Class ^al Book _i3_ rnp>Ti^htm E2^ y CDFYRiaiiT OEPOSIE r ]7 THE UMTEl) STATES ^ ^ PC AXD ITS EIGH30RS IN NORTH AMERICA. N'».*T« — T\t e\-torfd liMjrnnM 9M0W t^t rwiativt pofmtatian end r^r -^Mrh* itrfi*» in f*#".V>rfJk .4M#rira« tx^Mf«A>^A iift\4 ■ • if. T\f f\nV"-» in f W jyii.i'fa art ttu »a m» •< AREA. I-OPl-LA'S. 10,460.703 5,Si6,566 2,S51,T05 2,275,!W7 155,9SS Pi.'>ssKSSJOxs or VXITEP STATES MEXntV GREAT EKITAIX CENTRAL AMERICAN STATES SPAIN DENU.\RK c — ^ \;.^;;. ^ O X O 7 ^■^ 4^ ^- ' "^. ^HH l^L /fc. l^H I^H L ^M^^^^v t ^^1 ■^ ..^^Bkv ' H xlH i^^ ^^^^^^10^' '•. ^ ^ / ^ jpr ^ > > ^*^o V ^ V -^ V ^^^^k' f^ :c> Jr' "k- % t ^m.^ ^ '*" ^ '^^.^ • s /d(f}SR«»« ■'Jt mm r.:'~' fe a. -^r' ) A 4 CO c ^ i Co •J /" P s ^ -J r i^S^ ^'7? "\ Co Jp ^^ u e>-aNt^ / V ^. I { k V ..-•" "^^ ^e A U - i o ! ^ ^ H'l 1^ / § o" S '5 £ 1 i i ^ iS ^ ^ S 1 1 :! HI sill : 1 , /> 1 . '/, ^ 2 HI -r' 1— 1 ~ 3i|i.i J^ 10 ^ ^ c* t3 1 1 E -i .V 1 A C / F I ^' ¥ ', T ^^ X"^ " ~ " ?*(s<.« 5».i«i-«» :'j$'x W6: * . * THE HOUSEHOLD HISTORY OF THE LAMTED STATES AND ITS PEOPLE FOR rorxG J^^ER:CJXs BY EDWARD ^ ^ _ Z M O rN ^^ ^- NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY iS99 t^ '^«'^ Copyright, 1888, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. £7.0 Eggleston's History of the United States and its People for the Young is published in two forms : I. A School Edition, with questions, blackboard illustrations, geo- » graphical studies, and other apparatus for the use of teachers. II. The "Household Hfetoiy," in which the questions, etc., are < • omitted, and the text enlarged,- \vith additional illustrations, etc. PREFACE The present work is meant, in the first instance, for the young — not alone for boys and girls, but for young men and women who have yet to make themselves familiar with the more important features of their country's history. By a book for the young is meant one in which the author studies to make his statements clear and explicit, in which curious and picturesque details are inserted, and in which the writer does not neglect such anecdotes as lend the charm of a human and personal interest to the broader facts of the nation's story. That history is often tiresome to the young is not so much the fault o»f ^listory as of a false method of writing by which one contrives to relate events without sympath}^ or imagina- tion, without narrative connection or animation. The attempt to master vague and general records of kiln-dried facts is certain to beget in the ordinary reader a repulsion from the stud}' of history — one of the very most important of all studies for its widening influence on general culture. As the traits which render an historic narrative attractive to the young are likely to make it interesting to older people, I do not despair of finding readers beyond the special class for which this book is prepared. There are intelligent people, no longer young, may be, who will think none the worse of |y PREFACE. my book that it strives to make the causes and results of public events clear, and to trace with simplicitv our present institutions from their springs downward, that it relates curious details of life and manners, and now and then turns aside to tell an incident illustrative of character, or dwells with a little momentarv fondness on the exploits of a Benjamin Church, the heroism of a Nathaniel Bacon, and the adventures of a Daniel Boone. I know of no surer way of making life tedious to a reader than the method of considering the early historv of the United States as the history of thirteen petty communities and their intestine squabbles. It is, of course, indispensable that one shall give an account of the origin of each of the thirteen colonies, but lor the rest I have preferred to consider the country as a whole, and the people before and after the Revolution as essentially one, omitting particulars which are neither interest- ing nor instructive. Two classes of facts have especially claimed attention : First, those events, great or small, which have exerted an influence on the general current of our history or modified our institutions. These must be understood, in order to keep in mind that chain of causes and effects which makes history reasonable and intelligible. The second class includes those facts which make the individual traits of great men vivid to us, and, more important still, those which enable us to understand the character and modes of life of the body of the people in times different from our own. The old his- torians took note of nobody but princes, courtiers, and generals. But historv, like everything else, has become more democratic PREFA CE. y in these modern days, and the real hero of the historian's story to-day is the community itself. " We need a history of fire- sides," said Daniel Webster. It would be specially unfortunate if the writer on the history of a republic like ours should be so taken up with what Sir Walter Scott would call " the big bow-wow " of public events as to neglect the stoi'y of the evolution of a great people. As its title indicates, this is a "household edition." The school edition of the book has already appeared, and the instantaneous favor it has met with, not only as a text-book, but also as a book for general use, encouraged the preparation of the present edition. The omission of a hundred pages of questions and other machinery for teaching has enabled the writer to greatly enlarge the text by incorporating many interesting facts which could not be compressed into the limits of a school edition. To adapt the work to the pur- poses of the general reader, the text has been rearranged and in many parts rewritten. Of course, I am aware that one of the very chief attrac- tions of the book is due to the liberality with which the publishers have availed themselves of so many of the resources of the modern art of illustration to enhance its value. The pictures represent the work of many of the best designers and engravers of our time. A very considerable body of knowl- edge regarding the history of civilization may be acquired from the illustrations of costume, armor, inventions, implements, sea and river craft, vehicles, and of manners generally. The drawings have been mostly made under the personal super- yj V PREFACE. vision of the writer, and have required no less thought and care than the text itself. Many of these designs are founded on rare prints, and others are from ancient original drawings not before engraved, while a few have been made from written descriptions of contemporarv writers. Mr. John A. Fraser has had charge of the book on its artistic side, and the illustrations have been made under his direction. For assistance in pro- curins: illustrations I am indebted to the kindness of several friends, and especiallv to Justin Winsor. LL. D.. Librarian of Harvard Universitv : Major J. W. Powell, of the U. S. Geo- logical Survev ; and Prof. G. Brown Goode. of the Smithsonian Institution. Special acknowledgment is likewise due to the Centurv Companv for favors in this matter. The main purpose in making so great a number of small maps has been to preserve the utmost simplicitv. A crowded map is a vexation to the brain and eve. In most cases a map for historical illustration should be a diagram of the fact under consideration, showing no names or details not necessary to the comprehension of that fact. Not onlv is the reader saved from much needless toil by this plan, but maps thus arranged serve the double purpose of elucidating the narrative and impressing it on the memory at the same time by giving it form to the eye. Each little map becomes a local diagram of some historical fact, and the form of the map will remain in the memory inseparably associated with the event to which it belongs — a geographical body to an historical soul. This smaller history by its earlier issue reaps a benefit from manv laborious vears of investisirition for a larjjer work PREFACE. yii yet far from readv for publication, and some facts of consider- able importance first see the light in these pages. Statements in this narrative which seem novel and different from those hitherto accepted are based upon a personal study of original authorities, and in manv cases arc the result of an examination ot ancient manuscripts in the British Public Record Office, the British Museum, the Librarv of Congress, and some other collections, public and private. It is impossible, however, to write a book covering the whole period of the historv of the United States without incur- ring obligations to a great multitude of other writers and investigators. I owe much to the several writers in Mr. Winsor's •• Narrative and Critical Historv of America." to Mr. Parkman's various works relating to the conflicts between the English and French colonies, and to Mr. Schouler's " History of the United States under the Constitution." I am also indebted to Mr. Bancroft, to Mr. Lossing. and to Mr. Mc- Master. Nor ought I to omit Ripley's " Mexican War " or Dodge's •■ Bird's-Eve View of the Civil War." For the rest I must crave indulgence. It would be impossible to enu- merate here or even to recall all the writers on special subjects to whom I have referred. One word is due in regard to the treatment of recent events. Occurrences of our own time do not properlv belong to his- tory, nor can a dispassionate and historical judgment be formed regarding the debates and conflicts in which living men have borne a part. I have, therefore, treated the period from about 1850 by a method different from that employed in giving an Vlll PREFACE. account of earlier times, contenting- m3self with a narrative of the events, and not venturing- on premature judgments. We who were in some sense victims of the passions of the civil-war period are not the best judges of questions between the participants. Moreover, I have desired that this little book, which will be read largely by the young, mav contribute to bring about that oneness of sentiment in which lies the onlv hope for national union and prosperity. The true work of patriotism in this time is conciliation and the consolidation of our national life. Joshua's Rock, Lake George, November, 1888. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE How Columbus discovered America i Illustrations : The ships of Columbus ; Head-piece ; Prow of ancient war-ship ; Sailor ; Columbus ; Ferdinand and Isabella ; Stern of ancient war-ship ; Map, World 'as known when Coliittibiis sailed. CHAPTER n. Other Discoveries in America 8 Illustrations : Americas ; Cabot at Mecca ; Henry VII ; Indian needles for making nets ; Indian trap ; "A great man of that time " ; Caught in an Indian trap ; Map, Voyages of Columbus, Magellan, and Da Gama ; Magellan ; Spanish explorer. CHAPTER HI. Sir Walter Ralegh tries to settle a Colony in America . 14 Illustrations : Sir Walter Ralegh ; Queen Elizabeth ; Map, Roanoke Island ; Sir Francis Drake ; Ralegh on fire ; Indian pipes. CHAPTER IV, How Jamestown was settled 20 Illustrations : James I ; A merchant of the Virginia Company ; Present appear- ance of Jamestown ; The night-watch ; Captain John Smith ; Soldier with matchlock- gun ; Map, Jamestown and Roanoke Island. CHAPTER V. The Starving Time, and what followed 26 Illustrations : Deliverance of Jamestown ; Lord De la Warr ; Pocahontas ; Com- mon people in the seventeenth century. CHAPTER VI. The Great Charter of Virginia, and the First Massacre by THE Indians 32 Illustrations : English countryman ; countrywoman ; "Jack of the Feather" ; The warning. CHAPTER VII. The Coming of the Pilgrims 37 Illustrations : Ship ; Puritan man ; Puritan woman ; Pilgrim farewell at Delft Haven; Map, Plymouth and Jamestoivn; Map, Vicinity of Plymouth; "Welcome, Englishmen " ; Pilgrims going to church. X ~ CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. FAGS The Coming of the Puritans ........ 42 Illustrations : Oliver Cromwell ; Puritan gentleman ; Puritan lady ; John Win- throp ; John Davenport ; House of the first Governor of Rhode Island ; Merchant's wife, 1620 ; Map, Early New England settlements. CHAPTER IX. The Coming of the Dutch 47 Illustrations : The Half-Moon in Hudson River ; Dutch country people, seven- teenth centurj- ; Dutch women, seventeenth century ; Map, Early Dutch and Swedish settlements ; Peter Stuyvesant ; Street in New Amsterdam ; New York in the Dutch period. CHAPTER X. The Settlement of Maryland and the Carolinas . . . 52 Illustrations: First Lord Baltimore; Charles I; Second Lord Baltimore; The landing- in Marj-land, i6;?4 ; Map, Virginia and first Maryland settlement \ Charles II ; Huguenot merchant and wife ; Map, Early Settlements in the Carolinas. CHAPTER XI. The Coming of the Quakers and others to the Jerseys and Pennsylvania 58 Illustrations : Scotch woman ; Scotch man ; William Penn ; Penn's house in Philadelphia ; Map, Settlements in the yerseys and Pennsylvania ; Treaty-belt. CHAPTER XII. The Settlement of Georgia, and the Coming of the Germans, Irish, and French 63 Illustrations : General Oglethorpe ; Map, Coast of Georgia and Carolina ; a Georgia road ; Highland piper ; German countryman ; German countrywoman ; Irish man ; Irish woman ; French countryman ; French countrywoman. CHAPTER XIII. How THE Indians lived 69 Illustrations : Indian mother and child ; Medicine-man, 1585 ; Indian children playing ; Navajo Indian woman weaving a belt ; Wampum ; Indian wigwams of bark ; Manner of boiling ; Zufii Indian woman making pottery ; Indian bottle ; Indian manner of broiling in 15S5 ; Stone axe ; Indian kindling fire ; Making a canoe ; Indian vase ; Indian girl with baskets ; Indian girls with water-jars ; Pottery from Missouri. CHAPTER XIV. Early Indian Wars 78 Illustrations : Shell axe ; Florida warrior, 1565 ; Calumet ; Indian mask ; Iroquois Indian mask ; Belt of wampum ; King Philip ; North Carolina warrior, 1585, CONTENTS. Xi CHAPTER XV. PAGE Traits of War with the Indians 86 Illustrations : War-club ; Matchlock ; Matchlock-gun ; Soldier with matchlock-gun ; Pikeman ; Matchlock-gun ; Snow-shoes ; Block-house ; Tail-piece. CHAPTER XVI. Life in the Colonial Time 91 Illustrations : Cabin of round logs ; A calash ; Birch canoes ; Pack-horses ; School scene in 1740 ; A wedding in New Amsterdam ; Dutch woman skating. CHAPTER XVII. Farming and Shipping in the Colonies 99 Illustrations : Colonial plow ; Flag of the New York merchant-ships ; Ensign carried by New England ships ; Pirate Blackbeard. CHAPTER XVIII. Bond-Servants and Slaves in the Colonies . . . . 104 Illustrations : Enghsh farm laborer, seventeenth century ; Kidnapping a man for the colonies ; Sir John Hawkins. CHAPTER XIX. Laws and Usages in the Colonies 108 Illustrations : Drumming for meeting ; The ducking-stool ; The stocks ; Punish- ment of a drunkard. CHAPTER XX. The Spaniards in Florida, and the French in Canada . -113 Illustrations : Champlain ; Quebec in Champlain's time ; La Salle ; French gentle- man, 1700 ; Coureur des Bois ; Missionary priest ; Long-house of the Iroquois ; Map, French claim in Maine ; Map, Present territory of the United States, showitig by whom it was claimed before 1763. CHAPTER XXI. Colonial Wars with France and Spain 120 Illustrations : Map, The home of the Iroquois ; Queen Anne ; Old house at Deer- field ; Gateway at St. Augustine ; Map, Georgia and Florida i?t Oglethorpe's time. CHAPTER XXII. Braddock's Defeat, and the Expulsion of the Acadians . . 128 Illustrations: Map, French and Indian Wars; Washington rallying Braddock's troops ; Map, Braddock's march ; Sir William Johnson ; Map, Lake George and vicinity ; Lord Loudon. CHAPTER XXIII. Fall of Canada 134 Illustrations : William Pitt ; Amherst ; Map, Acadia ; Wolfe ; Montcalm ; Wolfe scales the Heights of Abraham ; Map, Vicinity of Quebec ; Old view of Quebec. Afij CO A' TENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE Characteristics of the Colonial Wars with the French. . 139 Illustrations : French officer ; French regular ; Canadian soldier ; Flint-lock ; In- dian moccasins ; Flint-lock gun ; Lord Howe ; Lord Howe washing his linen ; Rogers's slide, Lake George ; White captives ; Redoubt at Pittsburg, built 1764. CHAPTER XXV. How THE Colonies were Governed 148 Illustrations : Colonial court-house, Philadelphia ; A hatter's shop in old times. CHAPTER XXVI. Early Struggles for Liberty in the Colonies . . . .153 Illustrations : The pillory as used in America ; Governor Andros. CHAPTER XXVII. The Causes of the Revolution 159 Illustrations : James Otis ; Patrick Henry ; Hanover Court-House ; Samuel Adams ; " The Boston Tea-party." CHAPTER XXVIII. The Outbreak of the Revolution, and Declaration of Inde- pendence 165 Illustrations : Pine-tree flag ; General Gage ; Ethan Allen ; Ruins of Ticonder- oga ; Battle of Bunker Hill ; Map, The Revolution about Boston ; Rattlesnake flag ; Map, The Revolutionary War at large ; American flag, beginning of the Revolu- tion ; Monticello, the home of Jefferson. CHAPTER XXIX. The Battle of Trenton, and the Capture of Burgoyne's Army 174 Illustrations : George III ; Destroying the statue of George III in New York city ; Admiral Lord Howe ; Map, The Revolution about New York ; The retreat from Long Island ; Hessian trooper ; Map, Trenton and Princeton ; Hessian trooper's boot; American flag, 1777; General Burgoyne ; Map, Lake Champlain and vicin- ity ; Hessian made prisoner by militiaman ; General Gates. CHAPTER XXX. The Dark Period of the Revolution i8o Illustrations : General Sir William Howe ; Map, The Revolution about Philadel- phia ; Baron Steuben ; De Kalb ; La Fayette ; Sir Henry Clinton ; Pulaski ; General Lincoln ; General Moultrie ; General Sumter ; General Marion. CHAPTER XXXI. The Closing Years of the Revolution 186 Illustrations : Uniforms of French soldiers in America ; Map, Revolutionary posts on the Hudson ; Benedict Arnold ; Major Andre ; Map, The Revolution at the CONTENTS. Xiii PAGE South ; Colonel Tarleton ; one of Morgan's riflemen ; General Nathanael Greene ; Royal flag of France ; L.ord Cornwallis ; Rochambeau ; American artillery drawn by oxen ; Map, Vicinity of Yorktoiim ; House in which the surrender at Yorktown was made. CHAPTER XXXII. Traits and Incidents of the Revolutionary War . . .190 Illustrations : Esek Hopkins ; American seaman, 1776 ; John Paul Jones; Amer- ican marine, 1776; A Revolutionary block-house; Revolutionary powder-horn and canteen ; Soldier of the Congress ; American rifleman ; American major-general ; English grenadier ; Israel Putnam ; " Brown Bess." CHAPTER XXXIII. Adoption of the Constitution 194 CHAPTER XXXIV. The New Republic and its People 200 Illustrations : George Washington ; Diagram of comparative population ; Map, The United States at the close of the Revolution ; Wagons and carriages of that time ; Singing with the harpsichord and flute ; River bateau ; Benjamin Franklin ; Birthplace of Franklin. CHAPTER XXXV. Home and Society in Washington's Time 209 Illustrations: Wool-wheel; Flax-wheel; Hat of Washington's time ; High head- dress of the time. CHAPTER XXXVI. Washington's Presidency, from 1789 to 1797 213 Illustrations : Martha Washington ; Alexander Hamilton ; Kentucky captives ; General St. Clair ; Anthony Wayne ; Map, Wayne's ca?npaign ; Mount Vernon. CHAPTER XXXVII. Troubles with England and France. — Presidency of John Adams 221 Illustrations: John Jay ; John Adams; Cannoneer, 1797; Seaman, 179S ; The White House. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Election of Jefferson. — War with Tripoli 225 Illustrations : Jefferson's seal ; Thomas Jefferson ; American seaman in Jeffer- son's time ; American soldiers about 1800 ; Map, The Barbary states \ Stephen Decatur. CHAPTER XXXIX. The Settlement of the Great Valley 231 Illustrations : Daniel Boone ; Map, Northwest Territory. Xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL. page The Purchase of Louisiana, and the Treason of Aaron Burr 238 Illustrations : Maps, The United States before the purchase of Louisiana ; The United States after the purchase of Louisiana ; Aaron Burr. CHAPTER XLL Beginning of the Second War with England . . . .242 Illustrations: George Clinton ; Tecumseh ; Map, Tippecanoe battle-ground -^Thz Prophet ; Map., Detroit and the Western forts ; Madison's home at Montpelier. CHAPTER XLH. The Navy in the War of 1812 248 Illustrations : James Madison ; Constitution and Guerriere ; British flag ; Mrs. Madison ; The Constitution ; Seaman, 1815 ; Lawrence. CHAPTER XLHL The Army in the War of 1812 255 Illustrations: Map, Detroit and vicinity \ Infantryman, 1812-1834 ; Perry; Map, Battle of Lake Erie; French Canadian; French Canadian woman; Map, Lundy's Lane and vicinity ; Map, Battle of Lake Champlain ; Macdonough ; Map, British capture of Washington; The Star-Spangled Banner, 1 795-1818; Map, yackson's defense of A'ew Orleans ; Major-general, 1812. CHAPTER XLIV. Expansion of the Union 263 Illustrations : Gentleman's riding-dress ; Head-dress, 1806 ; Turban head-dress ; Opera head-dress ; Evening dress in Jefferson's time ; Map, New States admitted up to 1821 ; Child's dress ; Walking costume, 1807. CHAPTER XLV. From Monroe to Van Buren. — Rise of the Whigs and Demo- crats 269 Illustrations : James Monroe ; Spanish standard ; Monroe's home at Montpelier, Va. ; John Quincy Adams ; Adams houses at Braintree, Mass. ; Andrew Jackson ; Dress of a lady in Jackson's time ; " The Hermitage " of Jackson ; John C. Calhoun ; Home of Ccilhoun ; Henrj- Clay ; Birthplace of Clay ; Daniel Webster ; Webster's home. CHAPTER XLVL The Steamboat, the Railroad, and the Telegraph . . . 277 Illustrations : Robert Fulton ; Baltimore clipper ; Fulton's first steamboat ; The first railroad passenger-car in England ; First steam passenger-train in America ; S. F. B. Morse ; Little girl's dress ; A bonnet of 1830. CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XLVII. PAGE Annexation of Texas.— Beginning of the Mexican War . . 282 Illustrations : William H. Harrison ; John Tyler ; James Knox Polk ; Sam Houston ; Diagram, Comparative size of Texas and France ; Map, Texan annexa- tion and disputed territory, 1845 ; Mexican flag ; Map, Taylor's campaign. CHAPTER XLVni. The Close of the Mexican War and the Annexation of New Territory 288 Illustrations : Santa Anna ; Map, Relation of Scott's to Taylor's campaign ; Map, Scott's campaign ; Winfield Scott ; Map, showing territory acquired from Mexico ; Map., The Oregon country. CHAPTER XLIX. The Question of Slavery in Politics 295 Illustrations : Zachary Taylor ; Millard Fillmore ; Franklin Pierce. CHAPTER L. Break-up of Old Parties.— Approach of the Civil War . . 301 Illustrations : Stephen A. Douglas ; James Buchanan. CHAPTER LI. How the Great Civil War began 306 Illustrations : Map, Charleston and vicinity ; Jefferson Davis ; Confederate flag of 1861 ; Map, Seceding States. CHAPTER LH. Confederate Victory at Bull Run.— The First Western Cam- paign 311 Illustrations : Map, Campaigns in Kentucky and West Virginia ; Map, First battle of Bull Run ; Irvin McDowell ; P. G. T. Beauregard ; Charging an earth- work ; Map, Battles in Missouri and Arkansas ; Andrew H. Foote ; John Pope ; Map, From Fort Donelson to Corinth ; A. S. Johnston ; D. C. Buell. CHAPTER LHI. The War in the East. — From Bull Run to Gettysburg . . 