act of 
 war against the naval force of the king was as remarkable 
 as the enterprise itself. [A large reward was offered for 
 information, and commissioners appointed to try the of- 
 fenders.] But no trial took place. Nobody came forward 
 to claim the proffered reward ; . . . and in the commence- 
 ment of the following year the commissioners reported to 
 the British ministry their inability, notwithstanding the 
 most diligent inquisition, to procure evidence or informa- 
 tion against a single individual. 
 
 [In Massachusetts a violent enmity had arisen between Hutchin- 
 Bon, the governor, and the majority of the Assembly, which produced 
 several controversies. Among the most notable of these was the effort 
 of the Assembly to abolish the slave-trade. In 1712 the importation 
 of slaves into Massachusetts had been forbidden, but her merchants 
 were not restrained from conveying slaves to other provinces. No 
 fewer than four bills prohibiting traffic in negroes were, during the ad- 
 ministrations of Governors Bernard and Hutchinson, passed by the 
 Assembly, but they were all negatived by the governors.] 
 
 The British government, meanwhile, having rashly de- 
 termined to enforce the Tea-duty Act, of which the most 
 considerable effect hitherto was a vast importation of 
 i. T ce 37
 
 434 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAME 
 
 smuggled tea into America by the French, the Dutch, the 
 Danes, and the Swedes, attempted to compass by policy 
 what constraint and authority had proved insufficient to 
 accomplish. The measures of the Americans had already 
 occasioned such diminution of exports from Britain that 
 the warehouses of the English East India Company con- 
 tained above seventeen millions of pounds of tea, for which 
 it was difficult to procure a market. The unwillingness 
 of the Company to lose their commercial profits, and of 
 the ministry to forego the expected revenue from the sale 
 of tea in America, induced a compromise for their mutual 
 advantage. A high duty was imposed hitherto on the ex- 
 portation of tea from England ; but the East India Com- 
 pany were now authorized by act of Parliament to export 
 their tea free of duty to all places whatever (May, 1773). 
 By this contrivance it was expected that tea, though 
 loaded with an exceptionable tax on its importation into 
 America, would yet readily obtain purchasers among the 
 Americans ; as the vendors, relieved of the British export 
 duty, could afford to sell it to them even cheaper than 
 before it was made a source of American revenue. 
 
 The crisis now drew near when the Americans were 
 to decide whether they would submit to be taxed by the 
 British Parliament, or practically support their own princi- 
 ples and brave the most perilous consequences of their in- 
 flexibility. One common sentiment was awakened through- 
 out the whole continent by the tidings of the ministerial 
 device, which was universally reprobated as an attempt, 
 at once injurious and insulting, to bribe the Americans 
 to surrender their rights and bend their own necks to 
 the yoke of arbitrary power. A violent ferment arose; 
 the corresponding committees and political clubs ex- 
 erted their utmost activity to rouse and unite the people ; 
 and it was generally declared that, as every citizen owed
 
 GRAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 435 
 
 to his country the duty at least of refraining from being 
 accessory to her subjugation, every man who countenanced 
 the present measure of the British government should be 
 deemed an enemy of America. . . . 
 
 The East India Company, confident of finding a market 
 for their tea, reduced as it was now in price, freighted 
 several ships to America with this commodity, and ap- 
 pointed consignees to receive and dispose of it. Some 
 cargoes were sent to New York, some to Philadelphia, some 
 to Charleston, the metropolis of South Carolina, and some 
 to Boston. The inhabitants of New York and Philadelphia 
 prevailed with the consignees to disclaim their functions, 
 and forced the ships to return with their cargoes to London. 
 The inhabitants of Charleston unladed the tea, and de- 
 posited it in public cellars, where it was locked up from 
 use and finally perished. At Boston, the consignees, who 
 were the near kinsmen of Governor Hutchinson, at .first 
 refused to renounce their appointments (November 5); and 
 the vessels containing the tea lay for some time in the 
 harbor, watched by a strong guard of the citizens, who, 
 from a numerous town meeting, despatched peremptory 
 commands to the ship-masters not to land their obnoxious 
 cargoes. . . . [The consignees] proposed then to the people 
 that the tea should be landed, and preserved in some public 
 store or magazine ; but this compromise was indignantly 
 rejected. At length the popular rage broke through every 
 restraint of order and decency. From the symptoms of 
 its dangerous fervor the consignees fled in dismay to the 
 Castle ; while an assemblage of men, dressed and painted 
 like Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessels and threw the 
 tea into the ocean (December 16). 
 
 It was remarked with some surprise that during the 
 whole of this transaction the civil and military force of 
 government, including the garrison of Castle William and
 
 436 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAMS 
 
 several ships of war in the harbor, remained completely 
 inactive. The governor, indeed, issued a proclamation for- 
 bidding the people to assemble in factious meetings. But 
 the council, when their protection was implored by the 
 consignees, refused to interfere at all in the matter; and 
 though, after the outrage was committed, they condemned 
 its perpetration and invoked legal vengeance upon all who 
 had been engaged in it, the futility of this demonstration 
 was obvious to every eye. To procure legal proof that 
 would implicate even a single individual was notoriously 
 impossible. 
 
 [Another source of popular irritation was the proceeding of the 
 ministry against Franklin. He had obtained and made public some 
 letters of Hutchinson and others, misrepresenting the occurrences in 
 America and pressing the ministry to support their schemes by mili- 
 tary power. The Massachusetts Assembly now petitioned the king 
 to remove these obnoxious persons from office. This was refused, and 
 severe measures were taken against Franklin.] 
 
 On the following day [after the rejection of the petition] 
 Franklin was dismissed by the British government from 
 the office of postmaster-general of America. These pro- 
 ceedings, and especially the elaborate malignity of insult 
 heaped [during the discussion] upon a man whom they so 
 highly admired and respected, sank deeply into the minds 
 of the Americans. Another act of British power, that 
 was directed with the most childish absurdity against the 
 scientific repute of Franklin, awakened the liveliest de- 
 rision and disdain in America. For the king, shortly after, 
 transported by the blindest abhorrence of the American 
 philosopher, for whom he bad once professed esteem, actu- 
 ally caused the electrical conductors invented by Franklin 
 to be removed from the palace of Buckingham House and 
 replaced by instruments of far less skilful construction and 
 efficient capacity.
 
 GRAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 437 
 
 [Hutchinson was soon after recalled to England, ostensibly to inform 
 the ministers regarding the state of the colonies.] 
 
 Along with Tryon, who was afterwards recalled from 
 New York, and Carleton, the governor of Canada, he was 
 desired by the cabinet to declare his opinion whether the 
 Americans, in the last extremity, would venture to resist 
 the arms of Britain. Hutchinson confidently predicted 
 that they would either not fight at all, or at most offer no 
 farther opposition than what a few troops could easily 
 quell. Carleton protested that America might certainly 
 be conquered, but that a considerable army would be neces- 
 sary for this purpose, and that, for himself, he would not 
 venture to march against New York or Boston with a 
 smaller force than ten thousand men. Tryon declared 
 that Britain would require large armies and long efforts 
 to bring America to her feet; that her power was equal 
 to anything, but that all her power must be exerted in 
 order to put the monster in chains. The representations of 
 Hutchinson were the most congenial to the sentiments 
 and the temper of the British government; and, unfortu- 
 nately for England, they were corroborated by the kin- 
 dred folly and ignorance of many British statesmen and 
 officers. " The Americans are a degenei'ate race of Euro- 
 peans ; they have nothing of the soldier in them," was 
 the customary language of men who were destined by 
 their own defeats to illustrate the valor which they depre- 
 ciated, and who learned too late to consider the Americans 
 as a regenerated race of Europeans, in whom the energy 
 of freemen more than supplied the mechanical expcrtness 
 of severely-disciplined slaves. General Clarke ... de- 
 clared in a company of learned men at London, and in 
 the hearing of Dr. Franklin, that with a thousand British 
 grenadiers he would undertake to march from one end of 
 America to another. . . . Another general officer asserted 
 
 37*
 
 438 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAME 
 
 in the House of Commons that "The Yankees (a foolish 
 nickname which now began to be applied to the Ameri- 
 cans) never felt bold." 
 
 The speeches of other military officers in Parliament, and 
 of the prime minister, Lord North, conveyed ideas equally 
 calculated to delude their countrymen and to inflame by 
 contumely all the rage and courage which injustice and 
 injury had already kindled in the Americans. " Believe 
 me, my lords," said the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of 
 the Admiralty, in the House of Peers, " the first sound of 
 a cannon will send the Americans a-running as fast as 
 their feet can carry them." Unfortunately for his country, 
 he was believed. 
 
 [During the period here indicated the population of America was 
 rapidly increasing. "We have few statistics, but these are very sugges- 
 tive. Seventeen thousand three hundred and fifty emigrants reached 
 America from the north of Ireland alone in 1771 and 1772. In the 
 first fortnight of August, 1773, three thousand five hundred emigrants 
 from Ireland landed at Philadelphia. Many others came from Scot- 
 land, Holland, Germany, and elsewhere. The country was fast filling 
 up with people who had been oppressed at home and who were in the 
 proper temper to strike for liberty abroad. 
 
 With the infatuation which had all along marked the acts of Par- 
 liament and the ministry, new measures of coercion were now adopted, 
 calculated to increase the irritation of the colonists. Exasperated by 
 the opposition to the sale of tea in America, and in particular by its 
 destruction at Boston, the ministry determined on more stringent 
 measures, and selected this town as the culprit to be disciplined. A 
 bill was hastily passed, suspending the trade and closing the harbor of 
 Boston. It was followed by another bill destroying the representative 
 government of Massachusetts, by declaring that the provincial council 
 should be appointed by the crown, that the royal governor should ap- 
 point and remove all important executive officers, and that no town 
 meeting should be held without written permission from the governor. 
 
 Other stringent measures were passed, despite the warning protest 
 of an old member of the House of Commons : " If there ever was a 
 nation running headlong to its ruin, it is this." The tidings of the
 
 GRAHAM E] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 439 
 
 passage of these bills produced universal indignation in America. 
 Philadelphia made a liberal contribution in aid of the poorer inhabi- 
 tants of Boston who might be injured by the operation of the Port 
 Bill. In Virginia a day of fasting and prayer was ordered, and Jef- 
 ferson published an indignant protest. Strong feeling was exhibited 
 in all the other provinces.] 
 
 On the day when the operation of the Boston Port Bill 
 was appointed to commence (June 1, 1774) all the com- 
 mercial business of the capital of Massachusetts was con- 
 cluded at noon, and the harbor of this flourishing town 
 was closed, till the gathering storm of the Kevolution 
 was to reopen it. At Williamsburg, in Virginia, the day 
 was devoutly consecrated to the religious exercises recom- 
 mended by the Assembly. At Philadelphia it was solem- 
 nized by a great majority of the population with every 
 testimonial of public grief; all the inhabitants, except the 
 Quakers, shut up their houses ; and after divine service a 
 deep and ominous stillness reigned in the city. In other 
 parts of America it was also observed as a day of mourn- 
 ing; and the sentiments thus widely awakened were kept 
 alive and exasperated by the distress to which the inhabi- 
 tants of Boston were reduced by the continued operation 
 of the Port Bill, and by the fortitude with which they 
 endured it. The rents of the landholders in and around 
 Boston now ceased or were greatly diminished ; all the 
 wealth vested in warehouses and wharves was rendered 
 unproductive ; from the merchants was wrested the com- 
 merce they had reared, and the means alike of providing 
 for their families and paying their debts; the artificers 
 employed in the numerous crafts nourished by an exten- 
 sive commerce shared the general hardship ; and a great 
 majority of that class of the community who earned daily 
 bread by their daily labor were deprived of the means of 
 support. But, animated still by that enduring and daunt-
 
 4-40 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAME 
 
 less spirit of freedom which had been the parent principle 
 of the New England communities, the inhabitants of Bos- 
 ton sustained the presence of this calamity with inflexible 
 fortitude. Their virtue was cheered by the sympathy, 
 and their sufferings were mitigated by the generosity, of 
 the sister colonies. In all the American States contribu- 
 tions were made for their relief. Corporate bodies, town 
 meetings, and provincial conventions, from all quarters, 
 transmitted to them letters and addresses, applauding their 
 conduct, and exhorting them to perseverance. 
 
 [The royal garrison of Boston was now augmented, and its fortifica- 
 tions strengthened and increased, thus adding to the irritation of the 
 people. At the suggestion of the Massachusetts Assembly, a Congress 
 of the provinces was called. This Congress, embracing members from 
 all the colonies except Georgia, met at Philadelphia on September 5, 
 1774. Of the debates of this body, which continued in session eight 
 weeks, no authentic report exists, but it published a Declaration of the 
 Eights of America, with many other acts in which a determined spirit 
 of resistance to tyranny was indicated. Before dissolving, it was de- 
 creed to meet again on May 10, 1775, if no redress of American griev- 
 ances was granted. A cargo of tea about this time entered the harbor 
 of Annapolis, Maryland, but the ship-master became so alarmed by 
 the popular excitement that he asked the advice of an able lawyer, 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, as to whit he should do. Carroll ad- 
 vised him to burn the vessel and cargo. This advice was taken. 
 " The sails were set, the colors displayed, and the vessel burned amidst 
 the acclamations of the multitude." 
 
 In Massachusetts, General Gage had called a meeting of the Assem- 
 bly. But, alarmed by the temper of the people, he issued a proclama- 
 tion suspending its meeting. In defiance of his power the Assembly 
 met, elected John Hancock its president, and proceeded to the bold 
 and extreme measure of calling out the militia for the defence of the 
 province. A portion of them were to be ready to meet at a minute's 
 warning, and generals were appointed to command these minute-men, 
 and the militia at large.] 
 
 And now a]l America was aroused by expectation of
 
 GRAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 441 
 
 awful conflict and mighty change. Now England, upon 
 which the first violence of the storm seemed likely to 
 descend, was agitated by rumors and alarms, of which the 
 import and the influence strikingly portrayed the senti- 
 ments and temper of the people. Reports that Gage had 
 commanded his troops to attack the Massachusetts militia, 
 or to fire upon the town of Boston, were swallowed with 
 the avidity of rage and hatred, and instantly covered the 
 highways with thousands of armed men, mustering in hot 
 Luste, and eager to rush forward to death or revenge. 
 Everything betokened the explosion of a tempest ; and 
 some partial gusts announced its near approach, and proved 
 the harbingers of its fury. In the close of the year there 
 reached America a proclamation issued by the king, pro- 
 hibiting the exportation of military stores from Great 
 Britain. The inhabitants of Ehode Island no sooner re- 
 ceived intelligence of this mandate than they removed 
 from the public battery about forty pieces of cannon ; and 
 the Assembly of the province gave orders for procuring 
 arms and martial stores, and for the immediate equipment 
 of a martial force. In New Hampshire, a band of four 
 hundred men, suddenly assembling in arms, and conducted 
 by John Sullivan, an eminent lawyer and a man of great 
 ambition and intrepidity, gained possession by surprise of 
 the castle of Portsmouth, and confined the royal garrison 
 till the powder-magazine was ransacked and its contents 
 carried away. 
 
 [These violent demonstrations provoked new measures of oppression 
 in Parliament. Lord Chatham, indeed, after seeking the counsel of 
 Benjamin Franklin, introduced a bill calculated to remove the causes 
 of disaffection in America. But this bill was rejected, and one in- 
 troduced by Lord North was passed, which virtually extended tho 
 measures of the Boston Port Bill to all New England. As it soon 
 appeared that the other provinces supported New England, the pn>vi- 
 ions of the bill to restrain commerce were extended to them all, with
 
 442 AMERICAN HISTORY. [GRAHAME 
 
 the exception of New York, Delaware, and North Carolina. But this 
 exemption failed to produce its designed effect, since the exempted 
 colonies at once declared their intention to accept the restraints imposed 
 on their neighbors.] 
 
 The example of Massachusetts in preparing for defence 
 was followed by the other provinces; and warlike counsels 
 were boldly broached in the provincial Assemblies and 
 Congresses. When some members of the Virginia Assem- 
 
 O ~ 
 
 bly urged the postponement of those preparations, remind- 
 ing their colleagues of the power of Britain and the com- 
 parative weakness of America, and insisting that it would 
 be time enough to fly to arms when every well-founded 
 hope of peace had entirely vanished, Patrick Henry, with 
 vehement and victorious eloquence, contended that that time 
 had already come. " It is natural," said he, " to man to in- 
 dulge in the illusions of hope. We are prone to shut our 
 eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that 
 enchantress till she transforms us into beasts. There is no 
 longer any room for hope. We must fight. I repeat it, sir, 
 we must fight. An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts 
 is all that is left us. They tell us that we are weak, and 
 unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But 
 when shall we be stronger ? Will it be when our supineness 
 shall have enabled our enemies to bind us hand and foot ? 
 Sir, we are not weak, if we make use of those means 
 which the God of nature has placed in our power. Three 
 millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, and 
 in such a country as ours, are invincible by any force which 
 our enemy can send against its. Nor shall we fight our 
 battles alone. That God who presides over the destinies 
 of nations will raise up friends to aid us. The battle is 
 not to the strong alone, but to the vigilant, the active, the 
 brave. Besides, we have no longer a choice. If we were 
 base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from
 
 GKAHAME] THE TEA TAX AND BOSTON PORT BILL. 443 
 
 the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and 
 slavery. Our chains are forged; their clanking may be 
 heard upon the plains of Boston. The war is inevitable 
 and let it come ! Gentlemen may cry, ' Peace ! Peace !' 
 but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The 
 next gale which sweeps from the north will bring to our 
 ears the clash of resounding arms." 
 
 [These words proved prophetic. Arms and provisions were being 
 diligently collected in Massachusetts, in preparation for an expected 
 conflict. General Gage was not unaware of nor indifferent to these 
 proceedings.] 
 
 Having learned that some military stores belonging to 
 the colonists were deposited in Salem, he despatched 
 Colonel Leslie from Castle William, on the 26th of Feb- 
 ruary, with one hundred and forty soldiers, in a transport, 
 to seize them. The troops, landing at Marblehead, pro- 
 ceeded to Salem ; but, not finding there the object of their 
 expedition, they advanced along the road leading to Dan- 
 vers, whither the stores had been removed, and reached the 
 drawbridge laid across the river. Here a number of the 
 country-people were assembled, and on the opposite side 
 the American colonel Pickering had mustered thirty or 
 forty armed men, and, having drawn up the bridge, stood 
 prepared to dispute the passage of the river. Leslie com- 
 manded them to lower the bridge ; but, as they peremp- 
 torily refused, he was preparing to cross the river in some 
 boats that were moored to the shore, when the people, 
 who had gathered round him, perceiving his intention, 
 sprang into the boats and scuttled them with axes. 
 
 [As the stores were now removed, and the purpose of the British 
 negatived, it was decided that Leslie might cross the river and march 
 thirty paces beyond it, as a point of honor, and then return without 
 attempting further progress.]
 
 444 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 At length the bridge was lowered ; and Pickering with 
 his men, still facing the British troops, retired to the line 
 they had measured and marked. Leslie and his soldiers, 
 after advancing to the stipulated point, returned and em- 
 barked for Boston. Thus ended the first military enter- 
 prise of the Eevolutionary War, without effect and with- 
 out bloodshed. 
 
 [Its main effect was to add to the bitterness and to redouble the 
 vigilance of the Americans in guarding their stores. The second en- 
 terprise of this kind was not destined to end so harmlessly.] 
 
 THE FIRST SHOTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. 
 
 [A magazine of military stores had been collected at the inland 
 town of Concord, about sixteen miles from Boston. This Gage learned 
 of, and determined to destroy. For this purpose he sent a force by 
 night, on a secret and rapid march. Several British officers posted 
 themselves on the road leading to Concord to intercept any messengers 
 who might be sent out to give warning of this design. But the patriots 
 of Bostori were too alert to be thus checked. No sooner had indica- 
 tions of the enterprise appeared than messengers were abroad, and 
 the alarm was rapidly communicated by the ringing of bells and dis- 
 charge of signal-guns. One citizen of Concord, Reuben Brown by 
 name, " rode a hundred miles in the space of twenty-four hours in 
 order to disseminate the intelligence." The story of this expedition 
 we select from Higginson's " History of the United States."] 
 
 WHEN France, in 1763, surrendered Canada to England, 
 it suddenly opened men's eyes to a very astonishing fact. 
 They discovered that British America had at once become 
 a country so large as to make England seem ridiculously 
 small. Even the cool-headed Dr. Franklin, writing that
 
 HIGGINSON] FIRST SHOTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 445 
 
 same year to Mary Stevenson in London, spoke of Eng- 
 land as " that petty island, which, compared to America, 
 is but a stepping-stone in a brook, scarce enough of it 
 above water to keep one's shoes dry." The far-seeing 
 French statesmen of the period looked at the matter in 
 the same way. Choiseul, the prime minister who ceded 
 Canada, claimed afterward that he had done it in order to 
 destroy the British nation by creating for it a rival. This 
 assertion was not made till ten years later, and may very 
 likely have been an after-thought, but it was destined to 
 be confirmed by the facts. . . . 
 
 Boston in the winter of 1774-75 was a town of some 
 seventeen thousand inhabitants, garrisoned by some three 
 thousand British troops. It was the only place in the 
 Massachusetts colony where the royal governor exercised 
 any real authority, and where the laws of Parliament had 
 any force. The result was that its life was paralyzed, its 
 people gloomy, and its commerce dead. The other colo- 
 nies were still hoping to obtain their rights by policy or 
 by legislation, by refusing to import or to consume, and 
 they watched with constant solicitude for some riotous 
 demonstration in Boston. On the other hand, the popular 
 leaders in that town were taking the greatest pains that 
 there should be no outbreak. There was risk of one when- 
 ever soldiers were sent on any expedition into the country. 
 One might have taken place at Marshfield in January, one 
 almost happened at Salem in February, yet still it was 
 postponed. No publicity was given to the patriotic mili- 
 tary organizations in Boston ; as little as possible was said 
 about the arms and stores that were gathered in the coun- 
 try. Not a life had been lost in any popular excitement 
 since the Boston Massacre in 1770. The responsibility of 
 the first shot, the people were determined, must rest upon 
 the royal troops. So far was this carried that it was hon- 
 i. * 33
 
 446 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HiooiNSON 
 
 estly attributed by the British soldiers to cowardice alone. 
 An officer, quoted by Frothingham, wrote home in No- 
 vember, 1774, "As to what you hear of their taking arms 
 to resist the force of England, it is mere bullying, and will 
 go no further than words ; whenever it conies to blows he 
 that can run the fastest will think himself best off. Be- 
 lieve me, any two regiments here ought to be decimated 
 if they did not beat in the field the whole force of the 
 Massachusetts province; for, though they are numerous, 
 they are but a mere mob, without order or discipline, and 
 very awkward at handling their arms." 
 
 But, whatever may have been the hope of carrying 
 their point without fighting, the provincial authorities 
 were steadily collecting provisions, arms, and ammunition. 
 Unhappily, these essentials were hard to obtain. On April 
 19, 1775, the committee of safety could only count up twelve 
 field-pieces in Massachusetts; and there had been collected 
 in that colony 21,549 fire-arms, 17,441 pounds of powder, 
 22,191 pounds of ball, 144,699 flints, 10,108 bayonets, 
 11,979 pouches, 15,000 canteens. There were also 17,000 
 pounds of salt fish, 35,000 pounds of rice, with large quan- 
 tities of beef and pork. Viewed as an evidence of the 
 forethought of the colonists, these statistics are remark- 
 able ; but there was something heroic and indeed almost 
 pathetic in the project of going to war with the British 
 government on the strength of twelve field-pieces and 
 seventeen thousand pounds of salt fish. 
 
 Yet when, on the night of the 18th of April, 1775, Paul 
 Revere rode beneath the bright moonlight through Lex- 
 ington to Concord, with Dawes and Prescott for comrades, 
 he was carrying the signal for the independence of a 
 nation. He had seen across the Charles Eiver the two 
 lights from the church-steeple in Boston which were to 
 show that a British force was going out to seize the patri-
 
 HIGGINSON] FIRST SHOTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 447 
 
 otic supplies at Concord ; he had warned Hancock and 
 Adams at Eev. Jonas Clark's parsonage in Lexington, and 
 had rejected Sergeant Monroe's caution against unneces- 
 sary noise, with the rejoinder, " You'll have noise enough 
 here before long: the regulars are coming out." As he 
 galloped on his way the regulars were advancing with 
 steady step behind him, soon warned of their own danger 
 by alarm-bells and signal-guns. When Eevere was cap- 
 tured by some British officers who happened to be near 
 Concord, Colonel Smith, the commander of the expedition, 
 had already halted, ordered Pitcairn forward, and sent 
 back prudently for reinforcements. It was a night of ter- 
 ror to all the neighboring Middlesex towns, for no one 
 knew what excesses the angry British troops might com- 
 mit on their return march. . . . 
 
 Before 5 A.M. on April 19, 1775, the British troops had 
 reached Lexington Green, where thirty-eight men, under 
 Captain Parker, stood up before six hundred or eight hun- 
 dred to be shot at, their captain saying, " Don't fire unless 
 you are fired on ; but if they want a war, let it begin here." 
 It began there ; they were fired upon ; they fired rather 
 ineffectually in return, while seven were killed and nine 
 wounded. The rest, after retreating, reformed and pur- 
 sued the British towards Concord, capturing seven strag- 
 glers, the first prisoners taken in the war. Then followed 
 the fight at Concord, where four hundred and fifty Ameri- 
 cans, instead of thirty eight, were rallied to meet the Brit- 
 ish. The fighting took place between two detachments at 
 the North Bridge, where 
 
 " once the embattled farmers stood, 
 And fired the shot heard round the world." 
 
 There the American captain, Isaac Davis, was killed at 
 the first shot, he who had said, when his company was
 
 448 AMERICAN HISTORY. [HIQGINSON 
 
 placed at the head of the little column, " I haven't a man 
 that is afraid to go." He fell, and Major Buttrick gave 
 the order, " Fire ! for God's sake, fire !" in return. The 
 British detachment retreated in disorder, but their main 
 body was too strong to be attacked, so they disabled a few 
 cannon, destroyed some barrels of flour, cut down the 
 liberty-pole, set fire to the court-house, and then began 
 their return march. It ended in a flight; they were ex- 
 posed to a constant guerilla fire; minute-men flocked behind 
 every tree and house; and only the foresight of Colonel 
 Smith in sending for reinforcements had averted a sur- 
 render. At 2 P.M., near Lexington, Percy with his troops 
 met the returning fugitives, and formed a hollow square, 
 into which they ran and threw themselves on the ground 
 exhausted. Then Percy in turn fell back. Militia still 
 came pouring in from Dorchester, Milton, Dedham, as well 
 as the nearer towns. A company from Danvers marched 
 sixteen miles in four hours. The Americans lost ninety- 
 three in killed, wounded, and missing that day; the British, 
 two hundred and seventy-three. But the important result 
 was that every American colony now recognized that war 
 had begun. . . . 
 
 The committee [of safety] had authority from the Pro- 
 vincial Congress to order out the militia, and General 
 Heath, who was a member of the committee, rode to take 
 command of the provincials, with Warren by his side, who 
 was sufficiently exposed that day to have a musket-ball 
 strike the pin out of the hair of his ear-lock. The two 
 continued together till the British army had crossed 
 Charlestown Neck on its retreat, and made a stand on 
 Bunker Hill. There they were covered by the ships. The 
 militia were ordered to pursue no further, and General 
 Heath held the first council of war of the Eevolution at 
 the foot of Prospect Hill. . . .
 
 HIGOINSON] FIRST SHOTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 449 
 
 It is always hard to interpret the precise condition of 
 public feeling just before a war. It is plain that the 
 Massachusetts committee expected something more than a 
 contest of words when they made so many preparations. 
 On the other hand, it is evident that hardly any one looked 
 forward to any serious and prolonged strife. Dr. Warren 
 wrote, soon after the 19th of April, "The people never 
 seemed in earnest about the matter until after the engage- 
 ment of the 19th ult., and I verily believe that the night 
 preceding the barbarous outrages committed by the sol- 
 diery at Lexington, Concord, etc., there were not fifty 
 people in the whole colony that ever expected any blood 
 would be shed in the contest between us and Great 
 Britain." Yet two days after the fight at Lexington the 
 Massachusetts committee of safety resolved to enlist eight 
 thousand men. Two days after that the news reached 
 New York at noon. There was a popular outbreak ; the 
 royal troops were disarmed, the forts and magazines seized, 
 and two transports for Boston unloaded. At five o'clock 
 on Monday afternoon the tidings reached Philadelphia, 
 when the bell in Independence Hall was rung, and the 
 people gathered in numbers. When it got so far as Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, the people seized the arsenal, and the 
 Provincial Congress proclaimed them "ready to sacrifice 
 their lives and fortunes." In Savannah, Georgia, a mob 
 took possession of the powder-magazine, and raised a 
 liberty-pole. In Kentucky a party of hunters, hearing of 
 the battle, gave their encampment the name of Lexington, 
 which it still bears ; and thus the news went on. 
 
 Meanwhile, on May 10, the Continental Congress con- 
 vened, and on the same day Ethan Allen took possession 
 of the strong fortress of Ticonderoga. It was the first 
 act of positive aggression by the patriotic party, for at 
 both Lexington and Concord they were acting on the de- 
 i.dd 38*
 
 450 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CUTTER 
 
 fensive. The expedition was planned in Connecticut and 
 reinforced in western Massachusetts, but the main reliance 
 was to be placed on Ethan Allen and his " Green Mountain 
 Boys," whose daring and energy were already well known. 
 Benedict Arnold, who had been commissioned in Massachu- 
 setts for the same purpose, arrived only in time to join 
 the expedition as a volunteer. On May 10, 1775, eighty- 
 three men crossed the lake with Allen. When they had 
 landed, he warned them that it was a dangerous enterprise, 
 and called for volunteers. Every man volunteered. The 
 rest took but a few moments. They entered with a war- 
 whoop the open wicket-gate, pressing by the sentinel, and 
 when the half-clad commander appeared and asked their 
 authority, Allen answered with the words that have be- 
 come historic, " In the name of the great Jehovah and the 
 Continental Congress." 
 
 The Congress was only to meet that day, but it appeared 
 already to be exercising a sort of antenatal authority, and 
 a fortress which had cost eight million pounds sterling 
 and many lives was placed in its hands by a mere stroke 
 of boldness. Crown Point gave itself up with equal ease 
 to Seth Warner, and another dramatic surprise was given 
 to the new-born nation. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 
 
 WILLIAM CUTTER. 
 
 [The obstinate effort of the British ministry to oblige the Americans 
 to pay taxes in the laying of which they had had no voice, and to 
 force them to submit to their will by military force and severe com- 
 mercial restrictions, had laid a train of irritation through the colonies
 
 CUTTER] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 451 
 
 which needed but a spark to kindle it into a blaze. That spark the fire 
 of musketry at Lexington gave. A people who ten years before were 
 fully loyal to England had been filled with rebellious sentiment by the 
 effort to reduce them below the standard of liberty that was enjoyed 
 by the English people. It was not, however, too late yet to bring 
 them back to a state of loyalty. Had the troops been removed, tho 
 commercial restrictions abated, and the laying of taxes left to them- 
 selves, it is not impossible that the region of the United States might 
 yet have remained a portion of the British empire. It became impos- 
 sible from the moment of the firing upon the militia at Lexington and 
 Concord. The train which the ministry had laid was ignited by that 
 act, and the whole people flamed up into war with a suddenness that 
 must have greatly amazed those good easy legislators who were so 
 firmly convinced that the Americans would not fight. In New Eng- 
 land, in particular, the tide was definitely turned from peace to war. 
 As the tidings were spread by rapidly-riding messengers, the farmers 
 and artisans on all sides dropped the implements of industry, seized 
 those of war, and marched in all haste upon Boston. One incident of 
 this kind has become famous. Israel Putnam, who had won honors in 
 the French and Indian War, and Captain Hubbard, were at work on 
 their farms in adjoining fields, when a man on horseback, with a drum, 
 stopped to tell them of the fight. Hubbard, a man of method, at once 
 walked home, put things in order, filled his knapsack, and started for 
 the camp ; but fiery old Putnam simply unyoked his team from the 
 plough, sent his son home to tell his mother what had happened, 
 mounted his horse, and dashed away for Boston, which he reached in 
 twenty-four hours, though it was nearly one hundred miles distant. 
 
 The militia were gathering with surprising rapidity. Within a few 
 days an army of twenty thousand men was encamped around Boston, 
 extending from Dorchester to the Mystic River, and completely enclos- 
 ing the British troops within the city. Generals "Ward and Putnam 
 were made commanders of the army, Ward having the chief com- 
 mand. In all haste they constructed lines of intrenchment sufficiently 
 strong to encourage their undisciplined forces. During this interval, 
 Gage, who had made no effort to face the provincials, was reinforced 
 by troops under Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, and had now 
 an army of from ten to twelve thousand trained soldiers. Thus 
 strengthened, he prepared to act with more energy, and issued a 
 proclamation declaring those in arms rebels and traitors, and offering 
 pardon to all who would go quietly home, with the exception of the
 
 452 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CUTTER 
 
 arch-rebels Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The story of the 
 stirring events which immediately followed we extract from Cutter's 
 " Life of Israel Putnam."] 
 
 THE American commanders, having ascertained that 
 the British intended to take possession of the heights of 
 Charlestown, as a vantage-ground from which to dislodge 
 them from some of their intrenchments, and thus make a 
 way into the country, resolved, by a sudden and secret 
 movement, to defeat the project, by advancing to that 
 position a portion of the left wing of their own camp. 
 
 Putnam, who had already carefully examined the ground, 
 was strenuously in favor of this movement, and had urged 
 it again and again in council, with all the arguments at 
 his command. In common with Prescott, and other vet- 
 erans, who understood the character of the American sol- 
 diery and knew the immense advantage to the oi'der and 
 discipline of the army which would be derived from active 
 and hazardous service, he had repeatedly proposed to lead 
 a party which should invite an engagement with the 
 enemy. . . . 
 
 The measure was ably opposed b} 7 some of the best and 
 bravest men in the council, and there were obstacles in 
 the way of its accomplishment which would have appalled 
 any other men than those who planned and achieved it. 
 One of these was the want of powder. There were, at 
 that time, only eleven barrels in the public depots, and 
 sixty-seven barrels in all Massachusetts, scarcely enough, 
 under the most prudent management, for one day's fight- 
 ing. To this objection General Pomeroy answered that 
 he was ready to lead his men to battle with but five car- 
 tridges apiece. They were all experienced marksmen, and 
 would fire no-random shots; and if every American killed 
 his five, they would have but little occasion for more 
 powder. . . .
 
 CUTTER] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 453 
 
 The bolder counsels prevailed, and orders were issued 
 to Colonels Prescott and Bridge, and the regiment of 
 Colonel Frye, to be prepared for an expedition with all 
 their men who were fit for service, and with one day's 
 provision. The same order was issued to one hundred 
 and twenty men of General Putnam's regiment, under the 
 command of the brave Captain Knowlton, and one com- 
 paTiy of artillery, with two field-pieces. Putnam, having 
 the general superintendence of the expedition, and Colonel 
 Gridley, the chief engineer, accompanied the troops. . . . 
 
 The detachment drafted for this expedition, consisting 
 of about one thousand men, under the immediate com- 
 mand of Colonel Prescott, were assembled on the common 
 at Cambridge at an early hour on the evening of the 16th 
 of June, where prayers were offered by Rev. President 
 Langdon, of Harvard College. Immediately after dark 
 they commenced their silent mai-ch through Cambridge 
 and across the Neck, Colonel Prescott leading the way. 
 He was attended only by two sergeants, carrying dark 
 lanterns, open only in the rear. 
 
 Arrived at the base of Bunker Hill, they found the 
 wagon laden with intrenching-tools, and then only were 
 the men made acquainted with the nature and purpose 
 of the expedition. A serious question now arose among 
 the leaders. 
 
 [It was perceived that intrenchments on Bunker Hill would be of 
 minor importance unless the elevation known as Breed's Hill, nearer 
 Boston, was seized and fortified. After a long consultation, Putnam's 
 counsel was taken, to erect the main work on Breed's Hill, with a 
 subsidiary one on Bunker Hill, as a protection to the rear, and as a 
 rallying-point in case of defeat.] 
 
 It was midnight before the first spade entered the 
 ground. It was then within four days of the summer 
 solstice. They had, consequently, but about four hours to
 
 454 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CUTTER 
 
 work, before the dawning light would disclose their opera- 
 tions to the enemy and expose them to an immediate can- 
 nonading from the batteries in Boston and the ships in 
 the harbor. But such was the spirit and resolution of the 
 whole party, officers and men, that the work was effected 
 in that brief space. Instructed and stimulated by Putnam 
 and Prescott, who did not fear a spade or a pickaxe any 
 more than a sword or a musket, and feeling that life and 
 liberty alike depended on their success, they performed 
 prodigies of labor during that notable night, surpassed 
 only by the prodigies of valor by which they signalized 
 the following day. The works being in a state of prom- 
 ising forwardness, and every man cheerfully doing his 
 whole duty, Putnam repaired to his camp at an early hour, 
 to make all necessary preparations for the coming crisis. 
 
 The crisis came with the dawning light. When the 
 British officers, aroused at peep of day by their startled 
 sentinels, beheld their daring foes above them, overlooking 
 their whole position with formidable intrenchments, which 
 had sprung up as by enchantment in the night, they could 
 scarcely credit the evidence of their own senses. It was 
 instantly perceived that, if the Americans were not driven 
 from their bold position at once, Boston would be no longer 
 tenable by the British. A council of war was called, which 
 directed an immediate assault. 
 
 Meanwhile, as preparations for the assault were going 
 on, a brisk but unavailing fire was opened upon the Amer- 
 icans from the armed vessels and floating batteries, and 
 from the battery on Copp's Hill. . . . General Putnam, on 
 discovering the design of the enemy, returned immediately 
 to Cambridge, and urgently advised that a reinforcement 
 should be sent to Colonel Prescott's aid, and that his men 
 should be supplied with suitable refreshment before the 
 action should commence. His application for reinforce-
 
 CUTTER] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 455 
 
 ments was unsuccessful. General Ward was strongly im- 
 pressed with the idea that the British would land on Leche- 
 mere's Point, or Inman's farm, in Cambridge, and make 
 an assault upon the camp, and so cut off the rear of the 
 party in Charlestown. He was the more convinced of this, 
 as the scanty depots of ammunition and military stores on 
 which the salvation of the American army depended were 
 at Cambridge and Watertown, and in no way could the 
 British gain so decided an advantage over them as by se- 
 curing or destroying them. And this had been the direct 
 object of all their active operations hitherto. It appears, 
 also, that a formidable party in General Gage's council of 
 war, among whom were Generals Clinton and Grant, were 
 urgently in favor of making an attack at this place. Ward, 
 therefore, thought it unsafe to weaken his own force, as 
 that would not only invite an attack, but render it difficult 
 to repel it. On the same grounds he resisted the earnest 
 solicitation of Putnam's troops to follow their commander 
 to the battle, assuring them that theirs was the post of 
 danger, and, consequently, of honor. . . . 
 
 The cannonading from the British ships and floating 
 batteries, though kept up incessantly during all the morn- 
 ing, effected nothing. The Americans kept on steadily at 
 their works, suffering more from hunger and fatigue than 
 from the fire or the fear of the enemy. Putnam was very 
 anxious to avail himself of the time required for the Brit- 
 ish troops to prepare for engagement, to throw up another 
 redoubt, according to the original plan, and in obedience 
 to orders, on Bunker Hill. He accordingly, with a hand- 
 ful of men, commenced an intrenchment on that summit, 
 which, if it could have been completed so far as to afford 
 a tolerable protection to his troops, would have enabled 
 him to check the advance of the British and prevent them 
 from occupying the redoubt on Breed's Hill. The two
 
 456 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CUTTER 
 
 summits were within gunshot of each other, the former, 
 which was nearly thirty feet higher, having complete com- 
 mand of the latter. 
 
 [Little was done on this breastwork, the attack of the British making 
 more urgent work for the men.] 
 
 The veteran General Pomeroy, on hearing the distant 
 roar of the artillery, borrowed a horse to carry him to the 
 field. On approaching the neck, which was swept by a tre- 
 mendous firing from the British ships, he became alarmed, 
 not for his own safety, but for that of the horse he had 
 borrowed. He accordingly left his charger in charge 
 of a sentinel, and coolly walked ov.er, mounted the hill, 
 and advanced to the rail fence. He was received with 
 the highest exultation, and the name of Pomeroy rang 
 through the line. 
 
 [General Warren had previously made his way to the same point. 
 Later, when it became evident that an assault would be made upon 
 the works, General Ward sent reinforcements to Prescott.] 
 
 The British van soon appeared in view. The Americans, 
 eager to salute them, were with difficulty restrained from 
 firing too soon. General Putnam rode along the line, 
 giving strict orders that no one should fire till the enemy 
 had arrived within eight rods, nor then, till the word of 
 command should be given. " Powder is scarce," said he, 
 " and must not be wasted. Do not fire at the enemy till 
 you see the whites of their eyes; then fire low, take aim 
 at their waistbands, aim at the handsome coats, pick 
 off the commanders." The same orders were given by 
 Prescott, Pomeroy, Stark, and all the veteran officers. 
 
 The eifect of these orders was tremendous. With a 
 bold and confident front, assured of an easy victory over 
 the raw, undisciplined troops of the Provinces, the British
 
 CUTTER] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 457 
 
 troops advanced to the fatal line, eight rods in advance of 
 the defences, when a well-aimed volley from the deadly 
 muskets within swept away the whole front rank, and 
 laid many a gallant officer in the dust. Rank succeeded 
 rank, and volley following volley mowed them down, till 
 at length they were compelled to retreat. . . . 
 
 Three times did the brave veterans of the British re- 
 treat before the deadly fire of the American militia, with 
 the loss of whole ranks of men and the very elite of their 
 officers ; and three times, in the face of this almost certain 
 death, they returned to the charge. They had expected 
 an easy victory, and promised themselves that at the first 
 approach of a regular army the raw, undisciplined Ameri- 
 cans would fly like frightened sheep. They now found, 
 not less to their cost than to their surprise, that they had 
 men to deal with, and that courage, daring, and the high- 
 est heroism were less a matter of training than of prin- 
 ciple. 'As Colonel Abercrombie led up his men to the 
 charge, he was saluted by a familiar stentorian voice from 
 the redoubt, reminding him, probably, of a reproachful 
 epithet he had applied to his enemies: "Colonel Aber- 
 crombie, are the Yankees cowards ?" 
 
 Hitherto the British had neglected the only manoeuvre 
 by which they could possibly defeat their enemy, so long 
 as their ammunition should last. This was to charge with 
 the bayonet. The Americans were wholly unprovided 
 with bayonets, and therefore could not resist nor with- 
 stand a charge. But this the assailants did not know. 
 They relied upon their fire, which was for the most part 
 aimless and ineffectual, while every shot from the re- 
 doubt, the breastwork, and the rail fence, being reserved 
 and deliberate, found its victim. 
 
 While these terrible scenes were enacting, several rein- 
 forcements arrived from Boston to the aid of the British, 
 i. u 89
 
 458 AMERICAN HISTORY. [C0TTKR 
 
 till their whole number amounted to not less than eight 
 thousand. To add new horrors to the scene, vast columns 
 of smoke were observed over Charlestown, and the village 
 was seen to be on fire in several places. 
 
 [The British had been annoyed by a fire from this place, and sent a 
 detachment of men to burn it. "While they were doing so, and seek- 
 ing to gain the rear of the Americans under cover of the smoke, 
 Putnam saw them, and opened on them with some cannon which had 
 been deserted.] 
 
 The pieces were well aimed, General Putnam dismount- 
 ing and pointing them himself, and every ball took effect. 
 One canister was so well directed that it made a complete 
 lane through the columns of the enemy, and threw them 
 into momentary confusion. With wonderful courage, how- 
 ever, they closed their ranks, and advanced again to the 
 charge. The Americans, their cartridges being spent, re- 
 sorted to their muskets, and, suffering their assailants to 
 approach still nearer than before, poured in a volley with 
 such deliberate aim that the front rank was swept wholly 
 away, and officers and men fell in promiscuous heaps. . . . 
 
 In the midst of this thunder of artillery and rattling 
 of musketry, the sulphurous smoke rolling up in heavy 
 volumes, and the balls whistling by on every side, Cap- 
 tain Foster, of Colonel Mansfield's regiment, arrived with 
 a supply of powder from the American camp. It was 
 brought in casks in wagons, and distributed loose to the 
 soldiers, as they were able to take it ; some receiving it in 
 their horns, some in their pockets, and some in their hats, 
 or whatever else they had that would hold it. 
 
 More than a thousand of the best of the British troops 
 had now fallen before the murderous fire of an enemy 
 whom they affected to despise as peasants and rebels. 
 Among these was a large number of their bravest and 
 most accomplished officers. . . . Meanwhile, the Ameri-
 
 CUTTER] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 459 
 
 cans, protected by their intrenchments, had suffered but 
 little loss. But now the crisis was to come. Their am- 
 munition was exhausted, and there was no alternative but 
 to retreat. General Howe had learned, by a terrible ex- 
 perience, that it was vain to think of frightening the " un- 
 disciplined rebels" from their defences by the mere smell 
 of gunpowder. With the advice of the accomplished and 
 chivalrous General Clinton, who had just come to his aid, 
 he commanded the works to be scaled and the enemy 
 driven out at the point of the bayonet. He led the charge 
 in person, as he had done before. General Clinton joined 
 General Pigot, with a view to turn the right flank of the 
 enemy. The artillery were ordered to advance at the 
 same time, turn the left of the breastwork, and rake the 
 line. This was the most vulnerable point in the American 
 defences, and had hitherto been wholly overlooked. 
 
 [Every possible preparation was made to meet this charge, but the 
 powder of the Americans was exhausted.] 
 
 They had sent in vain to the camp for a further supply. 
 The magazine there was reduced to less than two barrels. 
 The few who had a charge remaining reserved their last 
 lire till the artillery, now advancing to turn the flank of 
 their breastwork, had approached within the prescribed 
 distance. Then every shot took effect. The gallant Howe, 
 who had escaped unhurt hitherto, received one of the last 
 of the American balls in his foot. 
 
 The fire of the Americans gradually diminished, and 
 then ceased. Instantly their muskets were clubbed, and 
 the stones of their defences were seized and hurled at the 
 advancing foe. This only served to betray their weakness, 
 and infused a new energy into their assailants. No longer 
 exposed to that destructive fire which had so fearfully 
 thinned their ranks, they now marched forward, scaled
 
 460 AMERICAN HISTORY. [CUTTER 
 
 the redoubt, and began the work of retribution. The ar- 
 tillery, advancing at the same instant to the open space 
 on the north, between the breastwork and the rail fence, 
 enfiladed the line, and 'sent their balls through the open 
 gate- way, or sally-port, directly into the redoubt, under 
 cover of which the troops at the breastwork were com- 
 pelled to retire. 
 
 The heroic but diminutive Pigot was the first to scale 
 the works. He was instantly followed by his men, now 
 confident of an easy victory. Troops succeeded troops 
 over the parapet, till that little arena, where the first great 
 effort of American prowess was put forth, was filled with 
 combatants, prepared to contest its possession. 
 
 To contend, without a bayonet in his company, against 
 such a superior force, would have been worse than mad- 
 ness. Prescott saw this, and reluctantly ordered a retreat. 
 He and Warren were the last to leave the redoubt. The 
 latter seemed to disdain to fly, even when nothing else 
 remained to him. With sullen reluctance he followed his 
 countrymen to the port, which he had scarcely passed when 
 a ball from the enemy arrested him. Major Small [of the 
 British army], as a personal friend, . . . endeavored to 
 save him. But Warren would neither yield nor fly. He 
 fell between the retreat and the pursuit, having won the 
 respect of his enemies and the everlasting gratitude of 
 his countrymen, and leaving his name as one of the watch- 
 words of liberty throughout the world. . . . 
 
 The retreating Americans were now between the two 
 wings of the British army, so that they could not fire 
 without endangering the lives of each other. A brave 
 and orderly retreat was effected. . . . Putnam, though 
 the balls fell around him like hail, was wholly insensible 
 of danger. Coming to one of the deserted field-pieces, he 
 dismounted, took his stand by its side, and seemed resolved
 
 CTJTTEK] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 461 
 
 to brave the foe alone. One sergeant alone dared to stand 
 by him in this perilous position. He was soon shot down, 
 and the general himself retired only when the British 
 bayonets were close upon him and he was in imminent 
 danger of being made a prisoner. . . . 
 
 The Americans had retreated about twenty rods, before 
 the enemy had time to rally. They were then suddenly 
 exposed to a destructive fire, which proved more fatal to 
 them than all the previous contest. Some of the best and 
 bravest men were left on this part of the field, and several 
 officers, whose behavior that day had given promise of the 
 highest military distinction. The retreat was maintained 
 in good order, over the Neck, to Prospect and "Winter Hills, 
 where they took up their position for the night, throwing 
 up hasty intrenchments, which were soon strengthened 
 and fortified, so as to present to the enemy another line 
 of defence, equally formidable with that they had just pur- 
 chased at the expense of so much blood. 
 
 [The story of the battle of Bunker Hill is so familiar to readers as 
 ordinarily presented that we offer the above account as a picture of the 
 same scene from a somewhat different point of view. Though Putnam 
 was the superior in rank, Prescott was the actual commander. Yet 
 Putnam's deeds upon the field were of sufficient interest to warrant our 
 bringing him into the foreground of the picture. The result of this 
 battle, though technically unfavorable to the Americans, was of the 
 utmost importance as inspiring them to the determined prosecution 
 of the war. The number of British regulars engaged, though not 
 so great as above stated, was double that of the Americans, and the 
 bravery of the latter in holding their imperfect works until their 
 powder gave out, and until they had killed and wounded a number of 
 the enemy nearly equal to their whole force engaged, gave a sufficient 
 and satisfactory answer to the question which had been broached in 
 England, " Will the Americans fight?"] 
 
