New England provinces, and prohibiting them from carrying on the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland. While this bill was pending, Lord North suddenly brought forward what he considered a conciliatory measure. It proposed, that parliament should forbear to tax any colony, which should tax itself in such a sum as would be perfectly satisfactory. Its obvious design to separate the colonies from each other, caused it to be received by them with universal scorn and derision.

When the bill restraining the trade of New England had passed, information was received, that the middle and southern. colonies were supporting their northern friends in every measure of opposition. In consequence of this intelligence, the same restrictions were extended, by a second bill, to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and Delaware. New York and North Carolina escaped, on the ground of their supposed dissent from the opposition.

The reception of these laws in America seems to have convinced the people that there was no hope of redress by peaceful or constitutional measures. Their addresses, remonstrances, and petitions, had been treated with contempt; and when they had hoped for a considerate hearing of their defence, they had only received a fresh accumulation of wrongs and insults. All now looked forward to a fearful contest. The terrible calm that precedes a storm, settled darkly over the continent, and thunders of vengeance muttered in the distance. The crisis was at hand.

CHAPTER XXIV.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

It seems to have been the determination of the people of New England, that whenever actual hostilities should commence, the royal party should be the aggressors. With their habitual reverence for law and justice, they resolved to place their adversaries in the wrong, and to keep the right on their

What bill was brought forward by | What states escaped, and on what

Lord North?

How was it received in America ?

To what states were the commercial restrictions extended?

ground?

What was the effect of the reception
of these laws in America?
What was the determination of the
people of New England?

own side. It was equally their determination to repel with firmness the first hostile attack which should be made. An occasion was soon furnished in which these principles of action were put to the test.

On the evening preceding the 19th of April, 1775, General Gage detached Lieutenant Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, with 800 grenadiers and light infantry, to destroy some military stores which had been collected at Concord, about 18 miles from Boston. Information of this movement was sent into the country by Dr. Warren, and the whole surrounding region was soon in arms, and marching, in small parties, towards the scene of action.

When the British troops reached Lexington, about five o'clock in the morning, a small body of militia was paraded in front of the meeting house. Major Pitcairn, who led the van, rode up, calling out, Disperse, rebels, disperse.' His soldiers rushed forward, with loud huzzas, and commenced a scattering fire. This was soon followed by a general discharge, which continued until the militia retreated. Eight men were killed and a considerable number wounded. The main body now proceeded to Concord and destroyed the

stores.

The subsequent events of the day are thus described by Mr. Everett.*

On arriving at Concord, it was the first care of the British commander to cut off the approach of the Americans from the

For what purpose were British troops | What took place at Lexington? sent to Concord?

*

Oration delivered at the Anniversary of the Battle of Concord.'

189

190

FIGHT AT CONCORD BRIDGE.

neighbouring towns, by destroying or occupying the bridges. A party was immediately sent to the south bridge, and tore it up. A force of six companies, under Captain Parsons and Lowrie, was sent to the north bridge. Three companies under Captain Lowrie were left to guard it, and three under Captain Parsons proceeded to Colonel Barrett's house, in search of provincial stores. While they were engaged on that errand, the militia of Concord, joined by their brave brethren from the neighbouring towns, gathered on the hill opposite the north bridge, under the command of Colonel Robinson and Major Buttriek. The British companies at the bridge were now apparently bewildered with the perils of their situation, and began to tear up the planks of the bridge; not remembering that this would expose their own party, then at Colonel Barrett's, to certain and entire destruction.

The Americans, on the other hand, resolved to keep open the communication with the town, and perceiving the attempt which was made to destroy the bridge, were immediately put in motion, with orders not to give the first fire. They draw near to the bridge, the Acton company in front, led on by the gallant Davis. Three alarm guns were fired into the water, by the British, without arresting the march of our citizens. The signal for a general discharge is then made;-a British soldier steps from the ranks and fires at Major Buttrick. The ball passed between his arm and his side, and slightly wounded Mr. Luther Blanchard, who stood near him. A volley instantly followed, and Captain Davis was shot through the heart, gallantly marching at the head of the Acton militia against the choice troops of the British line. A private of his company, Mr. Hosmer of Acton, also fell at his side.

A general action now ensued, which terminated in the retreat of the British party, after the loss of several killed and wounded, toward the centre of the town, followed by the brave band, who had driven them from their post. The advance party of British at Colonel Barrett's, was thus left to its fate; and nothing would have been more easy than to effect its entire destruction. But the idea of a declared war had yet scarcely forced itself, with all its consequences, into the minds of our countrymen; and these advanced companies were allowed to return unmolested to the main band.

