held at Richmond. Washington attended as delegate from Fairfax County. In this assembly, Patrick Henry, with his usual ardor and eloquence, advocated measures for arming and disciplining a militia force, and providing for the defence of the colony. "It is useless," said he, "to address further petitions to government, or to await the effect of those already addressed to the throne. The time for supplication is past; the time for action is at hand. We must fight, Mr. Speaker," exclaimed he, emphatically; "I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us!" Washington joined him in the conviction, and was one of a committee that reported a plan for carrying those measures into effect. "It is my full intention, if needful," writes he to his brother, "to devote my life and fortune to the cause."

§ 4. PRELIMINARY CAMPAIGNS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

Lexington. While the spirit of revolt was daily gaining strength and determination in America, a strange infatuation reigned in the British councils. While the wisdom and eloquence of Chatham were exerted in vain in behalf of American rights, an empty braggadocio, elevated to a seat in Parliament, was able to captivate the attention of the members, and influence their votes by gross misrepresentations of the Americans and their cause. This was no other than Colonel Grant, the same shallow soldier who had been guilty of a foolhardy bravado before the walls of Fort Duquesne, which brought slaughter and defeat upon his troops. He entertained Parliament with ludicrous stories of the cowardice of Americans. He had served with them, he said, and knew them well, and would venture to say they would never dare to face an English army. With five regiments, he could march through all America! The councils of the arrogant and scornful prevailed; and instead of Chatham's proposed bill, further measures of a stringent nature were adopted, ruinous to the trade and fisheries of New England.

At length the bolt, so long suspended, fell!

The troops at

Boston had been augmented to about four thousand men. Alarmed by the energetic measures of the whigs, General Gage now resolved to surprise and destroy their magazine of military stores at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston. Preparations were made with great secrecy. On the 18th of April officers were stationed on the roads leading from Boston, to prevent any intelligence of the expedition getting into the country. At night orders were issued by General Gage that no person should leave the town. About ten o'clock, from eight to nine hundred men, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Smith, embarked in boats at the foot of Boston Common, and crossed to Lechmere Point, in Cambridge, whence they were to march silently to the place of destination.

The measures of General Gage had not been shrouded in all the secrecy he imagined. Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the commit tee of safety, had observed the preparatory disposition of the boats and troops, and surmised some sinister intention. A design on the magazine at Concord was suspected, and the committee of safety ordered that the cannon collected there should be secreted, and the stores removed. On the night of the 18th, Dr. Warren sent off two messengers by different routes to give the alarm that the king's troops were actually sallying forth. In the meantime Colonel Smith set out on his nocturnal march by an unfrequented path across marshes, where at times the troops had to wade through water. He had proceeded but a few miles when alarm guns, and the clang of village bells, showed that the news of his approach was travelling before him. He now sent back to General Gage for a reinforcement, while Major Pitcairn was detached with six companies to press forward, and secure the bridges at Concord. Pitcairn advanced rapidly, capturing every one he met or overtook. By the time he entered the village of Lexington, about seventy of the yeomanry, in military array, were mustered on the green near the church. Pitcairn halted his men within a short distance and ordered them to prime and load. The major, riding forward, waved his sword, and ordered the rebels, as he termed them, to disperse. The orders were disregarded. A scene of con

fusion ensued, with firing on both sides; eight of the patriots were killed, and ten wounded, and the whole put to flight. Colonel Smith soon arrived with the residue of the detachment, and they all marched on towards Concord. About seven o'clock, they entered that village in two divisions by different roads. Concord is traversed by a river of the same name, having two bridges, the north and the south. The grenadiers took post in the centre of the town, while strong parties of light troops were detached to secure the bridges and destroy the military stores. Two hours were expended in the work of destruction without much success, so much of the stores having been removed or concealed. During all this time the yeomanry from the neighboring towns were hurrying in with such weapons as were at hand. About ten o'clock, a body of three hundred undertook to dislodge the British from the north bridge. As they approached, the latter fired upon them, killing two, and wounding a third. The patriots returned the fire with spirit and effect. The British retreated to the main body, the Americans pursuing them across the bridge.

