Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends

By Sophie Lee Foster

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• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Sep 16, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547379515

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Sophie Lee Foster

Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends

EAN 8596547379515

DigiCat, 2022

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Table of Contents

PREFACE.

AMERICA.

WASHINGTON'S NAME.

WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION.

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE.

THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON APRIL 19, 1775.

SIGNERS OF DECLARATION.

LIFE AT VALLEY FORGE.

OLD WILLIAMSBURG.

SONG OF THE REVOLUTION.

A TRUE STORY OF THE REVOLUTION.

GEORGIA.

FORTS OF GEORGIA.

Fort Argyle.

Proceed Against Augusta.

DuPont Expedition.

JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE.

THE CONDITION OF GEORGIA DURING THE REVOLUTION.

FORT RUTLEDGE OF THE REVOLUTION.

THE EFFORTS OF LAFAYETTE FOR THE CAUSE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

JAMES JACKSON.

EXPERIENCES OF JOAB HORNE.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARGARET KATHERINE BARRY, KNOWN AS KATE BARRY, HEROINE OF THE COWPENS.

ART AND ARTISTS OF THE REVOLUTION.

UNCLE SAM EXPLAINED AGAIN.

AN EPISODE OF THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

STATE FLOWERS.

THE COUNTIES OF GEORGIA.

AN HISTORIC TREE.

INDEPENDENCE DAY.

KITTY.

Prologue.

CHAPTER FIRST.

CHAPTER SECOND.

CHAPTER THIRD.

BATTLE OF KETTLE CREEK.

THE DARING EXPLOIT OF GRACE AND RACHAEL MARTIN.

A REVOLUTIONARY PUZZLE.

SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE REVOLUTION.

LYMAN HALL.

A ROMANCE OF REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.

FT. MOTTE.

PETER STROZIER.

INDEPENDENCE DAY.

SARAH GILLIAM WILLIAMSON.

A COLONIAL HIDING PLACE.

A HERO OF THE REVOLUTION.

JOHN PAUL JONES.

THE REAL GEORGIA CRACKER.

THE DYING SOLDIER WHO GAVE HIS WIFE FOR HIS FRIEND.

WHEN BEN FRANKLIN SCORED.

A REVOLUTIONARY BAPTIZING.

GEORGE WALTON.

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

ORATORS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY.

THE OLD VIRGINIA GENTLEMAN.

WHEN WASHINGTON WAS WED.

RHODE ISLAND IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

GEORGIA AND HER HEROES IN THE REVOLUTION.

UNITED STATES TREASURY SEAL.

WILLIE WAS SAVED.

VIRGINIA REVOLUTIONARY FORTS.

The Fort at Great Bridge.

Fort Nelson.

Forts of the Northwestern Territory, Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes.

The Capture of Fort Kaskaskia.

The Capture of Cohokia and Vincennes.

UNCROWNED QUEENS AND KINGS, AS SHOWN THROUGH HUMOROUS INCIDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.

A COLONIAL STORY.

MOLLY PITCHER FOR HALL OF FAME.

REVOLUTIONARY RELICS.

TRAGEDY OF THE REVOLUTION OVERLOOKED BY HISTORIANS.

JOHN MARTIN.

JOHN STARK, REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

CAPTAIN MUGFORD RAN THE BRITISH BLOCKADE AND CAPTURED POWDER SHIP.

GOVERNOR JOHN CLARKE.

PARTY RELATIONS IN ENGLAND AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

EARLY MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION BY LAND AND WATER.

COLONEL BENJAMIN HAWKINS.

GOVERNOR JARED IRWIN.

EDUCATION OF MEN AND WOMEN OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

NANCY HART.

BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN.

WILLIAM CLEGHORN.

THE BLUE LAWS OF OLD VIRGINIA.

ELIJAH CLARKE.

GENERAL FRANCIS MARION.

LIGHT HORSE HARRY.

OUR LEGACY.

THE RIDE OF MARY SLOCUMB.

THE HOBSON SISTERS.

WASHINGTON'S MARCH THROUGH SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

HANNA ARNETT.

BUTTON GWINNETT.

FORCED BY PIRATES TO WALK THE PLANK.

GEORGIA WOMEN OF EARLY DAYS.

ROBERT SALLETTE.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE'S VISIT TO MACON.

YES. TOMORROW'S FLAG DAY.

FLAG DAY.

END OF THE REVOLUTION.

COUNTIES OF GEORGIA BEARING INDIAN NAMES.

STORY OF EARLY INDIAN DAYS.

CHIEF VANN HOUSE.

INDIAN TALE.

WILLIAM WHITE AND DANIEL BOONE.

A LEGEND OF LOVER'S LEAP, COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.

INDIAN MOUND, EARLY COUNTY, GEORGIA.

STORIETTE OF STATES DERIVED FROM INDIAN NAMES.

SEQUOIA, INVENTOR OF THE CHEROKEE ALPHABET.

THE BOY AND HIS ARROW.

INDIAN SPRING, GEORGIA.

Romantic Discovery.

Reinforcements.

Dunlap's History.

A Battle and Retreat.

Dunlap and Nora.

Fate of Our Heroes.

Early Settlement.

First Outbreak.

Public Treaties.

Death of McIntosh.

An Indian Elopement.

TRACING THE McINTOSH TRAIL.

GEORGIA SONG.

INDEX

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

Since it is customary to write a preface, should any one attempt the somewhat hazardous task of compiling a book, it is my wish, as the editor, in sending this book forth (to live or die according to its merits) to take advantage of this custom to offer a short explanation as to its mission. It is not to be expected that a volume, containing so many facts gathered from numerous sources, will be entirely free from criticism. The securing of material for compiling this book was first planned through my endeavors to stimulate greater enthusiasm in revolutionary history, biography of revolutionary period, Indian legends, etc., by having storiettes read at the various meetings of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and in this way not only creating interest in Chapter work, but accumulating much valuable heretofore unpublished data pertaining to this important period in American history; with a view of having same printed in book form, suitable for our public schools, to be known as a Revolutionary Reader.

At first it was my intention only to accept for this reader unpublished storiettes relating to Georgia history, but realizing this work could not be completed under this plan, during my term of office as State Regent, I decided to use material selected from other reliable sources, and endeavored to make it as broad and general in scope as possible that it might better fulfill its purpose.

To the Daughters of the American Revolution of Georgia this book is dedicated. Its production has been a labor of love, and should its pages be the medium through which American patriotism may be encouraged and perpetuated I shall feel many times repaid for the effort.

To the Chapters of the Daughters of American Revolution of Georgia for storiettes furnished, to the newspapers for clippings, to the American Monthly Magazine for articles, to Miss Annie M. Lane, Miss Helen Prescott, Mr. Lucian Knight and Professor Derry, I wish to express my deep appreciation for material help given.

Sophie Lee Foster.

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[back]

FRAUNCES TAVERN, OF COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY FAME, ON PEARL STREET, CORNER OF BROAD, NEW YORK.

It was here that Washington bade farewell to his officers, December 4, 1783. Purchased in 1904 by the New York Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and now occupied by them as headquarters.

AMERICA.

Table of Contents

1. My Country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where our fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountain side

Let freedom ring.

2. My native Country, thee,

Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,

Thy woods and templed hills,

My heart with rapture thrills,

Like that above.

3. Let music swell the breeze,

And ring from all the trees,

Sweet Freedom's song;

Let mortal tongues awake,

Let all that breathe partake,

Let rocks their silence break,

The sound prolong.

4. Our Father's God, to Thee,

Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright,

With Freedom's holy light,

Protect us with Thy might,

Great God, our King!

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WASHINGTON'S NAME.

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At the celebration of Washington's Birthday, Maury Public School, District of Columbia, Miss Helen T. Doocy recited the following beautiful poem written specially for her by Mr. Michael Scanlon:

Let nations grown old in the annals of glory

Retrace their red marches of conquest and tears,

And glean with deft hands, from the pages of story

The names which emblazon their centuried years—

Bring them forth, ev'ry deed which their prowess bequeathed

Unto them caught up from the echoes of fame;

Yet thus, round their brows all their victories wreathed,

They'll pale in the light of our Washington's Name!

Oh, ye who snatched fame from the nation's disasters

And fired your ambitions at glory's red springs,

To bask, for an hour, in the smiles of your masters,

And flash down life's current, the bubbles of kings,

Stand forth with your blood-purchased trappings upon you,

The need of your treason, the price of your shame,

And mark how the baubles which tyranny won you

Will pale in the light of our Washington's Name!

Parade your proud trophies and pile up your arches,

And flaunt your blood banner, oh, trumpet-tongued War!

But ruin and woe mark the lines of your marches,

While Liberty, captive, is chained to your car;

But, lo! in the west there flasht out to defend her

A sword which was sheened in humanity's flame,

And Virtue, secure, glass'd her form in its splendor—

The splendor which haloes our Washington's Name!

The kings whose dread names have led captive the ages

Now sink in the sands of their passion and lust;

Their blood-roll of carnage in history's pages

Is closed, and their names will go down to the dust.

But long as a banner to Freedom is flying

No shadow can rest on his sunshine of fame,

For glory has crowned him with beauty undying,

And time will but brighten our Washington's Name!

—American Monthly Magazine.

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WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION.

Table of Contents

By Rev. Thomas B. Gregory.

On April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall, George Washington was duly inaugurated first President of the United States, and the great experiment of self-government on these Western shores was fairly begun.

The beginning was most auspicious. Than Washington no finer man ever stood at the forefront of a nation's life. Of Washington America is eminently proud, and of Washington America has the right to be proud, for the Father of His Country was, in every sense of the word, a whole man. Time has somewhat disturbed the halo that for a long while held the place about the great man's head. It has been proven that Washington was human, and all the more thanks for that. But after the closest scrutiny, from every part of the world, for a century and a quarter, it is still to be proven that anything mean, or mercenary, or dishonorable or unpatriotic ever came near the head or heart of our first President.

Washington loved his country with a whole heart. He was a patriot to the core. His first, last and only ambition was to do what he could to promote the high ends to which the Republic was dedicated. Politics, as defined by Aristotle, is the science of government. Washington was not a learned man, and probably knew very little of Aristotle, but his head was clear and his heart was pure, and he, too, felt that politics was the science of government, and that the result of the government should be the greatest good to the greatest number of his fellow citizens.

From that high and sacred conviction Washington never once swerved, and when he quit his exalted office he did so with clean hands and unsmirched fame, leaving behind him a name which is probably the most illustrious in the annals of the race.

Rapid and phenomenal has been the progress of Washington's country! It seems like a dream rather than the soundest of historical facts. The Romans, after fighting tooth and nail for 300 years, found themselves with a territory no larger than that comprised within the limits of Greater New York. In 124 years the Americans are the owners of a territory in comparison with which the Roman Empire, when at the height of its glory, was but a small affair—a territory wherein are operant the greatest industrial, economic, moral and political forces that this old planet ever witnessed.

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IMPORTANT CHARACTERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

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To make a subject interesting and beneficial to us we must have a personal interest in it. This is brought about in three ways: It touches our pride, if it be our country; it excites our curiosity as to what it really is, if it be history; and we desire to know what part our ancestors took in it, if it be war.

So, we see the period of the Revolutionary war possesses all three of these elements; and was in reality the beginning of true American life—America for Americans.

Prior to this time (during the Colonial period) America was under the dominion of the lords proprietors—covering the years of 1663 to 1729—and royal governors—from 1729 to 1775—the appointees of the English sovereign, and whose rule was for self-aggrandizement. The very word Revolutionary proclaims oppression, for where there is justice shown by the ruler to the subjects there is no revolt, nor will there ever be.

We usually think of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775,) as being the bugle note that culminated in the Declaration of Independence and reached its final grand chord at Yorktown, October 19, 1781; but on the 16th of May, 1771, some citizens of North Carolina, finding the extortions and exactions of the royal governor, Tryon, more than they could or would bear, took up arms in self-defense and fought on the Alamance River what was in reality the first battle of the Revolution.

The citizens' loss was thirty-six men, while the governor lost almost sixty of his royal troops. This battle of the Alamance was the seed sown that budded in the Declaration of Mecklenburg in 1775, and came to full flower in the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

There were stages in this flower of American liberty to which we will give a cursory glance.

The determination of the colonies not to purchase British goods had a marked effect on England. Commercial depression followed, and public opinion soon demanded some concession to the Americans.

All taxes were remitted or repealed except that upon tea; when there followed the most exciting, if not the most enjoyable party in the world's history—the Boston Tea Party, which occurred on the evening of December 16, 1773.

This was followed in March, 1774, by the Boston Port Bill, the first in the series of retaliation by England for the Tea Party.

At the instigation of Virginia a new convention of the colonies was called to meet September, 1774, to consider the grievances of the people. This was the second Colonial and the first Continental congress to meet in America, and occurred September 5, 1774, at Philadelphia. All the colonies were represented, except Georgia, whose governor would not allow it.

They then adjourned to meet May 10, 1775, after having passed a declaration of rights, framed an address to the king and people of England, and recommended the suspension of all commercial relations with the mother country.

The British minister, William Pitt, wrote of that congress: For solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the general congress of Philadelphia.

Henceforth the Colonists were known as Continentals, in contradistinction to the Royalists or Tories, who were the adherents of the crown.

No period of our history holds more for the student, young or old, than this of the Revolutionary war, or possesses greater charm when once taken up.

No man or woman can be as good a citizen without some knowledge of this most interesting subject, nor enjoy so fully their grand country!

Some one has pertinently said history is innumerable biographies; and what child or grown person is there who does not enjoy being told of some great person? Every man, private, military or civil officer, who took part in the Revolutionary war was great!

It is not generally known that the executive power of the state rested in those troublesome times in the county committees; but it was they who executed all the orders of the Continental Congress.

The provincial council was for the whole state; the district committee for the safety of each district, and the county and town committees for each county and town.

It was through the thought, loyalty and enduring bravery of the men who constituted these committees, that we of today have a constitution that gives us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—in whatever manner pleases us, so long as it does not trespass on another's well being.

We do not give half the honor we should to our ancestry, who have done so much for us! We zealously seek and preserve the pedigrees of our horses, cows and chickens, and really do not know whether we come from a mushroom or a monkey!

When we think of it, it is a much more honorable and greater thing to be a Son or Daughter of the American Revolution, than to be a prince or princess, for one comes through noble deeds done by thinking, justice-loving men, and the other through an accident of birth. Let us examine a little into a few of these biographies and see wherein their greatness lies, that they like righteous Abel, though dead yet speak.

The number seven stands for completeness and perfection—let us see if seven imaginary questions can be answered by their lives.

James Edward Oglethorpe was born in 1696, and died in 1785—two years after the Revolutionary war. He planted the Colony of Georgia, in which the oppressed found refuge. He had served in the army of Prince Eugene of Savoy in the war with the Turks. He founded the city of Savannah, Georgia. He exported to England the first silk made in the colonies, of which the queen had a dress made. King George II gave him a seal representing a family of silk worms, with their motto: Not for ourselves but for others. He forbade the importation of rum into the colony. He refused the command of the British forces sent in 1775 to reduce, or subdue the American Colonies. In this life told in seven questions, or rather answered, we find much—a religious man, a soldier, an architect (of a city), one versed in commerce, a wise legislator and a man who had the respect of the king—the head of England.

The next in chronological order is Benjamin Franklin (for whom our little city is named), born in 1706, died in 1790. He discovered the identity of lightning and electricity, and invented the lightning rods. He was an early printer who edited and published Poor Richard's Almanac. Of him it was said, He snatched the lightning from heaven and the sceptre from tyrants.

He founded the first circulating library in America. His portrait is seen to-day on every one-cent postage stamp. He was America's ambassador to France during the Revolutionary war.

He said after signing the Declaration of Independence, We must all hang together or we shall all hang separately.

In him, we find an inventor and discoverer, an editor and author, a benefactor, a politician and statesman, and one whose face we daily see on account of his greatness.

George Washington was born 1732, and died 1799. He was the first president of the United States—The Father of His Country, the commander-in-chief of the American forces in the Revolutionary war. He was the hero of Valley Forge, and the one to receive the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

He was the president of the convention that framed the United States constitution. The one of whom it was said, He was the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen. It is his—and his only—birthday America celebrates as a national holiday. Of him Lord Byron said, The first, the last, and the best, the Cincinnatus of the West. How much do seven short paragraphs tell!

Patrick Henry was born in 1736, died 1799, the same year that Washington passed away; and like his, this life can speak for itself. He was the most famous orator of the Revolution. He said, give me liberty or give me death! He also said, We must fight. An appeal to arms and to the god of battles is all that is left us. I repeat it, sir, we must fight. Another saying of his was, Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III—may profit by their example. Again, The people, and only the people, have a right to tax the people. He won in the famous Parson's case, the epithet of The Orator of Nature. He was the first governor of the Colony of Virginia after it became a state.

John Hancock was born in 1737, and died 1793. He first signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a rich Boston merchant as well as a Revolutionary leader. He was chosen president of the Continental congress in 1775. He and Samuel Adams were the two especially excepted from pardon offered the rebels by the English.

As president of congress he signed the commission of George Washington as commander-in-chief of the army.

When he signed the Declaration of Independence he said, The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward. He was elected the first governor of the state of Massachusetts in 1780.

Anthony Wayne was born in 1745, and died in 1796. He was often called Mad Anthony on account of his intrepidity. He was the hero of Stony Point. He built a fort on the spot of St. Clair's defeat and named it Fort Recovery. He was made commander-in-chief of the Army of the Northwest in 1792. He gained a great victory over the Miami Indians in Ohio in 1794. He, as a Revolutionary general, banished whiskey from his camp calling it ardent poison—from whence came the expression ardent spirits when applied to stimulants. Major Andre composed a poem about him called the Cow Chase, showing how he captured supplies for the Americans.

Alexander Hamilton was born in 1757, and died in 1804. He was aide-de-camp to Washington in 1777—the most trying year of the entire Revolutionary war. He succeeded Washington as commander-in-chief of the United States army. He was the first secretary of the treasury of the United States. He founded the financial system of the United States. He was the Revolutionary statesman who said, Reformers make opinions, and opinions make parties—a true aphorism to-day. He is known as the prince of politicians, or America's greatest political genius. His brilliant career was cut short at the age of 43 by Aaron Burr—whose life is summed up in two sad, bitter lines:

"His country's curse, his children's shame;

Outcast of virtue, peace and fame."

Although John Paul Jones was not a Revolutionary soldier on the land, yet he was the Washington of the Seas.

He was born in 1747 and died 1792. He was the first to hoist an American naval flag on board an American frigate. He fought the first naval engagement under the United States' national ensign or flag.

He commanded the Bon Homme Richard in the great sea fight with the Serapis in the English Channel.

He said, after the commander of the Serapis had been knighted, if I should have the good fortune to meet him again, I will make a lord of him. He was presented with a sword by Louis XVI for his services against the English. He was appointed rear-admiral of the Russian fleet by Catherine II.

These are but a few of the many men who did so valiantly their part during the Revolutionary period.

Susie Gentry,

State Vice-Regent, D.A.R.

(A talk made to the public school teachers of Williamson County—at the request of the superintendent of instruction—in Franklin, Tennessee, January 13, 1906.)—American Monthly Magazine.

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THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE.

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By Rev. Thomas B. Gregory.

At the battle of Alamance, N. C., fought May 16, 1771, was shed the first blood of the great struggle which was to result in the establishment of American independence.

All honor to Lexington, where the embattled farmers fired shots that were heard around the world, but let it not be forgotten that other farmers, almost four years before the day of Lexington, opened the fight of which Lexington was only the continuation.

The principles for which the North Carolina farmers fought at Alamance were identified with those for which Massachusetts farmers fought at Lexington. Of the Massachusetts patriots nineteen were killed and wounded, while of the Carolina patriots over 200 lay killed or crippled upon the field and six, later on, died upon the scaffold, yet, while all the world has heard of Lexington, not one person in a thousand knows anything to speak of about Alamance.

William Tryon, the royal Governor of North Carolina, was so mean that they called him the Wolf. In the name of his royal master and for the furtherance of his own greedy instincts Tryon oppressed the people of his province to the point where they were obliged to do one or two things—resist him or become slaves. They resolved to resist and formed themselves into an organization known as Regulators, a body of as pure patriots as ever shouldered a gun.

