164 Virginia and New York [1774 had recommended in general terms the organisation and arming of the militia. The conditions of life in the southern colonies made it impossible for public opinion to express itself with the same promptness and uniformity as in New England, or for a majority to force its will on a minority with equal effectiveness. But in her resentment of administrative interference, and especially of financial interference, Virginia was not one whit behind New England. Moreover, the governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, had irritated the colonists by what they regarded as his half-hearted conduct in regard to a campaign against the Indians in the summer of 1774. Virginia, too, had yet another grievance against the British government. Many of the best and wisest men in the colony, Henry among them, were becoming keenly alive to the social and economical evils of slavery, evils clearly seen and denounced somewhat later by Washington and Jefferson. In 1772 an address on this subject was presented to the Crown. The British government unhappily showed no desire to co-operate with the colonists in the endeavour to check the evil. In Patrick Henry, Virginia had a leader who could at once inspire and organise. As a speaker he constantly pressed his rhetoric to the verge of extravagance, yet never lost his grasp of concrete facts. Behind the appeal to sentiment there was always some definite incitement to action. The speech which he addressed to the Virginian Convention in March, 1775, was virtually a declaration of armed rebellion. He proposed that a force should be raised, not as a mere measure of precaution or in any hopes of securing better terms by a show of resistance, but because, in his own words, we must fight." 66 Three colonies alone, New York, Georgia, and North Carolina, were exempted from the punitive measures of Lord North's government. The poverty and barbarism of North Carolina and Georgia made their adhesion a matter of no great moment to either side. But, if Great Britain could hold New York with its wealth, its noble harbour, its central position, and its command of the Hudson, the cause of colonial resistance would be seriously crippled. There had always been a lack of strong corporate feeling among the people of New York; and in no colony had habits of luxury and love of wealth taken so firm a hold. The Assembly of New York refused in 1774 to be led by the action of Congress, or to acknowledge the services of the delegates there, and declined to elect delegates for the next Congress. The adjacent colonies, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, had accepted the resolutions of the Congress, and had thus put themselves outside the pale of exemption. Pennsylvania, indeed, might be regarded as specially guilty, since the Congress had met within her boundaries. Yet that old Quaker spirit which, coupled with meaner motives, had repeatedly held back Pennsylvania and New Jersey from military co-operation, was still at work. Thus it seemed as if, in the -1775] The battle of Lexington 165 struggle which was now inevitable, the whole territory between the Hudson and the Chesapeake might be a stronghold of British authority. It would be rash to assume that at this stage the disaffected were the majority even in those colonies which were foremost in opposition. But it is clear that they had that ascendancy of will and that superior form of organization, which enable, if they do not entitle, a section to speak in the name of the whole community. This was plainly shown by the reception given to Lord North's scheme of conciliation. It was duly submitted to the various colonial assemblies: not one of them showed any inclination to accept it favourably. But by the time when North's proposals reached America, even if the other colonies had been willing to receive them favourably, the action of Massachusetts had wholly altered the situation. On February 26, 1775, Gage sent out a party to seize some cannon at Salem. It was needful for the troops to cross a drawbridge. The country people assembled and held the bridge against the troops, and scuttled the only boat available. At length, persuaded by a peace-loving clergyman, the crowd gave way and allowed the bridge to be lowered; but it was then too late in the day for the troops to follow up their attempt. Nearly two months passed without any overt act of hostility. On April 19 Gage, hearing that the colonists had collected a large supply of arms and ammunition at Concord, twenty miles from Boston, sent out two detachments, making 1800 men in all, under the command of Lord Percy, to capture these stores. The arrangements of the colonists for spreading an alarm through the colony, on learning the movements of the royal troops, were thoroughly well-organised and effective. At Lexington, about four miles short of Concord, the soldiers found an armed force drawn up to resist them. A skirmish followed, after which the provincials fell back and dispersed, but resumed the attack nearer Concord. One British