the legislative authority of parliament, the question passed in the 1775. negative.1 The king, in his speech to parliament at the close of this King's session, 26 May, expressed his entire satisfaction in their conduct. speech. "You have maintained, with a firm and steady resolution, the rights of my crown, and the authority of parliament, which I shall ever consider as inseparable: You have protected and promoted the commercial interests of my kingdom; and you have, at the same time, given convincing proofs of your readiness (as far as the constitution will allow you) to gratify the wishes, and remove the apprehensions of my subjects in America; and I am persuaded, that the most salutary effects must, in the end, result from the measures formed and conducted on such principles." While Dr. Franklin and other statesmen in England were predicting the effect of the measures of the British ministry, and attempting to promote the adoption of plans effectually conciliatory, every thing in America was tending to a crisis, which would preclude all conciliation for ever. gress. In proportion as the breach between Great Britain and the colonies widened, the distrust and animosity between the American people and the British troops increased. The colonial opposition, however, was conducted with exquisite address. The people of Boston avoided every kind of outrage. Massachusetts had successfully engaged the other colonies to make a common cause with her. A new provincial congress, which met Mass. proin February, published a resolution, informing the people that, vincial confrom the large reinforcement of troops expected in that colony, the tenor of intelligence from Great Britain, and general appearances, they had reason to apprehend, that the sudden destruction of that colony was intended; and urged, in the strongest terms, the militia in general, and the minute men in particular, to spare neither time, pains, nor expense, to perfect themselves in military discipline. They also passed resolutions for procuring and making fire arms and bayonets. These military preparations Military were accordingly made; and provisions were also collected and tions. stored at different places. prepara On the 26th of February, general Gage, having received in- Col. Leslie's telligence that some military stores were deposited in Salem, fruitless expedition despatched lieutenant colonel Leslie from Castle William, with to Salem. 140 soldiers in a transport to seize them. Having landed at Marblehead, they proceeded to Salem; but not finding the stores there, they passed on to the draw bridge leading to Danvers, where a large number of people had assembled, and on the opposite side of which colonel Pickering had mustered 30 or 40 1 Parliamentary Register. 1775. April 18. to Concord. men, and drawn up the bridge. Leslie ordered them to let it down; but they peremptorily refused, declaring it to be a private road, by which he had no authority to demand a pass. On this refusal he determined to ferry over a few men in a gondola, which lay on the bank, as soon as it could be put afloat; but the people, perceiving the intention, instantly sprang into the gondola, and scuttled it with their axes. There was danger of instant hostility; but the prudent interposition of Mr. Barnard, minister of Salem, and other persons, prevented that extremity. To moderate the ardour of the soldiery, the folly of opposing such numbers was stated; and to moderate the ardour of the citizens, it was insisted, that, at so late an hour, the meditated object of the British troops was impracticable. The bridge was at length let down; Leslie passed it, and marched about thirty rods; and, the evening being now advanced, he returned, and embarked for Boston.1 test. The resolution of the colonists was soon put to a more serious A considerable quantity of military stores having been deposited at Concord, an inland town about 18 miles from troops sent Boston, general Gage purposed to destroy them. For the execution of this design, he, on the night preceding the 19th of April, detached lieutenant colonel Smith and major Pitcairn, with 800 grenadiers and light infantry; who at eleven o'clock embarked in boats at the bottom of the common in Boston, crossed the river Charles, and landing at Phips' farm in Cambridge, commenced a silent and expeditious march for Concord. Although several British officers, who dined at Cambridge the preceding day, had taken the precaution to disperse themselves along the road leading to Concord, to intercept any expresses that might be sent from Boston to alarm the country; yet messengers, who had been sent from that town for the purpose, had eluded the British patrols, and given an alarm, which was rapidly spread by church bells, signal guns, and vollies. On the arrival of the British troops at Lexington, toward five in the morning, about 70 men, belonging to the minute company of that town, were found on the parade, under arms. Major Pitcairn, who led the van, galloping up to them, called out, "Disperse, disperse, you rebels; throw down your arms, and disperse. The sturdy 19. Battle at Lexington. 