318 Illustrations : George B. McClellan ; Stonewall Jackson ; Map, Peninsular cam- paign ; Map, The campaigns about IVashingtoft ; A. E. Burnside ; George G. Meade ; Alap, The campaign in Pennsylvania. CHAPTER LIV. Various Operations in 1862 and 1863 323 Illustrations : Map, Hampton Roads ; John Ericsson ; The Monitor and the Mer- rimac ; Farragut ; Map, Capture of New Orleans ; Braxton Bragg ; Map, The cam- paign against Vicksburg. Xvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER LV. PAGE The Campaign between Nashville and Atlanta .... 329 Illustrations : Holding the line ; W. S. Rosecrans ; Map, Battles aboiit Chatta- nooga ; George H. Thomas ; J. E. Johnston ; J. B. Hood ; Map, From Nashville to Atlanta, CHAPTER LVI. From the Wilderness to Petersburg. — The War in the Val- ley 334 Illustrations : Ulysses S. Grant ; Robert E. Lee ; Map, Wilderness campaign ; Map, The Valley campaign ; Jubal Early ; Philip H. Sheridan ; Cold comfort. CHAPTER LVH. Close of the Civil War 342 Illustrations : General Schofield ; William Tecumseh Sherman ; Map, Sherman's march ; Map, Lee's retreat. CHAPTER LVni. Traits and Results of the Civil War.— Death of Lincoln . 346 Illustration : Abraham Lincoln. CHAPTER LIX. Political Events since the Civil War 352 Illustr.\tions : Andrew Johnson ; Rutherford B. Hayes ; James A. Garfield ; Ches- ter A. Arthur ; Grover Cleveland ; Benjamin Harrison. CHAPTER LX. Later Developments of the Country 359 Illustrations : Map, Alaska ; Custer ; Indian watching for buffaloes ; Battle of Washita. CHAPTER LXL Population, Wealth, and Modes of Living 364 Illustrations: Present flag; Map, Centers of population since 1790; The Penn- sylvania fireplace ; Old fireplace. CHAPTER LXn. Literature and Art in the United States 368 Illustrations : Rittenhouse ; Washington Irving ; William Cullen Bryant ; Henry W. Longfellow ; Oliver Wendell Holmes ; Edgar A. Poe ; Ralph Waldo Emerson ; James Fenimore Cooper ; Nathaniel Hawthorne ; Harriet Beecher Stowe ; William H. Prescott ; John L. Motley ; John J. Audubon ; Benjamin West ; John S. Copley ; Gilbert Stuart. CO o o CO a I CO UJ I H CHAPTER I. HOW COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA. It is now about four hundred years since Columbus Trade with india in the time of discovered America. People in Europe, up to that time, coiumbus. had known nothing of any lands on the western side of the Atlantic. Travelers were very liable to be robbed as soon as they reached a foreign land, and the ships of the time made but short voyages, and were often plun- dered by ships of other nations. The people of Europe, therefore, did not know much of Asia, except that it was the land of spices, which spices, grown in India, were sold from one country to another until the Turks sold them to European merchants. But, about two hundred years before Columbus was born, a Venetian, by the name of Marco Polo, had succeeded in visiting China, and had written a book giving many wonderful accounts of the splendor of the Chinese cities and of the riches of the Eastern countries generally, as well as many curious stories about the V people who lived in those far-away lands. ---- ' PROW OF ?54^^^- ANCIENT f t J g f ■■ WAR-SHIP. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Portuguese explorations. A SAILOR OF THAT TIME. Early life of Columbus. When Columbus was a bo}^ there was a prince of Portugal, Don Henrique by name, who is known to us as Prince Henry the Navigator. He first turned men's minds in the direction of discovery. Though the maps of his time made Africa extend to the south pole, Prince Henry believed, from what he found in ancient books, that there was a way to get around Africa to India and China, and thus to bring the spices and other commodities of those lands to Europe by sea. But the seamen of that day were accustomed to sail mostly in the Mediterranean, and they were timid in the Atlantic Ocean. The Portuguese sent out expe- dition after expedition for seventy years before they succeeded in discovering the Cape of Good Hope, and they had not yet got around that cape when Columbus offered to find a new and shorter way to India. Christopher Columbus, the most renowned of all discoverers, was born in the city of Genoa, in Italy. The exact date of his birth is uncertain. His father was a wool-comber by trade, but, though the familv was humble, Columbus received considerable education, and he was all his life studious to acquire knowledge about navigation and about geography as far as it was then understood. He knew Latin, wrote a good hand, and drew maps exceedingly well. He sometimes supported himself by making maps and charts. At fourteen he went to sea, and before his great voyage he had sailed to almost all the countries of the known world. He had gone some distance down the newly discovered coast of Africa with the Portuguese, and to the north beyond Ice- land. Columbus married the daughter of a Portugfuese navigator, and thus came into possession of his charts. HO IV COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA. COLUMBUS. As learned men already be- lieved the world to be round, Co- lumbus asked : Why try to get to India and China bv goins; around Africa? Why not sail straisfht to the west around the world to Asia ? He did not know that America was in the way, and lie thought that the world was small- er than it is, and therefore he believed that he could reach the rich lands of gold and spices in Asia bv sailing only two or three thousand miles to the westward. So that Columbus coiumbus pro- -.. 1 \ ■ • r • 1 poses a new discovered x^imerica ni consequence oi two mistakes. way to india. He first offered to make this discovery for the city of Genoa, in which he was born. Then he offered his plan to the King of Portugal. But a voyage on the False notions A 1 • /'■x - 1 T r 1 1 • • 1 '"^ ^^^ way. great Atlantic Ocean seemed a dreadful thing in those days. It was called the " Sea of Darkness," because no one knew anything about it, and people imagined that it was inhabited by hideous monsters. The King of Portugal was an enlisfhtened man, and ^ ^'^'p ^^"* '^ ° ® out secretly. the ideas of Columbus made an impression on him after a while. But he did not like to grant the great rewards demanded by the navigator if he should find land ; so he secretly sent out a ship under another commander to sail to the westward and see if there was any land there. The sailors on this ship were easily discouraged, and they returned laughing at Columbus and his notions. But Columbus was not a man to be discouraged. No coiumbus rebuff from the great, no amount of ridicule, no bitter- HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. ness of poverty, could ever make him give up his great thought of discovering the western boundary of the At- lantic. Finding that he had been trifled with, he proudly refused to reopen negotiations with King John of Portugal. Poor and in debt, he secretly left that country and traveled into Spain afoot, leading his little son by the hand. He had determined to offer his idea to the King and Queen of Spain, the celebrated Ferdinand and Isabella. The Spanish raonarchs were very busy in their war against the Moors, and Columbus spent six or seven years in trying to persuade them to furnish him ships and sail- ors for his voyage. The matter was at one time re- ferred to a meeting of learned men, some of whom tried to pi-ove from the Scriptures and other writings that the world was flat and not round. Others said that, if the world was round and a ship sailed down one side, it could never get back up again. During his long waiting on the king and queen, Columbus followed the Spanish court in its movements in the war with the Moors, and he even took a brave part in some of the battles of the time. He was laughed at for a visionary, and the children in the streets tapped their foreheads with their fingers when he passed by, to intimate their belief that he was crazy. At length, when the war was over, his affair was consid- V ered and his offer rejected. For eighteen years he had sought in vain an outfit for his voyage. But, not yet out of heart, he resolved to quit Spain, and he set out to begin his solicitations anew at the court of the Kinij of France. Some of his fi"iends now made a strong appeal to the Spanish queen, which so STERN OF ANCIENT WAR-SHIP. HOW COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA. impressed Isabella that she offered to sell her jewels, if necessary, to procure money to send Columbus on his expedition. A messenger on horseback recalled him, and by this prompt action Spain secured the glory of finding the New World. Columbus sailed from Spain on the 3d of August, "'^ departure on his great voyage, 1492, with three small vessels, two of which were with- and his discovery out decks, and he w^as more than two months on the voyage. The sailors were more and more frightened as they found themselves going farther and farther out of the known world. They some- times threatened to pitch Columbus over- board and return. He kept their cour- age up by every means he could think of, even by conceal- ing from them how far they had come. The flight of land-birds, the dis- covery of a twig, wdth berries on it, floating in the water, and at length the picking up of a carved stick, served to encourage the mariners, whose eyes were strained day after day to catch sight of anything but the wild waste of unknown waters through w^hich they had been sailing for so many weeks. At last, one night, Columbus saw a glimmer of light, and the next morn- ing one of the other ships fired a gun, to signify that land was seen. This was the 12th of October, 1492. There was the wildest joy among the seamen. They had lately hated their commander, and wished to kill THE PART OF THE WORLD KNOWN WHEN COLUMBUS SAILED IS IN WHITE. 5 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. him ; they now crowded about him to embrace him or to kiss his hands. What he had Instcad of finding the rich cities of Asia, Columbus found. had come upon one of the smallest of the West India islands, which was inhabited by people entirely naked, and living in the rudest manner. He afterward dis- covered larger islands, and then sailed homeward. Return of pje took with him to Spain some of the wild inhab- Columbus. itants, who were exhibited at the court in all their showy decorations of paint and feathers, and he also made a display of the golden ornaments he had pro- cured. Ferdinand and Isabella received him with the pomp due to a great conqueror, and he, who had been but a beggar before, was welcomed by the monarchs under a rich canopy of brocade of gold. The king and queen rose to welcome him, and made him sit down in their presence, a favor never shown except to the great- est grandees. The people, who had believed him a fool when he went away, followed him with cheers as he walked along the street. Later voyages Columbus, iu his sccoud vovagc to Amei-ica, planted of Columbus. -^ ° ^ a colony on the island of Hispaniola, or Hayti. In this and in two other voyages he discovered other islands and a portion of the coast of South America, which he first saw in 1498. He made four voyages to America in all, setting out on the first in 1492, the second in 1493, the third in 1498, and the fourth in 1502. Though a great navigator, he was not a wise governor of the colonies he planted, and he had many enemies. In 1500 he was cruelly sent home to Spain in chains. But Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as the people, were shocked at this degradation, and he was at once set HOW COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA. y free. His last voyage was unfortunate, and when he returned to Spain, in November, 1504, the monarchs paid little attention to him. Queen Isabella died soon after his return, while Columbus lay sick, and when the great navigator came to court the king was deaf to his petitions. Worn out with fatigue, exposure, and anxiety, the great admiral died on the 20th of May, 1506. He never knew that he had found a new world, but lived and died in the belief that the large island of Cuba was a part of the mainland of Asia. The investigations of scholars give us some reason to Discoveries be- fore Columbus. believe that America may have been visited from Europe before the time of Columbus. The inhabitants of Scan- dinavia (the coimtry now divided into Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) were known as Norsemen. In the old romantic tales of Scandinavia there are stories which go to show that these Norsemen, under the command of Leif, the son of Eric, in the year looi, and afterward, probably explored the coast of America from Labrador southward for some distance. Fanciful theories have been built on these stories, such as the notion that the old stone windmill at Newport, Rhode Island, is a tower built by the Norsemen. There is also a ti"adition in Wales that one Madoc, a Welsh prince, in the year 1 170, discovered land to the west of Ireland, and took a colony thither, which was never heard of afterward. If these stories of Leif and Madoc represent real voy- ages, the discoveries which they relate would probably never have been recalled to memory if Columbus had not opened a wide door at the right moment. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER 11. OTllKK DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA. A PART of the glory of Columbus's great discov- ery was taken away from him by accident. Instead of bearing the name of the great navigator whose . persevering devotion to an idea led him to dis- cover it, the western hemisphere is named after Amerigo Vespucci, better known to us as Ameri- cus Vespucius, the Latin form of his name, Vespu- cius was born in Florence, but he removed to Spain a Naming of little bcforc Columbus sailed on his first voyage. He was America. with an expedition that discovered a part of South Amer- ica in 1499. A false claim was made that Vespucius saw that continent two years earlier. But it is now believed that this first date is incorrect ; there are documents which go to show that Vespucius was in Spain during all that year, so that the earliest discovery of the South American Continent was by Columbus in 1498. Americus undoubtedly went to America several times, both from Spain and Portugal, In 1503 he built a fort on the coast of Brazil ; and he left there a little col- ony, the first in that part of South America. Ferdinand of Spain made him pilot-major of his kingdom in 1 508, and he died in 15 12. Americus wrote pleasantly about the new lands which he had seen, and some German gfeosfra- phers were so pleased with his descriptions that they called the country America, in honor of Americus, sup- posing him to have first seen the continent. When North America came to be placed on the maps, this name was Voyages of Americus Vespucius, OTHER DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA. \\ A * Y s I CABOT AT MECCA. applied to it also. Thus, nearly half the world goes by the name of a man who had no claim to be called its discoverer. The voyage of Columbus was undertaken, as we have john seen, to open a trade with the Spice Islands of Asia, and the failure to find these was disappointing. There was another great Italian navigator living at the same time as Columbus, whose name was Zuan Caboto, who is called in English John Cabot. He, also, was probably born in Genoa, but he was naturalized in Venice. He was living in Bristol, in England, in 1495, and had, no doubt, heard of the great discovery of Columbus when he laid before King Henry VII of England his own plans for a voyage to the west. Columbus had been a traveler by sea, and had gone far to the southward and northward. Cabot had also been a traveler, but he had penetrated to the eastward overland, and had reached the city of Mecca, Cabot, lO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Columbus and Henry VII. in Arabia, and had there seen the caravans bringing spices from India. He inquired of the people of these caravans where they got their spices. They said that other caravans brought them to their country, and that the people in those caravans re- [)orted that they bought them from people who lived vet farther away. From all this John Cabot con- cluded that the spices so much valued in Europe must grow in the most easterly part of Asia, and thafhe could reach this part of Asia by sailing to the west, as Columbus had done. While Columbus was trying to persuade Ferdinand and Isabella to send him on a voyage of discovery, he had sent his brother, Bartholomew Columbus, to make a like offer to the English king. When Bartholomew re- turned to Spain with King Henry VII's answer, Christo- pher Columbus had already discovered the New World. But, though Columbus had found what he believed to be a part of Asia, he had not found the region of gold and spices. Cabot believed that he might be more for- tunate. He got permission from Henry VII to sail at the expense of certain English merchants, and in May, 1497, nearly live years after Columbus had started on his first voyage, Cabot set sail from Bristol with only one small vessel and eighteen persons. He discovered the. Continent of North America, which he of course supposed to be a part of Asia. He did not meet an}' Indians, but he brought to King Henry one of their traps for catching game, and a needle for makinir nets. He INDIAN NEEDLES FOR MAKING NETS. OTHER DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA. I I INDIAN'S TRAP. was received with great honor, and he who had gone away a poor Venetian pilot was now called " the Great Admiral," and dressed himself in silks, after the manner of great men 'A GREAT MAN OF THAT TIME.' of that time. The next year, accompanied by his son Sebastian, he set sail with a much larger expedition, to find his way to Japan or China. After going far to the north, he sailed along what is now the coast of Canada and the United States as far to the south as North Carolina. But, as he did not find the riches of Asia, the English appear to have lost much of their interest in Western voyages. There is no account of John Cabot's second re- turn, nor do we know anything about him after his sailing to America the second time. His son Sebastian, who was a great geographer, and who lived to be very old, seems to have always spoken of second voyage of the Cabots. the voyages as though he had made them alone, but we now know that it was John Cabot who discovered North America. Five years after Columbus sailed to America, a Port- Da cama , doubles the Cape uguese expedition, under Vasco da Gama, succeeded in of Good Hope. sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, and reaching Calcutta in India. This was the accomplishment of the dream of Prince Henry the Navigator, who had at this time been dead thirty-four years. It was still believed that America was a part of Asia, and that Columbus's discovery had opened another road to the CAUGHT IN AN INDIAN TRAP. 12 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. THIS MAP SHOWS HOW COLUMBUS FOUND AMERICA IN TRYING TO GET TO ASIA. IT ALSO SHOWS THE VOYAGES OF DA GAMA AND MAGELLAN. Balboa discovers the Pacific. Magellan's expe- dition around the world. MAGELLAN. Indies. It was not till after the death of Colum- bus that people began to suspect that the newly discovered lands were not parts of Asia. The Pacific Ocean was discovered at the west of America, in 15 13, by Vasco Nunez de Balboa, while this explorer was leading a Spanish expedition in Central America. An Indian chief's son, seeing the Spaniards quarreling over the gold they had got, and perhaps wishing to rid his own country of them, told them that, since they were so fond of gold, he could show them an ocean, on the shores of which was the great kingdom of Peru, rich in that metal. Balboa crossed the isthmus, and, wading full-armed into the waters of " The South Sea," as he called the Pacific, took possession of the ocean and all the countries on its coasts for the King and Queen of Spain. It now became a question of finding a way through or around America, so as to come to the rich trade with India, which the Portuguese had reached by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. The Spaniards ac- complished this by an expedition under an explorer Fernando Magellan was a native He served the Portuguese government in the East Indies, and was in the expedition that discovered some of the Spice Islands. Having received a slight from the Portuguese government, he renounced named Magellan, of Portugal. OTHER DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA. 13 his country and entered the service of the King of Spain. He sailed on his famous voyage in September, 1 5 19, with five ships. It was not known then that one could pass around Cape Horn, but South America was thought to reach to the south pole, and Magellan was therefore intent on finding some way of getting through that continent. On the coast of South America he lost one of his vessels, and suppressed a mutiny. In Octo- ber, 1520, he entered the straits that bear his name. His men were very reluctant to go on, and one ship turned back out of the channel and sailed home. With the three ships left he entered the Pacific. At the Philip- pine Islands he was killed in a battle with the natives, and many of his men were massacred. Only one of his ships, the Victoria, succeeded in getting around the world, and she had but eighteen men left alive when she got back, and they were sick and almost starving. This was the first voyage around the globe. But Magellan's route was too long a course for trade, other explorers seek the North- and many other navigators sailed up and down the west Passage. American coast, expecting to find some passage by which they could get through the continent to go to China, India, and Japan. They did not understand that Amer- ica was a continent ; they believed that it might prove to be cut through in some places by straits, like Ma- gellan's, if they could only find them. Several great English navigators tried to discover what they called the Northwest Passage, by sailing along the coast of Labrador and into the rivers and bays of America, while the French thought to get through to China by passing up the river St. Lawrence and through the great lakes at its head. SPANISH EXPLORER. H HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Colonies pro- posed. For a long time after Cabot's discovery, nobody in England thought it worth while to send colonies to North America, which was regarded only as a bar to all attempts to reach Asia by the west. But, the colonists sent from Spain having found gold in great quantities in Mexico and South America, the English at length began to think of settling colonies in North America, to look for gold there also. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Martin Frobisher and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who were both great seekers after a northwest passage to India, united this with a search after gold, and they even made some feeble attempts to plant colonies on the North American coast. But it was not until that very great man. Sir Walter Ralegh, undertook the work, that any wise or hopeful beginning was made in colonization by the English. SIR WALTER RALEGH. CHAPTER III. SIR WALTER RALEGH TRIES TO SETTLE^ A COLONY IN AMERICA. If it had not been for the inter- est which Sir Walter Ralegh took Ralegh's colony in plaus for Settling America, we might never have had a nation of English-speaking people in this coun- try. Ralegh was one of the most brilliant and one of the most ambitious men at the court of Oueen Eliza- beth, as he certainly was one of the most gifted men chartered. SIR V/ ALTER RALEGH'S COLONY. j r of that brilliant time. While yet young-, he fought for years on the side of the Huguenots in the French civil wars, and afterward took part in the war in Ireland. On his return from Ireland, he is said to have won the queen's favor by throwing his new plush cloak into a muddy place in the road for her to walk on. It is certain that by some means he rose rapidly at court. Having received from Oueen Elizabeth a charter which gave him a large territory in America, he sent out an exploring expedition in 1584, ninety-two years after the discovery by Columbus. Eightj^-seven years had passed since John Cabot, in an English ship, first discovered the coast of North America, which had lain all this time unexplored, a mystery and a puzzle to the Old World. Ralegh's expedition was commanded by two cap- Raiegh sends out 111 ^" expedition. tains named Amidas and Barlowe. They landed on that part of the coast which we now call North Caro- lina. The country pleased them very much. They were especially wonder-struck at the surpassing abun- dance of wild grapes for which the North Carolina coast has always been famous, and they tell of great vines " climbing toward the tops of high cedars." To the first Indian they encountered, they presented a shirt and a hat, in which garments he probably felt very fine, for he rowed a little way off from the ship and fell to fishing with his rude tackle, and when he had almost swamped his canoe with fish, he divided them between the white men in the two ships. An Indian chief who visited the ships fancied a bright tin dish more than anything else the white men had. Having procured it by exchange, he made a hole in it, and hung it on his breast as an ornament. i6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The expedition returns. Virginia named. Ralegh's first colony. Ralegh's expedition stayed about six weeks in the New World, and, everything here being strange to the eyes of the explorers, they fell into many mistakes in tr\ing tt> describe what they saw and heard. When they got back to England, they declared that the part of America they had seen was the paradise of the world. Ralegh was much encouraged bv the accounts which his two captains gave of the new country they had found. It was named Virginia at this time, in honor of Oucen Elizabeth, who was often called the " Virgin Oueen." But ^^ the name Virginia, which we ap- ply to two of our States, was then used for all the territories claimed by the English in Amer- ica — that is to say, for the whole coast of the United States between Maine and Georgia, so far as it was known. In 1585, the year after the return of the first expedition, Ralegh sent out a colony to remain in America. Sir Richard Grenville, a famous seaman, had command of this expedition ; but he soon returned to England, leaving the colony in charge of Ralj)h Lane. There were no women in Ralph Lane's company. Thev made their settlement on Roanoke Island, which lies near to the coast of North Carolina, and they explored the mainland in many directions. They spent much time in trving to find iiold, and they seem to have thouiiht that the shell-beads worn bv the Indians were pearls. Like all QUEEN ELIZABETH. SIR WALTER RALEGH'S COLONY. 17 «Roanoke -" ^-^ - Island the others who came to America in that time, they were very desirous of finding a way to get across America, which they believed to be very narrow. They hoped to reach the Pacific Ocean, and so open a new way of sailing to China and the East Indies. The Indians by this time were tired of the white men, and anxious to be rid of them. They told Lane that the Roanoke River came out of a rock so near to a sea at the west that the water sometimes dashed from the sea into the river, making the water of the river salt. Lane believed this Lane tries to find the Pacific story, and set out with most of his men to find a sea ocean, at the head of the river. Long before they got to the head of the Roanoke their provisions gave out. But Lane made a brave speech to his men, and they resolved to go on. Having nothing else to eat, they killed their two dogs, and cooked the meat with sassa- fras-leaves to give it a relish. When this meat was ex- hausted, they got into their boats and ran swiftly down the river, having no food to eat on the way home. Lane got back to Roanoke Island just in time to keep the Indians from killing the men he had left there. Unluckily, the colony at this time had an un- expected visitor. Sir Francis Drake, one of the greatest of the naval commanders, who, in a pre- vious voyage, had discovered the coast of Califoi-- nia, and sailed round the globe in the track of Ma gellan, had been about this time attacking the Spanish The colony in the West Indies. On his return he put in at Roanoke land with sir Island to inquire after the colony. lie furnished the ''^"'^'^ ""^ *• company on the island with a ship and with whatever SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. i8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Tobacco brought to England. Ralegh's second colony. else they needed. But, while he remained at Roanoke, a storm arose which drove to sea the ship he had given to Lane. This so discouraged the colonists that they returned to England in Drake's ships. Ralph Lane and his companions were the first to carry tobacco into England. They learned from the Indians to smoke it in Indian fashion, by drawing the smoke into their mouths and puffing it out throuo^h their nostrils, Ralegh adopted the practice, and many dis- tinguished men and women followed his example. The use of tobacco was greatly promoted by an erroneous opinion of the time that it had great medicinal virtue. Some of the first tobacco-pipes in England were made by using a walnut-shell for the bowl of the pipe and a straw for the stem. It is related that, when Ralegh's servant first saw his master with the smoke cominof from his nose, he thought him to be on fire, and poured a pitcher of ale, which he was fetching, over Sir Walter's head, to put the fire out. Ralegh set to work, with the help of others, to send out another colony. This time he sent women and chil- dren, as well as men, intending to make a permanent settlement. The governor of this company was John White, an artist, who had been with Lane's colony. White made many interesting drawings of the people, plants, and animals of the country, and some of his draw- ings are still preserved in London. In the chapters of this book devoted to the Indians are some pictures made from White's drawings. Soon after White's company SIR V^ALTER RALEGH'S COLONY. jg had settled themselves on Roanoke Island, an English child was born. This little girl, being the first English child born in Virginia, was named Virginia Dare. John White, the governor of the colony, who was Ralegh's sec- id colony sappears. TT- ••T-\' iri II T-'iir onA. colony Virgmia Uare s grandfather, went back to England for di supplies. He was detained by the war with Spain, and, when he got back to Roanoke Island, the colony had dis- appeared. Ralegh had spent so much mone}^ already that he was forced to give up the attempt to plant a colony in America. But he sent several times to seek for the lost people of his second colon}-, without finding them. Twenty years after John White left them, it was said that seven of them were still alive amonir the In- dians of North Carolina. After the failure of White's colony, Ralegh engaged in Death of Raiegh. the defense of England against the Spanish Armada. On the accession of James I, he was thrown into the Tower of London, where he was kept for more than twelve years, and then released. In 1618 King James had this i great man put to death to please the King of Spain. When Ralegh was about to be beheaded, he felt of the ' edge of the axe, and said, " It is a sharp medicine to cure me of all my diseases." He was a great soldier, a great statesman, a great seaman, an excellent historian, and a charming poet. He is said to have first planted the potato in Ireland. But our interest in him here arises INDIAN PIPE _^2*^ ■ VV^^~^~~>>S^^5^'^ BtW^\ PIPE MADE OF THE DECORATED f/BKmL' M^'^^^^ ■- ~~-^^li f't^ SHELL OF THE WITH FEATHERS. ^^SWffl. . ^M^^^S^' " - - ^^t'ifi::^ ENGLISH WALNUT. 20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. from the fact that his was the first colony of English people that was ever actually landed in this country, and his experiments first showed the true way of plant- ing colonies in North America. Motives to col- ony-planting. Gosnold's colony. CHAPTER IV. HOW JAMESTOWN WAS SETTLED. After the total disappearance of Ra- legh's second colony, Englishmen were for a while too much engrossed in the with Spain and their own politics to give /^yF^iA any attention to the peopling of " Virginia," IS they called the coast of North America. "%' But the stories of a virgin land, where grapes grew wild, which Ralegh's ships had brought back, probably kept alive the desire to plant a colony. Then, too, Spain, the great enemy of England at that time, was deriving vast wealth from the silver-mines of Mexico and South America, and men asked why Eng- land should not find silver and gold in the unexplored wilderness of northern America. In 1602, sixteen years after Ralegh had sent his second colony, Bartholomew Gosnold, a navigator of the west of England, tried to plant a colony. He sailed to the coast of New England, and gave to Cape Cod the name it bears now, and then, following the example of Ralegh's people, he selected an island on the coast for his colony. The island chosen was that now known as Cuttyhunk. IfOlV JAMESTOWN WAS SETTLED. 21 This island contains a large pond, and in this pond is a small island, and on this little island Gosnold thought that with twenty men he might be safe from the attacks of the savages. Like a set of Crusoes, they proceeded to build a flat-bottomed boat to ply about the pond ; then they du2: a cellar, and built a house on the little isl- cosnoid's colony and, thatching the roof with grass. But there sprang up a quarrel about the division of the profits on the furs they had bought from the Indians and the sassafras they had dug, and so the whole company returned to England, and the coast of New England lay without an English inhabitant for eighteen years longer. But Gosnold did not lie idle. The great thought of '^^^ Virginia Company. planting a new nation in America had taken possession of this sea-captain, as it had before of the brilliant imagina- tion of Ralegh. Joining himself with some of the mer- chants who had been partners in Sir Walter's last vent- ure, and others, Gosnold succeeded in forming what was generally called " The Virginia Company." This com- pany sent to America the colony that made the first per- manent beginning of English settlement in this country. It was in the stormy December of 1606 that the little Departure of the colony. colony set out. There were, of course, no steamships then ; and the vessels they had were clumsy, smallj and slow. The largest of the three ships that carried out the handful of people which began the settlement of the United States was named " Susan Constant." She was of a hundred tons burden. Not many ships so small cross the ocean to-day. But the " God-speed " which went along with her was not half so big, and the smallest of the three was a little pinnace of only twenty tons, called " Discovery." A MERCHANT OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY. 22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The voyage, Qii accouiit of storms, these feeble ships were not able and the arrival r . , r i t- i • i r • i in Virginia. to get out oi Sight ot the English coast lor six weeks. People in that time were afraid to sail straight across the unknown Atlantic Ocean ; they went away south by the Canary Islands and the West Indies, and so made the distance twice as great as it ought to have been. It took the new colony about four months to get from London to Virginia. They intended to land on Roanoke Island, where Ralegh's unfortunate colonies had been settled, but a storm drove them into a large river, which they called " James River," in honor of the king. They arrived in Virginia in the month of April, when the banks of the river were covered with flowers. PRESENT APPEARANCE OF JAMESTOWN. Settlement at Jamestown. Great white dog -wood blossoms and masses of bright -colored red -bud are in bloom all along the James River at this sea- son. It is not surprising, therefore, that the new- . comers should declare that heaven and earth had agreed together to make this a ^ yi f|;^^ country to live in. v^w*. After sailing up and down the river to examine the country, they selected for their dwelling- place a low-lying but pleasant-looking peninsula, which, by the action ot the water, has since become an island. They named this place Jamestown. They had delayed HOW JAMESTOWN WAS SETTLED. ^X SO long that their supply of food was pretty well con- sumed, and it was too late to plant, even if they had had cleared ground. They had brought the wrong kind of people ; most of them were " gentlemen " un- used to work, and unfit ^. ,,^_ , _ ^ji ) j i MLJUiL...-,a,-a uji Each man in Jamestown had to take his turn every third night in watching against the Many of the coi- onists perish. Indians, lying on the cold, bare ground all night. The only water to drink was that from the river, which was bad. The people were soon nearly all of them sick ; there were not five able-bodied men to defend the place had it been attacked. Sometimes as many as three or four died in a single night, and sometimes the living were hardly able to bury those who had died. There were about a hundred colonists landed at Jamestown, and one half of these died in the first few months. All this time the men in Jamestown were living in wretched tents and poor little hovels covered with earth, and some of them even in holes dug into the ground. As the sickness passed away, those who remained built themselves better cabins, and thatched the roofs with straw. 24 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Adventures of Captain John Smith. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH Smith among the Turks. One of the most industrious men in the colony at this time was Captain John Smith, a young man who had had many adventures, of which he was fond of boasting. Born in England in 1579, he went into the wars in the Netherlands while he was little more than a boy. He was after- ward shipwrecked, robbed, and in great peril from want in France. He was, he tells us, thrown overboard bv superstitious pilgrims in a storm, as a kind of Jonah, but, hnding no whale to save him, he man- aged to swim ashore. The Turks and Christians were at that time fighting in the east of Europe, and all sorts of adventurers sought these wars, among the rest this roving young John Smith. Here, if we may believe his own account of himself, he introduced a new way of signaling from one part of the army to another, and invented a destructive kind of fire-works. One day, while the Christians were besiesfino: a town, a Turk rode out and challenged anv Christian to fisfht him in mortal combat, for the amusement of the ladies, who found the time pass heavilv, no doubt, in a besieged city. Ladies in that day, whether Turks or Christians, liked these bloody encounters. Smith engaged the Turk and killed him, as he did another the next dav, and then a third. For this success. Smith was granted a coat of arms bearing three Turks' heads in a shield. Fie was at length made prisoner bv the Turks and reduced to galling slaverv, from which he escaped bv beating out his master's brains with a flail, dressing himself in his master's clothes, mounting his horse, and HOW JAMESTOWN WAS SETTLED. 2^ getting off into the wilderness with a sack of wheat for food, and so making his way into Russia, after sixteen days of wandering. After other adventures, he got back to England, still a young man. 'With a liking for bold undertakings, it was natural that he should join the new colony setting sail for Virginia. In Virginia he followed the same adventurous career, smith captured TT 1 1 !• 1 • T-\' !> 1-11 ^y ^^^ Indians. He took the little pmnace " Discovery and sailed up and down the rivers and bays of Virginia, exploring the country, getting acquainted with many tribes of Indians, and exchanging beads, bells, and other trinkets for corn, with which he kept the Jamestown people from starv- ing. In one of these trips he was attacked by the In- dians, who killed ten of his men and made him prisoner. But he interested the savages in his -^ pocket-compass, which was a great mystery to them, and so diverted them from putting him to death. The Indians led him from one of their villages to another, probably to satisfy the curiosity of their people regard- ing this strange captive. He was brought at length to Powhatan, the head chief of about thirty tribes, who after a while set him free and sent him back to Jamestown. During this captivity he won the friendship of Pocahontas, one of the daughters of Pow- hatan. She was then about ten or eleven years old, and Captain Smith greatly admired her. Many years afterward he said that Powhatan had at one time or- dered his brains beaten out, and that, when his head was laid upon a stone for that purpose, Pocahontas had put her arms about his neck and saved his life. The story is so pretty and romantic that one does not like to disbelieve it. A SOLDIER WITH MATCHLOCK GUN AND LIGHTED FUSE. 26 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. F ^ Roanoke \ Island John Smith was the first to explore Chesapeake Bay, which he did in two voyages, enduring many hardships with cheerfuhiess. When it was cold, Smith and his men would move their fire two or three times of a night, that they might have the warm ground to lie upon. He managed the Indians well, getting corn for the settlers ; he con- trived to put down several mutinies at Jamestown, and rendered many other services to the colony. He was the leading man in the settlement, and came at length Captain Smith as to bc govcmor. But whcu many hundreds of new explorer and gov- , i i . ^ i i t • ernor. scttlers wcre brought out under men who were his enemies, and Smith had been injured by an explosion of gunpowder, he gave up the government and went back to England. He afterward explored the coast north of Cape Cod, and named that country New Eng- land. His chief fault was a vanity that led him to make the most of his adventures, which appear to have been romantic enough, even when allowance is made for his proneness to exaggeration in telling them. CHAPTER V. The starving time. THE STARVING TIME, AND WHAT FOLLOWED. When Captain John Smith went back to England, in 1609, there were nearly five hundred white people in Virginia. But the settlers soon got into trouble with the THE STARVING TIME. 27 Indians, who lay in the woods and killed every one that ventured out. There was no longer any chance to buy corn, and the food was soon exhausted. The starving people ate the hogs, the dogs, and the horses, even to their skins. Then they ate rats, mice, snakes, toad- stools, and whatever they could get that might stop their hunger. A dead Indian was presently eaten, and, as their hunger grew more extreme, the people were forced to consume their own dead. Starving men wandered off into the woods and died there ; their companions, finding them, devoured them as hungry wild beasts might have done. This was always afterward remem- bered as " the starving time. Along with the people who came at the close of John sir Thomas Gates _,.,,. , 111 1 1-iir wrecked on the Smith s time, there had been sent another ship-load of Bermuda islands, people, with Sir Thomas Gates, a new governor for the colony. This vessel had been shipwrecked, but Gates ^=. and his people had got ashore on the Bermuda '- Islands. 5^ These islands had no inhabitants at that time. Here these shipwrecked people lived well on wild hogs. When spring came, they built two little vessels of the cedar-trees which grew on the island. These they rigged with sails taken from their wrecked ships, and, getting 28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Gates reaches Jamestown. Arrival of De la •\Varr. their people aboard, thej made their way to James- town. When they got there, they found alive but sixty of the four hundred and ninety people left in Virginia in the autumn before, and these sixty would all have died had Gates been ten days later in coming. The food that Gates brought would barely last them sixteen days. So he put the Jamestown people aboard his little cedar ships, intending to sail to Newfoundland in hope of there falling in with some English fishing-vessels. He set sail down the river, leaving not one English settler on the whole continent of lerica. But, before Gates and his peo- got out of James River, they let a boat rowing up toward them. Lord De la Warr, whose name we now write Delaware, had been sent out from England as gov- ernor of Virginia. From some Englishmen stationed at the mouth of the river he had learned that Gates and all the people were coming down. He immediatel}^ sent his long-boat to turn them back again. On a Sunday morning De la Warr landed at Jamestown, which looked like some ancient ruin, because the wretched people had burned many of the palisades and cabins for fire-wood. De la Warr's first act was to kneel upon the shore awhile in prayer. Then he went to the little church, where he took possession of the government,. THE STARVING TIME.