Having protested time and again against the unlawful taxation under which they groaned, they finally quit groaning, raised the cry of freedom and rose in arms against Tryon and King George.

To the number of 2,000 or 3,000 the Regulators, only partly armed and without organization, met the forces of the royal Governor at Alamance.

Lay down your guns or I will fire! shouted the British commander. Fire and be damned! shouted back the leader of the Regulators. At once the battle opened, and, of course, the Regulators were defeated and dispersed. But old Tryon received the lesson he had so long needed—that, while Americans could be shot down on the battlefield, they could not be made tamely to submit to the high-handed oppression of King George and his creatures.

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THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON APRIL 19, 1775.

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On the afternoon of the day on which the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts adjourned, General Gage took the light infantry and grenadiers off duty and secretly prepared an expedition to destroy the colony's stores at Concord. The attempt had for several weeks been expected, and signals were concerted to announce the first movement of troops for the country. Samuel Adams and Hancock, who had not yet left Lexington for Philadelphia, received a timely message from Warren, and in consequence the Committee of Safety moved a part of the public stores and secreted the cannon.

On Tuesday, the eighteenth of April, ten or more British sergeants in disguise dispersed themselves through Cambridge and farther west to intercept all communication. In the following night the grenadiers and light infantry, not less than eight hundred in number, the flower of the army at Boston, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, crossed in the boats of the transport ships from the foot of the Common at East Cambridge.

Gage directed that no one else should leave the town, but Warren had, at ten o'clock, dispatched William Dawes through Roxbury and Paul Revere by way of Charlestown to Lexington.

Revere stopped only to engage a friend to raise the concerted signals, and two friends rowed him across the Charles River five minutes before the sentinels received the order to prevent it. All was still, as suited the hour. The Somerset, man-of-war, was winding with the young flood; the waning moon just peered above a clear horizon, while from a couple of lanterns in the tower of the North Church the beacon streamed to the neighboring towns as fast as light could travel.

A little beyond Charlestown Neck Revere was intercepted by two British officers on horseback, but being well mounted he turned suddenly and escaped by the road to Medford. In that town he waked the captain and Minute Men, and continued to rouse almost every house on the way to Lexington, making the memorable ride of Paul Revere. The troops had not advanced far when the firing of guns and ringing of bells announced that their expedition had been heralded, and Smith sent back for a reinforcement.

Early on the nineteenth of April the message from Warren reached Adams and Hancock, who at once divined the object of the expedition. Revere, therefore, and Dawes, joined by Samuel Prescott, a high Son of Liberty from Concord, rode forward, calling up the inhabitants as they passed along, till in Lincoln they fell upon a party of British officers. Revere and Dawes were seized and taken back to Lexington, where they were released, but Prescott leaped over a low stone wall and galloped on for Concord.

There, at about two hours after midnight, a peal from the bell of the meeting house brought together the inhabitants of the place, young and old, with their firelocks, ready to make good the resolute words of their town debates. Among the most alert was William Emerson, the minister, with gun in hand, his powder horn and pouch of balls slung over his shoulder. By his sermons and his prayers his flock learned to hold the defense of their liberties a part of their covenant with God. His presence with arms strengthened their sense of duty.

From daybreak to sunrise, the summons ran from house to house through Acton. Express messengers and the call of Minute Men spread widely the alarm. How children trembled as they were scared out of sleep by the cries! How women, with heaving breasts, bravely seconded their husbands! How the countrymen, forced suddenly to arm, without guides or counsellors, took instant counsel of their courage! The mighty chorus of voices rose from the scattered farmhouses, and, as it were, from the ashes of the dead. Come forth, champions of liberty; now free your country; protect your sons and daughters, your wives and homesteads; rescue the houses of the God of your fathers, the franchises handed down from your ancestors. Now all is at stake; the battle is for all.