1 Some particulars of this account are taken from the MSS. of President Stiles; where he farther writes, that the British soldiers pricked the people with their bayonets; that Leslie kept his troops at the bridge an hour and a half; that he at length pledged his honour, that, if they would let down the bridge, he would march but 13 rods over it, and return without doing any thing farther; that the line was marked; and that colonel Pickering with his 40 brave men, like Leonidas at Thermopylæ, faced the king's troops. 2 These messengers were sent to Lexington, a town 6 miles below Concord, by Dr. Warren, who received notice of the intended expedition just before the einbarkation of the troops. yeomanry not instantly obeying the order, he advanced nearer, fired his pistol, flourished his sword, and ordered his soldiers to fire. A discharge of arms from the British troops, with a huzza, immediately succeeded; several of the provincials fell, and the rest dispersed. The firing continued after the dispersion, and the fugitives stopped and returned the fire. Eight Americans were killed, three or four of them by the first fire of the British; the others, after they had left the parade. Several were also wounded.1 1775. The British detachment proceeded to Concord. The inhabi- British de stroy the tants of that town, having received the alarm, drew up in order stores at for defence; but, observing the number of the regulars to be Concord. too great for them to encounter, they retired over the north bridge at some distance beyond the town, and waited for reinforcements. A party of British light infantry followed them, and took possession of the bridge, while the main body entered the town, and proceeded to execute their commission. They disabled two 24 pounders; threw 500 pounds of ball into the river, and wells; and broke in pieces about 60 barrels of flour.2 The militia being reinforced, major Buttrick, of Concord, who had gallantly offered to command them, advanced toward the bridge; but, not knowing of the transaction at Lexington, ordered the men not to give the first fire, that the provincials might not be the aggressors. As he advanced, the light infantry retired to the Concord side of the river, and began to pull up the bridge; and, on his nearer approach, they fired, and killed a captain,3 and one of the privates. The provincials returned the fire; a skirmish ensued; and the regulars were forced to retreat, with some loss. They were soon joined by the main body; and the 1 The 8 killed were Robert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Caleb Harrington, Isaac Muzzy, and John Brown, of Lexington, and Azael Porter, of Woburn. A handsome monument has been erected to their memory, on the green where the first of them fell. 2 The shrewd and successful address of captain Timothy Wheeler on this occasion, deserves notice. He had the charge of a large quantity of provincial flour, which, together with some casks of his own, was stored in his barn. A British officer demanding entrance, he readily took his key, and gave him admission. The officer expressed his pleasure at the discovery; but captain Wheeler, with much affected simplicity, said to him, putting his hand on a barrel, "This is my flour. I am a miller, Sir. Yonder stands my mill; I get my living by it. In the winter I grind a great deal of grain, and get it ready for market in the spring. This," pointing to one barrel, is the flour of wheat; this," pointing to another, "is the flour of corn; this is the flour of rye; this," putting his hand on his own casks, “is my flour; this is my wheat; this is my rye; this is mine." "Well," said the officer, "we do not injure private property;" and withdrew, leaving this important depository untouched. 3 Captain Isaac Davis, of Acton, who with a company of minute men composed the front. 4 The conduct of major Buttrick was the subject of high applause at Concord. He animated his men to descend from the eminence, where they had been posted, to the west end of the bridge, where they would be exposed to the 1775. whole detachment retreated with precipitancy. All the people of the adjacent country were by this time in arms; and they attacked the retreating troops in every direction. Some fired from behind stone walls and other coverts; others pressed on their rear; and, thus harassed, they made good their retreat six miles back to Lexington. Here they were joined by lord Piercy, who, most opportunely for them, had arrived with a detachment of 900 men and two pieces of cannon. The enemy, now amounting to about 1800 men, having halted an hour or two at Lexington, recommenced their march; but the attack from the provincials was renewed at the same time; and an irregular yet very galling fire was kept up on each flank, as well as in the front and rear. The close firing from behind stone walls by good marksmen put them in no small confusion; but they kept up a brisk retreating fire on the militia and minute men. A little after sunset the regulars reached Bunker's hill, where, exhausted with excessive fatigue, they remained during the night, under the protection of the Somerset man of war; and