^ 2Q and rebuked the people for the idleness that had brought them so much suffering. But Lord De la Warr held to the notion of the De la warr-s government. time, that there must be gold in almost every mountain in America ; so he wasted time in trying to penetrate to the mountains for gold, and in building a fort higher up the river, where Richmond now stands, which was abandoned as soon as finished. A great sickness pre- vailed, and a hundred and fifty of the colonists died. Lord De la Warr, finding himself very ill, left the col- ony, to the great discouragement of the people. The next year Sir Thomas Dale took charge, and he sir Thomas Daie. remained in Virginia for five years, part of the time as governor-in-chief and part of the time as second in command under Sir Thomas Gates. Dale was a soldier, and ruled w^ith extreme severity. He forced the idle settlers to labor, he drove away some of the Indians and settled new towns, and he built fortifications. But the people hated him for his savage harshness. He punished men by flogging, and by setting them to work in irons for years. Those who rebelled in desperation, or tried to run away from their misery, were caught and put to death in barbarous ways. Some were burned alive, others tortured by being broken on the wheel, and one man for merely stealing food to satisfy his hun- ger was chained up in a cruel way and left to starve to death. Powhatan, the head chief of the neighboring tribes. The capture of Pocahontas. gave the colony a great deal of trouble during the first Her marriage, part of Dale's time. His daughter Pocahontas, who as a child had often played with the boys within the pali- sades of Jamestown, and had shown herself friendly to ;o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. PORTRAIT OF POCAHONTAS. Pocahontas in England. Tobacco first raised in Vir- {;inia Captain Smith and others in their trips among the In- dians, was now a woman grown. While she was vis- iting a chief named Japazaws, an EngHsh captain named Argall bribed that chief with a cop- per kettle to betray her into his hands. Argall took her a captive to James- town. Here a white man by the name of John Rolfe married her, after she had re- ceived Christian bap- tism. This marriage brought about a peace between Powhatan and the English settlers in Virginia. When Dale went back to Eno^land in 1616 he took with him some of the Indians. Poca- hontas, who was now called " the Lady Rebecca," and - her husband went to En^-land with Dale. Pocahontas was called a "princess" in England, and received much attention. But when about to start back to the colon)^ she died, leaving a little son. One of the first requisites for the success of a colony is some commodity that may be exported to pay for clothing and those other necessaries of life which must be bought from older countries. The attempts to hnd gold or silver in Virginia had proved vain. Silk, cot- ton, and many other things were attempted at James- THE STARVING TIME. 31 town from the very start, but the only product that was found really profitable was tobacco. This " weed," as it was even then called, was, like Indian corn and the po- tato, unknown to Europe until after America was dis- covered. It WP" int'-o^'nced under the belief that it was of great value as a 1 . When Ralegh had made its use fashionable in ' i, the English people bought "^'r tobacco from o: But John Rolfe, the same married Pocahonu..., and who seems to have been iond of new experiments, thought that, i*^ Vi'^o^inia Indians could grow tobacco for their ow grow it in Virginia for the English rr tobacco-culture in 161 2, and it was im :^>--'^l^i I GETTING READY TO GO TO VIR- GINIA ; SHOWING THE DRESS OF PEOPLE IN THAT TIME. cessful that tobacco became in three or four years the money by which trade was carried on and debts paid, and it remained the recognized currency of Virginia and Maryland for about a hundred and fifty years. Tobacco 32 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. brought a large price in 1612 and for years afterward, and, as it furnished the first means by which people in Virginia might gain a living, it helped to make the colony successful. But in 1616, when Dale gave up the government, there were only about three hun- dred and fifty English people in Virginia, and none besides in North America. CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT CHARTER OF VIRGINIA, AND THE FIRST MASSACRE BY THE INDIANS. Living and work- DuRiNG all the carly years of the Virginia colony the ing in common. people were fed and clothed out of a common stock of provisions. They were also obliged to work for this stock. No division was made of the land, nor could the industrious man get any profit by his hard work. The laziest man was as well off as the one who worked hard- est, and under this arrangement men neglected their work, and the colony was always poor. The colonists had been promised that after five 3^ears they should have land of their own and be free, but this promise was not '^__ kept. In 1614 Sir Thomas Dale gave to some who had ENGLISH COUNTRYMAN bccu lougcst \\\ Virginia three acres of ground apiece, and allowed them one month in the year to work on their little patches. For this they must support them- selves and give the rest of their work to the common stock. Even this arrangement made them more indus- trious. But the cruel military laws put in force by the AT THAT TIME. THE GREAT CHARTER OF VIRGINIA. 11 governor made Virginia so unpopular that men sen- tenced to be hanged for petty felonies refused pardon when offered to them on condition of their going to the colony. Argall, who came after Dale, was a greedy rascal, The Great char- ter of 1618. who governed very badly, and Virginia was almost ruined. In 1618 many new emigrants came out, and Lord De la Warr was again sent as governor, but he died on the way. The " Virginia Company," of London, which had the government of the colony about this time, began to come under the control of certain great states- men with liberal ideas. Among them was Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton. These men were engaged in Parliament in resisting the tyranny of King James's government, and in trying to establish liberty in England. This was slow work in an old country where the sovereign had long had almost absolute power. But Southampton and Sandys and their friends probably thought it best to begin rightly in Virginia, and so to make that country a refuge for those who suffered from oppression in England. The Virginia Company, taking advantage of the power which the king had given to it, granted to Virginia, in November, 1618, a "Great Charter," under which the people of the colony were allowed a voice in making their own laws. This was the beginning of free government in America. Under the charter the government of Virginia was put into the hands of a governor, a " council of estate," and a " Gen- eral Assembly." The members of the General Assembly were chosen to represent the different settlements or " boroughs " in Virginia. The other American colonies afterward took pattern from this threefold government. COUNTRYWOMAN OF THE TIME. ■, ,, J/ISTOJ^y OF THE UXITED STATES. Features of the Xlic govcmment of thc United States by a President, charter govern- _ ment that re- a Senate, and a House of Representatives shows that the main. ideas put into the Great Charter have left their mark on the Constitution of our country. Thc governments of all our States also show traces of the same idea. Each State has a governor, a Senate, and a House of Representa- tives. So that the plan arranged in 1618 for a few hun- dred people in \'irginia was a tiny stream that has si)read out into a irreat river. Division of land 'fhc Grcat Charter also gave the people of Virginia in Virginia. . r i j the riirht to divide the land mto farms, and to own and work ground each for himself. When the new governor, Sir George Yeardley, got to \'irginia in the spring of 1619, bringing this good news that the settlers were to live under laws of their own making, were to cultivate their own land, and enjoy the fruits of their own labors, they thought themselves the happiest people in the world. Sending of wives -Vt; tliis time there were but few women in Virginia, to Virginia. . and none ot the men mtended to remam there long. It was thought that the colony would be more hrmly plant- ed if the colonists had wives. Young women were there- fore sent out to be married to the settlers. But, before anv man could marrv one of these, he was obliged to gain iier consent, and to pay the cost of her passage, which was about a hundred and fifty pounds ol tobac- co. This venture proved very satisfactory to the \'\\- ginians, and ship-loads of women were therefore sent for wives from time to time for vears afterward. When the colonists had land and houses of their own, with wives and children, thev felt themselves at home in America, and no lonirer thouirht of iroing back to England. THE GREAT CHARTER OF VIRGINIA. 35 "Jack of the Feather." Before this there had been a good many small wars Indian troubles, and troubles of one kind or other with the Indians. But, as the Indians had few fire-arms, the white men could easily defend themselves. After 1619 many efforts were made to civilize and convert the savages. Money was given to educate their children, and a college was planned for them. To conciliate Opechankano, who was brother to Powhatan and had succeeded him, the white people built that chief a house. Nothing about this dwelling interested its owner so much as the lock, which was a great novelty to him. He took delight in locking and unlocking the door many times a day. One ambitious Indian brave, whom the white people called "Jack of the Feather," and who was believed to be proof against bullets, was suspected of wishing war. At length he killed a white man, and the white man's serv- ants, in trying to take him to the governor, shot him. The Indians did not show any resentment at his death at first, and Opechankano said that the sky might fall soon- er than he would break the peace. But on the 22d of March, 1622, while the men of the colony were in the fields, the Indians suddenly fell on the settlements, killing the white people mostly with their own axes, hatch- ets, and hoes. Three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children were slain in a single day. One Indian lad, living in a white man's house, had been notified by his brother, who lay down by him during the night, that the massacre would take place the next day, and that he was expected to slav the man in whose house he dwelt, whose name was Pace. But 36 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The Virginia Company dis- solved. the boy could not bear to kill his benefactor, and when his brother had gone he got up and warned Mr. Pace of the impending danger. Pace hast- ened to Jamestown and noti- fied the governor, so that some of the settlements had time to put themselves in a state of de- fense. From this time there was almost continual war with the. Indians for many years. King James did not like the Virginia Company after it passed into the hands of those who wished "^ to establish the liberties of the people,, and he made many efforts to get it out of their control. In 1624 the company was dissolved, and the colony was put under the government of the king. But the king, when he put down the Virginia Company, promised to the colony all the liberties which they then enjoyed. This promise was not well kept by his successors in after-years ; the Virginians were often oppressed by the governors sent to them, and in 1639 one Kemp, the secretary of the colony, seems to have run away to England with the Great Charter of 161 8, of which no copy can now be found. But the right to pass laws in the General Assembly was never quite taken away. THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. Z7 CHAPTER VII. THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. PURITAN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. In the seventeenth century (that is, between the year 1600 and the year 1700) there was much religious per- secution. In some countries the Catholics persecuted the Protest- ants, in other countries the Protest- ants persecuted the Catholics, and sometimes one kind of Protestant persecuted another. There were people in Engfland who did not like the ceremonies of the The separatists. Church of England, as established by law. These were called Puritans. Some of these went so far as to sepa- rate themselves from the Established Church, and thus got the name of Separatists. They were persecuted in England, and many of them fled to Holland. Among these were the members of a little Separat- The pilgrims in Holland. ist congregation in Scrooby, in the north of England, whose pastor's name was John Robinson. In 1607, the year in which Jamestown was settled, these persecuted people left England and settled in Holland, where they lived about thirteen years, most of the time in the city of Leyden. Then they thought they would like to plant a colony in America, where they could be religious in their own way. These are the people that we call " The Pilgrims, on account of their wanderings for the sake of their religion. About half of them were to go first. The rest went down to the sea to say farewell to those who were going. PURITAN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. z > < I LU LU < THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. 39 amestown It was a sad parting, as they all knelt down on the shore and prayed together. The Pilgrims came to America in a ship called the Mayflower. There were about a hundred of them, and they had a stormy and wretched passage. They intend- ed to go to the Hudson River, but their cap- tain took them to Cape Cod. After exploring the coast north of that cape for some distance, they se- The voyage to lected as a place to land a harbor which had been called iviTyflower" Plymouth on the map prepared by Captain John Smith, who had sailed along this coast in an open boat in 1614. All the Indians who had lived at this place had died The landing of the Pilgrims. a lew years before of a pestilence, and the Pilgrims found the Indian fields unoccupied. They first landed at Plymouth on the nth day of December, 1620, as the days were then counted. This is the same as the 21st of December now, the mode of counting having changed since that time. (Through a mistake, the 22d of Decem- ber is sometimes kept in New England as " Forefathers' Day.") Before landing, the Pilgrims drew up an agree- ment by which they promised to be governed. The bad voyage, the poor food with which they were Hair of the provided, and a lack of good shelter in a climate colder than that from which they came, had their natural effect. Like the first settlers at Jamestown, they were soon nearly all sick. Forty-four out of the hundred Pil- grims died before the winter was ended, and by the time the first year was over half of them were dead. The Pilgrims were afraid of the Indians, some of whom had attacked the first exploring party that had landed. To prevent the savages from finding out how much the colony Pilgrims die. 40 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. First acquaint- ance with the Indians. Myles Standish and the Indians. Plymouth united with Massachu- setts in 1692. had been weakened by disease, they leveled all the graves, and planted Indian corn over the place in which the dead were buried. One day, after the winter was over, an Indian walked into the village and said in English, "Welcome, English- men." He was a chief named Samoset, who had learned a little English from the fishermen on the coast of Maine. Samoset afterward brought with him an Indian named Squanto, who had been carried away to England by a cruel captain many years before, and then brought back. Squanto remained with the Pilgrims, and taught them how to plant their corn as the Indians did, by putting 'f. * one or two fish into every hill for manure. He taught them many other things, and acted as their interpreter in their trading with the Indians. He told the Indians that they must keep peace with the white men, who had the pestilence stored in their cellar along with the gunpowder ! The neighboring chief, Massasoit, was also a good friend to the Pilgrims as long as he lived. Captain Myles Standish was the military commander at Plymouth. He dealt severely with any Indians sup- posed to be hostile. Finding that certain of the Massa- chusetts Indians were planning to kill all the whites, he and some of his men seized the plotters suddenly and killed them with the knives which the Indians Avore sus- pended from their own necks. The people of Plymouth suffered much from scarcity of food for several years. They had often nothing but oysters or clams to eat for a long time together, and no THE COMING OF THE PILGRIMS. 41 drink but water. They held their meetings in a square house on top of a hill. On the flat roof of this house were six small cannon. The people were called to church by the beating of a drum. The men marched in procession to church, followed by the governor, the elder or preacher, and Captain Standish. They carried loaded fire-arms with them when they went to meeting on Sunday, and put them where they could reach them easily. The town was surrounded by a stockade, and had three gates. Eld- er Brewster was the religious teacher of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, their minister, John Robinson, having stayed with those who waited in Holland, and died there. It is said that Brewster, when he had nothing but shell-fish and water for dinner, would cheerfully give thanks that they were " permit- ted to suck of the abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sand." Like the Jamestown people, they tried a plan of living out of a common stock, but with no better suc- cess. In 1624 each family received a small allotment of land for its own, and from that time there "was always plenty to eat in Plym- outh. Others of the VrJy?^V ^ >v -7 1 ^;'"' i PILGRIMS ESCORTING THE GOVERNOR, ELDER BIIEWSTER, AND MYLES STANDISH TO MEETING. 42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Pilgrims came to them from Holland, as well as a few emigrants from England. Plymouth Colony was, next to Virginia, the oldest colony of all, but it did not grow very fast, and in 1692, by a charter from King William III, it was united with Massachusetts, of which its terri- tory still forms a part. CHAPTER VIII. OLIVER CROMWELL. THE COMING OF THE PURITANS. Before the Pilgrims had become comfortably set- tled in their new home, other English people came to various parts of the New England coast to the northward of Plymouth. About 1623 a few scattering immigrants, mostly fishermen, traders with the Indians, and timber-cutters, began to settle here and there along the sea about Massa- settiers along cliusctts Bay, and in what afterward came to be the the New Eng- land coast. colonies of New Hampshire and Maine. We have seen in the preceding chapter that the Pil- grims belonged to that party which had separated itself from the Church of England, and so got the name of The English Separatists. But there were also a sfreat manv people Puritans. ^ . , ^ J V V who did not like the ceremonies of the Established Church, but who would not leave it. These were called Puritans, because they sought to purify the Church from what they thought to be wrong. They formed a large part of the English people, and at a later time, under Oliver Cromwell, they got control of England. But at THE COMING OF THE PURITANS. 43 PURITAN GENTLEMAN. The Massachu- setts Company sends out its first colony, 1628. the time of the settlement of New England the party opposed to the Puritans was in power, and the Puritans were persecuted. The little colony of Plymouth, which had now got through its sufferings, showed them a way out of their troubles. Many of the Puritans began to think of emigration. In 1628, when Plymouth had been settled almost eight years, the Massachusetts Company was formed. This was a company like the Virginia Company that had governed Virginia at first. The Massachu- setts Company was controlled by Puritans, and pro- posed to make settlements within the territory granted to it in New England. The first party sent out by this company settled at Salem in 1628. Other settlers were sent the next year. But in 1630 a new and bold move was made. The The great mi- gration to Mas- Massachusetts Company resolved to change the place sachusetts, 1630. of holding its meetings from London to its new colony in America. This would give the people in the colony, as members of the company, a i-ight to govern them- selves. The principal founder of the Massachusetts Col- ony and the most remarkable and admirable man among its leaders was John Winthrop, who was born in 1588. He was chosen Governor of the Massachusetts Company in order that he might bring the charter and all the ma- chinery of the government with him to America. When this proposed change became known in England, many of the Puritans desired to go to America. Winthrop, the new governor, set sail for Massachusetts Bay in 1630 with the charter and about a thousand people. The governor and a part of his company settled at Boston, and that became the capital of the colony. PURITAN LADY. 44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Character of Winthrop. Emigration to New England. Winthrop was almost continually governor until he died, in 1649. He was a man of great wisdom. When another of the leading men in the colony wrote him an angry letter, he sent it back, saying that "he was not willing to keep such a provocation to ill-feeling by him." The writer of the letter answered, " Your overcoming yourself has overcome me." When the colony had little food, and Winthrop's last bread was in the oven, he di- vided the small remainder of his flour among the poor. That very day a ship-load of pro- visions came. Winthrop dressed plainly, di'ank little but water, and labored with his hands among his servants. He counted it the great comfort of his life that he had a " loving and dutiful son." This son was also named John. He was a man of excellent virtues, and was the first Governor of Connecticut. None of the colonies was set- tled more rapidly than Massachu- setts. Twenty thousand people came between 1630 and 1640, for New England was at this time regarded as a great refuge for the Puritans who suffered persecution in England. The Puritans themselves were not free from the intoler- ance of the times; and when a new i-eligious party, led by a Mrs. Hutchinson, arose in Boston soon after the set- tlement, the adherents to the new doctrines were banish- ed for disturbing the peace of the infant colony. About the same time there came the war with the Pequot In- dians, about which more will be told in another chapter. JOHN WINTHROP. THE COMING OF THE PURITANS. 45 REV. JOHN DAVENPORT. Connecticut set- tled, 1636. New Haven Colony settled. Some of the Puritans in Massachu- setts were dissatisfied with their lands. In 1635 and 1636 these people, under the leadership of a great divine named Thomas Hooker, crossed through the unbroken woods to the Connecticut River and settled the towns of Wind- sor, Wethersfield, and Hartford. There were already trading-posts on the Con- necticut River; but this emigration of Hooker and his friends was the real beginning of the Colony of Connecticut. Another col- ony was planted in 1638 in the region about New Haven. It was made up of Puritans under the lead of the Rev. John Davenport. In 1665 the New Haven Colony was united with Connecticut. In 1636 Roger Williams, a minister at Salem, in Mas- Roger wiiuams sachusetts, was banished from that colony on account of his peculiar views on several subjects, religious and political. One of these was the doctrine that every man had a right to worship God without interference by the government, a very strange doctrine in that day. Will- iams went to the head of Narragansett Bay, and estab- lished a settlement on the principle of entire religious lib- erty. The disputes in Massachusetts resulted in other settlements of ban- ished people on Narragansett Bay, tions of Rhode Island, 1636. HOUSE OF THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND. 46 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. New Hampshire. Maine. .MERCHANT'S WIFE IN 1620. which were all at length united in one colony, from which came the present State of Rhode Island. The first settlement of New Hampshire was made at Little Harbor, near Portsmouth, in 1623. The population of New Hampshire was increased by those who left the Massachusetts Colony on account of the religious disputes and persecutions there. Other set- tlers came from England. But there was much con- fusion and dispute about land-titles and about govern- ment, in consequence of which the colony was set- tled slowly. New Hampshire was several times joined to Massachusetts, but it was finally separated from it in 1 74 1. As early as 1607, about the time Virginia was set- tled, a colony was planted in Maine. Like the people who settled Virginia, those who came to Maine in 1607 were looking particularly for gold-mines. The hard winter and other things discouraged them, and they went back the year after they came. Other settlers planted themselves on the coast for a time about 1622 and 1623, but the first permanent settlement seems to have been the one made at Pemaquid in 1625. The pioneers of Maine were not religious refugees, but men interested in the fisheries, the trade with the Indians, and the cutting of timber. They submitted to the gov- ernment of Massachusetts in 1652 ; but the " District of Maine," as it was called, suffered disorders from con- flicting governments set up under different authorities until it was at length annexed to Massachusetts by the charter given to that colony in 1692. It remained a part of Massachusetts until it was admitted to the Union as a separate State in 1820. THE COMING OF THE PURITANS. 47 The New England colonies were governed under charters, which left them, in general, free from interference from England. Plymouth, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, New Haven, and Rhode Island were the only colonies on the continent that had the privi- lege of choosing their own gov- ernors. In 1684 the first Massa- chusetts charter was taken away, and after that the governors of Massachusetts were appointed by the king, but under a new charter given in 1692 the Government in 1 -11 r • 1 1 Ti • '■^^ New Eng- colony enjoyed the greater part of its old liberties. land colonies. Plymouthl Providences 1620. HartfSrd ^^36. >^ ^^ CHAPTER IX. THE COMING OF THE DUTCH. Wphle Captain John Smith was in Virginia (see Chapter IV), he had a notion that there was a passage into the Pacific Ocean somewhere to the north of the Virginia Colony. He may have got this opinion from some old maps, or from misunderstanding something that the Indians told him while he Captain John Smith sends a map to Hudson. THE HALF-MOON JN HUDSON RIVER. 48 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Hudson seeks a new route to China. DUTCH COUNTRY PEOPLE OF OLD TIMES. Hudson ex- plores Hudson River. was exploring the Chesapeake Bay. He sent to his old friend Henry Hudson, in England, a letter and a map, which showed a way to go by sea into the Pacific Ocean, a little to the north of Virginia. Henry Hudson was an Englishman already known as a bold explorer. Of his birth and early life nothing is known, nor is anything known of the early voyages by which he became famous. In 1607, in the employ of an English company, he undertook to find the much-desired route to China by sailing straight across the north pole. He failed, of course, though he got farther north than any other voyager had done. In the next year, 1608, for the same company, he tried to find a passage to the East Indies by sailing to the northeast. He did not succeed, but he sets down in his journal that some of his company saw one day a mermaid, with a body like a woman and a tail like a porpoise. Intelligent people believed in such monsters in that day. In 1609, soon after getting John Smith's letter and map, Hudson went to Holland and hired himself to the Dutch East India Company. This company sent him out with a little yacht, called the Half-Moon, manned by twenty sailors, to find a passage to China, by ,>. going around the north coast of Europe — a pas- sage only discovered in our own time. But Hud- son found the sea in that direction so full of ice that he was obliged to give up the attempt to get to China in that way. So, remembering John Smith's map, he set sail for America, contrary to the orders of his employers. Hudson sailed as far to the south as the entrance to the Chesapeake, and then explored the coast to the THE COMING OF THE DUTCH. 49 DUTCH WOMEN OF OLD TIMES. northward. He went into Delaware Bay, and afterward came to anchor in New York Harbor. In hope of find- ing a way to the East Indies, he kept on up the river, which we now call Hudson River, for eleven days. But when he had sailed up its lovely reaches, and had passed through the bold highlands into the upper waters and so on, in view of the Catskills, nearly as far as to the place where Albany is now, Hudson became satisfied that the road to China did not lie there, and so he turned his ship about, sailed down the river, and returned to Europe. In the year fol- lowing he tried to find a way to China by the northwest, but, while sailing in what is now called Hudson Bay, part of his crew rose against him, and, putting Hudson and some of his men into an open boat, sailed away, leaving them to perish. Though Hudson was an Englishman, he made his The Dutch estab- lish a fur-trade on voyage into Hudson River for the Dutch, and the very Hudson River, next year the Dutch merchants began a fur-trade with the Indians on the river that Hudson had discovered. In the year that followed (1611) they explored the coast northeastward beyond Boston Harbor, and to the south- ward they sailed into the Delaware River, claiming all this country, which was then without any inhabitants but Indians. They called this territory New Nether- land. Netherland is another name for what we call Holland. The Dutch had built a trading-post, called a " fort," The Dutch plant a colony in New at what is now Albany, and perhaps others like it else- Netheriand. where, but they did not send out a colony of people to settle the country until 1623. Then two principal set- 50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. tlements were made, the one at Al- bany, the other at Wallabout, now part of Brooklyn. But the island of Manhattan, on which New York now stands, had been the center of the Dutch trade, and it soon be- came the little capital of the colony. The town which grew about the fort, that stood at the south end of what is now New York city, was called by the ^ Dutch New Amsterdam, after the principal city ff^ of Holland, their own country. It was a thrifty village, with a considerable trade with the Indian country in wampum, smoked oysters, and beaver-skins. The Dutch also had trading -posts on the Con- pianting of New uccticut Rivcr and on the Delaware River. But on Sweden, and its conquest by the the Counectlcut Rivcr they ffot into trouble with Dutch. ^ . the English settlers, who claimed the whole of that country, and presently crowded the Dutch out of it. On the Delaware River the Dutch had trouble with a company of Swedes, who had planted a colony there in 1638. This colony the Swedes called New Sweden, just as the Dutch called theirs New Neth- erland, and as the English called their northern col- onies New England, while the French named their settlements in Canada New France. After a great deal of quarreling between the Swedes and Dutch, the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, in 1655, mus- tered a little fleet with six or seven hundred men, and, sailing to the Delaware River, captured New Sweden, and it became a part of New Nether- land. PETER STUYVES'XNT. THE COMING OF THE DUTCH. 51 But the English at this time claimed that all the ter- The English con- quer New Neth- ritory between Virginia and New England belonged to England. They said that all that coast had been discov- ered by Cabot for Henry VII more than a century and a half before. In 1664, in time of peace, four English ships appeared in the harbor of New Amsterdam and demanded its surrender. Stout old Peter Stuyvesant, the lame governor who had ruled in the Dutch colonies for many years, resolved .j|; to fight. But the ~ ^""^ city was weak , ^ ; ^afe erland. STREET IN NEW AMSTERDAM. " "■*" and without fortifications, and the people, seeing the uselessness of contending against the ships, persuaded Stuyvesant to surrender. The name New Amsterdam was immediately changed to New York, the whole prov- ince having been granted to the Duke of York. At the time of the surrender New York city had New Amsterdam becomes New but fifteen hundred people, most of them speaking the York. Dutch language. To-day there are nearly a thousand 52 ni STORY OF THE UNITED STATES. times as many people in the city. Many thousands of the inhabitants of New York and many in other States have descended from the first Dutch colonists and bear the old Dutch names. The Dutch settlers were gener- ally industrious, frugal, and religious. NEW YORK IN THE DUTCH PERIOD. How Virginia was cut down. FIRST LORD BALTIMORE, CHAPTER X. THE SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS. Bv the second charter given for planting the " First Colony of Virginia," as it was called, its breadth was cut down to four hundred miles along the sea- coast. Virginia had formerly included all that the English claimed in America. Part of the four hun- dred miles was occupied by the Dutch in New Jersey and Delaware. And the territory of Virginia was, at length, further cut down by the taking of another part of it to form Maryland for Lord Baltimore. T\ George Calvert, afterward Lord Baltimore, was a Secretar}^ of State to James L In 162 1 he plant- ed a colony in Newfoundland, which he called Ava- MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINA S. 53 Ion. In 1627 he went to his colony in Newfound- land, but the climate was so cold that in 1629 he went to Virginia. Before going to Virginia he wrote to the king, begging for territory to plant a colony there. Lord Baltimore had become a Ro- man Catholic at a time when there were severe laws in England against Catholics. Even in the colonies Catholics were not allowed ; and the Virginians took advantage of the orders given them from England to insist that Balti- more must take an oath declaring that the king was the head of the Church. As a Catholic he Lord Baltimore's 11 11- 11 XT- • • 111- 1 ^^^^ colony fails. could not do this, and the V irgimans bade him leave the colony. Lord Baltimore returned to England, and got the Maryland grant- ed to Lord Bal- king, Charles I, to give him a slice of Virginia north timore. of the Potomac. This country King Charles named Maryland, in honor of the queen, his wife. For this Baltimore was to pay to the king two Indian arrows every year in recognition of the king's sovereignty. But, before Lord Baltimore could send out a colony, he died. The territory was then granted to Lord Baltimore's Maryland plant- ed by the second son, the second Lord Baltimore. He was given all Lord Baltimore, the powers of a monarch. The first settlers were sent out in 1633, and reached Maryland in 1634. This com- pany was composed of twenty gentle- men and three hundred laboring-men, and the first governor was Leonard Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore's brother. Roman Catholic priests were mjp SECOND LORD BALTIMORE. 54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. \ Early years of Maryland. with them, and at their landing they set up a cross. But were also a good many Prot- estants in the party, and Balti- more had resolved from the beginning that there should be no persecution of an}^ Christians on account of re- ligion in his new province. In almost every country in the world at that time the established religion, of whatever sort it miorht be, was enforced bv law. The colonists came in two ships called the Ark and the Dove ; they settled first at a place which they called St. Mary's, on the St. Mary's River, not far from the Potomac. They bought from the Indians living on the place their village and corn-ground, and for the rest of that season thej' lived in half of the village with the In- MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINA S. 55 w\ -^x c "'-.'^.v • r/^'^ ' "-/r^ . <^.- St.Mary'SiMi ' "" ' ' ^^ ^' '''*''-=,V, J a nVe s^t^ n /l 6 7 . dians. The colony had many troubles and several little civil wars in its early years. These mostly grew out of the religious differences of the people. But after a while Maryland prospered and grew rich by raising tobacco. The money of Maryland as of Virginia was tobacco, and the two colonies were much alike in traits of their business and social life. After the settlement of New England by Puritans, no new colonies iTV/r iii/^ii- 1 -ir f°'' thirty years. and Maryland by Catholics, there was a period of about thirty years in which no new colonies were planted. In this period occurred the Great Rebellion in England, in which Charles I was beheaded, and his son Charles II was kept out of England by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell. But, after Cromwell's death, Charles II was brought back to the throne of England in 1660. This is known as the Restoration. After the Restoration there was a new interest in Carolina granted ^ to eight propria- colonies. New York was taken from the Dutch, and tors, new colonies were planned. King Charles II was a very thoughtless, self-indulgent monarch, who freely granted great tracts of land in America to several of his favorites. To some of his courtiers he gave, in 1663, a large territory cut off from Virginia on the south, which had been known before this time as Carolana, but was now called Carolina, from Carolus, the Latin form of King Charles's name. This territory included what we call North and South Carolina, The eight noblemen and gentlemen to whom this territory was granted were called " The Lords Proprietors of Carolina." CHARLES II. 56 HISTORY OF rilE UNITED STATES. Beginning of set- tlements in North Carolina in 1653. HUGUENOT MERCHANT. The Carolina Constitution. HUGUENOT MERCHANT'S WIFE. In the northeastern corner of this territory, on the Chowan River, a settlement had been made by people from Virginia, under the lead of a minister named Roger Green, in 1653. This was ten years before the coun- try was granted to these lords proprietors, and the land belonged to Virginia when they settled there. A set- tlement was made at Port Royal, in South Carolina, in 1670, but the people afterward moved to where the city of Charleston now stands. The foundation of this city was laid in 1680. A large number of Huguenots, or French Protestants, settled in South Carolina about this tune. As America was a new countrv, people who had projects of any kind were always for trying them in some American colony. The lords proprietors of Caro- lina got up what they thought a beautiful system of gov- ernment. They proposed to have Carolina chiefly ruled by noblemen, who were to be divided into three orders, one above another. These noblemen were to be called palatines, landgraves, and caciques. They attached to this constitution a plan for laying off their territory into large square tracts of several thousand acres each. These were to be the property of their nobility and the pro- prietors ; the people were to be tenants paying rent. The men who adopted this plan had never seen Amer- ica. They knew nothing of the habits and necessities of settlers in a new country. Constitutions can not be made to order in this fashion ; they must grow out of the circumstances and character of the people. The clumsy arrangements of the proprietors all failed when they tried to apply them. Their degrees of nobility and the officers with titles were of no use in the woods of MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINA S. 57 C.Hatteras 's-l^ort Royal, 1670, America ; their people did not care to rent land when so much lay vacant, and the machinery of their constitution was ridicu- lous when their agents tried to put it in motion. The Carolina colonies grew slowly at first. The introduction of rice- culture in 1696 proved of great ad- vantage to South Carolina, which im- mediately became prosperous. The North Carolina people took to raising large herds of cattle which roamed in the woods. This colony was involved in many local dissensions and petty civil wars. The Caro- lina proprietors, who had the appointment of govern- ors to both colonies, conducted their affairs in a selfish spirit. In 17 19 the South Carolina people rose in re- bellion, marched into Charleston, and threw off the yoke of the lords proprietors. In 1729 the king bought out the interest of all the proprietors except one, and after that period both North and South Carolina were gov- erned as royal colonies, the governors receiving their appointment from the king, while the laws were made by a General Assembly elected by the people and a Council appointed by the king. 680. Progress of the Carolinas ; change of gov- ernment. 58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. a: scotch woman. CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF THE QUAKERS AND OTHERS TO THE JERSEYS AND PENNSYLVANIA. We have seen that the Dutch territory of New Netherland extended at first to the Connecticut River •on the east and to the Delaware Riv^er on the south. This included what we now know as New Jersey, in which numbers of Dutch people had settled before the English took possession of New Netherland in 1664. Charles II, with his accustomed lavishness, gave away New Netherland to his brother the Duke of East and West York bcforc it was conquered. This Duke of York Jersey. afterward became King of England, as James II. James kept the portion of it that is now called New York, which name it took from his own title. The part now called New Jersey he gave to Lord John Berke- ley and Sir George Carteret, who after a few years sold their interest to others. In 1674 the proprietors of New Jersey divided it into the colonies of East and West Jersey. It was a time of religious persecution. Many people emisrrated to the colonies in order to sret a chance to be religious in their own way, and the proprietors of the New Jersey colonies promised to all who came lib- erty to worship in the way of their choice. The people of Scotland, who wei-e Presbyterians, sufTered horribly from persecutions after the restoration of Charles II, and East Jersey received many Scotch emigrants, driven out of their own country by the cruelty of the gov- 8C0TCHMAN. THE COMING OF THE QUAKERS. 59 ernment. Some people from New England also moved scotch people T^ T come to New into hast Jersey. jersey. The religious sect most severely persecuted in Eng- land after the restoration of the king was the Soci- ety of Friends, whose members are sometimes called Quakers. The conscientious refusal of the Friends to Quakers come to , , . r , , . .,,. East and West take oaths in courts oi law, their unwillingness to serve jersey, as soldiers, and their refusal to take off their hats to people in authority, were deemed verv serious offenses- in that day. They were not only whipped, fined, and imprisoned in England, but also in Virginia, while in Massachusetts they were whipped and banished, and some of them were y put to death for re- turning to the col- ony after banish- ment. Some of the people of this perse- cuted society came to East Jersey, but more to West Jer- sey, which had been bought by certain leading Friends. Among those who had to do with the management of the West Jersey colony was a famous Quaker preacher named William Penn. He was born in London in 1644, and was son to Admiral William Penn, who gained re- nown for the part he took in the English wars with the Dutch. The younger Penn first came under the in- WILLIAM PENN. 5o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. fluence of the Friends, or Quakers, while he was a stu- dent at Oxford, and he was expelled from the university, with others, for the resistance they made to certain re- ligious ceremonies introduced at that time. His father sent him to Paris, and he became an accomplished man of the world. But he afterward became a Friend, which so enraged the old admiral that he turned his son out of the house. It is pleasant to know, however, that in later years the father and son became reconciled. William Penn was repeatedly imprisoned for his re- ligious views, but he boldly asserted in the English courts the great principle of religious liberty. He traveled into Wales, Ireland, Holland, and Germany, in his preaching journeys, and many of his acquaintances in those countries afterward came to Pennsylvania. Thouirh Penn would never take off his hat in the presence of the king, he had considerable influence at court, which he used to lessen the sufferings of the Quakers and others. Pennsylvania It was probably whilc Penn was engaged in the William Penn. affairs of Wcst Jersey that he observed that the terri- torv on the other side of the Delaware was not oc- cupied except by a few Swedes, who had come over to the old colony of New Sweden before Peter Stuy- vesant conquered it for the Dutch. William Penn had a claim against the King of England for a consider- able sum of money due to his father. The king was in debt, and found it hard to pay what he owed. Penn, therefore, persuaded Charles II to settle the debt by granting him a territory on the west side of the river Delaware. This new territorv the king called Pennsylvania, which means something like Penn's For- • THE COMING OF THE QUAKERS. 6l PENN'S HOUSE, IM PHILADELPHIA. est. The name was given in honor of Penn's father, the admiral. What is now the State of Delaware was also put Delaware deiiv- under Penn's government by the Duke of York. Every- thing was done with ceremony in those days. When Penn got to New Castle, in Dela- ware, its govern- ment was trans- ferred to him in the following wav : The key to the fort at New Castle was de- livered to him. With this he locked himself into the fort and then let himself out, in sign that the government was his. To show that the land with the trees on it belonged to him, a piece of sod with a twig in it was given to him. Then a porringer filled with water from the river was put into his hands, that he might be lord of the rivers as well as of the land. Penn sent his first emigrants to Pennsylvania in Penn settles Pennsylvania- 1 68 1. Philadelphia, where they landed, was yet a woods, and the people had to dig holes in the river- banks to live in through the winter. Nearly thirty ves- sels came to the new colony during the first year. Although Pennsylvania was the last colony settled ^=^p''^ growth of Pennsylvania. except Georgia, it soon became one of the most popu- lous and one of the richest. Before the Revolution, Philadelphia had become the largest town in the thir- 62 JI/STOKY OF THE UXITED STATES. teen colonics. This was chiefly owing to the very free aoycrnniont that William rcnn founded in his colony. Not only English, but Welsh and Irish people, and many thousands of industrious Germans, came to Penn- sylyania. People were also attracted by the care that Penn took to maintain friendly relations with the In- dians, and to satisfy them ior their lands. Another thing which drew people both to I'ennsylyania and New Jersey was the fact that the land was not taken up in large bodies, as it was in New York and Virginia, for instance. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey the poor man could get a farm of his own. B}' the sale and division c^f shares, the pro- prietaries of both East and West Jersey be- came too numerous to manage their govern- ments well, and at length disorders arose which they were not able to suppress. In 1702 the govern- The two Jerseys mcut of both proviuccs was transferred to Oueen Anne, and East and West Jersey were again united into the one province of New Jersey. But even to this day, in common speech, one sometimes hears the State of New Jersey spoken of as "The Jerseys" by people who do not know that two hundred years ago there were two colonies of that name. Pennsylvania remained in the hands of the Penn family, who appointed its governors, till the American Revolution. icN B1 THE AS.A.SS TO Ft.N\. THE SErrLEMENT OF GEORGIA. 63 GENERAL OGLETHORPE. CHAPTER XIT. THE SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA, AND THE COMING OF THE GERMANS, IRISH, AND FRENCH. Penn's settlement at Philadelphia was made, as we have seen, in 1681. This was seventy-lour years after the settlement of Jamestown. In seventy-four years, which is not a very long lifetime, all the colonies were begun except one. But after the settlement of Georgia pro- jected. Pennsylvania there passed fifty-one years more before another colony was begun. As the borders of Carolina were supposed to reach to the Spanish territory in Flor- ida, and as New England touched the French territory in Canada, there appeared to be no room for any more colo- nies, until it was suggested that a slice might be taken off the south side of South Carolina, and a new colony be wedged in between Carolina and the Spanish colony in Florida. Indeed, long before Georgia as a separate col- ony was thought of, some benevolent people had the notion of settling "the south parts of Carolina," as they called what was afterward named Georgia, with distressed English peo- ple. But the project did not come to any- thing until it was taken up by General Oglethorpe, a most energetic and benevolent man, James Edward Oglethorpe was born in London in 1688. He was in the war of the Austrians ag-ainst the Turks ^^ ) v«„ HOANOKE L C.Wutteran ^j_,iVCharleston , 1680, 'oi-t Royal, 1670, annah, VIZI, 64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. in 17 16, and held a command under Prince Eugene in the brilliant and desperate campaign of 1717, which ended in the surrender of Belgrade. He returned to England in 1722, and served in ParHament for thirty- two years afterward. He was opposed to the cruel system of imprisoning poor debtors which then pre- vailed, and he did much to improve the condition of this unhappy class. He was also interested in the efforts then made to convert the black slaves in the colonies to Christianity. Oglethorpe's Jn Settling Georgia, the views of Oglethorpe and his plans. associates were most benevolent. There had been much wild speculation in England, by which multitudes of people were ruined. Oglethorpe wished to provide a home for these, where they might in a new country hope to secure a competency. There was at this time much sympathy in England for the Protestants, who were suffering persecution in several of the countries on the continent of Europe, and Oglethorpe hoped to make the new colony a refuge for these. He also pro- posed to make his colony a military barrier against the encroachments of the Spaniards in Florida, who laid claim to all of South Carolina. In order that his peo- ple might not live in idleness, he did not permit any slaves to be bought ; to make them temperate, he for- bade the importation of rum. Georgia was thus for a while the only non-slaveholding colony, and the only place in Europe or America in which the sale of liquors was prohibited. Visionary ex- Like many other philanthropists, Oglethorpe tried to do more than was possible. He thought that, by rais- ing silk-worms in Georgia, he might save to the Eng- periments. THE "SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA. 65 lish the money they paid to the Italians for silk. He also tried to raise many valuable tropical plants. There was hardly any good thing which needed doing that A GEORGIA ROAD. w^as not undertaken by the "■!'•',.' \' new^ colony. Such an enterprise 1 ' ' aw^^ appealed strongly to the benevo- ""' 7^,^^%-'^^ lent, and many thousands of pounds were given to help on this good work. Parlia ment also voted a donation to Georgia. No one f was allowed to make any profit out of the new col- i^ ony, on the seal of which was a device of silk-worms spinning, wath a motto in Latin which meant, " Not for themselves, but for others " {Non sibi scd aliis). In 1732 Oglethorpe took out his first company of a hundred and sixteen people, with whom he began the town of Savannah. Many others were added, among whom were a regiment of Scotch Highlanders. PIPER TO A HIGHLAND REGIMENT. 66 HISTORY OF THE U XI TED STATES. First settlement of Georgia at Sa- vannah. Oglethorpe's plans cause dis- satisfaction. GERMAN COUNTRY MAN OF THAT TIME. The government transferred to the king. GERMAN COUNTRY WOMAN OF THAT TIME. The coming of the Germans. some Hebrews, and some persecuted Germans. The general bore hardship with the rest, and by briUiant management defeated the Spaniards when they attacked his colony. But the people after a while became dissatisfied. They were not allowed any hand in making their own laws. No man, unless he brought white servants, was permitted to own more than fifty acres of land, and this land he could not sell or rent or divide among his children. His oldest son took it at his death ; if he had no son, it went back to the trustees of the col- ony. It was thought that by this means the evils of wealth and poverty would be prevented. But, like all such attempts, this proved a failure, because the people felt that such laws interfered with their just liberties, and took away all inducements to the improvement of their property. The complaints of the settlers became very bitter, and many of them left the colony. In 1752, twenty years after the beginning of the settlement, the trustees sur- rendered the government to the king. After that, Geor- ofia was not different from the other colonies. One might own as much land as one could get, and sell or lease it at one's pleasure. Rum also came in, which cer- tainly was no advantage. Slaves were bought, and rice and indigo plantations, like those of South Carolina, were established. Silk-raising prospered so long as the Brit- ish government paid bounties on all that was produced. When these were withdrawn, it was no longer profit- able. The Germans that came to Georgia were not by any means the first of these industrious people in the English THE SETTLEMENT OE GEORGIA. 67 IRISH MAN OF THAT TIME. colonies in America. There were many little sects in Germany at that time, and these suffered much persecu- tion, Iroin which they were glad lo flee. The laws of Pennsylvania promised them freedom. Some of these sects were opposed to war, and their members emi- grated to Penn's cohjn}-, where military service w^as not recpiired, because the Society (^f Friends was also opjjosed to war. The tide of German emigration be- came greater and greater after this; thousands of Ger- _ mans coming to Pennsylvania to escape the miseries ■"- brought on them by persecution and the wars which desolated their country. in three years, during the reign of Queen Anne, there came to England thirteen thousand j)oor people from The arrival of , r r^ 11 1 1 II 1 • 'i-'i ^^s Palatine Ger- that part 01 Germany called the 1 alatmate. 1 hese peo- mans, pie were called Palatines, and they were seeking to be sent to America, their coimtry having been ruined by the European wars. Some of these were dispatched to Virginia, some to the Carolinas, and some to Maryland. About four thousand were sent to New York to make tar and pitch. So wretchedly were these cared for that seventeen hundred of the four thousand died at sea or soon after landing. The rest were settled on the Hud- son River, where the descendants of some cjf them are to-day. Some w^ent to the wilderness farther west. They were badly treated in New York, and only allowed ten acres of land apiece. Three hundred of them, hearing that Germans were well received in Pennsylvania, made a bold push through the backwoods of New York, down the rivers that flowed into Pennsylvania. From that time Germans avoided New York, and thronged more than ever into Pennsylvania. IRISH WOMAN OF THAT TIME. 68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Irish immigrants to the colonies. FRENCH COUNTRY MAN OF THAT DAY. The migration to the southward. FRENCH COUNTRY WOMAN OF THAT DAY. The Irish that came before the Revolution were mostly Presbyterians in belief. They had been perse- cuted in order to force them into the Church of Eng- land. Some of them came to New England about 1718, introducing there the spinning of flax and the planting of potatoes. There was not a colony to which they did not go ; but the greatest tide of Irish immigra- tion poured into Pennsylvania. Five thousand Irish immigrants arrived in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1729. Many of the Irish were bold and enter- prising pioneers, opening the way into unknown re- gions, and showing great courage in fighting with the Indians. Pennsylvania filled up with great rapidity, and, when the later Indian wars laid waste its frontiers, many of the German and Irish settlers moved south- ward into the beautiful and fertile mountain-valleys of Virginia. Then, following the lines of open prairies and Indian trails east of the mountains, this stream of people went onward into the Carolinas. The Irish, in- deed, and their children born in America, pushed south- ward until they had filled whole counties in North and South Carolina. They were also among the first to move westward into the AUeghanies, and at length they pushed over into the Western country. The Huguenots, or French Protestants, rendered un- happy by the civil wars and persecutions of the time, came to the colonies in large numbers. They settled in almost every colony, but more largely in South Carolina than elsewhere. Notwithstanding the multitudes of Germans, Irish, French, and Scotch that came to the colonies, those who e most numerous. THE SETTLEMENT OF GEORGLl. ^q came from England formed much the largest part of The English th every colony. T\\i English language prevailed over every other. But, until after the Revolution, some de- scendants of the Dutch in New York still spoke the language of their ancestors, and a few old people yet use it. In Pcnnsvlvania, where the Germans filled wide re- gions of countr}', their speech was preserved through the whole colonial period. Bibles and other books were printed in German in Pennsvlvania, and the language is still used in manv parts of that State. CHAPTER XIII. HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. Before the white people settled America it was in- The indi habited by many tribes of the people we call Indians. They were called Indians because the first discoverers believed America to be a part of India. The Indian is of a brown or copper color, with black eves and straight hair. In what is now the United States the cloth- ing of the Indians was mostly made of deer-skin. A whole deer-skin was thrown about the shoul- ders, a strip of the same material was hung about the loins, and the leggins worn in winter were also of deer-skin. Some of the Southern Indians wore mantles woven from the fiber of a plant which now grows in gardens under the name of " Spanish bavonet," but which in that dav was called " silk- ments. -r^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The dress of the ofrass." The womeii wore deer-skin aprons. Women Indians. of the Northern tribes wore mantles of beaver-skins. Shoes, or moccasins, were of deer-skin, sometimes em- broidered with })orcupine-quills or shell beads. Indian adorn- The Indiuti warriors were fond of staining their faces in stripes, spots, and splashes of red, yellow, and bine. Some of the \*irginia Indians wore bears' or hawks' claws, and even living snakes, dan- gling from their ears ; and sometimes, also, the savage Indian warrior would wear the dried hand of his dead enemy in the same wav. The use of such ugly adornment was to make the savages seem as fierce and terrible as possible. Both men and women decorated themselves with beads, which thev made from sea -shells. These were called " wampum," and were worn in strings, or wrought into belts, necklaces, and brace- lets. As the Indians had no iron, the making of wampum was vcrv laborious. A bit of stone worked down to the size of a sixpennv nail, with a large head, was made fast to a reed or cane. Then the Indian workman, hav- _,— ing chipped off a piece of the shell of MEDICINE-MAN, WITH A MANTLE OF ^hc hard claui. Or a piece of the inside SILK-GRASS. DRAWN IN 1585. ,- 1 1 11 1 1 1 • i (u a conch-shell, and worked it down to the right size, bored a hole in it by resting the point Wampum. of the drill against the bit of shell held in his hand, rolling over and over the other end of the reed against his thigh. This slow work being necessarv to make it, wampum was highlv valued. As soon as the wiiite men HOW THE INDIANS IIVED. 71 came, the Indians used iron nails instead of stone drills. After a while the Dutch settlers in New Jersey and at Albany set up little lathes run with treadles, h\ means of which they could make wampum-beads so fast that the Indians gave it up. A large part of the difference between a civilized and a bar- barous people lies in the messages. :'. - and easier ways of doing things i among those who have the arts of civilization. Wampum-belts were sent from tribe to tribe with solemn They were used in making peace and in appealing to allied nations to join in a war. Before the white men came, wampum, being very costly in human labor, served the purpose of money among the savages. With wampum they carried on a trade from tribe to tribe. The Indians of the interior sold the products of their country to the coast tribes, who were wampum-makers. Ornaments made of copper dug out of the ground in the Lake Superior region were found in North Carolina and Virginia, having passed from tribe to tribe in the way of trade. When white people opened a trade with the Indians, wampum was used for small change and beaver-skins for large money. INDIAN CHILDREN PLAYING THE GAME OF DEER AND WOLF. NAVAJO INDIAN WOMAN WEAVING A BELT. 72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. STRINGS OF WAMPUM. The purple wampum was more valuable than the white. As there were few small coins in this countr}', wampum passed for money among the white people, and was for a long time almost the only small change in New York and elsewhere. It seems curious to think that, when the plate was passed in church, nothing was put upon it but shell beads. Indian houses, or wigwams, were mere tents of bark or of mats, supported by poles. Among the Indians of the Western prairies, skins of animals are used to cover the Indian l,^DIA^^ wluAAMS OF BARK. Indian houses, houscs. The wigwams wcrc not divided into rooms. The inmates slept on the ground, or sometimes on raised platforms. The fire was built in the middle of the wigwam, and the smoke found its way out through an opening at the top. In some tribes long arbor-like houses were built of bark. In these there were fires at regular intervals. Two families lived by each fire. A picture of one of these long houses, as built by the NO IV THE INDIANS LIVED. 1Z k:^ :^ Iroquois Indians, will be found f in Chapter XX. In New Mex- ico there are Indians \vho live in large houses of stone or sun-dried brick. Many fami- lies, sometimes all the people of a village, inhabit a single house. The Indian houses had very little furniture. There were a few mats and skins for bed- dinof. Some tribes had for household use only wooden vessels, which they made by burning and scraping out blocks of wood, little by little, with no other tools than shells or sharp stones. These Indians cooked their food by putting water into their wooden bowls and then throwinof in heated stones. When the stones had made the water hot, they put in it what- Furniture of wig- wams, and modes of cookery. MANNER OF BOILING IN Ah EARTHEN POT. ZUNI INDIAN WOMAN MAKING POTTERY. 74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. INDIAN BOTTLE OF POTTERY FROM ARKANSAS. ever they wished to cook. Other tribes knew how to make pots of earthenware ; and yet others cut them out of soap-stone. Vessels of pottery and soap-stone could be set over the fire. Often fish and meat were broiled on sticks laid across above the fire ; green corn with the husks on it was roasted under the ashes, as were also squashes and various roots. Indian corn, put into a mortar and pounded into meal, was mixed with water and baked in the ashes, or boiled in a pot. Sometimes the meal was parched and carried in a little bag-, to be ■ eaten on a journey. A few tribes near to salt springs had salt, the i-est used leaves of several sorts for sea- Indian agricult- ure. soning. INDIAN MANNER OF BROILING IN 1585. STONE AXE. For tilling the ground the Indians had rude tools ; their hoe was made by attaching to a stick a piece of deer's horn, or the shoulder-blade of an animal, or the shell of a turtle, a bit of wood, or a flat stone. They raised Indian corn, beans, squashes, and tobacco. They prepared the ground by girdling the trees so as to kill them ; sometimes they burned the trees down. Some tribes had rude axes for cutting small trees ; these were made of stone. The handle of the stone axe was formed by tying a stick to it, or by twistinor a orreen withe about it. Sometimes an Indian would split open a growing young tree and put the axe into the cleft ; when the tree had grown fast around the HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 75 axe he would cut it down and shorten it to the proper length for a han- dle. The Indians had no iron. For knives they had pieces of bone, sharp stones, and shells. The Indian procured Making fire. fire by twirling the end of a stick against another piece of wood. To give this twirling stick a quick motion, he wrapped a bow- string about it, and then drew the bow swiftly to and fro. The most remarkable product of Indian skill was the canoes. canoe ; this was made in some tribes by burning out a log, little by little, and scraping the charred parts with shells, until the " dug-out " canoe was sufficiently deep and rightly shaped. Many canoes made in this way, without any other tools than shells One Indian is seen scraping out the charred wood, an- other is fanning the fire, while a third is burning down a tree to begin a new canoe. INDIAN KINDLING FIRE. and sharp stones, would carry from twenty to forty men. The Northern tribes constructed a more beautiful 76 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. ^^ INDIAN VASE. Wars between the tribes. canoe, of white-birch bark, stretched on slender wood- cMi ribs, and sewed together with roots and libers. Such canoes were made water-tight by the use of gums. In Chapter XVI will be seen a picture of birch- bark canoes. Anions: the Indians, the hardest work fell to the Division of labor, womcii. I luutlng, gambling, and making war, were the occupations of the men. The male Indian was from childhood trained to war and the chase. Game and fish, with such fruits, nuts, and roots as grew wild in the woods and swamps, were the principal dependence of the Indians for food. As they suffered much from hunger and misery, the population of the country was always thin. Moreover, the continual wars waged between the various tribes, in which women and children as well as men were slain, kept the red-men from increasing in numbers. Large tracts of country were left un- inhabited, because tribes at war dared not live near to one another, for fear of surprise. In aU the coun- try east of the Mississippi River there wei-e but a few hundred thousand people; hardly more than there are in one of our smallest States, and not enough, if they had all been brought together, to make a arge cit\. The coming of the white people made great changes in the Indian life. The furs and skins, which the Indians did not value, except for neces- sary clothing, were articles of luxury and ornament of ^^,^^ great value in Europe. Many a half-starved Indian was clothed in furs that a Eu- ropean prince would have prized. The INDIAN CIRL WITH BASKET^. HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 77 trade with the Indians. savage readily exchanged his beautiful beaver coat for a Beginning of bright-colored blanket and thought he had made a good bargain, though his furs were worth to the white man the price of many blankets. The Indians of the region about Boston were pleased with the trinkets which the Plymouth Pilgrims brought them on a trading trip, and the Indian women even made themselves garments out of boughs and leaves like Mother Eve, that thev might trade their jackets of beaver-skin to the white people for knickknacks. The cheap glass beads and tiny bells, such as the people of old time hung about the necks of the hawks with which they hunted birds, were greatly prized by savages. Jew's-harps were also much liked by them, and were sometimes used in paying them for land. The Indian who could possess himself of a copper kettle was a rich man in his tribe. It was the irresistible temptation of a copper kettle that persuaded Japazaws to betray Poca- hontas to the Virginia colonists. The cheap iron hatch- ets of the trader drove out the stone axes, and knives were eagerly bought, but guns were more sought after than anything else ; and, though there were many laws against selling fire-arms to the Indians, there were always men who were glad to enrich themselves by this unlaw- POTTERY ful trade. The passion of the savage for intoxicating from Missouri. PIUTE INDIAN GIRLS WITH WATER-JARS. Articles sold tO' the Indians. 