detachment, however, kept the enemy in check, while the others destroyed the stores. This they accomplished, but they had immediately to endure another vigorous attack. As Percy marched back to Boston, armed provincials kept pouring in from all parts of the country, taking their places with that readiness and unpremeditated discipline which was largely the secret of the American success throughout the war. Hot and weary, the heavily accoutred regulars toiled along the road, harassed by an incessant fire from houses, walls, and hedgerows, and, when they reached Boston at sunset, they had lost 65 killed, and 185 wounded. The provincial loss was estimated at about 50 killed and somewhat fewer wounded. A few days later the colonists struck another blow even more decisive in its immediate effect. A party of volunteers numbering about 150, without any sort of formal commission, though not without the knowledge and approval of the government of Connecticut, succeeded in surprising the strong and well-armed fortress of Ticonderoga, 166 The second Congress [1775 This was the key to Canada, won at heavy cost from the French. followed immediately by the capture of the small subsidiary post of Crown Point. Before the news of any of these reverses had reached England the Ministry, alarmed by Gage's reports, had taken steps to strengthen their military position at Boston. Gage was superseded by Sir William Howe, who took out with him reinforcements bringing his whole command up to 10,000 men. Howe and his troops reached Boston about the middle of May, 1775. By that time the second Continental Congress was in session at Philadelphia. Their treatment of North's proposals is an effective answer to those who speak of the colonists as loyal and submissive subjects, goaded into rebellion by a Ministry who turned a deaf ear to every reasonable complaint. The task of drafting a reply was entrusted to Thomas Jefferson, a young Virginian, who was perhaps more than any other of the popular leaders under the dominion of abstract beliefs in the rights of man. His answer was a rhetorical onslaught on the British government, calculated to fill with despair any one who had any real desire for compromise and peace. To assert any right of taxation was "to leave us without anything we can call property." Not one word was said of the many provocations received by the mother-country. The isolated and irresponsible utterance of a half-mad country member, Van, who said of Massachusetts "Delenda est Carthago," was quoted as expressing the sentiments of the Ministry. On that principle it might have been argued that the American Congress had not merely condoned but advocated armed rebellion a hundred times over. It may well be that North's scheme, as it stood, did not offer any practical solution. But at least it offered a basis for negotiation. The best justification that can be offered for the action of the colonists no doubt lay in the character and antecedents of the King himself. The colonists might feel, much as the Parliamentarians felt respecting Charles I, that the royal conception of public morality and of the relations between sovereign and subject made negotiations impossible. It was in this spirit that Congress drew up vehement and rhetorical appeals for sympathy and support, addressed to the people of Ireland and of Jamaica. To make a general attack on the whole fabric of the British empire was virtually to declare that all desire for reconciliation was at an end. One incident of the Congress was thoroughly characteristic of the temper shown on each side, of the desire of the rebels to comply with, so far as possible, and to utilise constitutional forms, and the ineptitude of the loyalists in letting slip opportunities of protest and resistance. When Congress met, one representative appeared from Georgia, elected not by any representative convention of the colony, but by one parish. Congress, after considering his claim to membership, decided that he might attend and take part in the deliberations, but might not have any voice in the decisions. Georgia plainly was not unanimous. Yet 1775] Washington made commander-in-chief 167 we can trace no attempt by the loyal party to protest or to organise any opposition to Congress. The great work of the second Congress was the raising of a continental army. The Congress boldly announced the existence of some kind of confederation. The colonies were spoken of in formal resolutions as "united" and "confederated." But the nature of the federal tie and the machinery which was to give it effect were left wholly undetermined. No doubt the Congress was wise in taking that course. Time urgently needed for other purposes would have been ill-occupied in debating on the form of a federal union. The Convention of Massachusetts took an important practical step by placing the forces of that colony under Congress, and thus forming the nucleus of a continental army. This was supplemented by raising further troops. Pay was provided for by the issue of bills of credit to be redeemed by the twelve