 39*
 
 462 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ARNOLD 
 
 ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 ISAAC N. AKNOLD. 
 
 [The battle of Bunker Hill was quickly followed by decided action 
 on the part of Congress, then in session at Philadelphia. An address 
 was made to the king and people of Great Britain, and the world was 
 advised of the reason of the appeal to arms. " We are reduced," said 
 they, " to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to 
 the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is 
 our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find noth- 
 ing so dreadful as voluntary slavery." An army of twenty thousand 
 men was ordered to be enlisted, and George Washington was elected 
 commander-in-chief of all the colonial forces. 
 
 Washington, who refused any compensation for his services, soon 
 proceeded to Cambridge, where he undertook to organize the army 
 there present. The task was a difficult one. The militia were undis- 
 ciplined, insubordinate, and destitute of most of the requirements of 
 an army. But by his energy and skill, and the assistance of General 
 Gates, the men were reduced to discipline, stores collected, and a 
 regular siege instituted. 
 
 While this was being performed, the authority of the royal govern- 
 ors everywhere ended in the colonies. The only one who made any 
 effort to retain his power was Lord Dunmore, of Virginia. He seized 
 a quantity of the public powder and placed it on board a vessel, but 
 was forced to pay for it by an armed body of people, led by Patrick 
 Henry. He then retired to a man-of-war, armed some vessels, and 
 manned them with slaves to whom he promised freedom. He attacked 
 the provincials near Norfolk, but sustained a severe defeat. In re- 
 venge for this he soon after burned Norfolk to the ground. He then 
 retired, and royal government ceased to exist in America. 
 
 As the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point opened an easy 
 gateway to Canada, it was determined to invade that province. This 
 was done partly to anticipate the British, who appeared to design an 
 invasion from that quarter, and partly with the belief that success 
 would induce the Canadians to join the revolted colonies. A force 
 under Generals Schuyler and Montgomery passed up Lake Champlain 
 and besieged St. John's, the frontier post of Canada. During the
 
 ARNOLD] ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 463 
 
 siege, Ethan Allen, with eighty men, rashly assailed Montreal. He 
 was defeated, captured, and sent in irons to England. Schuyler having 
 retired through illness, Montgomery captured St. John's on Novem- 
 her 3, and proceeded to Montreal, which surrendered on the 13th. 
 
 Meanwhile, a force of one thousand men under General Benedict 
 Arnold was marching north through Maine. This march through the 
 unbroken wilderness was one of extraordinary difficulty and hardship. 
 A part of the force turned back, and it was with but six hundred ex- 
 hausted and half-starved men that Arnold reached Point Levi, op- 
 posite Quebec, on November 13. Without delay he crossed the St. 
 Lawrence, ascended the heights which Wolfe had scaled before him, 
 and marshalled his small force on the Plains of Abraham. As the 
 garrison could not be induced to assail him, and as his force was too 
 small to attempt to storm the walls, he retired, and awaited the arrival 
 of Montgomery from Montreal. 
 
 Their united forces numbered but nine hundred men, but with these, 
 on the last day of the year, they made an early morning attack on 
 Quebec, in the midst of a driving snow-storm. At the very beginning 
 of the assault Montgomery, with several of his officers, fell dead before 
 the discharge of a cannon loaded with grape. Their men retreated in 
 disorder, and the garrison turned against Arnold, who had entered the 
 town. He received a ball in the leg, and was, almost by compulsion, 
 removed from the field. The contest continued for several hours, but 
 ended in the surrender of a portion of Arnold's force, while the re- 
 mainder retired. 
 
 Keinforcements being received, the siege of the city was kept up 
 until the following May, when a British fleet ascended the St. Law- 
 rence, and the Americans were forced to retreat. Step by step they 
 were driven back, until obliged to evacuate Canada entirely. Carleton, 
 the Canadian governor, soon followed, and both sides prepared to con- 
 test the possession of Lake Champlain, building ships, and sailing to 
 meet each other on that inland sea. As this was the first naval battle 
 ever fought between England and America, and as it was contested by 
 the Americans with consummate skill and courage, a detailed descrip- 
 tion of it must prove of interest to readers. We select a fully-detailed 
 narrative of the engagement from Isaac N. Arnold's " Life of Benedict 
 Arnold."] 
 
 SIR GUY CARLETON early saw the importance of obtain- 
 ing naval supremacy on these waters, that he might bring
 
 464 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ARNOLD 
 
 the English troops to Ticonderoga, within convenient dis- 
 tance of Albany, looking to a junction ultimately with the 
 king's forces from the city of New York, and thereby sepa- 
 rating and isolating New England from the other States. 
 These lakes and their connections formed the most prac- 
 ticable route by which the United States could be invaded 
 from Canada ; and both parties, in the summer of 1776, 
 prepared vigorously to contest their control. 
 
 Carleton, the British leader, had many advantages over 
 Gates and Arnold in the race of preparation. He had con- 
 tractors and ship-builders from England, and naval stores 
 in abundance from the fleet in the St. Lawrence and from 
 Quebec. The English admiralty contributed liberally in 
 material for ship-building and in naval equipments. It 
 sent out three vessels of war fully prepared for service ; 
 more than two hundred flat-bottomed boats were built at 
 Montreal and taken to St. John's; and the larger vessels, 
 unable to ascend the rapids, were taken to pieces and 
 reconstructed at the last-mentioned place. One of these, 
 the Inflexible, was a three-masted ship, carrying twenty 
 twelve-pound guns and ten smaller guns. About seven 
 hundred experienced sailors, and the very best of young 
 naval officers, were selected from the vessels of war and 
 transports to man and command the lake fleet. 
 
 The Americans had to cut from the forest every stick 
 of timber for the additions to their small fleet. All their 
 naval stores and material had to be brought from tide- 
 water and the Atlantic, over roads nearly impassable. 
 They lacked money, skilled ship-builders, naval stores, 
 everything; still, they were zealous, active, hopeful, and 
 energetic. General Arnold, having some knowledge of 
 ships, ship-building, and navigation, was selected to super- 
 intend the construction of the fleet, and to command it 
 when ready for service. . . .
 
 ARNOLD] ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 465 
 
 He was constantly going to and fro. urging on the work, 
 making requisition for mechanics, for seamen, for naval 
 stores, for ordnance, for everything necessary to build, 
 equip, arm, and man his little fleet. But no degree of 
 energy and activity could enable him to equal the arma- 
 ment which Sir Guy Carleton could bring from the St. 
 Lawrence to the theatre of conflict. ... On the 1st of 
 October, Arnold, writing to Gates, complains that the sea- 
 men have not been sent, and hopes he shall be excused 
 "if with five hundred men, half naked," he should not be 
 able to beat the enemy in their overwhelming numbers 
 and complete preparation. He sends for shot, musket- 
 balls, buckshot, grenades, clothing, and " one hundred sea- 
 men, no landlubbers." 
 
 Gates replies on the 3d, and sends what he can, but says, 
 " What is not to be had, you and the princes of the earth 
 must go unprovided with." . . . 
 
 Gates gave to Arnold careful instructions, and, among 
 other directions, said, " Should the enemy come up the lake 
 and attempt to force their way through the pass you are 
 stationed to defend, in that case you will act with such 
 cool, determined valor as will give them reason to repent 
 of their temerity." 
 
 ******* 
 
 The time at which the desperate struggle for supremacy 
 between the fleet of Arnold and that of Sir Guy Carleton 
 approached, Schuyler, Gates, Washington, all were con- 
 scious of the great superiority of the British. All were 
 anxious, but each indulged hope, arising mainly from the 
 desperate valor of Arnold. Knowing his inferiority in 
 ships, in weight of metal, and in men, Arnold avoided 
 the possibility of an encounter on the open lake, where he 
 might have been flanked or surrounded, by anchoring his 
 fleet in a line between Valcour Island and the western
 
 466 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ARNOLD 
 
 shore. In this position, the rear being unapproachable, 
 and his line extending across the channel, he could be at- 
 tacked in front only. This was the first time an American 
 fought a British fleet. . . . 
 
 The British fleet consisted of the Inflexible, a large, 
 three-masted ship, two schooners, the Lady Mary and the 
 Carleton, a floating battery called the Thunderer, twenty 
 gun-boats, besides long-boats and transports. " They had," 
 says Bancroft, " more than twice his [Arnold's] weight of 
 metal, and twice as many fighting-vessels, and skilled sea- 
 men and officers against landsmen." As has been stated, 
 the British armed vessels were manned by about seven 
 hundred selected seamen and well-trained gunners. Cap- 
 tain Pringle, of the British navy, commanded, but Carle- 
 ton was himself on board, and among the many young 
 officers was Edward Pellew, afterwards distinguished as 
 Admiral Yiscount Exmouth. This fleet cairied ninety- 
 three guns, some of them of heavy calibre. The fleet 
 of Arnold consisted of three schooners, two sloops, three 
 galleys, and eight gondolas, carrying in all seventy guns. 
 
 Early on the morning of the llth of October, the guard- 
 boats, stationed as sentinels, gave notice that the British 
 fleet was approaching, and it soon appeared off Cumber- 
 land Head, moving before a fair wind up the lake. Carle- 
 ton came on, conscious of his greatly superior strength, 
 with his battle-flags proudly flying, and when the fleet of 
 Arnold was discovered, moored in the passage behind 
 Yalcour Island, Captain Pringle expressed his belief that 
 they would not encounter much resistance, and he antici- 
 pated an easy victory ; but Carleton, remembering Quebec, 
 knew that Arnold would fight to desperation. As the 
 enemy approached, the Americans made ready to receive 
 them. As they advanced around the southern point of 
 Valcour Island and attempted to beat up towards the
 
 ARNOLD] ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 407 
 
 channel in which the Americans had formed their lino 
 of battle, the large ships fell behind. Arnold, who rarely 
 waited to be attacked, determined to take advantage of 
 the wind and attack the smaller vessels, which were in 
 advance, before the large ones could beat up to their as- 
 sistance. With the schooner Royal Savage, and three 
 galleys, he went to meet the British, and opened a rapid 
 fire, but was gradually pushed back by superior force, and 
 attempting to return to the line, in beating back, the 
 Royal Savage, with its inexperienced crew, went aground 
 and was abandoned, Arnold losing his baggage and all 
 his papers, but the men were saved. 
 
 At half-past twelve, the British having brought all their 
 gun-boats and schooners within musket-shot of the Ameri- 
 can line, the action became general, and from the shore of 
 the mainland to the island the hostile fleets fired at close 
 range. Arnold, in the Congress galley, to which he had 
 gone after abandoning the Royal Savage, anchored in the 
 hottest part of the fire, and here, with obstinate determina- 
 tion, he held his position against all odds till five o'clock 
 in the afternoon, when the enemy retired. During this 
 long afternoon, a terrific cannonade of round- and grape- 
 shot was continually kept up, and a constant blaze of rifles 
 by a large body of Indians in the covers of the forest on 
 the shores of the island and the mainland. But, as Arnold 
 had taken the precaution to protect his men and his ships 
 by fascines attached to the sides of the vessels, the rifles 
 did little execution. So terrific was the cannonade that 
 the roar of the heavy guns is said to have been heard at 
 Crown Point. The Congress and the Washington galleys 
 received the most injury. Arnold, in the former, which 
 was armed with two eighteen-pounders, two twelves, and 
 two sixes, fought with desperate heroism. In the absence 
 of experienced gunners, he pointed most of the pieces him-
 
 468 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ARNOLD 
 
 self, passing rapidly from gun to gun, and firing as fast 
 as they could be loaded. The vessel received seven shots 
 between wind and water, \vas hulled twelve times, the 
 mainmast was wounded in two places, the rigging cut to 
 pieces ; yet, in this condition, and with dead and wounded 
 all around him, he refused to yield or retreat, but hour 
 after hour, for five hours, cheered on his men by word and 
 example, until, as night approached, the British withdrew, 
 retiring from an enemy commanded by a man who would 
 never know that he was beat, and who would rather go 
 down with flags flying than surrender. 
 
 The Washington galley was nearly as badly shattered as 
 the Congress, the first lieutenant killed, and the captain and 
 master wounded. The New York lost all her officers ex- 
 cept her captain. The Philadelphia was hulled in so many 
 places that she sunk one hour after the engagement. The 
 whole number of killed and wounded was about eighty. 
 
 Never has there been exhibited a more striking illus- 
 tration of Arnold's wonderful power of leadership and 
 ability to inspire his men with heroic bravery, and power 
 to make militia fight with unflinching courage, than on 
 this occasion. 
 
 As darkness fell over the scene of this terrible conflict, 
 the British commander posted his fleet across the channel 
 through which Arnold must pass to effect his escape, with 
 the expectation that in the morning, with his greatly su- 
 perior force, he would capture the whole American flotilla. 
 Arnold, however, determined to make an effort to escape, 
 and, if he failed, to destroy his ships, land his men, and 
 fight his way through the Indians to Crown Point. . . . 
 It was a hazy night, and a fair wind had sprung up from 
 the north, and so, each vessel, putting out every light ex- 
 cept a single signal-lantern in the stern, to guide the ship 
 that followed, attempted to pass through the British lines.
 
 ARNOLD] ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 469 
 
 As the darkness of the misty night gathered over the 
 waters, the first vessel started, and in breathless silence 
 one by one the whole flotilla glided through, between the 
 hostile vessels, Arnold in the Congress bringing up the 
 rear, and, as usual, the last to leave, as he was ever the 
 first to reach, the post of danger. They were undiscovered. 
 It was skilfully, gallantly, admirably done ; and now, with 
 a fresh breeze, the crippled vessels bore away as rapidly 
 as possible up the lake. Using all possible expedition, 
 the fleet reached Schuyler's Island, some twelve miles from 
 the scene of the battle ; and here they were compelled to 
 lay to, and stop the leaks in their vessels and repair 
 damages. . . . 
 
 Two of the gondolas were so badly injured that they 
 had to be abandoned and sunk. In the afternoon the 
 remainder of the crippled flotilla again got under way; 
 but the wind gradually ceased, and soon a breeze sprung 
 up from the south, retarding their advance, so that very 
 little progress could be made by beating and rowing. The 
 next morning, as the fog rose and the sun came out, the 
 whole British fleet, with every sail set, was seen crowding 
 down upon them. The crippled Congress, with Arnold 
 on board, the Washington, and some gondolas, were in 
 the rear. Ail the others, with every inch of canvas 
 spread, and urged to the utmost, were flying towards 
 Crown Point. It was but a short time, however, before 
 the enemy came up and opened fire on the Congress, the 
 Washington, and the gondolas. After receiving a few 
 broadsides, the Washington struck her colors ; but Arnold 
 had no thought of surrender. He determined with the 
 Congress and the crippled gondolas to fight the whole fleet 
 of the enemy, and so retard their advance that the re- 
 mainder of his vessels might make good their escape, 
 to sacrifice himself, if necessary, to their safety. He re- 
 
 40
 
 470 AMERICAN HISTORY. [ARNOLD 
 
 ceived the whole fire of the hostile fleet. A ship mount- 
 ing twelve eighteen-pound guns, a schooner of fourteen 
 six-pounders, and another of twelve sixes, two under her 
 stern and one on her broadside, poured their concentrated 
 fire of round- and grape-shot into the already disabled 
 Congress. These vessels kept up an incessant fire for 
 four hours upon this one ship, which Arnold returned as 
 best he could. Thus the English fleet was delayed, and 
 the remainder of his own were making good their escape. 
 The Congress was so disabled she could not fly, and Ar- 
 nold would not surrender. Her sails, rigging, and hull 
 were shattered and torn to fragments ; the lieutenant 
 killed ; the crew, many of them, killed and wounded. 
 Still her stern commander had no thought of striking his 
 flag, and continued the contest, until still other vessels of 
 the enemy arrived, and he found himself surrounded with 
 seven sail, each pouring in upon the hapless Congress 
 broadside after broadside; and still, in the openings of the 
 enemy's sails, and of the smoke of their guns, which thickly 
 enveloped him, his flag could be seen still flying. 
 
 His ship was now a complete wreck, and, as he could 
 fight no more, he managed to break through the vessels 
 which surrounded him, and ran the Congress and the gon- 
 dolas into a small creek; and, ordering the marines to 
 leap overboard and wade ashore with their small-arms, he 
 then set fire to the ship and the gondolas, and, protected 
 from the approach of small boats by the muskets of the 
 marines, he lingered until the fire had extended too far to 
 
 j O 
 
 be extinguished, and then, his flag still flying, and order- 
 ing all his men ashore, he himself the last to leave, leaped 
 from the bowsprit to the beach, and both he and his men, 
 escaping an Indian ambuscade by taking an unusual route, 
 arrived in safety at Crown Point, and passed on to Ticon- 
 deroga. Where has there been a braver fight ? Well may
 
 ARNOLD] ARNOLD ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 471 
 
 the sober Mr. Sparks, roused by the magnetism of such 
 conduct, exclaim, " There are few instances on record of 
 more deliberate courage and gallantry than were displayed 
 by him from beginning to end of this action." . . . 
 
 " Such were the skill, bravery, and obstinate resistance 
 of Arnold and his men against a vastly superior force : the 
 event was hailed as ominous of great achievements when 
 such fearful odds did not exist." [Leasing.] 
 
 " General Arnold covered himself with glory, and his 
 example appears to have been nobly followed by most of 
 his officers and men. Even the enemy did justice to the 
 resolution and skill with which the American flotilla was 
 managed, the disparity of force rendering victory out of 
 the question from the first. The manner in which the 
 Congress was fought until she had covered the retreat of 
 the galleys, and the stubborn resolution with which she 
 was defended until destroyed, converted the disasters of 
 this part of the day into a species of triumph." [Cooper's 
 Is aval History.] 
 
 [The above article displays to a certain extent the special pleading 
 of an ardent advocate of General Arnold; yet that the battle waa 
 fought with striking bravery, and that Arnold was a man of unusual 
 boldness and intrepidity, is undeniable. Had he been of smaller 
 calibre his subsequent treason would have been of less importance. 
 This action took place after the period fixed for the conclusion of the 
 present volume, but, as it is a direct outcome of the preceding invasion 
 of Canada, we give it here, as a fitting'close to that episode. The con- 
 trol of Lake Champlain, gained by it to the British, opened the way 
 to events which were among the moat important of the whole war.]
 
 472 AMERICAN HISTORY. [EAMSAT 
 
 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 
 
 DAVID RAMSAY. 
 
 [That the British army and its officers permitted themselves to be 
 cooped up for nearly a year in Boston, without an effort to break 
 through the weak bonds that held them prisoners, was undoubtedly 
 an important advantage to the American cause. For the patriot 
 army of that day, though it had given a noble account of itself at 
 Bunker Hill, was ill fitted in discipline, in arms, in condition, and in 
 all military essentials, to cope with the thoroughly-trained and well- 
 appointed British regulars had. they made a determined aggressive 
 movement. Washington, on reaching Boston, found himself provided 
 with very poor material to face a disciplined force. The freedom and 
 equality to which New-Englanders had long been accustomed made 
 them highly intractable to military discipline, and democratically 
 resistant to the aristocratic ideas and manner in which Washington 
 had been trained. It was, therefore, with great difficulty, and with 
 much bitterness of spirit on both sides, that the militia were brought 
 into anything resembling discipline. An account of the operations 
 of this army we select from Ramsay's " History of the American 
 Revolution," a valuable old work, written but a few years after the 
 Revolution had ended.] 
 
 As the year 1775 drew to a close, the friends of Congress 
 were embarrassed with a new difficulty. Their army 
 was temporary, and only engaged to serve out the year. 
 The object for which they had taken up arms was not 
 yet obtained. Every reason which had previously induced 
 the provinces to embody a military force still existed, and 
 with increasing weight. It was therefore resolved to 
 form a new army. The same flattering hopes were in- 
 dulged, that an army for the ensuing year would answer 
 every purpose. ... It was presumed that the spirit which 
 had hitherto operated on the yeomanry of the country 
 would induce most of the same individuals to engage for
 
 RAMSAY J THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 473 
 
 another twelvemonth ; but on experiment it was found 
 that much of their military ardor had already evaporated. 
 The first impulse of passion and the novelty of the scene 
 had brought many to the field who had great objections 
 against continuing in the military line. They found that 
 to be soldiers required sacrifices of which when they as- 
 sumed that character they had no idea. So unacquainted 
 were the bulk of the people with the mode of carrying on 
 modern war that many of them flew to arms with the 
 delusive expectation of settling the whole dispute by a 
 few decisive and immediate engagements. Experience 
 soon taught them that to risk life in open fighting was 
 but a part of the soldier's duty. Several of the inferior 
 officers retired ; the men frequently refused to enlist unless 
 they were allowed to choose their officers. Others would 
 not engage unless they were indulged with furloughs. 
 Fifty would apply together for leave of absence. Indul- 
 gence threatened less ruinous consequences than a refusal 
 would probably have produced. On the whole, enlist- 
 ments went on slowly. ... So many difficulties retarded 
 the recruiting service that on the last day of the year 
 1775 the whole American army amounted to no more than 
 nine thousand six hundred and fifty men. Of the re- 
 markable events with which this important year was 
 replete, it was not the least that within musket-shot of 
 twenty British regiments one army was disbanded and 
 another enlisted. 
 
 All this time the British troops at Boston were suffering 
 the inconvenience of a blockade. From the 19th of April 
 they were cut off from those refreshments which their 
 situation required. Their supplies from Britain did u-t 
 reach the coast for a long time after they were expected. 
 Several were taken by the American cruisers, and others 
 were lost at sea. This was in particular the fate of many 
 i. 40*
 
 474 AMERICAN HISTORY. [RAMSAY 
 
 of their coal-ships. The want of fuel was particularly felt 
 in a climate where the winter is both severe and tedious. 
 They relieved themselves in part from their sufferings on 
 this account by the timber of houses which they pulled 
 down and burnt. Yessels were despatched to the West 
 Indies to procure provisions; but the islands were so 
 straitened that they could afford but little assistance. 
 Armed ships and transports were ordered to Georgia with 
 an intent to procure rice ; but the people of that province, 
 with the aid of a party from South Carolina, so effectually 
 disposed of them that of eleven vessels only two got off 
 safe with their cargoes. It was not till the stock of the 
 garrison was nearly exhausted, that the transports from 
 England entered the port of Boston and relieved the dis- 
 tresses of the garrison. 
 
 While the troops within the lines were apprehensive of 
 suffering from want of provisions, the troops without were 
 equally uneasy for want of employment. Used to labor 
 and motion on their farms, they but illy relished the in- 
 activity and confinement of^a camp life. Fiery spirits 
 declaimed in favor of an assault. They preferred a bold 
 spirit of enterprise, to that passive fortitude which bears 
 up under present evils while it waits for favorable junc- 
 tures. To be in readiness for an attempt of this kind, a 
 council of war recommended to call in seven thousand two 
 hundred and eighty militia-men from New Hampshire or 
 Connecticut. This number, added to the regular army 
 before Boston, would have made an operating force of 
 about seventeen thousand men. 
 
 The provincials labored under great inconveniences from 
 the want of arms and ammunition. Yery early in the 
 contest, the King of Great Britain, by proclamation, for- 
 bade the exportation of warlike stores to the colonies. 
 Great exertions had been made to manufacture saltpetre
 
 KAMSAY] THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 475 
 
 and gunpowder, but the supply was slow and inadequate. 
 A secret committee of Congress had been appointed, with 
 ample powers to lay in a stock of this necessary article. 
 Some swift-sailing vessels had been despatched to the coast 
 of Africa to purchase what could be procured in that dis- 
 tant region ; a party from Charleston forcibly took about 
 seventeen thousand pounds of powder from a vessel near 
 the bar of St. Augustine; some time after, Commodore 
 Hopkins stripped Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, 
 of a quantity of artillery and stores ; but the whole, pro- 
 cured from all these quarters, was far short of a sufficiency. 
 In order to supply the new army before Boston with the 
 necessary means of defence, an application was made to 
 Massachusetts for arms, but on examination it was found 
 that their public stores afforded only two hundred. Orders 
 were issued to purchase firelocks from private persons, but 
 few had any to sell, and fewer would part with them. In 
 the month of February there were two thousand of the 
 American infantry who were destitute of arms. Powder 
 was equally scarce ; and yet daily applications were made 
 for dividends of the small quantity which was on hand 
 for the defence of the various parts threatened with in- 
 vasion. 
 
 The eastern colonies presented an unusual sight. A 
 powerful enemy safely intrenched in their first city, while 
 a fleet was ready to transport them to any part of the 
 coast. A numerous body of husbandmen was resolutely 
 bent on opposition, but without the necessary arms and 
 ammunition for self-defence. The eyes of all were fixed 
 on General Washington, and from him it was unreasonably 
 expected that he would by a bold exertion free the town 
 of Boston from the British troops. The dangerous situa- 
 tion of public affairs led him to conceal the real scarcity 
 of arms and ammunition, and, with that magnanimity
 
 476 AMERICAN HISTORY. [RAMSAY 
 
 which is characteristic of great minds, to suffer his char- 
 acter to be assailed rather than vindicate himself by ex- 
 posing his many wants. There were not wanting persons 
 who, judging from the superior number of men in the 
 American army, boldly asserted that if the commander-in- 
 chief was not desirous of prolonging his importance at the 
 head of an army, he might by a vigorous exertion gain 
 possession of Boston. Such suggestions were reported and 
 believed by sevei'al, while they were uncontradicted by 
 the general, who chose to risk his fame rather than expose 
 his army and his country. 
 
 Agreeably to the request of the council of war, about 
 seven thousand of the militia had rendezvoused in Febru- 
 ary. General Washington stated to his officers that the 
 troops in camp, together with the reinforcements which 
 had been called for and were daily coming in, would 
 amount to nearly seventeen thousand men, that he had 
 not powder sufficient for a bombardment, and asked their 
 advice whether, as reinforcements might be daily expected 
 to the enemy, it would not be prudent, before that event 
 took place, to make an assault on the British lines. The 
 proposition was negatived ; but it was recommended to 
 take possession of Dorchester Heights. To conceal this 
 design, and to divert the attention of the garrison, a bom- 
 bardment of the town from other directions commenced, 
 and was carried on for three days with as much briskness 
 as a deficient stock of powder would admit. In this first 
 essay, three of the mortars were broken, either from a de- 
 fect in their construction, or, more probably, from igno- 
 rance of the proper mode of using them. 
 
 The night of the 4th of March was fixed upon for taking 
 possession of Dorchester Heights. A covering party of 
 about eight hundred led the way. These were followed 
 by the carts with the intrenching tools, and twelve hun-
 
 KAMSAT] THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 477 
 
 dred of a working-party, commanded by General Thomas. 
 In the rear there were more than two hundred carts loaded 
 with fascines and hay in bundles. While the cannon were 
 playing in other parts, the greatest silence was kept by 
 this working-party. The active zeal of the industrious 
 provincials completed lines of defence by the morning 
 which astonished the garrison. The difference between 
 Dorchester Heights on the evening of the 4th and the 
 morning of the 5th seemed to realize the tales of romance. 
 The admiral informed General Howe that if the Ameri- 
 cans kept possession of these heights he would not be able 
 to keep one of his majesty's ships in the harbor. It was 
 therefore determined in a council of war to attempt to dis- 
 lodge them. An engagement was hourly expected. It 
 was intended by General Washington, in that case, to force 
 his way into Boston with four thousand men, who were 
 to have embarked at the mouth of Cambridge Eiver. The 
 militia had come forward with great alertness, each bring- 
 ing three daj's' provision, in expectation of an immediate 
 assault. The men were in high spirits and impatiently 
 waiting for the appeal. 
 
 They were reminded that it was the 5th of March, and 
 were called upon to avenge the death of their country- 
 men killed on that day. The many eminences in and 
 near Boston which overlooked the ground on which it was 
 expected that the contending parties would engage were 
 crowded with numerous spectators. But General Howe 
 did not intend to attack till the next day. In order to bo 
 ready for it, the transports went down in the evening 
 towards the castle. In the night a most violent storm, 
 and towards morning a heavy flood of rain, came on. A 
 carnage was thus providentially prevented that would 
 probably have equalled, if not exceeded, the fatal 17th of 
 June at Bunker's Hill. In this situation it was agreed by
 
 478 AMERICAN HISTORY. [RAMSAY 
 
 the British, in a council of war, to evacuate the town as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 [Their enforced delay had permitted Washington so to strengthen 
 his works as to render an assault on them too dangerous to be attempted.] 
 
 In a few days after a flag came out of Boston, with 
 a paper signed by four selectmen, informing, "that they 
 had applied to General Eobertson, who, on an application 
 to General Howe, was authorized to assure them that he 
 had no intention of burning the town, unless the troops 
 under his command were molested during their embarka- 
 tion, or at their departure, by the armed force without." 
 When this paper was presented to General Washington, 
 he replied, " that as it was an unauthenticated paper, and 
 without an address, and not obligatory on General Howe, 
 he could take no notice of it ;" but at the same time inti- 
 mated his good wishes for the security of the town. 
 
 A proclamation was issued by General Howe, ordering 
 all woollen and linen goods to be delivered to Crean Brush, 
 Esq. Shops were opened and stripped of their goods. A 
 licentious plundering took place. Much was carried off, 
 and more was wantonly destroyed. These irregularities 
 were forbidden in orders, and the guilty threatened with 
 death ; but nevertheless every mischief which disappointed 
 malice could suggest was committed. 
 
 The British, amounting to more than seven thousand 
 men, evacuated Boston, leaving their barracks standing, 
 and also a number of cannon spiked, four lai'ge iron sea- 
 mortars, and stores to the value of thirty thousand pounds. 
 They demolished the castle, and knocked off the trunnions 
 of the cannon. Various incidents caused a delay of nine 
 days after the evacuation, before they left Nantasket 
 road. 
 
 This embarkation was attended with many circum-
 
 KAMSAT] THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 479 
 
 stances of distress and embarrassment. On the departure 
 of the royal army from Boston, a great number of the in- 
 habitants attached to their sovereign, and afraid of public 
 resentment, chose to abandon their country. From the 
 great multitude about to depart, there was no possibility 
 of procuring purchasers for their furniture, neither was 
 there a sufficiency of vessels for its convenient transpor- 
 tation. Mutual jealousy subsisted between the army and 
 navy, each charging the other as the cause of some part 
 of their common distress. The army was full of discon- 
 tent. Eeinforcements, though long promised, had not ar- 
 rived. Both officers and soldiers thought themselves 
 neglected. Five months had elapsed since they had re- 
 ceived any advice of their destination. Wants and incon- 
 veniences increased their ill humor. Their intended voyage 
 to Halifax subjected them to great dangers. The coast, at 
 all times hazardous, was eminently so at that tempestuous 
 equinoctial season. They had reason to fear they would 
 be blown off to the West Indies, and without a sufficient 
 stock of provisions. They were also going to a barren 
 country. To add to their difficulties, this dangerous 
 voyage, when completed, was directly so much out of their 
 way. Their business lay to the southward, and they were 
 going northward. Under all these difficulties, and with 
 all these gloomy prospects, the fleet steered for Halifax. 
 Contrary to appearances, the voyage thither was both 
 short and prosperous. They remained there for some time, 
 waiting for reinforcements and instructions from England. 
 When the royal fleet and army departed from Boston, 
 several ships were left behind for the protection of vessels 
 coming from England, but the American privateers were 
 so alert that they nevertheless made many prizes. Some 
 of the vessels which they captured were laden with arms 
 and warlike stores. Some transports, with troops on
 
 480 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIEB 
 
 board, were also taken. These had run into the harbor, 
 not knowing that the place was evacuated. 
 
 The boats employed in the embarkation of the British 
 troops had scarcely completed their business when General 
 Washington, with his army, marched into Boston. He 
 was received with marks of approbation more flattering 
 than the pomps of a triumph. The inhabitants, released 
 from the severities of a garrison life, and from the various 
 indignities to which they were subjected, hailed him as 
 their deliverer. Reciprocal congratulations between those 
 who had been confined within the British lines, and those 
 who were excluded from entering them, were exchanged 
 with an ardor which cannot be described. General Wash- 
 ington was honored by Congress with a vote of thanks. 
 They also ordered a medal to be struck, with suitable 
 devices, to perpetuate the remembrance of the great event. 
 The Massachusetts council and house of representatives 
 complimented him'in a joint address, in which they ex- 
 pressed their good wishes in the following words : " May 
 you still go on approved by Heaven, revered by all good 
 men, and dreaded by those tyrants who claim their fellow- 
 men as their property." 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS AND ITS DOINGS. 
 
 EDMUND OLLIER. 
 