78 ///SrOA'V OF THE LWITED STATES. drinks was so great that evil men among the traders were often able to strip them of all their goods by selling them strong liquors. Purchase of land. The whitc scttlers generally bought the land they occupied from the Indians. As land was not worth much, the price paid was trifling. Manhattan Island, on which New York now stands, was sold to the Dutch, bv the Indians, for about twenty-four dollars in trading wares. The land-sales made trouble, for the lines were not well defined, and were often matters of dispute. The Indians did not understand business, and they sometimes had to be paid over and over again for a tract of land. CHAPTER XIV. EARLY INDIAN WARS. Dishonest traders TnERK WQYC, bctwceu the two raccs, occasious and the Indians. enough for quarreling. Dishonest white men were sure ^S _'*^ to cheat the ignorant Indians, and the violent among ■^. * the Indians were as sure to revenge themselves. If an Indian suffered wrong from one white man. he thouirht _^' he had a right to take vengeance on anv man, woman, or child of the wiiite race when he found opportunitv. It was an Indian saying that " one pays for another." When evil -disposed white men killed and robbed an Indian on the island where New York now stands, the nephew of the slain Indian, though but a little boy, laid it up in his mind to kill some white man in revenge, and SMELL AXE. when he had grown to manhood, he entered the shop of EAKLY IXDIAX WARS. 79 an inoffensive mechanic in a lonesome place, killed the poor fellow, and felt sure that he had at last done justice to his uncle by slaying somebody who had never done anybody any harm. Then, too, Indians were trained to think that war was the only worthy occupation of a great man. If an Indian had nev- er killed an enemy, he was nobod}' ; even the young girls scouted him. The young men in a tribe were therefore always in favor of war. Many of the white people sincerely desired to do the Indians good. Schools for the educa- tion of Indian children were set up in Virginia and in New England. Catholic missionaries la- bored among the In- dians of Maryland. John Eliot, of Massachusetts, preached to thousands of In- dians, and translated the whole Bible into their lan- guage. He is called the " Apostle to the Indians." But, even in trying to do the Indians good, the white men offended them. The chiefs and "medicine-men" of the Indians did not like to see their ancient customs treated with contempt, and their own influence destroyed by the new religion. Indian love of war. Attempts to edu- cate the Indians. So HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Early Indian mas- sacres in Virginia. CALUMET. OR PEACE-PIPE. The second mas- sacre. INDIAN MASK. The Pequot war in 1637. We have seen how suddenly the Indians massacred the Virginians in 1622. This led to a long war, with many treacheries and cruel surprises on both sides. As the Virginians found that the Indians did not keep faith with them, but used the cloak of peace to get the advan- tage of a sudden surprise, they, on their part, thought it allowable to act in bad faith, the more that they could never come at the Indians, who would take their own time to strike and flee. Pretending to make peace, the colonists sent out, simultaneously, parties to fall on every Indian village within their reach. It is said they even went so far as to treacherously use poison at a treaty- meeting in order to kill certain chiefs. After some years the neiirhborino; Indians were subdued or driven off. But in 1644 the old chief Opechankano, who had led in the first massacre, planned a second. He was so old that he could not walk without assistance, and could not see, except when his eyelids were held open. He was carried to the scene of bloodshed. The Indians had by this time secured guns. By a sudden surprise they killed about five hundred white people in a single day. But they paid dearly for their victory, for the colony had grown strong enough to defeat and punish them. They were driven away from their villages. Opechankano was taken prisoner, and, while a captive, was suddenly killed by an infuriated soldier. The Pequot war in Connecticut grew out of the differences between the Dutch and the Eng-lish settlers. The English brought back the Indians whom the Pequot tribe had just driven away. The Pequots began the war by killing some English traders. The attempts of the English colonists to conquer this tribe were at first of EARLY INDIAX WARS. 8i MASK MADE BY IROQUOIS INDIANS. no avail. The Indians were light of foot, and got away from men clad in heavy armor. They continued to seize and torture to death such English as they could catch. In 1637, John Mason, a trained soldier, at the head of a company of Connecticut men, with some from Massachu- setts, marched into the Pequot country. At Mystic, Connecticut, just before daybreak, the Connecticut men surrounded the palisaded village of Sassacus, the dread- ed Pequot chief. In the first onset Mason set the vil- lage on fire. x\ horrible slaughter followed. Indian men, women, and children, to the number of five or six hundred, were shot down or burned in the village, or killed in trying to escape. In the war which followed this attack, the whole Pequot tribe was broken up, and the other Indians were so terrified that New England had peace for many years after. About the same time cruel Indian wars raged be- New York, Mary- tween the Dutch of New Netherland (now New York) land, and vir- and the Indians in their neighborhood. At one time the ^'"'^' Dutch colony was almost overthrown. There was also a war between the Marylanders and the Susquehannah tribe. In 1656 the Virginians suffered a bitter defeat in a battle with the Indians at the place where Rich- mond now stands. The brook at this place got the name of Bloody Run. In 1675 there broke out in New England the terrible King Phiup-s War, 1675. Indian war known ever since as King Philip's War. Philip was the son of Massasoit, the Indian chief who had been long a friend to the Plymouth settlers. Philip was a proud man, and thought that he was not treated with enough respect by the rulers of Plymouth Colony, who acted with imprudent boldness in their dealings Indian wars in 82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The " Swamp Fight " at the Narragansett fort. with him. He was also irritated because large numbers of his people were converted to the Christian religion, through the labors of John Eliot. These converted peo- ple, or " praying Indians," formed themselves into vil- lages, and lived under the government of the Massachu- setts colony, by which means Philip's power and impor- tance were reduced. Philip won some successes at first, and Indians of other tribes came to his assistance. Many New Eng- land towns were laid in ashes, and hundreds of peo- ple w^ere killed or carried away into captivity. The powerful tribe of Narragansetts gave Philip secret aid,, and in the winter the white men boldly attacked their stronghold. This was always known as the " Swamp Fight." Hundreds of Indians were slain, and their vil- lage burned. The colonists also lost two hundred men in this battle, and the Narragansetts took a terrible revenge by burning houses and killing people in every direction. But after a while the white men learned how^ to fight the Indians. Captain Benjamin Church was the most famous fighter against the Indians in this war. He w^as ) \^ tireless, fearless, and full of expedients. He first taught BELT OF WAMPUM, thc EngHshmeu to practice the arts of the Indian in war. He knew how to manage men, and had great influence Captain Church, ovcr them. Hc would cvcu pcrsuadc captive Indians to join his band and lead him to the haunts of their friends. On approaching a party of concealed Indians, one of the Indians who followed Church w^ould hoot ,likc an owl or bark like a wolf, or imitate some other cry of the forest. These were tlie pass-words of the woods, and, when heard by another Indian, a similar cry EARLY INDIAN WARS. 83 KING PHILIP. would be returned. Church would thus entrap the In- dians by the treachery of their own friends. After a bitter war, in which the white settlements Death of PhiUp. suffered so severely that timid people thought the col- ony of Massachusetts might be destroyed, Philip's power was gradually broken, as his warriors were most of them killed or captured. Church's men at length surrounded Philip in a swamp, and, in trying to escape, the chief was killed by a deserter from his own tribe. Church let this Indian take Philip's scarred hand for a trophy. This he carried about the country, making money by showing it. When Philip was dead, only old Annawon, Philip's head-man, remained in the field with a party. When Church at last found him, he was shel- Defeat of Anna- won. tered under some cliffs. Church had but half a dozen men with him ; Annawon ten times that number of reso- lute braves. But, creeping down the cliffs, while an Indian woman was making a noise by pounding corn in a mortar. Church succeeded in capturing the guns of the Indians, which were stacked at Annawon's feet. Seeing his boldness, the Indians thought that Church had sur- rounded them with a great many men, and they there- fore surrendered. Most of the Indians taken in this war were cruelly sold into slavery in Barbadoes. Though Philip's war was ended when his tribe had use of whaie- boat in fighting been almost extirpated, the New England people did not Indians. have peace. The Indians of Maine kept up a war on the Eastern settlements. In this war Church was still the right hand of the colonies. He introduced the use of the light whale-boat, which afterward did admirable service 84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Bacon's war with the Virginia In- dians, 1676. The Westoes and Tuscaroras de- feated. on Lake George and Lake Cham plain in the wars with the French in Canada, and which was used in Long Island Sound for some daring expeditions during the Revolution. Church put leathern loops on the sides (if his boats, so that, when necessary, his men could thrust bars through the loops and carry the boats where they pleased. He moved as stealthily as the Indians, and, to avoid an alarm, never allowed an Indian to be shot who could be reached with the hatchet. Though engaged in so fierce a business as savage warfare, Church had a pfood deal of forbearance and kindliness. About the time of Philip's war the Doegs and Susquc- hannahs were ravaging the Virginia frontier, while the governor of that colony re- fused to allow any one to march against them. But Na- thaniel Bacon, a 3-oung man of great spirit, was chosen by the people to lead them, which he did in opposition to the gov- ernor's orders. This disobe- dience led to " Bacon's Re- bellion," as it is called, the story of which is told in Chap- ter XXVI. All the colonies suffered from Indian wars. The infant settlement in South Caro- lina was almost ruined by a war with the Indians called Westoes, ten years after the arrival of the first white NORTH CAROLINA WARRIOR IN 1SB9. EARLY INDIAN WARS. 85 men, and in the very year that Charleston was settled ; that is, in 1680. In 171 1 the warlike Tuscaroras rav- aged the scattered settlements of North Carolina, put- ting people to death by horrible tortures. It was only by the help of the Virginians and South Carolinians, and the Yamassee Indians, that the settlers, after two years, finally defeated the Tuscaroras, capturing and sending many hundreds of them to be sold as slaves in the West India Islands ; a mode of disposing of In- dian prisoners very common at that time. The sale of the Indians got them out of the country, and paid a part of the cost of the war. But West Indian slavery in that day was particularly severe on the Indians, who could not bear hard labor, a change of climate, or the loss of their liberty. In 171 5 the Yamassees, who two years before had The Yamassee 11111. 1 1 rrv ^^^ '" South helped the white people to put down the Tuscaroras, carouna, 1715. joined with the Spaniards in Florida, and with all the other Indians from Florida to Cape Fear, in an attempt to destroy the colony of South Carolina. There were six or seven thousand Indian warriors in this league, while South Carolina could onl}^ muster fifteen hundred white men and two hundred trusty negroes. Governor Cra- ven knew that a single defeat would ruin the colony, so he marched with the utmost caution until he brought on a great battle, and overthrew the Indians.' This war lasted about three years, and resulted in the ruin of the Yamassees. 86 HISTORY OF TIJE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XV. TRAITS OF WAR WITH THE INDIANS. The most important weapon of the Indian, when the white men came, was the bow and arrow. The arrow was headed with a sharpened Hint or a bit of horn. Sometimes the spur of a wild-turkey or the claw of an eagle was used to point the arrow. Next to the bow and arrow the Indian warrior depended on a war-club, which had a handle at one end and a heavy knob at the other, or upon a tomahawk, made by fastening a wooden WAR-CLUB. handle to a round stone, or a stone axe. But all their rude weapons were given up as soon as the Indians Indian weapons, could gct kuivcs, liatchcts, and guns from the white men. In some cases, it is said, they were so eager for gunpowder that they sowed what the)'^ got at first, sup- posing it to be the seed of a plant. The Pequots com- manded two white girls, whom they had captured, to make some gunpowder, supposing that all white people knew how to make it. At the first arrival of white men, they protected themselves by wearing armor, and the Indian arrows could not do them much hurt. But, as soldiers could not get about very fast in heavy armor and with clumsy guns, the}' could not do much harm to the Indians. Some of the guns used were match- Armor and arms of the white men locks. lu ordcr to shoot, the soldier had to place in MATCHLOCK SB:^ MATCHLOCK-GON. TRAITS OF WAR WITH THE INDIANS. 87 front of him a " rest " — a kind of forked stick or staff — and lay his heavy gun across it. In firing, the powder on the lock of his gun was set off with a lighted fuse or match ; and the soldier had to carry a burning fuse in his hand. If he let his fuse go out, he could not use his gun until he got fire again, for friction- matches were unknown. But the Indians would not stand still while the white men got ready to shoot. This awkward matchlock-gun was some- times used as late as 1675, the time of Philip's war. The snaphance, or flint-lock, was already coming into use when the colonies were settled, flint-lock was set off by the striking of the flint against a piece of steel, when the trigger was pulled. (Guns with percussion-caps are a much later invention.) Some of the >.. white men at first were armed with pikes or spears ; but it was found to be a very dangerous business to poke an Indian out of the brush with a pike. During Philip's war the pike beo-an to 2:0 out of use in America. When the Indians had procured The Indians get fire-arms. White fire-arms, the armor which the soldiers men change their mode of fighting. The ■PIKEMAN OF THAT TIME. wore, being of little use against bullets, was rather a burden than an advantage. Long after the first settlements were made, white men ceased by degrees to wear the head, and breast, and back pieces of metal, and they laid aside also the heavy ^^ ^=»= E^ MATCHLOCK-GUN. 88 IIISrORY OF THE UXITED STATES. SNOW-SHOES. Indian strata- gems. Treatment of prisoners by the Indians. buff-coats, which were made of leather and stuffed, to resist bullets. The colonists also learned to march in scattering parties, as the Indians did. in order to avoid surprise, and to lie in ambush, and to load their guns while lying down. For a long time the savages made attacks on the Northern settlements in the winter, when the snow was so deep that the soldiers could not move about ; but, after stupidly suffering this for many years, the Northern colonics at length put their soldiers on snow-shoes, too, and then all was changed. The Indian did not hesitate to resort to treachery to entrap his foes. He would profess friendship in order to disarm an enemy. He gloried in ingenious tricks, such as the wearing of snow-shoes with the hind part before, so as to make an enemy believe that he had gone in an opposite direction. He would sometimes imitate the cry of the wild-turkey, and so tempt a white hunter into the woods, that he might destroy him. An Indian scout would dress himself up with twigs, so as to look like a bush. Many of these things the white people learned to practice also. The Indians were very cruel ; it was part of their plan to strike terror by their severity. This is why they tortured their prisoners to death and disfigured the dead, and why they slew women and children as well as men. They not only put some of their prisoners to death in the most cruel way their ingenuity could de- vise, but, in some tribes, they even devoured them after- ward. Sometimes, however, a prisoner Avas adopted into an Indian family, and kindly treated. Many hundreds of white children were thus adopted, and forgot their own language. Some of them afterward cnsraircd in TRAITS OF WAR WITH THE INDIANS. 89 BLOCK-HOUSE. war against their own people. One boy, named Thomas Rice, was carried off from iSIassachusetts in child- hood, and became a chief of the tribe which had capt- ured him. The settlers learned after a while many ways of de- Defense of the settle merits fending; themselves. They built block-houses in every exposed settlement, for refuge in case of attack. When Indians were discovered lurking about in the night, a messenger would be sent from the block-house to warn the sleeping settlers. This messenger would creep up to a window and tap on it, whispering, " Indians ! " Then the family within would get up, and, without speaking or making a light, gather the most necessary things and hurry away along dark paths through the woods to the block-house. In some of the more exposed regions the dogs were even trained not to bark unless commanded to. A town in Maine was attacked and almost destroyed Anecdotes of defense. by Indians, when one man sent his family by boat out of the back door of his fortified house, remaining there alone. By frequently changing his hat and coat, and then appearing without a hat and then without a coat, and by oriyinor orders in a loud voice, he made the In- dians believe that his house was too full of men for them to attack it. Some Swedish women, near where Phila- delphia now stands, saw Indians coming, and took refuge in their fortified church, carrying with them a kettle of hot soap. They defended themselves until their hus- bands came bv throwing the boiling soap, with a ladle, at every Indian who approached the church. A maid- servant in Massachusetts, left alone with little children, drove away an Indian, who tried to enter the house, by gQ HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. firing a musket at him and throwing a shovelful of live coals on his head. A young girl in Maine held a door shut until thirteen women and children had time to es- cape bv a back door into a block-house. The Indians, when they got in, knocked the girl down, but did not kill her. Alarms. lu souic, if uot all, of the colonies, the firing of three shots in succession was the sign of danger. Every man who heard it was required to pass the alarm to those farther away, by firing three times, and then- to go in the direction in which the shots had been heard. In many places large dogs were kept and trained to hunt for Indians, as highway robbers were hunted down in that day in England. In all exposed places, a part or all of the men took their arms to church with them. Courage of the Thc pcoplc bccamc vcry brave, and were fierce and even cruel during these long-continued Indian wars. A wounded soldier would beg to have a loaded gun put into his hands that he might, before he died, kill one more Indian. Escape of cap- Captivcs oftcn cscapcd from the Indians by ingenious devices, and sometimes suffered dreadful hardships in getting back to the settlements. A young girl in New England, after three weeks of captivity, made a bridle out of bark, caught a horse running in the woods, and, by riding all night, reached the settlement. Two little lads named Bradley got awav, but they were tracked by the Indian dogs, who came up with them while they were hidden in a hollow log. They fed the dogs part of their provisions to make them friendly. After traveling nine days the elder fell down with ex- ■ haustion, but the younger, who was the more resolute, tives. TRAITS OF WAR WITH THE INDIANS. 91 dragged himself starving into a settlement in Maine, and sent help to his brother. Hannah Dustin, Mary Neff, and a boy were carried Hannan Dustins escape. off from Haverhill, Massachusetts. At midnight, while encamped on an island, they got hatchets and killed ten Indians, and then escaped in a canoe down the river. This bold escape soon became famous in the colonies, and the Governor of Marj'land, hearing of it, sent to the returned captives a present for their courage. CHAPTER XVI. LIFE IN THE COLONIAL TIME. When people first came to this country they had to First houses 01 1 •! 