Lexington, in 1775, may have had seven hundred inhabitants. Their minister was the learned and fervent Jonas Clark, the bold inditer of patriotic state papers, that may yet be read on their town records. In December, 1772, they had instructed their representative to demand a radical and lasting redress of their grievances, for not through their neglect should the people be enslaved. A year later they spurned the use of tea. In 1774, at various town meetings, they voted to increase their stock of ammunition, to encourage military discipline, and to put themselves in a posture of defense against their enemies. In December they distributed to the train band and alarm list arms and ammunition and resolved to supply the training soldiers with bayonets.

At two in the morning, under the eye of the minister, and of Hancock and Adams, Lexington Common was alive with the Minute Men. The roll was called and, of militia and alarm men, about one hundred and thirty answered to their names. The captain, John Parker, ordered everyone to load with powder and ball, but to take care not to be the first to fire. Messengers sent to look for the British regulars reported that there were no signs of their approach. A watch was therefore set, and the company dismissed with orders to come together at beat of drum.

The last stars were vanishing from night when the foremost party, led by Pitcairn, a major of marines, was discovered advancing quickly and in silence. Alarm guns were fired and the drums beat, not a call to village husbandmen only, but the reveille of humanity. Less than seventy, perhaps less than sixty, obeyed the summons, and, in sight of half as many boys and unarmed men, were paraded in two ranks a few rods north of the meeting house.

The British van, hearing the drum and the alarm guns, halted to load; the remaining companies came up, and, at half an hour before sunrise, the advance party hurried forward at double quick time, almost upon a run, closely followed by the grenadiers. Pitcairn rode in front and when within five or six rods of the Minute Men, cried out: Disperse, ye villains! Ye rebels, disperse! Lay down your arms! Why don't you lay down your arms and disperse? The main part of the countrymen stood motionless in the ranks, witnesses against aggression, too few to resist, too brave to fly. At this Pitcairn discharged a pistol, and with a loud voice cried Fire! The order was followed first by a few guns, which did no execution, and then by a close and deadly discharge of musketry.

Jonas Parker, the strongest and best wrestler in Lexington, had promised never to run from British troops, and he kept his vow. A wound brought him on his knees. Having discharged his gun he was preparing to load it again when he was stabbed by a bayonet and lay on the post which he took at the morning's drum beat. So fell Isaac Muzzey, and so died the aged Robert Munroe, who in 1758 had been an ensign at Louisburg. Jonathan Harrington, Jr., was struck in front of his own house on the north of the common. His wife was at the window as he fell. With blood gushing from his breast, he rose in her sight, tottered, fell again, then crawled on hands and knees toward his dwelling; she ran to meet him, but only reached him as he expired on their threshold. Caleb Harrington, who had gone into the meeting house for powder, was shot as he came out. Samuel Hadley and John Brown were pursued and killed after they had left the green. Asabel Porter, of Woburn, who had been taken prisoner by the British on the march, endeavoring to escape, was shot within a few rods of the common. Seven men of Lexington were killed, nine wounded, a quarter part of all who stood in arms on the green.

There on the green lay in death the gray-haired and the young; the grassy field was red with the innocent blood of their brethren slain, crying unto God for vengeance from the ground.

These are the village heroes who were more than of noble blood, proving by their spirit that they were of a race divine. They gave their lives in testimony to the rights of mankind, bequeathing to their country an assurance of success in the mighty struggle which they began. The expanding millions of their countrymen renew and multiply their praise from generation to generation. They fulfilled their duty not from an accidental impulse of the moment; their action was the ripened fruit of Providence and of time.

Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams, with the voice of a prophet, exclaimed: Oh, what a glorious morning is this! for he saw his country's independence hastening on, and, like Columbus in the tempest, knew that the storm bore him more swiftly toward the undiscovered land.

The British troops drew up on the village green, fired a volley, huzzaed thrice by way of triumph, and after a halt of less than thirty minutes, marched on for Concord. There, in the morning hours, children and women fled for shelter to the hills and the woods and men were hiding what was left of cannon and military stores.

The Minute Men and militia formed on the usual parade, over which the congregation of the town for near a century and a half had passed to public worship, the freemen to every town meeting, and lately the patriot members of the Provincial Congress twice a day to their little senate house. Near that spot Winthrop, the father of Massachusetts, had given counsel; and Eliot, the apostle of the Indians, had