colonies, exclusive of Georgia. What amount was to be redeemed by each colony individually, and when such redemption was to take place, were questions left open for the present. The tendency to independent and disconnected military operations was kept in check by an order that no colony was on its own responsibility to attempt any operations against Canada. But by far the most important act of Congress in its immediate and even more in its ultimate results was the choice of Washington as commander-in-chief. That choice was no doubt in a great measure determined by considerations other than personal fitness. If the southern colonies were to take their full share of interest in the struggle, it was clear that it must not be left to a New England army under a New England general. But we may be sure that the choice, desirable in itself of a southern general, was made much easier by the presence of a southern candidate so specially fitted for the post as Washington. Not indeed that his fitness was or could be as yet fully revealed. Intelligence and public spirit, untiring energy and industry, a fair share of technical military skill, and courage almost dangerous in its recklessness all these were no doubt preceived by those who appointed Washington. What they could not have foreseen was the patience with which a man of clear vision, heroic bravery, and intense directness, bore with fools and laggards and intriguers; and the disinterested self-devotion which called out all that was noblest in the national character, which shamed selfish men into a semblance of patriotism and factious men into a semblance of union. Still less could it have been foreseen that, in choosing a military chief, Congress was training up for the country that civil leader, without whose aid an effective constitution would scarcely have been attained. While Congress was sitting, the troops whom Washington was to command had taken the first step in the transition from an undisciplined mob to a seasoned army. To understand the battle of Bunker Hill it is 168 The battle of Bunker Hill [1775 necessary to know the physical changes which Boston and Charlestown have passed through. Each at the time of the Revolution was separated from the mainland by a narrow isthmus which could easily be defended. Successive reclamations from the sea have widened each isthmus to many times its original dimensions; and Boston Neck has to be sought for imbedded amid streets and houses. Bunker Hill, too, has been lowered, and no longer commands the surrounding ground as it formerly did. Gage had effectually guarded Boston Neck. But so completely was the town dominated by Bunker Hill that the occupation of that height was absolutely necessary to the safety of the town. There had now gathered together on the mainland a large force of men, whom the Massachusetts Convention had placed under the command of Artemas Ward. He was old and inactive, and it was probably well for the colonists that their laxity of discipline allowed his younger and more vigorous subordinates a large share of initiative. On June 16, 1775, the Americans learnt that it was the intention of the enemy to secure Bunker Hill. Thereupon a force of colonists crossed Charlestown Neck under cover of night, and threw up a redoubt about a foot high on the summit of the hill. The weak and, as it ultimately proved, fatal feature of the defence was the inadequate supply of powder. Bayonets, it hardly need be said, formed no part of the American equipment, nor could untrained men have used them. Two methods of dislodging the enemy from the hill were open to the British. They might make a direct attack from the east, or they might endeavour to cut the communications connecting the advanced force on Bunker Hill with the main body on the mainland; but the latter course would have exposed them to an attack on each flank, and on one from a largely superior force. Probably the safest method would have been to rake the Neck by a fire of gun-boats on each side, while the artillery in the town played on the hill. The British commanders, however, probably underrating the tenacity of their opponents and their skill as marksmen, decided to dislodge them by a direct attack. About mid-day on June 17 Howe landed on Charlestown peninsula with about 1600 men. After measuring the strength of his enemy, he sent back for reinforcements; and these brought his whole force up to about 2200, with which he proceeded to attack. The British force were encumbered by the standing hay through which they had to march, and by their ponderous accoutrements. Twice they climbed the hill, and twice they fell back before the fire of their oppoOfficer after officer fell; and Howe, who himself led the attack, was left alone near the enemy's works. A third time, leaving their knapsacks behind, the British troops renewed the attack. Had the Americans been supplied with powder it is hard to say how the day might have ended. As it was there was no course open to the colonists With raw troops a retreat usually becomes a rout. In nents. but retreat. |