the next morning went into Boston.2 Provincial congress. An army The provincial congress of Massachusetts, being at this time in session, despatched to Great Britain an account of the Lexington battle, with depositions to prove, that the British troops were the aggressors. They also sent an address to the inhabitants of Great Britain, in which professions of loyalty to the king were united with assurances of a determination, "not tamely to submit to the persecution and tyranny of his evil ministry." Their own language only can show the strength of their impressions: Appealing to heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free." 66 The battle of Lexington was a signal of war. The forts, assembled. magazines, and arsenals, throughout the colonies, were instantly secured for the use of the provincials. Regular forces were direct fire of the British troops; and yet until they should receive their fire might not discharge a single gun. The effect of individual example in such a moment is incalculable. Major Buttrick afterward received a colonel's commission, and passed worthily through the revolutionary war. On his decease, his funeral was attended by military honours; a procession, with appropriate music, moved over the very ground where he had led his soldiers to action; and the entire scene" was the most solemn and impressive ever known in Concord." This account of colonel Buttrick, and that of captain Wheeler, I received verbally of Samuel Bartlett, Esq. late of Cambridge, who resided several years in Concord. 1 Lord Piercy formed his detachment into a square, in which he inclosed colonel Smith's party, "who were so much exhausted with fatigue, that they were obliged to lie down for rest on the ground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." Stedman. 2 In this excursion, 65 of the regulars were killed, 180 wounded, and 28 made prisoners; total 273. Of the provincials 50 were killed, 34 wounded, and 4 missing; total 88. See NOTE VII. raised; and money was issued for their support. An army of 1775. 20,000 men appeared in the environs of Boston, and formed a line of encampment from Roxbury to the river Mystic. This army was soon increased by a large body of troops from Connecticut, under colonel Putnam, an old and experienced officer, and by these collective forces the king's troops were closely blocked up in the peninsula of Boston. against Ti Point. The military spirit of the colonists rose with the occasion that Expedition demanded it. It was readily perceived, that, if the controversy conderoga with the parent state were to be decided by the sword, the pos- and Crown session of Ticonderoga and Crown Point would be of great importance to the security of the colonies. Under this impression, several gentlemen in Connecticut formed the bold design of seizing those fortresses by surprise. With this object in view, about 40 volunteers set out from Connecticut toward Bennington, a town in the New Hampshire Grants, where the projectors of the expedition had proposed to meet colonel Ethan Allen, whom they intended to engage to conduct the enterprise, and to raise, among the hardy mountaineers, the men necessary to execute it.1 Colonel Allen, readily entering into their views, met them with about 230 men at Castleton; where they were unexpectedly joined by colonel Benedict Arnold, who, having the same object in view, was readily admitted to act as an assistant_to_colonel Allen, the commander in chief to the expedition. Proceeding on the enterprise, they reached Lake Champlain, opposite to Ticonderoga, in the night of the 9th of May. After boats were with some difficulty obtained, Allen and Arnold crossed over the lake with 83 men, and effected a landing near the garrison, without being discovered. The two colonels, after contending May 10. who should go in first, advanced together abreast, and entered Ticonderothe fort at the dawning of the day. A sentry snapped his gun the provinat one of them, and retreated through the covered way to the cials. parade, the garrison being yet asleep in their beds. The body of the Americans followed, and, having formed themselves in a hollow square, gave three huzzas, which instantly brought out the garrison. An inconsiderable skirmish with cutlasses or 1 As secrecy was essential to success, and delay might be dangerous, the continental congress was not consulted on this occasion. Messrs. Deane, Wooster, Parsons, Stevens, and others, of Connecticut, undertook the management of the affair; and for that purpose procured from the assembly a loan of 1800 dollars.The New Hampshire Grants are now Vermont. 2 Arnold had been early chosen a captain of a volunteer company by the inhabitants of New Haven. As soon as he received news of the Lexington battle, he hastily marched off with his company for the vicinity of Boston. On his arrival, he waited on the Massachusetts committee of safety, and informed them of the condition of Ticonderoga. The committee appointed him a colonel, and commissioned him to raise 400 men, and to take that fortress. When he arrived at Castleton, he was attended by one servant only. ga taken by |