diers in the battle; between 3 and 4,000 having first landed, and the re-enforcement amounting to over 1,000. The Americans, throughout the whole day, did not have 2,000 men on the field.

The slaughter on the side of the British was immense, having had nearly 1,500 killed and wounded, 1,200 of whom were either killed or mortally wounded; the Americans about 400.

Had the commanders at Charlestown Heights become terrified on being cut off from the main body and supplies, and surrendered their army, or ever. retreated before they did, from the terrific force that opposed them, where would now have been that ornament and example to the world, the Independence of the United States? When it was found that no re-enforcements were to be allowed them, the most sanguine man on that field could not have even indulged a hope of success, but all determined to deserve it; and although they did not obtain a victory, their example was the cause of a great many. The first attempt on the commencement of a war, is held up, by one party or the other, as an example to those that succeed it, and a victory or defeat, though not, perhaps, of any great magnitude in itself, is most powerful and important in its effects. Had such conduct as was here exhibited, been in any degree imitated by the immediate commander in the first military onset in the last war, how truly different a result would have been effected, from the fatal one that terminated that unfortunate expedition.

From the immense superiority of the British, at this stage of the war, having a large army of highly disciplined and well equipped troops, and the Americans possessing but few other munitions or weapons of war, and but little more discipline, than what each man possessed when he threw aside his plough and took the gun that he had kept for pastime or for profit, but now to be employed for a different purpose, from off the hooks that held it,perhaps it would have been in their power, by pursuing the Americans to Cambridge, and destroying the few stores that had been collected there, to inflict a blow

which could never have been recovered from: but they were completely terrified. The awful lesson they had just received, filled them with horror; and the blood of 1,500 of their companions, who fell on that day, piesented to them a warning which they could never forget. From the battle of Bunker Hill, sprung the protection and the vigour that nurtured the tree of liberty, and to it, in all probability, may be ascribed our independence and glory.

The name of the first martyr that gave his life for the good of his country on that day, in the importance o the moment was lost; else a monument, in connexion with the gallant Warren, should be raised to his memory. The manner of his death was thus related by Col. Prescott.

"The first man who fell in the battle of Bunker Hill was killed by a cannon ball which struck his head. He was so near me that my clothes were besmeared with his blood and brains, which I wiped off, in some degree, with a handful of fresh earth. The sight was so shocking to many of the men, that they left their posts and ran to view him. I ordered them back, but in vain. I then ordered him to be buried instantly. A subaltern officer expressed surprise that I should allow him to be buried without having prayers said; I replied, this is the first man that has been killed, and the only one that will be buried to day. I put him out of sight that the men may be kept in their places. God only knows who, or how many of us, will fall before it is over. To your post, my good fellow, and let each man do his duty."

The name of the patriot who thus fell is supposed to have been POLLARD, a young man belonging to Billerica. He was struck by a cannon ball, thrown from the line-of-battle ship Somerset.

58. Arnold's March through the Wilderness.

About the same time that Canada was invaded by the usual route from New York, a considerable detachment

of the American army was brought thither by a new and unexpected passage. Arnold, who conducted this bold undertaking, acquired thereby the name of the American Hannibal. He was sent, by General Washington, with a thousand men, from Cambridge, with or ders to penetrate into that province, by ascending the Kennebec, and then, after crossing the mountains which divide Canada from Maine, by descending the Chaudiere to the St. Lawrence. Great were the difficulties, and severe the privations, they had to encounter, in marching three hundred miles, by an unexplored way, through an uninhabited country. In ascending the Kennebec, they were constantly obliged to struggle against an impetuous current; and were often compelled, by cataracts, to land, and haul their batteaux up rapid streams, and over falls of rivers. They had to contend with swamps, woods, and craggy mountains. At some places, they had to cut their way, for miles together, through forests so embarrassed, that their progress was only four or five miles a day. One third of their number were, from sickness and want of food, obliged to return. Provisions grew at length so scarce, that some of the men ate their dogs, cartouch boxes, leather small clothes, and shoes. Still they proceeded with unabated fortitude. They gloried in the hope of completing a march which would rival the greatest exploits of antiquity; and on the third of November, after thirty-one days spent in traversing a hideous desert, they reached the inhabited parts of Canada, where the people were struck with amazement and admiration when they saw this armed force emerging from the wilderness.*