 [While the people of the American colonies were so bitterly resist- 
 ing Parliamentary oppression, their representatives in the Continental 
 Congress were feeling their way, by slow and cautious steps, towards 
 that decisive measure, the declaration of American independence. 
 Their action was as important as that of the soldiery who were fighting
 
 OLLIEB] THE CONTINENTAL CONOR 1 481 
 
 for liberty in the field, and a condensed statement of it is here requisite. 
 "We extract some illustrative notes of the doings of the succ.ivo 
 American Congresses, from 1774 to 1776, from Edmund Ollier's " His- 
 tory of the United States," an impartially- written work by an English 
 author.] 
 
 MONDAY, the 5th of September, 1774, was a great and 
 important day in the annals of English America. It was 
 the day on which the Congress of the United Provinc.-s 
 met in solemn session at Philadelphia. The members de- 
 puted by the several colonies had been arriving for some 
 days, and they greeted one another with enthusiasm as 
 the vanguard of liberty in the young "Western world. . . . 
 The representatives of the provinces were resolved to dis- 
 cuss their wrongs in a freely-elected Parliament of their 
 own. They were in no mood to pay homage either to the 
 English throne or to the English legislature, and they set 
 to work without delay to organize a chamber for the effi- 
 cient consideration of every subject bearing on the political 
 well-being of their widely-separated, but still in some re- 
 spects homogeneous, communities. The first meeting took 
 place in a tavern, and it was determined to accept the offer 
 of the carpenters of Philadelphia, who placed their spacious 
 hall at the disposal of the delegates. The number of mem- 
 bers was at least fifty-five, including such men as George 
 Washington, Samuel and John Adams, Patrick Henry, 
 Eichard Henry Lee, and others of high repute, if not of 
 equal renown ; and the colonies represented were eleven. . . . 
 
 The resolution with respect to the voting power of each 
 colony was arrived at on the second day of the meet- 
 ing, when Patrick Henry, speaking on behalf of Virginia, 
 drew forth in long array the many injuries inflicted on 
 America by the action of the English Parliament. His 
 speech was the first utterance of the Congress after its 
 organization. . . . The magnificent oratory of Patrick 
 i v ff 41
 
 482 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIEB 
 
 Henry breathed, or rather flashed, a spirit of life into the 
 dead assemblage [which had before sat in embarrassed 
 silence]. . . . British oppression, he said, had made one 
 nation of the several colonies, so that he no longer con- 
 sidered himself a Virginian, but an American. Many con- 
 tradictory opinions were expressed ; but in the end the 
 matter was settled in the way indicated by Henry [namely, 
 to consider the colonies as a federation of independent 
 States, with democratical representation, each State to 
 have a voice in accordance with the numbers of its popu- 
 lation], . . . 
 
 The Continental Congress sat eight weeks. On the 26th 
 of October it was dissolved, after having recommended the 
 appointment of a similar assembly, to meet on the 10th 
 of May following unless a redress of grievances had been 
 obtained ere then; and, to further the creation of this 
 second Congress, it was recommended that all the colonies 
 should elect deputies as soon as possible. Thus ended a 
 most important experiment in American legislation. That 
 experiment must be regarded as one of the great turning- 
 points in the history of the United States. The assembling 
 of a Congress representing most of the colonies was a 
 plain assertion of national existence, and foreshadowed the 
 nature of that independent government which was clearly 
 coming on. The scattered forces of Anglo-American life 
 were concentrated in a great assembly which embodied 
 the will of many distinct communities. The old divisions 
 and jealousies were to some extent healed ; a country was 
 'slowly forming itself out of the chaos of discordant settle- 
 ments. ... As Patrick Henry observed, the oppression of 
 the English government had effaced the boundaries of the 
 several States, and a common pressure on the freedom and 
 well-being of all had compacted the diffused and straggling 
 life of the colonies into an intense and indivisible force.
 
 OLLIER] THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 483 
 
 The debates in Congress had proved, on a grander scale 
 than had yet been seen, that the Americans possessed a 
 large amount of debating power, and the genius of stati-s- 
 manship in no stinted measure. Chatham himself an 
 authority not easily to be surpassed declared that the 
 delegates assembled at Philadelphia were, in solidity of 
 reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conduct, second 
 to no human assembly of which history has preserved the 
 memorial. Sweeping and facile statements of this char- 
 acter were very much in the taste of the eighteenth 
 century, but in this particular instance the compliment 
 involved no great exaggeration. 
 
 [Yet the petition of the Congress to the king, presented by Franklin 
 and the agents of Massachusetts, proved futile. " The king remained 
 firm in his policy of simple and unrelieved coercion." Efforts were 
 made in favor of conciliatory measures, but George III. was not to be 
 moved from his resolve to force the colonists into submission to his 
 will. The proposition to remove the troops was negatived, reinforce- 
 ments were ordered, and General Gage was subsequently invested with 
 almost dictatorial powers. In the Congress of 1775, which met after 
 the war had actually broken out, much timidity was displayed, though 
 many of the bold spirits of the preceding Congress were present] 
 
 Franklin, who was by this time back at Philadelphia, 
 was again directing his attention to the more effective 
 confederation of the colonies. Reverting in some meas- 
 ure to his Albany scheme of 1754, he submitted to Con- 
 gress a plan for uniting the colonies in one nation. Each 
 colony was to have its own Parliament, and the right to 
 amend its own laws and constitution whenever it pleased ; 
 and the Federal government was to attend to affairs of 
 national importance, and to govern the waste lands. Con- 
 gress was to consist of but one legislative body, to be 
 chosen annually, and one of its committees was to wield 
 the executive power. . . . Some members of Congress,
 
 484 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIER 
 
 however, were far in advance of the collective sentiment. 
 John Adams, in particular, was for at once establishing a 
 constitution and a general government. . . . When Con- 
 gress adjourned on the 1st of August, nothing had been 
 settled in principle; yet a great many steps had been 
 taken which made it all the less likely that the quarrel 
 would be compromised, all the more probable that a 
 violent separation would take place. . . . 
 
 The Continental Congress reassembled on the 13th of 
 September ; but the spirit of hesitation which had per- 
 plexed its counsels before still continued in an unabated 
 degree. Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, exercised a great 
 influence over the deliberations of the Federal body, and 
 his love of moderation was carried, in the opinion of the 
 more extreme, to the point of timidity. ... 
 
 The king's proclamation, denouncing the American mal- 
 contents as rebels, and requiring all loyal subjects to trans- 
 mit information of traitorous designs to one of the secre- 
 taries of state, reached the New World a few weeks after 
 its publication in England, which was on the 23d of Au- 
 gust. It was received in New England with anger and 
 derision, and deepened the resolve of all the popular 
 leaders to declare the independence of the country. . . . 
 
 It was the 1st of November when the proclamation 
 became known to the Continental Congress at Philadel- 
 phia. Abandoning their mood of hesitation, the delegates 
 now resolved to act on the petitions of those ( provinces 
 which desired to institute governments of their own. 
 Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire, having left 
 his post, the people of that colony requested of Congress 
 that they might be allowed to provide for the administra- 
 tion of their affairs, which had fallen into extreme dis- 
 order ; and the prayer was granted. South Carolina was 
 permitted to act in the same way. In both cases, the
 
 OLLIEE] THE CONTINENTAL CONGHESS. 435 
 
 new governments were to exist only during the continu- 
 ance of the dispute between Great Britain and her Ameri- 
 can possessions ; but it must by this time have been almost 
 universally perceived that the approaching struggle could 
 eventuate in nothing but the entire independence of 
 America or its complete subjugation. 
 
 [The Pennsylvania Assembly still preserved an attitude of loyalty 
 to the king. Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland followed the ex- 
 ample of Pennsylvania. In New York much loyalty was professed. 
 The strong seats of rebellious sentiment were New England and Vir- 
 ginia, and some of the more southern provinces. Franklin, who had 
 broken with the Pennsylvania Assembly and declined to take the 
 seat to which he had been elected, now stimulated Thomas Paine, 
 who had come to America at his suggestion, to the writing of those 
 vigorous democratic pamphlets which did so much towards inspiring 
 the people with patriotic sentiments.] 
 
 As the Pennsylvania legislature hesitated, the Conti- 
 nental Congress grew more determined and resolute. It 
 empowered a secret committee to import gunpowder, 
 field-pieces, and small-arms, and to export provisions and 
 produce to the foreign "West Indies in exchange for these 
 materials of war. It adopted rules for the government 
 of the American navy, which as yet had scarcely an ex- 
 istence except in design ; directed the enlistment of two 
 battalions of marines ; authorized the colonists to seize all 
 ships employed as carriers for the British fleet or army; 
 and sanctioned tribunals for the confiscation of their car- 
 goes. It was proposed by a Maryland delegate who cer- 
 tainly went far beyond the feeling generally prevalent 
 in his pi'ovince that envoys should bo sent to France, 
 with conditional instructions ; but the motion was rejected. 
 Nevertheless Harrison, Franklin, Johnson, Dickinson, and 
 Jay were appointed a secret committee for corresponding 
 with any persons in Great Britain, Ireland, and other 
 i. 41*
 
 486 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIER 
 
 parts of the world, who might be favorable to the Ameri- 
 can cause ; and funds were appropriated for the payment 
 of agents. These were all acts practically establishing an 
 independent government, though the absolute declaration 
 of independence was still delayed. The leaders of the 
 popular party had already declared that the people are 
 the source and origin of power ; and this doctrine grew 
 in favor with all who supported colonial rights. . . . 
 
 In December the Continental Congress determined to 
 build thirteen ships of war and to establish a naval depart- 
 ment. . . . This was another and very important step 
 towards the creation of a national government totally dis- 
 tinct from that of the parent state. Still another was the 
 opening of negotiations with foreign powers. . . . Towards 
 the end of the year, De Bonvouloir, the emissary of Ver- 
 gennes [of France], arrived in Philadelphia, and had sev- 
 eral conferences with Franklin and the other members of 
 the secret committee. The result of these interviews was 
 that the Frenchman gave the committee to understand, 
 without making an exact promise to that effect, that his 
 king would aid them on certain conditions ; and that the 
 committee made it very clear to the Frenchman that they 
 would be glad of such aid in the furtherance of their de- 
 signs, though they still kept up the farce of pretending 
 that they were even yet indisposed to sever their connec- 
 tion with England and with the English crown. . . . 
 
 By the 1st of January, 1776, "Washington had, by ex- 
 traordinary exertions, got together a new Continental 
 army in front of Boston, an army of less than ten thou- 
 sand men, ill appointed, and not well disciplined. . . . 
 "With the new year an emblematical banner was unfurled 
 over the troops. It displayed thirteen alternate red and 
 white stripes (indicative of the thirteen united colonies), 
 and in the corner the red and white crosses of St. George
 
 OLLIEB] THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 437 
 
 and St. Andrew on a blue ground. The desire for com- 
 plete independence was expressed with a more undisguised 
 frankness, and Washington openly declared his opinion 
 that it was a necessity of the time. 
 
 [This feeling was strongly aided by Thomas Paine's treatise, named 
 " Common Sense" by Dr. Hush of Philadelphia, and expressing in 
 clear and forcible statement the most radical democratic opinions.] 
 
 However disputable some of Paine's arguments may 
 have been, they were admirably calculated to produce a 
 powerful effect in America, and to influence in the desired 
 direction many who might still be inclined, from whatever 
 cause, to hang back. Some, however, were a little alarmed 
 at the boldness of the proposals, and Wilson, of Pennsyl- 
 vania, moved in Congress for the appointment of a com- 
 mittee to explain to their constituents and to the world 
 the present intentions of the colonial representatives re- 
 specting independence. In opposition to this suggestion, 
 Samuel Adams insisted that Congress had already been 
 explicit enough ; but Wilson carried his motion. . . . Con- 
 gress was timid about taking so extreme a step as a decla- 
 ration of independence, but was none the less advancing 
 cautiously towards that end. . . . The state of war was 
 perfect; independence was all but complete. The United 
 Colonies wanted but little to convert them into the United 
 States. 
 
 [Meanwhile, France and Spain, while avowedly friendly to Eng- 
 land, covertly wished to injure her, and appropriated a sum of money 
 amounting to nearly a million dollars for the purchase of military 
 stores to be secretly transmitted to America. Turgot, the French min- 
 ister of finance, advocated entire freedom of trade, and this suggestion 
 was taken up by Congress and debated on the 16th of February. On 
 the 6th of April it was resolved " that the commerce of the thirteen 
 United Colonies should be thrown open to all nations, excepting the 
 subjects of Great Britain. Henceforth there were to be no custom-
 
 488 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIKK 
 
 houses ; exports and imports were to be alike free from all restrictions 
 and from all taxation." 
 
 Commissioners were sent to Canada, to endeavor to bring tbat prov- 
 ince into union of sentiment with the other colonies, an effort which 
 failed through the failure of the invading army. Privateering was 
 authorized, and quickly became active. The king was described in a 
 Congressional resolution as having "rejected their petitions with scorn 
 and contempt." Among other acts, it was resolved that thereafter no 
 slaves should be imported into the United Colonies.] 
 
 Independence was close at hand ; but a further period 
 of doubt, of hesitation, and of distracted counsels had yet 
 to be passed through. During the debate on the proposal 
 to authorize privateering, Franklin had openly avowed his 
 opinion tbat the measure ought to be preceded by a decla- 
 ration of war against Great Britain as a foreign power. 
 But to the majority this seemed to be moving too fast, 
 though only a small number of enthusiasts continued to 
 believe in the possibility of the old political conditions 
 being restored. . . . Samuel Adams, in particular, de- 
 nounced the policy of delay. " Is not America," he asked 
 in Congress, " already independent ? Why not, then, de- 
 clare it ?" No foreign power, he argued, could consistently 
 yield comfort to rebels, or enter into any kind of treaty 
 with the insurgent colonies, until they had separated 
 themselves from Great Britain. ... It was with perfect 
 truth that Samuel Adams spoke of America as practically 
 independent. To throw off its allegiance in terms was 
 the most honest, and probably by this time the most 
 politic, course which the colonists could pursue. 
 
 [The Southern colonies had now become as extreme in their views 
 as the Northern. South Carolina adopted its famous rattlesnake flag, 
 ordered Sullivan's Island to be fortified, and on March 21 adopted a 
 constitution which created two legislative bodies and the other essen- 
 tials of government. John Eutledge delivered vigorously-radical ad- 
 dresses. North Carolina went still further, and on the 12th of April
 
 OLLIER] THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 439 
 
 empowered her representatives to vote for independence. South Caro- 
 lina followed this lead on the 23d of April, Chief-Justice Druyton de- 
 claring that the government of the province was independent of that 
 of Great Britain. Rhode Island, on the 4th of May, passed an act 
 freeing its people from allegiance to the king. John Adams's resolu- 
 tion, offered a year before, to empower any of the colonies to create a 
 constitution for itself, was passed on the 10th of May. On the 6th of 
 this month the House of Burgesses of Virginia declared that their an- 
 cient constitution had been subverted, and dissolved the Assembly. It 
 was immediately succeeded by a convention which declared that Vir- 
 ginia had no alternative left but an abject submission or a complete 
 separation. The country was therefore, from that time forward, to 
 govern itself, form foreign alliances, and promote a confederation 
 of the colonies. Patrick Henry, James Madison, and George Mason 
 were the leading members of a, committee appointed to prepare a decla- 
 ration of rights and a plan of government. Of the act introduced by 
 this committee, and passed, we give the leading sentiments.] 
 
 "All men are by nature equally free, and have inherent 
 rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, 
 they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their pos- 
 terity: namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with 
 the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pur- 
 suing and obtaining happiness and safety. All power is 
 vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; 
 magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all 
 times amenable to them. Government is, or ought to be, 
 instituted for the common benefit and security of the 
 people, nation, or community ; and whenever any govern- 
 .ment shall be found inadequate or contrary to these pur- 
 poses, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, 
 inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or 
 abolish it, in such a manner as shall be judged most con- 
 ducive to the common weal. Public services not being de- 
 scendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, 
 or judge to be hereditary. ... All men having sufficient 
 evidence of permanent common interest with, or attach-
 
 490 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIEK 
 
 ment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and 
 cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public 
 uses without their own consent or that of their representa- 
 tives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have 
 not in like manner assented for the public good. . . . No 
 man ought to be deprived of liberty, except by the law 
 of the land or the judgment of his peers ; and the ancient 
 trial by jury ought to be held sacred. ... A well-regulated 
 militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to 
 arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free 
 state ; standing armies in times of peace should be avoided 
 as dangerous to liberty; and in all cases the military should 
 be under strict subordination to the civil power. . . . No 
 free government can be preserved but by a firm adherence 
 to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, 
 and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles. Be- 
 ligion can be directed only by reason and conviction, not 
 by force or violence ; and, therefore, all men are equally 
 entitled to the free exercise of it, according to the dic- 
 tates of conscience ; and it is the natural duty of all to 
 practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards 
 each other." 
 