What took place on the arrival of the | What was the result of the general British troops at Concord?

"Where did the militia assemble?

What took place at the bridge?

action?

Who were now compelled to fly?

RETREAT OF THE BRITISH.

191

It was now twelve hours since the first alarm had been given, the evening before, of the meditated expedition. The swift watches of that eventful night had scattered the tidings far and wide; and widely as they spread, the people rose in their strength. The genius of America, on this the morning of her emancipation, had sounded her horn over the plains and upon the mountains; and the indignant yeomanry of the land, armed with the weapons which had done service in their fathers' hands, poured to the spot where this new and strange tragedy was acting. The old New England drums, that had beat at Louisbourg, at Quebec, at Martinique, at the Havanna, were now sounding on all the roads to Concord. There were officers in the British line that knew the sound; they had heard it in the deadly breach, beneath the black, deep-throated er gines of the French and Spanish castles.

With the British it was a question no longer of protracted hostility, nor even of halting long enough to rest their exhausted troops, after a weary night's march, and all the labour, confusion, and distress of the day's efforts.

Their

dead were hastily buried in the public square; their wounded placed in the vehicles which the town afforded; and a flight commenced, to which the annals of British warfare will hardly afford a parallel.

'On all the neighbouring hills, were multitudes from the surrounding country, of the unarmed and infirm, of women and of children, who had fled from the terrors and the perils of the plunder and conflagration of their homes; or were collected, with fearful curiosity, to mark the progress of this storm of war. The panic fears of a calamitous flight, on the part of the British, transformed this inoffensive, timid throng into a threatening array of armed men; and there was too. much reason for the misconception. Every height of ground, within reach of the line of march, was covered with the indignant avengers of their slaughtered brethren. The British

light companies were sent out to great distances as flanking parties; but who was to flank the flankers? Every patch of trees, every rock, every stream of water, every building, every stone wall, was lined, (I use the words of a British officer in the battle,) was lined with an unintermitted fire.

'Before the flying troops had reached Lexington, their rout was. entire. An English historian says, the British soldiers were driven before the Americans like sheep, till, by a last desperate effort, the officers succeeded in forcing their

What heightened their alarm?

Describe the retreat.

192

THE BRITISH REINFORCED.

way to the front, "when they presented their swords and bayonets against the breasts of their own men, and told them if they advanced they should die." Upon this, they began to form, under what the same British officer pronounces "a very heavy fire," which must soon have led to the destruction or capture of the whole corps.

'At this critical moment, it pleased Providence that a reinforcement should arrive. Colonel Smith had sent back a messenger from Lexington to apprise General Gage of the check he had there received, and of the alarm which was running through the country. Three regiments of infantry, and two divisions of marines, with two fieldpieces, under the command of Brigadier General Lord Percy, were accordingly detached. They marched out of Boston, through Roxbury and Cambridge, and came up with the flying party in the hour of their extreme peril. While their fieldpieces kept the Americans at bay, the reinforcement drew up in a hollow square, into which, says the British historian, they received the exhausted fugitives, "who lay down on the ground, with their tongues hanging from their mouths, like dogs after a chase."

A half an hour was given to rest; the march was then resumed; and, under cover of the fieldpieces, every house in Lexington, and on the road downwards, was plundered and set on fire. Though the flames in most cases were speedily extinguished, several houses were destroyed. Notwithstanding the attention of a great part of the Americans was thus drawn off, and although the British force was now more than doubled, their retreat sull wore the aspect of a flight. The Americans filled the heights that overhung the road, and at every defile the struggle was sharp and bloody. At West Cambridge the gallant Warren, never distant when danger was to be braved, appeared in the field, and a musket ball soon cut off a lock of hair from his temple. General Heath was with him, nor does there appear, till this moment, to have been any effective command among the American forces.

Below West Cambridge, the militia from Dorchester, Roxbury, and Brookline came up. The British fieldpieces began to lose their terror. A sharp skirmish followed, and many fell on both sides. Indignation and outraged hu

What reinforcement came out to re-
lieve the British?
How did they protect them?
How soon was the retreat resumed?
What town was set on fire ?

What officers joined the Americans at West Cambridge?

What reinforcements joined the Americans below West Cambridge? What followed ?