59. Death of General Montgomery.

Richard Montgomery, a major general in the army of the United States, was born in the north of Ireland, in the year 1737. He possessed an excellent genius,

Grimshaw's Hist. U. S.

which was matured by a fine education. Entering the army of Great Britain, he successfully fought her battles with Wolfe, at Quebec, in 1759, on the very spot where he was doomed to fall, when fighting against her, under the banners of freedom. After his return to Eng. land, he quitted his regiment, in 1772, though in a fair way of preferment. He had imbibed an attachment to America, viewing it as the rising seat of arts and freedom. After his arrival in this country, he purchased an estate in New York, about a hundred miles from the city, and married a daughter of Judge Livingston. He now considered himself as an American. When the struggle with Great Britain commenced, as he was known to have an ardent attachment to liberty, and had expressed his readiness to draw his sword on the side of the colonies, the command of the continental forces, in the northern department, was intrusted to him and Gen. Schuyler, in the fall of 1775.

By the indisposition of Schuyler, the chief command devolved upon him in October. He reduced fort Chamblee, and on the third of November captured St. Johns. On the 12th, he took Montreal. In December he joined Col. Arnold, and marched to Quebec. The city was besieged, and on the last day of the year it was determined to make an assault. The several divisions were accordingly put in motion, in the midst of a heavy fall of snow, which concealed them from the enemy. Montgomery advanced at the head of the New York troops along the St. Lawrence, and having assisted with his own hands in pulling up the pickets, which obstructed his approach to one of the barriers he was determined to force, he was pushing forward, when one of the guns from the battery was discharged, and he was killed with his two aids. This was the only gun fired, for the enemy had been struck with consternation, and all but one or two had fled. But this event probably prevented the capture of Quebec. When he fell, Montgomery was in a narrow passage, and his body rolled upon the ice, which fo ned by the side of the river. After it was found the next morning among the slain, it was buried

by a few soldiers, without any marks of distinction. He was thirty-eight years of age. He was a man of great military talents, whose measures were taken with judgment, and executed with vigour. With undisciplined troops, who were jealous of him in the extreme, he yet inspired them with his own enthusiasm. He shared with them in all their hardships, and thus prevented their complaints. His industry could not be wearied, his vigilance imposed upon, nor his courage intimidated.

Το express the high sense entertained by his country of his services, congress directed that a monument o. white marble, to his memory, should be placed in front of St. Paul's church, New York.

The remains of Gen. Montgomery, after resting fortytwo years at Quebec, by a resolve of the state of New York, were brought to the city of New York, on the 8th of July, 1817, and deposited, with ample form and grateful ceremonies, near the aforesaid monument in St. Paul's Church."

60. Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Army.

In May, 1775, congress met pursuant to adjournment. Hostilities having commenced, it was a point of vital importance to the American cause, to select a proper person for commander in chief of the American forces.

George Washington,† a delegate from Virginia, was, by the unanimous voice of congress, appointed, to fill

*Morse's Revolution.

+ For three years subsequent to the defeat of Braddock, Washington superintended the troops of Virginia; in which highly dangerous service he continued, until peace was given to the frontier of his native colony, by the reduction of fort Duquesne; an enterprise undertaken in conformity with his repeated solicitations, and accompanied by himself, at the head of his own regiment. The arduous duties of his situation, rendered irksome by the invidious treatment experienced from the governor, and by the unmanageable disposition of the officers and privates under his command, were related by himself, in a highly interesting narrative, and fully acknowledged by the assembly of Virginia. Soon afterwards he retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, and pursued the arts of peaceful life, with great industry