 [This important declaration of principles, with John Adams's resolu- 
 tion tending to a separation from Great Britain, had a powerful effect 
 on the Pennsylvania Assembly, which receded from its position of 
 loyalty to the crown and on the 6th of June sent more liberal instruc- 
 tions to its delegates in Congress.] 
 
 On the very next day, Eichard Henry Lee, of Virginia, 
 in the name and with the special authority of that prov- 
 ince, submitted to Congress a set of resolutions affirming 
 that the United Colonies were, and of right ought to be, 
 free and independent states ; that they were absolved from 
 all allegiance to the British crown; that all political con- 
 nection between them and Great Britain was, and ought
 
 OLLIBR] THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 491 
 
 to be, totally dissolved ; that it was expedient forthwith 
 to take the most effectual measures for forming foivi^n 
 alliances; and that a plan of confederation should be pre- 
 pared, and transmitted to the respective colonies for tlu'ir 
 consideration and approbation. The questions then rui>i.-l 
 were first considered on the 8th. The speeches were re- 
 sumed on the 10th, and it was then resolved, after further 
 discussion, to postpone the debate for three weeks, and in 
 the mean time to appoint a committee which should d run- 
 up a declaration in harmony with what had been proposed. 
 
 [Virginia followed her declaration of principles by the formation of 
 a constitution, which was a virtual declaration of independence. Con- 
 necticut and Delaware quickly followed, and New Hampshire, on June 
 15, resolved that the Thirteen United Colonies should be declared a 
 free and independent state. Massachusetts declared in favor of com- 
 plete separation from Great Britain. New York required more caution, 
 on account of the approach of the British fleet, yet it, too, declared 
 for separation. Somewhat similar action was taken in New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, and Maryland.] 
 
 All these local movements prepared the way for the 
 great act of the Continental Congress which was to make 
 the 4th of July, 1776, one of the most memorable dates in 
 the history of the world. . . . The question of declaring 
 the complete independence of the colonies [moved by 
 Eichard Henry Lee] was resumed on the 1st of July, when 
 about fifty-one delegates appeared in their places. By this 
 time the opinion in favor of separation was nearly unan- 
 imous. . . . Before the great business of the day came on, 
 a letter was read from Washington, giving a very bad 
 account of his forces at New York. The accumulated dis- 
 asters of the invading army in Canada were also known ; 
 and news had been received of the threatening movement 
 of Parker and Clinton against Charleston, but not of its 
 defeat. The prospects of the infant republic, whose birth
 
 492 AMERICAN HISTORY. [OLLIER 
 
 was about to be formally announced to the world, were, 
 therefore, far from encouraging ; yet the faith of those 
 daring statesmen in the force and vitality of their idea 
 was sufficient to triumph over all discouragements and all 
 adverse fortunes. 
 
 [The first speaker was John Adams, who had seconded Lee's resolu- 
 tion, and who recapitulated the arguments in favor of a declaration of 
 independence. He was replied to hy Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, who, 
 though patriotic, thought the movement injudicious. A long and im- 
 passioned debate followed, after which action was postponed till the 
 following day. On putting the resolution to vote, it was passed hy a 
 majority of the delegates of all the colonies, with the exception of 
 New York, which had lacked time to express its wishes. The sanc- 
 tion of New York was given a week afterwards.] 
 
 John Adams, writing to his wife at Boston, on the 3d 
 of July, to communicate to her the grand event in which 
 he had acted so important a part, hailed that second day 
 of July, 1776, as the most memorable epoch in the history 
 of America. " I am apt to believe," he said, " that it will 
 be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great an- 
 niversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the 
 day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God 
 Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and 
 parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, 
 and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the 
 other, from this time forward, for evermore. You will 
 think me transported by enthusiasm, but I am not. I am 
 well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it will 
 cost us to maintain this declaration and support and defend 
 these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the 
 rays of ravishing light and gloiy. I can see that the end 
 is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will 
 triumph in that day's transaction, even though we should 
 rue it, which I trust in God we shall not." . . .
 
 OLLIER] THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 493 
 
 The committee for drawing up the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence had intrusted that task to Thomas Jefferson, 
 who, though at that time only thirty-three years of air.-. 
 between seven and eight years younger than John 
 Adams, and a mere juvenile as compared with Franklin, 
 both of whom were on the committee, was chosen for a 
 work of great difficulty and importance, because he was 
 held to possess a singular felicity in the expression of 
 popular ideas (as evinced in previous state papers), and 
 because he represented the province of Virginia, the oldest 
 of the Anglo-American colonies. Jefferson, having pro- 
 duced the required document, reported it to the House on 
 the 28th of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie on 
 the table. After the conclusion of the debate on the reso- 
 lution of independence on the 2d of July, the Declaration 
 was passed under review. During the remainder of that 
 day and the two next, this remarkable production was 
 very closely considered and sifted, and several alterations 
 were made in it. 
 
 [Several changes had been made in the original draft by the com- 
 mittee, though just what they were is not known. The principal 
 changes made by Congress were the omission of those sentences which 
 reflected upon the English people, and the striking out of a clause 
 which severely reprobated the slave-trade.] 
 
 The debate on the proposed Declaration came to a ter- 
 mination on the evening of the 4th of July. The docu- 
 ment was then reported by the committee, agreed to by 
 the House, and signed by every member present, exci-pi 
 Dickinson. 
 
 [The signature of New York was not given till several days later, 
 and a New Hampshire member, Matthew Thornton, was permitted to 
 append his signature on November 4, four months after the signing.] 
 
 It will not at this day be denied by many, even on the 
 i 42
 
 494 AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 English side of the Atlantic, that the Declaration was a 
 work of great power, that it had a large basis of truth, 
 that it appealed, in noble and strenuous language, to the 
 very highest principles of political right and virtue. Its 
 crowning glory is that it did this in no Utopian spii-it, in 
 no mood of wild and vindictive change, but with decorum, 
 with dignity, with tenderness, and with sense. English- 
 men, who regret the quarrel out of which this supreme 
 act of renunciation arose, may yet reflect, with a just sat- 
 isfaction and no ungenerous pride, that the root of all these 
 principles is to be found in the traditions of a thousand 
 years of English political life. Jefferson did but apply to 
 novel circumstances the general ideas of popular freedom 
 which had long been illustrated in the old country. George 
 III. had endeavored to introduce into the administration 
 of affairs a species of German absolutism, distasteful alike 
 to Englishmen at home and to their descendants in Amer- 
 ica. The Declaration of Independence was the final reply 
 of Americans to the ill-judged and ignorant attempt. Its 
 effect on Europe was immense. It helped, in a very con- 
 siderable degree, to make the French Revolution ; it even 
 influenced England. Doubtless it is an exaggeration to 
 say that, but for the success of the Americans, England 
 would have been enslaved. . . . But the example of 
 America strengthened the liberal party in the mother- 
 country, and guaranteed the certainty of reform. This is 
 why the great production of Jefferson should have as much 
 interest for English as for American minds. . . . 
 
 Undoubtedly, no more important act has ever been per- 
 formed. From that day forward from that memorable 
 4th of July, 1776 the Eepublic of English America as- 
 sumed a distinct and tangible existence. The United Col- 
 onies became the United States. George III. was formally 
 deposed in thirteen provinces of his empire, and some
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 
 
 495 
 
 millions of his subjects became foreigners. A new chapter 
 in the annals of the human race had been opened, and it 
 was as yet too early to forecast with any certainty whether 
 that chapter was to be mainly characterized by weal or 
 
 woe. 
 
 AMERICA IN 1776. 
 
 EUGENE LAWRENCE. 
 
 [Before completing our historical review of the colonial period of 
 America, a description of the general condition of the colonies At the 
 close of this era will be of interest, as indicative of the work in nation- 
 making which had been achieved within the less than two centuries 
 since the settlement of the British colonies. We select from Harper 
 & Brothers' "First Century of the Republic" some passages from 
 Eugene Lawrence's ably-written paper on " Colonial Progress."] 
 
 FIFTY-ONE doubtful and divided men, of infinite variety 
 in opinions, education, and character, met in the hot days 
 of July. 1776, in that plain room at Philadelphia where 
 Was decided the chief event of modern history, to found a 
 republic. They were about to reverse all the inculcations 
 of recent experience, and to enter at once upon a new era 
 of uncertainty. From all the models of the past they 
 could borrow little, and they overleaped barriers that had 
 affrighted all former legislators. Not Cromwell and Hamp- 
 den, not the plebeians of Eome and the Demos of Athens, 
 not the Republicans of Venice nor the Calvinists of Hol- 
 land and Geneva, had ventured upon that tremendous 
 stride in human progress that would alone satisfy the re- 
 formers of America. Educated in the strict conceptions 
 of rank and caste which even Massachusetts had culti- 
 vated, and Virginia carried to a ludicrous extreme, they
 
 496 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 threw aside the artificial distinction forever, and declared 
 all men equal. . . . 
 
 At the founding of the republic the colonists were ac- 
 customed to hoast that their territory extended fifteen 
 hundred miles in length, and was already the seat of a 
 powerful nation. But of this vast expanse the larger part 
 even along the sea-coast was still an uninhabited wilder- 
 ness. Although more tban a century and a half had 
 passed since the first settlements in Massachusetts and 
 Virginia, only a thin line of insignificant towns and vil- 
 lages reached from Maine to Georgia. In the century 
 since the Declaration of Independence a whole continent 
 has been seamed with railroads and filled with people; but 
 the slow growth of the preceding century had scarcely 
 disturbed the reign of the savage on his native plains. 
 On the coast the province of Maine possessed only a few 
 towns, and an almost unbroken solitude spread from Port- 
 land to the St. Lawrence. A few hardy settlers were just 
 founding a State among the Green Mountains destined to 
 be the home of a spotless freedom. In New York, still 
 inferior to several of its fellow-colonies in population, the 
 cultivated portions were confined to the bay and shores 
 of the Hudson. The rich fields of the Genesee Valley 
 and the Mohawk were famous already, but the savages 
 had checked the course of settlement. . . . Pennsylvania, 
 a frontier State, comparatively populous and wealthy, pro- 
 tected New Jersey and Delaware from their assaults ; but 
 Pittsburg was still only a military post, and the larger 
 part of the population of the colony was gathered in the 
 neighborhood of the capital. Woods, mountains, and 
 morasses filled up that fair region where now the immense 
 wealth of coal and iron has produced the Birmingham of 
 America. 
 
 The Southern colonies had gi-own with more rapidity
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 497 
 
 in population and wealth than New York and Pennsyl- 
 vania. Virginia and the Carolinas had extended their 
 settlements westward far into the interior. Some emi- 
 grants had even wandered to western Tennessee. Daniel 
 Boone had led the way to Kentucky. A few English or 
 Americans had colonized Natchez, on the Mississippi. But 
 the settlers in Kentucky and Tennessee lived with rifle in 
 hand, seldom safe from the attacks of the natives, and 
 were to form in the war of independence that admirahlo 
 corps of riflemen and sharp-shooters who were noted for 
 their courage and skill from the siege of Boston to the 
 fall of Cornwallis. The Virginians were settled in the 
 Tennessee mountains long before the people of New York 
 had ventured to build a village on the shores of Lake Erie 
 or the Pennsylvanians crossed the Alleghanies. But still 
 even Virginia is represented to us about this period as 
 in great part a wilderness. ... In the North the line of 
 cultivated country must be drawn along the shores of the 
 Hudson River, omitting the dispersed settlements in two 
 or three inland districts. The Delaware and a distance of 
 perhaps fifty miles to the westward included all the wealth 
 and population of Pennsylvania. The Alleghanies infolded 
 the civilized portions of Virginia, and North and South 
 Carolina cannot be said to have reached beyond their 
 mountains. So slowly had the people of North America 
 made their way from the sea-coast. . . . 
 
 [Of the inland country very little was known, while the re-inn 
 beyond the Mississippi was "a land of fable, where countless host* 
 of savages were believed to rule over endless plains and to engage in 
 ceaseless battles." Long afterwards it was supposed that the waters 
 of the Missouri might extend to the Pacific.] 
 
 Within the cultivated district a population usually, but 
 probably erroneously, estimated at three millions were 
 thinly scattered over a narrow strip of land. The number 
 
 42 *
 
 498 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 can scarcely be maintained. The New England colonies 
 could have had not more than eight hundred thousand in- 
 habitants ; the middle colonies as many more ; the South- 
 ern a little over a million. New York had a population of 
 two hundred and forty-eight thousand, and was surpassed 
 by Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and 
 was at least equalled, if not exceeded, by North Carolina. 
 Its growth had been singularly slow. The small popu- 
 lation of the Union was composed of different races and 
 of almost hostile communities. There was a lasting feud 
 between the Dutch at Albany and the people of New 
 England. . . . The Germans settled in Pennsylvania re- 
 tained their national customs 1 and language, and were 
 almost an alien race. Huguenot colonies existed in sev- 
 eral portions of the country. The north of Ireland had 
 poured forth a stream of emigrants. Swedish settlements 
 attracted the notice of Kalm along the Delaware. In 
 North Carolina a clan of Highlanders had brought to the 
 New World an intense loyalty and an extreme ignorance. 
 The divisions of race and language offered a strong obsta- 
 cle to any perfect union of the different colonies. But a 
 still more striking opposition existed in the political insti- 
 tutions of the various sections. In the South, royalty, 
 aristocracy, and the worst form of human slavery had 
 grown up together. In no part of the world were the dis- 
 tinctions of rank more closely observed, or mechanical 
 and agricultural industry more perfectly contemned. In 
 New England the institutions were democratic, and honest 
 labor was thought no shame. In the South episcopacy 
 was rigidly established by law; in New England a tolerant 
 Puritanism had succeeded the persecuting spirit of Cotton 
 Mather and Winthrop. . . . 
 
 In the course of a century, within their narrow fringe 
 of country the colonists had transformed the wilderness
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 499 
 
 into a fertile and productive territory. Agriculture was 
 their favorite pursuit. Travellers from Europe were 
 struck with the skill with which they cultivated the rich 
 and abundant soil, the fine farm-houses that filled the 
 landscape, the barns overflowing with harvests, the cattlo, 
 the sheep. The Northern and middle colonies were famous 
 for sheep and corn. Pennsylvania was the granary of 
 the nation. In New Jersey the fine farms that spivud 
 from Trenton to Elizabethtown excited the admiration 
 of the scientific Kalm. Long Island was the garden of 
 America, and all along the valleys opening upon the Hud- 
 son the Dutch and Huguenot colonists had acquired ease 
 and opulence by a careful agriculture. The farm-houses, 
 usually built of stone, with tall roofs and narrow windows, 
 were scenes of intelligent industry. While the young 
 men labored in the fields, the mothers and daughters spun 
 wool and flax and prepared a large part of the clothing 
 of the family. The farm-house was a manufactory for all 
 the articles of daily use. Even nails were hammered out 
 in the winter, and the farmer was his own mechanic. A 
 school and a chui*ch were provided for almost ever}- vil- 
 lage. Few children were left untaught by the Dutch 
 dominie, who was sometimes paid in wampum, or the 
 New England student, who lived among his patrons, and 
 was not always fed upon the daintiest fare. . . . 
 
 The progress of agriculture at the South was even more 
 rapid and remarkable than at the North. The wilderness 
 was swiftly converted into a productive region. The coast 
 from St. Mary's to the Delaware, with its inland country, 
 became within a century the most valuable portion of the 
 earth. Its products were eagerly sought for in all the 
 capitals of Europe, and one noxious plant of Virginia had 
 supplied mankind with a new vice and a new pleasure. 
 . . . Tobacco was in Virginia the life of trade ami inh-r-
 
 500 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 course ; prices were estimated in it ; the salaries of the 
 clergy were fixed at so many pounds of tobacco. All 
 other products of the soil were neglected in order to raise 
 the savage plant. Ships from England came over annu- 
 ally to gather in the great crops of the large planters, 
 . . . [and] Virginia grew enormously rich from the sudden 
 rise of an artificial taste. 
 
 [Other crops replaced tobacco farther south. In South Carolina 
 the cultivation of rice, brought thither in 1694 from Madagascar, had 
 become greatly developed. Indigo, sugar, molasses, tar, pitch, were 
 other valuable Southern products, but cotton, which was destined to 
 assume the place farther south which tobacco then held in Virginia, 
 was as yet cultivated only in small'quantities for the use of the farmers. 
 The commercial restrictions imposed by England acted detrimentally 
 upon American agriculture, yet it nourished in spite of them.] 
 