About noon Colonel Smith commenced his retrograde march for Boston. It was high time. His troops were jaded by the night march, and the morning's toils and skirmishings. Along the open road, they were now harassed incessantly by rustic marksmen, who took deliberate aim from behind trees, or over stone fences. Where the road passed through woods, the British found themselves between two fires, dealt by unseen foes, the minute men having posted themselves on each side among the bushes. It was in vain they threw out flankers, and endeavored to dislodge their assailants; each pause gave time for other pursuers to come within reach, and open attacks from different quarters. For several miles they urged their way along woody defiles, or roads skirted with fences and stone walls, the retreat growing more and more disastrous. Before reaching Lexington, Colonel Smith received a severe wound in the leg, and the situation of the retreating troops was becoming extremely critical, when, about two o'clock, they were met by Lord Percy, with a brigade of one thousand men, and two field-pieces. His lordship had been detached from Boston

about nine o'clock by General Gage, in compliance with Colonel Smith's urgent call for a reinforcement, and had marched gayly through Roxbury to the tune of "Yankee Doodle," in derision of the "rebels." He now found the latter a more formidable foe than he had anticipated. Opening his brigade to the right and left, he received the retreating troops into a hollow square; where, fainting and exhausted, they threw themselves on the ground to rest. His lordship showed no disposition to advance upon their assailants, but contented himself with keeping them at bay with his field-pieces, which opened a vigorous fire from an eminence.

Hitherto the provincials, being hasty levies, without a leader, had acted from individual impulse, without much concert; but now General Heath was upon the ground. He was one of those authorized to take command when the minute men should be called out. Doctor Warren, also, arrived on horseback, having spurred from Boston on receiving news of the skirmishing. In the subsequent part of the day, he was one of the most active and efficient men in the field. Lord Percy, having allowed the troops a short interval for repose and refreshment, continued the retreat toward Boston. As soon as he got under march, the galling assault by the pursuing yeomanry was recommenced in flank and rear. There was occasional sharp skirmishing, with bloodshed on both sides, but in general a dogged pursuit, where the retreating troops were galled at every step. Their march became more and more impeded by the number of their wounded. Lord Percy narrowly escaped death from a musket-ball, which struck off a button of his waistcoat. One of his officers remained behind, wounded in West Cambridge. His ammunition was failing as he approached Charlestown. The provincials pressed upon him in the rear, others were advancing from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Milton; Colonel Pickering, with the Essex militia, seven hundred strong, was at hand; there was danger of being intercepted in the retreat to Charlestown. The sharpest firing of the provincials was near Prospect Hill, as the harassed enemy hurried along the Charlestown road, eager to reach the Neck, and get under cover of their ships. The pursuit terminated a little after sunset, at

Charlestown Common, where General Heath brought the minute men to a halt. Within half an hour more, a powerful body of men, from Marblehead and Salem, came up to join in the chase. "If the retreat," writes Washington, "had not been as precipitate as it was, and God knows it could not well have been more so, -the ministerial troops must have surrendered, or been totally cut off."

In this memorable affair, the British loss was two hundred and seventy-three killed, wounded, and missing. Among the slain were eighteen officers. The loss of the Americans was ninety-three. The cry of blood from the field of Lexington went through the land. Bodies of militia, and parties of volunteers from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, hastened to join the minute men of Massachusetts in forming a camp in the neighborhood of Boston. With the troops of Connecticut, came Israel Putnam, having recently raised a regiment in that province, and received from its Assembly the commission of brigadier-general. The command of the camp was given to General Artemas Ward, already mentioned. He was a native of Shrewsbury, in Massachusetts, and a veteran of the Seven Years' War-having served as lieutenantcolonel under Abercrombie.

Ticonderoga.

- As affairs were now drawing to a crisis, and war was considered inevitable, some bold spirits in Connecticut conceived a project for surprising the old forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, already famous in the French war. Their situation on Lake Champlain gave them the command of the main route to Canada; they were feebly garrisoned and abundantly furnished with artillery and military stores, so much needed by the patriot army. This scheme was set on foot in the provincial Legislature of Connecticut, then in session. It was not openly sanctioned by that body, but secretly favored, and money lent from the treasury to those engaged in it. Sixteen men were thus enlisted in Connecticut, a greater number in Massachusetts, but the greatest accession of force was from the country forming the present State of Vermont. It had long been a disputed territory, claimed by New York and New Hampshire. George II. had decided in favor of New York: