ERA OF INDEPENDENCE CHAPTER XIII THE WAR IN NEW ENGLAND (1775-1776); Lexington. An act of General Gage put an end to all suspense. Hearing that the patriots were collecting military and other supplies, he sent from Boston on the evening of the 18th of April, 1775, eight hundred regulars under command of Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn with instructions to destroy the stores that had been collected at Concord, a village twenty miles distant. His purpose was to be kept secret, but the patriots of Boston divined his plans and sent out riders to alarm the country. These were William Dawes and Paul Revere. On the road to Concord the British found drawn up on the the village green of Lexington about sixty minutemen 1 under Captain Parker. "Disperse, ye rebels!" commanded Pitcairn, but not a man obeyed. Then was given the order to fire. The troops hesitating, Pitcairn fired his pistol. This was followed by a volley, which killed or wounded sixteen minutemen. Thereupon Captain Parker ordered his men to retire. The regulars marched on. The Fight at Concord. By seven o'clock on the morning of April 19 the British reached Concord. That place had been occupied by a few hundred militia, but on the approach of so strong a force they prudently retired to the 1 Minutemen were those members of the militia who promised to turn out for service at a minute's notice. They had been enrolled, by an act of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, on November 23, 1774. THE FIGHT AT CONCORD 163 hills beyond the town, taking with them some cannon. The British destroyed the supplies that were left behind and set fire to the village courthouse. The minutemen who retired to the hills had not run away, but merely waited until their numbers increased. Guided by the smoke, men crowded in from every quarter, and, when they felt strong enough, they descended the hill and in a sharp fight drove the British from the North Bridge. What began as an orderly retreat of the British soon became a rout. Minutemen, constantly increasing in numbers, posted in and around houses, trees, and thickets, poured a destructive fire into the ranks of the British until the rout became almost a panic flight. Meanwhile, to support the first expedition, General Gage sent out Lord Percy with his main force amounting to 1200 men. These fresh troops met the weary and hunted fugitives near Lexington and saved them from almost certain destruction. By sundown the surviving British forces arrived in Boston. In the fighting of the afternoon the colonists lost eighty-eight killed, wounded, and missing; on the side of the British two hundred and seventy-three were killed or wounded. The militia did not return to their homes. They remained in the field and began to besiege Boston. Ticonderoga Surprised. A party to surprise Ticonderoga was organized in Connecticut, but patriots from the Green Mountains and from Massachusetts also assisted. Though Benedict Arnold desired the command, the soldiers preferred to serve under Ethan Allen. During the night a company of eighty-three rowed across Lake Champlain and early on the morning of May 10, 1775, while the garrison was asleep, moved silently on the fort. Allen and Arnold entered shoulder to shoulder. So complete was the surprise that resistance was useless. Allen summoned the dazed captain to surrender. "In whose name?" asked the frightened officer. "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" came the answer. The cannon and other supplies then captured were of much value to the patriot cause. A few days later Crown Point was captured. Second Continental Congress. Though Congress was created to advise the colonies, yet before long it was forced to govern them. After some hesitation it took into its ETHAN ALLEN BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 165 service the army of farmers besieging Boston and unanimously appointed as commander in chief George Washington, a leader of whom we have heard, and a delegate from Virginia. On consenting to serve, Washington refused any salary, but arranged for the repayment of his expenses. Battle of Bunker Hill.-In Boston, meanwhile, General Gage had received additional troops until his army amounted Bunker Hill. He fortified Breed's Hill, next to Bunker Hill, instead. Fearing that the Americans would quickly put guns in position on Breed's Hill, and thus command the city, General Gage sent at three o'clock in the afternoon, June 17, 1775, more than two thousand troops to disperse the Americans and hold the hill. Crossing in boats from Boston, they speedily formed and, directed by General Howe, gallantly dashed up the slope; but they received a fire so well aimed that they were driven back. After an interval a second charge was made and repulsed with equal skill. The next interval was longer; then the English moved with fixed bayonets, their Boston battery also playing on the |