 The commerce of the colonies flourished equally with 
 their agriculture. It was chiefly in the Northern colonies 
 that ships were built, and that hardy race of sailors formed 
 whose courage became renowned in every sea. But the 
 English navigation laws weighed heavily upon American, 
 trade. Its ships were, with a few exceptions, only allowed 
 to sail to the ports of Great Britain. No foreign ship was 
 Buffered to enter the American harbors. . . . [Yet] the colo- 
 nists contrived to build large numbers of ships, and even 
 to sell yearly more than a hundred of them in England. 
 The ship-yards of New England were already renowned. 
 Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were seats of an im- 
 portant trade. On the island of Nantucket the whale- 
 fishery had been established that was to prove for a brief 
 period a source of great profit and a school of accomplished 
 seamen. The spermaceti-whale was still seen along the 
 American coast, but the New England whaler had already 
 penetrated Hudson Bay, and even pierced the Antarctic. 
 ... In consequence of the rigid navigation laws, smug-
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 501 
 
 gling prevailed all along the American coast, and swift 
 vessels and daring sailors made their way to the ports of 
 France and Spain to bring back valuable cargoes of wine 
 and silks. Boston was the chief seat of ship-building, and 
 its fast-sailing vessels were sent to the West Indies to be 
 exchanged for rum and sugar. In 1743 it was estimated 
 that New England employed one thousand ships in its 
 trade, besides its fishing-barks. . . . 
 
 The rise of American commerce had seemed wonderful 
 to Burke, Barre, and all those Englishmen who were capa- 
 ble of looking beyond the politics of their own narrow 
 island ; but no sooner had America become free than its 
 trade doubled, and soon rose to what in 1775 would have 
 seemed incredible proportions. New York, Boston, and 
 Philadelphia became at once large cities, and England was 
 enriched by American freedom. . . . 
 
 In manufactures the colonists can be said to have made 
 but little progress. The English government had vigor- 
 ously forbidden them to attempt to make their own wares. 
 A keen watch had been kept over them, and it was resolved 
 that they should never be suffered to compete with the 
 artisans of England. The governors of the different colo- 
 nies were directed to make a careful report to the home 
 government of the condition of the colonial manufac- 
 tures, in order that they might be effectually destroyed. 
 From their authentic but perhaps not always accurate 
 survey it is possible to form a general conception of tho 
 slow advance of this branch of labor. South of Connecti- 
 cut, we are told, there were scarcely any manufactures : 
 the people imported everything that they required from 
 Great Britain. Kalm, indeed, found leather made at Beth- 
 lehem, in Pennsylvania, as good as the English, and much 
 cheaper. He praises the American mechanics; but, in 
 general, we may accept the reports of the governors that
 
 502 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 all manufactured articles employed in the family or in 
 trade were made abroad. Linens and fine cloths, silks, 
 implements of iron and steel, furniture, arms, powder, were 
 purchased of the London merchants. But this was not 
 always the case in busy New England. Here the jealous 
 London traders discovered that iron-foundries and even 
 slitting-mills were already in operation ; that fur hats were 
 manufactured for exportation in Connecticut and Boston; 
 that the people were beginning to supply their own wants, 
 and even to threaten the factories of England with a dan- 
 gerous rivalry. The English traders petitioned the gov- 
 ernment for relief from this colonial insubordination, and 
 Parliament hastened to suppress the poor slitting-mills 
 and hat-manufactories of our ancestors by an express law. 
 The hatters, who seem to have especially excited the jeal- 
 ousy of their London brethren, were forbidden to export 
 hats even to the next colony, and were allowed to take 
 only two apprentices at a time. Iron and steel works were 
 also prohibited. Wool and flax manufactures were sup- 
 pressed by stringent provisions. American factories were 
 declared "nuisances." No wool or manufacture of wool 
 could be carried from one colony to another; and, what 
 was a more extraordinary instance of oppression, no Bible 
 was suffered to be printed in America. 
 
 [Pig-iron was produced to some extent in Pennsylvania and some 
 other colonies, but for export only, not for manufacture. Coal was 
 mined in Virginia. No conception, however, was yet attained of the 
 vast stores of mineral wealth which slept beneath the ground, and 
 which were destined to make the new nation immensely rich within 
 a few generations.] 
 
 The chief cities of our ancestors were all scattered along 
 the sea-coast. There were no large towns in the interior. 
 Albany was still a small village, Schenectady a cluster of 
 houses. To those vast inland capitals which have sprung
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 593 
 
 up on the lakes and great rivers of the West our country 
 offered no parallel. Chicago and St. Louis, the centivs 
 of enormous wealth and unlimited commerce, had yet no 
 predecessors. Pleasant villages had sprung up in New- 
 England, New Jersey, and on the banks of the Hudson, 
 but they could pretend to no rivalry with those flourishing 
 cities which lined the sea-coast or its estuaries and seemed 
 to our ancestors the abodes of luxury and splendor. Yet 
 even New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, extensive as 
 they appeared to the colonists, were insignificant towns 
 compared to the English capitals, and gave no promise of 
 ever approaching that grandeur which seemed to be re- 
 served especially for London and Paris. In 1774 the popu- 
 lation of New York was perhaps twenty thousand ; that 
 of London six hundred thousand. The latter was thirty 
 times larger than the other, and in wealth and political 
 importance was so infinitely its superior that a comparison 
 between them would have been absurd. 
 
 Boston, which has crowned Beacon Hill, pressed over 
 the Neck, and even covered with a magnificent quarter a 
 large surface that was once the bed of the Charles River, 
 was in 1774 a town of fifteen thousand or eighteen thou- 
 sand inhabitants, closely confined to the neighborhood of 
 the bay. . . . The Boston of 1774, which proclaimed free- 
 dom and defied the power of England, would scarcely rank 
 to-day among the more important country towns. New 
 York was more populous, but it was still confined to the 
 narrow point of land below the Park. The thickly-built 
 part of the town lay in the neighborhood of Whitehall. 
 Some fine houses lined Broadway and Broad Street, but to 
 the west of Broadway green lawns stretched down from 
 Trinity and St. Paul's to the water. Trees were planu-il 
 thickly before the houses ; on the roofs railings or balconies 
 were placed, and in the summer evenings the people gath-
 
 504 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 ered on the house-tops to catch the cool air. Lamps had 
 already been placed on the streets. Fair villas covered the 
 environs, and even the Baroness Biedesel, who had visited 
 in the royal palaces of Europe, was charmed with the 
 scenery and homes of the citizens. Extravagance had 
 already corrupted the plainer habits of the earlier period. 
 The examples of London and Paris had already affected 
 the American cities. The people of New York drank fiery 
 Madeira, and were noted for their luxury. Broad way was 
 thought the most splendid of avenues, although it ended 
 at Chambers Street. And twenty years later, when the 
 City Hall was built, it was called by D wight (a good 
 scholar) the finest building in America. 
 
 The streets of New York and Boston were usually 
 crooked and narrow, but the foresight of Penn had made 
 Philadelphia a model of regularity. Market and Broad 
 Streets were ample and stately. The city was as populous 
 as New York, and perhaps the possessor of more wealth. 
 It was the first city on the continent, and the fame of 
 Franklin had already given it a European renown. Yet 
 Philadelphia when it rebelled against George III. was only 
 an insignificant town, clinging to the banks of the river ; 
 and New York invited the attack of the chief naval power 
 of the world with its harbor undefended and its whole 
 population exposed to the guns of the enemy's ships. The 
 Southern cities were yet of little importance. Baltimore 
 was a small town. Virginia had no large city. Charleston 
 had a few thousand inhabitants. Along that immense line 
 of sea-coast now covered with populous cities the smallest 
 of which would have made the New York and Boston of 
 our ancestors seem insignificant, only these few and isolated 
 centres of commerce had sprung up. The wilderness still 
 covered the shores of Long Island, New Jersey, Delaware, 
 and the Carolinas almost as in the days of Raleigh.
 
 LAWRENCE] AMERICA IN 1776. 
 
 505 
 
 To pass from one city to another along this desolate 
 shore was, in 1775, a long and difficult journey. Koads 
 had been early built in most of the colonies. In Massa- 
 chusetts they were good, except where they passed over 
 the hills. In New York a good road ran through Oi 
 and Ulster counties to Albany. That between New York 
 and Philadelphia was probably tolerable. In the Soutlu-ni 
 colonies but little attention was paid to road-building, and 
 even those in the neighborhood of Philadelphia were often 
 almost impassable. A stage-coach ran in two days from 
 New York to Philadelphia, but the passengers were- re- 
 quested to cross over the evening before to Powle's Hook, 
 that they might set out early in the morning. Sloops 
 sailed to Albany in seven or eight days. From Boston to 
 New York was a tedious journey. In fair weather the 
 roads of the time were tolerable ; but in winter and spring 
 they became little better than quagmires. There was 
 therefore but little intercourse between the people of the 
 distant colonies, and in winter all communication by land 
 and water must have been nearly cut off. . . . 
 
 The Northern cities were usually built of brick or of 
 stone, and many of the farm-houses were of the latter 
 material. The former had been imported from Holland 
 for the first New York buildings; and even Schenecta'ly. 
 a frontier town, was so purely Dutch as to have been early 
 decorated with Holland brick. In the country stone \v:is 
 easily gathered from the abundant quarries on the Hudson 
 or along the New England hills. Many large, low stone 
 houses, with lofty roofs and massive windows, may still 
 be seen in the rich valleys opening upon the Hudson, 
 almost in the same condition in which they were left by 
 their Huguenot or Dutch builders, and* apparently capable 
 of enduring the storms of another century. Brick-making 
 was soon introduced into the colonies, and the abundant 
 i. w 43
 
 506 AMERICAN HISTORY. [LAWRENCE 
 
 forests supplied all the materials for the mechanic. ... A 
 general equality in condition was nearly reached. Not 
 five men, we are told, in New York and Philadelphia ex- 
 pended ten thousand dollars a year upon their families. 
 The manners of the people were simple ; their expenses 
 moderate. Yet nowhere was labor so well rewarded or 
 poverty so rare. . . . Wines and liquors were freely con- 
 sumed by our ancestors, and even New England had as 
 yet no high repute for temperance. Eum was taken as a 
 common restorative. The liquor shops of New York had 
 long been a public annoyance. In the far-southern colo- 
 nies, we are told, the planter began his day with a strong 
 glass of spirits, and closed it by carousing, gambling, or 
 talking politics in the village tavern. Our ancestors were 
 extraordinarily fond of money, if we may trust the judg- 
 ment of Washington, who seems to have found too many 
 of them willing to improve their fortunes from the re- 
 sources of the impoverished community. But in general 
 it must be inferred that the standard of public morals was 
 not low [as compared with the Europe of that day]. 
 
 [Intellectually the colonists made much progress, and statesmen, 
 writers, and scientists appeared who vied with those of Europe. 
 Schools for the general population were considerably more numerous 
 than in England and France, while several colleges, of a somewhat 
 high standard, were established, though they were as yet but poorly 
 attended. Several newspapers had been started, the earliest, The News 
 Letter of Boston, being founded in 1704. In 1775 four papers were 
 printed in each of the cities of Philadelphia,- New York, and Boston. 
 Books were not wanting. One Boston house had ten thousand volumes 
 on its shelves. A public library had been founded by Franklin in 
 Philadelphia in 1742. Medical schools and other institutions were in 
 operation, and the first steps in most of the great enterprises of later 
 days had been taken at the opening of the Kevolution.]
 
 JEFFERSON] DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 507 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 [As a fitting epilogue to the history of Colonial America, and pro- 
 logue to that of Independent America, we append the highly-impor- 
 tant document whose consideration and passage by the Continental 
 Congress are described in a preceding article. The committee :ij>- 
 pointed to draw up this paper consisted of Thomas Jefl'erson, Benjamin 
 Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Philip Livingston, but 
 its preparation, as there stated, was left by the committee to Jetf' 
 from his supposed peculiar fitness for the work. Several unimportant, 
 and one or two important, changes were made in the original draft as 
 presented by him, but as it stands it is very nearly word for word his 
 own, and must be ranked for ages to come among the great political 
 documents of the world, the Magna Charta of American liberty, or 
 perhaps we should say of human liberty, since in the republic of the 
 United States the freedom of mankind was first solidly based and per- 
 manently assured.] 
 
 WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes neces- 
 sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
 have connected them with another, and to assume among 
 the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to 
 which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
 a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
 they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
 separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men 
 are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator 
 with certain- unalienable rights; that among these are 
 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure 
 these rights, governments are instituted among men, de- 
 riving their just powers from the consent of the govi-nu-.l ; 
 that whenever any form of government becomes destruc- 
 tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
 
 508 AMERICAN HISTORY. [.JEFFERSON 
 
 to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its 
 foundation on such principles, and organizing its power in 
 such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
 safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that 
 governments long established should not be changed for 
 light and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience 
 hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
 while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by 
 abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But 
 when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing in- 
 variably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them, 
 under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, 
 to throw off such government, and to provide new guards 
 for their future security. Such has been the patient suf- 
 ferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
 which constrains them to alter their former systems of 
 government. The history of the present king of Great 
 Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 
 all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute 
 tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be sub- 
 mitted to a candid world. 
 
 He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome 
 and necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of imme- 
 diate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their 
 operation till his assent should be obtained ; and when so 
 suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
 
 He has refused to pass other laws for the accommo- 
 dation of large districts of people, unless .those people 
 would relinquish the right of representation in the legis- 
 lature, a right inestimable, and formidable to tyrants 
 only. 
 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places un- 
 usual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of
 
 JEFFERSON] DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 509 
 
 their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them 
 into compliance with his measures. 
 
 He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for 
 opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights 
 of the people. 
 
 He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, 
 to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative 
 powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the 
 people at large for their exercise ; the state remaining in 
 the mean time exposed to all the danger of invasion from 
 without, and convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
 states ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturali- 
 zation of foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage 
 their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new 
 appropriations of lands. 
 
 He has obstructed the administration of justice, by re- 
 fusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 
 
 He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the 
 tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of 
 their salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent 
 hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out 
 their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing 
 armies, without the consent of our legislatures. 
 
 He has affected to render the military independent of, 
 and superior to, the civil power. 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a juris- 
 diction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged 
 by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended 
 legislation : 
 
 For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 
 
 For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment
 
 510 AMERICAN HISTORY. [JEFFERSON 
 
 for any murders which they should commit on the inhab- 
 itants of these states : 
 
 For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world : 
 
 For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 
 
 For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial 
 by jury : 
 
 For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pre- 
 tended offences : 
 
 For abolishing the free system of English laws in a 
 neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary 
 government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render 
 it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing 
 the same absolute rule into these colonies : 
 
 For taking away our charters, abolishing our most val- 
 uable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our 
 governments : 
 
 For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring 
 themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all 
 cases whatsoever. 
 
 He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out 
 of his protection, and waging war against us. 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt 
 our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
 
 He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign 
 mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, 
 and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty 
 and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, 
 and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 
 
 He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on 
 the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to be- 
 come the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to 
 fall themselves by their hands. 
 
 He has excited domestic insurrections amongst -us, and 
 has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers
 
 JEFFERSON] DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 5H 
 
 the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of war- 
 fare is an undistinguished destruction of all agon, sexes, 
 and conditions. 
 
 ^ In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned 
 for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated peti- 
 tions have been answered only by repeated injury. 
 
 A prince whose character is thus marked by every act 
 which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a 
 free people. 
 
 Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British 
 brethren. We have warned them from time to time of 
 attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwar- 
 rantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
 of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement 
 here. "VVe have appealed to their native justice and mag- 
 nanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our 
 common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which 
 would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspon- 
 dence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and 
 of consanguinity. We must therefore, acquiesce in the 
 necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, 
 as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, 
 friends. 
 
 We, therefore, the representatives of the United States 
 of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to 
 the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 
 intentions, do, in the name and by authority of the good 
 people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that 
 the*e United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FKKK 
 and INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolve! 
 from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all 
 political connection between them and the state of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that as 
 free and independent states they have full power to levy
 
 512 AMERICAN HISTORY. [JEFFERSON 
 
 war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, 
 and to do all other acts and things which independent 
 states may of right do. And for the support of.this dec- 
 laration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine 
 Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, 
 our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, President. 
 
 New Hampshire, Josiah Bartlett, William "Whipple, Mat- 
 thew Thornton. Massachusetts, Samuel Adams, John Adams, 
 Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. Rhode Island, Ste- 
 phen Hopkins, William Ellery. Connecticut, Roger Sher- 
 man, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wol- 
 cott. New York, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis 
 Lewis, Lewis Morris. New Jersey, Richard Stockton, John 
 Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham 
 Clark. Pennsylvania, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, 
 Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Cl}*mer, James 
 Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross. Dela- 
 ware, Caesar Rodney, George Read. Maryland, Samuel 
 Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll, of 
 Carrollton. Virginia, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, 
 Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, 
 junior, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton. North Car- 
 olina, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. South 
 Carolina, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hey ward, junior, 
 Thomas Lynch, junior, Arthur Middleton. Georgia, Button 
 Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.