11 1 11 T-ir- *^^ colonists. take up with such houses as they could get. In v'lr- ginia and New England, as in New York and Philadel- phia, holes were dug in the ground for dwelling-places by some of the first settlers. In some places bark wig- wams were made, like those of the Indians. Sometimes a rude cabin was built of round logs, and without a floor. As time advanced, better houses were built. Some of these were of hewed logs, some of planks, split, or sawed out by hand. The richer people built good houses soon after they came. Most of these had in the middle a large room, called " the hall." Q^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Chimneys and Tlic chimncys wcrc generally very large, with wide windows. ^, <-> . i a • • ^ a\ r fireplaces. Sometimes there were seats inside the fire- place, and children, sitting on these seats in the evening, amused themselves by watching the stars through the top of the chimney. In the early houses most of the windows had paper instead of glass. This paper was oiled, so as to let light come through. Furniture and Exccpt iu the houscs of rich people the furniture was scant and rough. Benches, stools, and tables were home-made. Beds were often filled with mistletoe, the down from cat-tail flags, or the feathers of wild-pigeons. People who were not rich brought their food to the table in wooden trenchers, or trays, and ate off wooden plates. Some used square blocks of wood instead of plates. Neither rich nor poor, in England or America, had forks when the first colonies were settled. Meat was cut with a knife and eaten from the fingers. On the tables of well-to-do people pewter dishes were much used, and a row of shining pewter in an open cupboard, called a dresser, was a sign of good housekeeping. The richest people had silver-ware for use on great occasions. They also had stately furniture brought from England. But carpets were hardly ever seen. The floor of the best room was strewed with sand, which was marked off in ornamental figures. There was no wall-paper until long after i/oo, but rich cloths and tapestry hung on the walls of the finest houses. How the coio- Cooking was done in front of fireplaces in skillets nists cooked their food. and on griddles that stood upon legs, so that coals could be put under them, and in pots and kettles that hung over the fire on a swinging crane, so that they could be drawn out or pushed back. Sometimes there LIFE IN THE COLONIAL TIME. 93 was an oven, for baking, built in the side of the chim- ney. Meat was roasted on a spit in front of the fire. The spit was an '■■■"' Is"'.' illlJIfliifei&ffiS: CABIN OF ROUND LOGS. iron rod thrust through the piece to be roasted, and turned by a cra^;ik. A whole pig or fowl was sometimes hung up before the fire and turned about while it roasted. Often pieces of meat were broiled by throwing them on the live coals. A mug of home-brewed beer, with bread and cheese, what they ate. or a porridge of peas or beans, boiled with a little meat, constituted the breakfast of the early colonists. Neither tea nor coffee was known in England or ''this country until long after the first colonies were set- tled. When tea came in, it became a fashionable drink, and was served to company from pretty little china cups, set on lacquered tables. Mush, made of Indian-corn meal, was eaten for supper. In proportion to the population, more wine and spir- what they drank, its were consumed at that time than now. The very strong Madeira wine was drunk at genteel tables. Rum, which from its destructive effects was known everywhere by the nickname of " kill-devil," was much used then. At every social gathering rum was pro- vided. Hard cider was a common drink, as was mead or metheglin, which was made from honey. There was much shameful drunkenness. Peach-brandy was 94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. What they wore. How they trav- eled. Their education. used in the Middle and Southern colonies, and was very ruinous to health and morals. People of wealth made great display in their dress. Much lace and many silver buckles and buttons were worn. Workingmen of all sorts wore leather, deer- skin, or coarse canvas breeches. The stockings worn by men were long, the breeches were short, and buckled, or otherwise fastened, at the knees. Our forefathers traveled about in canoes and little sailing-boats called shallops. Most of the canoes would hold about six men, but some were large enough to carry forty or more. For a long time there were no roads except Indian trails and bridle-paths, which could only be traveled on foot or on horseback. Goods were carried on pack-horses, or in boats and little vessels. When roads were made, wagons came into use. In a life so hard and busy as that of the earl}' settlers, BIRCH CANOES. LIFE IN THE COLONIAL TIME. 95 there was little time for education. The schools were few and generally poor. B03-S, when taught at all, learned to lead, write, and " cast accounts." Girls were taught PACK-HORSES. even less. Many of the children born when the colo- nies were new grew up unable to write tneir names. There were few books at first, and no newspapers until after 1700. There was little to occupy the mind except the Sunday sermon, which was often one or two hours in length. A SCHOOL SCENE IN 17.V0. THE MASTER AND HIS ASSISTANT WEAR HATS. 96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Their amuse- ments. In all the colonies people were very fond of dancing-- parties. Weddings were times of great excitement and often of much drinking. In some of the colonies wed- A WEDUING IN NEW AMSTERDAM. ding festivities were continued for several days. Even funerals were occasions of feasting, and sometimes of ex- cessive drinking. In the Middle and Southern colonies the people were fond of horse-racing, cock-fighting, and many other rude sports brought from England. New England people made their militia-trainings the occasions LIFE IN THE COLONIAL TIME. 97 DUTCH WOMAN OF THE TIME, SKATING. for feasting and amusement, fighting sham battles, and playing many i-ough, old-fashioned games. Coast- ing on the snow, skating, and sleighing were first brought into America from Holland by the Dutch settlers in New York. In all the colonies there was a great deal of hunting and fishing. The woods were full of deer and wild-turkeys; a whole deer was sometimes sold for a shilling. The rivers were alive with water-fowl and fish. From childhood the colonists learned to love the sports of the forest and stream, and much idleness was produced by this fondness for hunting and fishing. In the up-country of the Southern and Middle colonies there grew a race of Abundance of 1 111111- T .1 game and fish. hunters who led halt-savage lives in the woods, and often refused obedience to authoritv. Almost as wild as the savages, they formed a race of warlike men, who made successful rangers in the Indian wars, famous rifle- men in the Revolution, and daring pioneers when the country beyond the mountains came to be settled. Deer were caught in iron traps large enough to be Modes of taking dangerous to men. Sometimes a hunter inclosed himself in a deer-skin so as to creep up near to a herd of these timid creatures. Horses were trained to walk gently by the side of the hunter, in order to conceal him until the deer was killed. A ring of men would surround a tract of country and then draw in toward the middle, killing deer, wolves, and wild-turkeys, whenever these creatures tried to escape. A circle of fire was sometimes lighted in the dry woods, and, as this burned to the center, the men followed on the outside of the rins^ and killed all Foxes were baited with sled-loads 8 game. the game inclosed qg HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. of codfish-heads, and then shot by men in concealment as they came to eat. Wolves were caught on large fish- 'hooks bound together and inclosed in tallow. As there was no end of game, animals were slain without fear of exterminating them. A whole flock of wild-turkeys was now and then taken in a single trap. Wild-pigeons, which flew in such numbers as to darken the sky, were slaugh- tered by the cart-load. Modes of fishing. Vast crowds of men gathered at the falls of the New England rivers when the salmon and shad were running up, and took the fish in nets, until their pack-horses were loaded with them. In the shallow waters of Virginia and Maryland men rode into the streams at night, with torches in their hands, sitting on horseback to spear fish. Fairs, Fairs after the English pattern were held in the Middle and Southern colonies. These were rendered attractive by the rough old English sports. A live goose was hung head downward, and horsemen riding below at full speed tried to pull off its head. A greased pig was given to the man who could catch it and hold it by the tail. Laced hats, boots, and other valuable arti- cles were hung on top of greased poles, to be taken by him who could climb for them. The efforts of men to hold greased pigs or climb greased poles gave great amusement to the crowd. Sometimes such cruel and brutal sports as the baiting of bulls with dogs were enjoyed by our ancestors, who were not so humane as they might have been. FARMING AND SHIPPING IN THE COIONIES. qq CHAPTER XVII. FARMING AND SHITPING IN THE COLONIES. We have seen how the people who came first to Eariy expen- ■KT 1 A • 1 f- 1 • 1 T T ments in silk- North America expected to hnd either a way to India, raising, vine- or mines like those discovered farther southward. But ^'"°'^'"^' ^*'=- when they found that they could not secure either the spices of India or the gold and silver of Peru, they turned their attention to the soil, to see what could be got by agriculture. But at first their plans for farming in America were as wild as their plans for getting to India. They spent much time in trying to produce silk and wine, two things which can be raised with profit only in old and well-settled countries. They also tried to raise madder, coffee, tea, olives, and the cacaonut, from which chocolate is made. John Rolfe, the husband of Pocahontas, in 1612 took Tobacco-grow- ing in Virginia a lesson from the Indian fields about him, and succeeded and Maryland. in growing tobacco for the English market. Before this time, English smokers and snuff-takers got their tobacco from the Spaniards. The plant was well suited to the Virginia climate, and it was easy to ship tobacco from the farms, which were all on the banks of the rivers. Gold and silver coins were scarce in those days, and, in half a dozen years after John Rolfe planted the first to- bacco, it had become the only money of Virginia. Al- most everything bought and sold in Virginia and Mary- land, before the Revolution, was paid for in tobacco. The colony of South Carolina maintained itself in a Rice produced in South Carolina. rather poor way, during the first twenty-six years of jQO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. its existence, chiefly by shipping lumber to the West Indies, and by making tar and i)itch. But there was living in Charleston, in 1696, a gentleman named Thomas Smith, who had seen rice cultivated in Madagascar. One day when a sea-captain, an old friend of his, sailed into Charleston Harbor from Madagascar, Thomas Smith got from him a bag of seed-rice. This was care- full v sown in a wet place in Smith's garden in Charles- ton. It grew, and soon Carolina was changed into a land of great rice-plantations. The raising of rice spread into Georgia when that colony was settled. Eliza Lucas in- In 1741 an cncrgctic young lady. Miss Eliza Lucas, troduces indigo- . . .,.,.,. culture. began to try expermients in growmg the mdigo-plant ni South Carolina, A frost destroyed the first crop that she planted, and a worm cut down the next. The indigo-maker brought from the West Indies tried to de- ceive her afterward, but by 1745 this persevering young lad}" had proved that indigo could be grown in South Carolina, and in two years more two hundred thousand pounds of it were exported. It was a leading crop for about fifty years, but, when the growing of cotton was made profitable by the invention of the cotton-gin, that crop took the place of indigo. Indian corn the settlers got from the Indians. It was unknown in Europe. From it was made the most of the bread eat- en by Americans before the Revolution. It was also shipped to the West Indies from Virginia and North Carolina. Indian corn, Ncw York, Ncw Jcrscy, and Pennsylvania formed the wheat, and pota- toes. great wheat region of the colonial time. These colo- '," FARMING AND SHIPPING IN THE COLONIES. lOI FLAG OF NEW YORK MERCHANT SHIPS. nies sent wheat, flour, and " hard-tack " bread in large quantities to the West Indies and the coun- tries on the Mediterranean Sea. Many thousands of great country wagons were employed in bring- ing grain to Philadelphia. Potatoes had been brought to Europe probably from South America ; but they were unknown to the Indians in what is now the United States. They were taken to Vir- ginia at the first settlement of Jamestown. Potatoes w^ere not planted in New England fields until 171 8. It was thought that, if a man were to eat potatoes every day for seven years, he would die. Cattle and hogs were brought from England very cattie, hogs, and horses. early, and were grown by thousands m the colonies. For the most part they ran in the woods, having marks on them to show to whom they belonged. Many cattle grew up without marks of ownership, and were hunt- ed as wild. There were " cow-pens " established for raising cattle in the wilderness, something like the "ranches" in the Western country to-day. The horses of that day were small and hardy. When not in use they ran at large in the woods, and some of them quite escaped from their owners, so that after a while there came to be a race of wild horses. It was accounted rare sport to ride after a wild horse until he was tired out, and so to capture him. The English plow of that time was very heavy, and Farming- implements, drawn by six horses or as many oxen. Efforts were made to introduce this to the colonies, but it was not suited to a new country. The plow most used in the colonies was a clumsy thing, with thin plates of iron nailed over the rude wooden plowshares. There were I02 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Fishing, whaling, and sea-going in New England. ENSIGN CARRIED BY NEW ENGLAND SHIPS. Trade of New York and Phila- delphia. Pirates. Captain Kidd, Steed Bonnet, and Worley. iiuiny stumps and few plows. All the tools were heavy and awkward. The Middle colonies raised wheat, the colonies on Chesapeake Bay tobacco, and the Southern colonies rice and indigo ; but the soil and climate of New Eng- land were not suited to any agricultural staple of great value. So the New-Englanders were driven to follow the sea. They built a great many ships, some of which they sold to English merchants ; others they used in fishing for codfish and mack- erel. These fisheries became very profitable to them. When the Long-Islanders discovered the art of taking whales along the coast, the New England people learned it, and became the most prosperous whalers in the world. The products of their fish- eries were sent to many countries, and New Eng- land ships were seen in almost every sea. Boston and Newport were the chief New England seaports. The people of New York also built many ships which were remarkable for their great size and the long voy- ages they made. But before the Revolution New York was not so la:rge a town as Boston. Philadelphia, which was started later than the other leading cities, grew fast, and became the greatest of all the cities in the colonies. But Philadelphia contained only about thirty thousand people when the Revolution broke out. There were many pirates on the coast, who some- times grew so numerous and bold as to interrupt trade. Some of them were caught and hanged. Captain William Kidd, of New York, was sent out in 1695 to put down the pirates that infested the Indian Ocean. The expense of his outfit was borne by certain FARMING AND SHIPPING IN THE COLONIES. 103 gentlemen in America and England, who were to share his spoils. Not falling in with any pirates, he took to piratical ways himself. When he came back to America he was arrested by Lord Bellemont, Governor of New York and New England, and sent to England for trial and execution. In 171 7, Steed Bonnet and Richard Worley, two pirates with their crews, had taken posses- sion of the mouth of Cape Fear River in North Carolina, whence they committed great depredations on the com- merce of South Carolina. Colonel Rhett, of vSouth Carolina, pursued Bonnet into Cape Fear River, and, after a fight, captured him and thirty of his men. They were tried and hanged at Charleston. Governor John- son, of South Carolina, took another vessel and attacked Richard Worley and his pirates, who fought until all were dead but Worley and one man, and these were taken, desperately wounded, and hanged. One of the most infamous of all the pirates of the Biackbeard. coast was Edward Teach, who, under the name of Black- beard, made himself the terror of all seamen on the coast from Philadelphia southward. He had his refuge also in the shallow waters of the North Carolina coast. A little more than a year after the over- throw of Bonnet, Lieutenant Maynard sailed from Virginia and fought Biackbeard in Ocracoke Inlet. After a hand-to-hand struggle all the pirates were killed or wounded, and Maynard sailed back with Blackbeard's head hanging at his bowsprit. So many of the pirates were captured in the next half-dozen years that they gave little trouble afterward. PfRATE BUACKBEARD, A8 SHOWN IN A PICTURE OF THE TIME. I04 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XVIII. BOND-SERVANTS AND SLAVES IN THE COLONIES. Tenants. Bond-servants. ENQLI8H FARM LABORER, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. When the English people came to this country they brought English ways with them. In England at that time poor people had much less liberty than now. The lands of rich men were cultivated by tenants, who not only paid rent, but owed much respect and service to their " lord," as they called the owner of their lands. If these tenants did not pay their rent faithfully, they could be punished. Many of the people sent to Virginia at first were tenants, who were expected to work on other people's land in a sort of subjection. They were to pay half of air they produced to the land-owner, and they were bound to stay on the land for seven years. Ten- ants were also sent to Maryland, and the Dutch estab- lished the same system in New York. Besides tenants of this sort, there were sent to Vir- ginia people of a poorer class, who were called " in- dentured servants." Those sent at first were poor boys and girls picked up in the streets, and bound to serve until they were of age. After a while there were sent to Virginia and to New England adult servants, bound to serve for seven or ten years, but afterward they were only required to serve four years to pay their passage. This way of getting laborers became very common, and many thousands of poor men, women, and children, were sent over in this temporary bondage. During the time of their service they could be bought and sold like slaves. They were often whipped and otherwise cruelly BOND-SERVANTS AND SLAVES. 105 treated when they chanced to fall into the hands of hard-hearted masters. There were people in Ensfland at that time called "Spirits" and ^ '^ '^ "crimps." "spirits" and "crimps." By many false stories they '■■^^//Ol^^M KIDNAPPING A MAN FOI! THE COLONIES. persuaded poor men to go to the colonies as servants. Sometimes the crimps entrapped a man aboard ship, where he was detained and carried off to the colonies against his will. This was called "trapanning" a man. They often kidnapped or " spirited " away children jq5 history of the united states. and sold them into service in the colonies. Sometimes people who wished to inherit an estate sent away the true heir and had him sold in America. One lad, who would have been Loi-d Annesley, was entrapped on ship- board by his uncle and sold into Pennsylvania. He was twelve years in bondage, after which he returned to England and proved his right to the lordship, though he died before he came into possession of it. Great number of Boud-scrvants wcre in some places called " redemp- bond-servants, or . ,, » i ^ r c i i i r i i i 'redemptioners.' tioucrs. About 1 670 fifteen huudrcd of them were sold in Virginia ever)' year. In Pennsylvania the men who took droves of redemptioners about the countrv and peddled them to the farmers were called " soul-drivers." ^ Many thousands of German emigrants were brought to America by ship-captains from Holland and sold into a temporary bondage in Pennsylvania. Many of the bond-servants, when their time was out, got land and grew rich. But the lot of the poor man was much harder in that time than in our day. Convict-servants. The English laws in old times were very severe against small crimes. A man could be hanged for steal- ing bread to satisfy his hunger. Many people sentenced to death for small offenses were pardoned on condition of their going to the colonics. In America convicts were sold for seven years. The Americans complained bit- terly that such bad people were forced on them, and one witty American writer offered to send a present of American rattlesnakes for the king's garden in return for his convicts. Introduction of In 1619, the year that the Great Charter reached Vir- slaves. ginia, there came a Dutch ship into James River, which sold nineteen negroes to the planters. They were the BOND-SERVANTS AND SLAVES. 107 slaves. first slaves in America. In that day it was thought right to make slaves of negroes because they were heathens ; but for a lone: time the number of slaves that came into the colonies was small. White bond-servants did the most of the work in Maryland and Virginia until about the close of the seventeenth century, when the high price of tobacco caused a great many negroes to be brought. About the same time the introduction of rice into South Carolina created a great demand for slaves. There were slaves in all the colonies. But in the Distribution of colonies far to the north there was no crop that would make their labor profitable. Negroes in New England were mostly kept for house-servants. In New York city and in Philadelphia there were a great many, but not many in the country regions about these cities, where wheat, which was the chief crop, did not require much hard labor. The larger number of negroes were taken to the colonies which raised tobacco, rice, and indigo. Negroes were especially fitted to endure a hot and malarial climate. After the Revolution, slavery was abolished in the colonies that had few negroes. But, where almost all the labor was done by slaves, it was much harder to get rid of slavery. This led to the difference between free and slave States, and at last to our civil war. The slaves at first did not speak English, and they character of the slaves. Insurrec- practiced many wild African customs, especially at the tions. burial of their dead. Some of them were fierce, and the white people were afraid of them. Great harshness was used to subdue them. The negroes often made bloody insurrections, which were put down with great severi- SIR JOHN HAWKINS, THE FIRST ENGLISH SLAVE- TRADER. jo8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. ty. One of these was in New York city in 171 2. Twenty-four negroes were put to death on this oc- casion, some of them in the cruel ways used in that time. In 1740 there was an uprising of slaves in South Carolina, and a battle between them and the white people, in which the negroes were routed. In 1 74 1, on a bare suspicion of intended insurrection, thirty- three slaves were executed in New York, thirteen of them by fire. Like severity was shown in other colo- nies, for people were more cruel in that day than in later times. Indian slaves. Many of the Indians w^ere reduced to perpetual slavery. These were usually the captives spared after Indian w^ars. They were often shipped from one colony to another, so as to remove them from a chance of , communicating with wild Indians who spoke the same language or belonged to allied tribes with themselves. But the Indians did not bear slavery so well as the Africans, and the most of them perished from hard labor, severe punishment, and the loss of the liberty which an Indian prizes above everything. CHAPTER XIX. LAWS AND USAGES IN THE COLONIES. Laws against OuK forcfathcrs brought many curious old customs ly'"g. profanity, and Sabbath- and laws from England. The laws of that time were very meddlesome. Men were punished for lying, w^hich nowadays we think is only to be cured, if it can be cured at all, by good example and good teaching. A fine was LAWS AND USAGES IN THE COLONIES. 109 imposed on profane swearing by the laws of nearly all the colonies ; in New England the tongue of the swear- er was sometimes pinched in the opening of a split stick. In all the colonies there were laws about keep- ing the Sabbath ; in many of them there were punish- ments for not going to church. In New Englam the Sunday laws were rigorously enforced, and the Sabbath was made to begin at sunset on Saturday evening, at which hour all work must cease. The people were at first called to church by beating a drum in the streets. For more than a hundred years after the settlement of Massachusetts, people were not allowed to sit on Boston Common on Sunday, or to walk in the streets except to church, or to take a breath of air on a hot Sunday by the sea-shore directly in front of their own doors. Two young people were arrested in Connecticut for sitting together on Sunday under a tree in an orchard. In the first meeting-houses in New England the men and women usually sat apart, and the children were put in the gallery. Men with rods in their hands kept the boys and girls in order during the long service, and a tithing-man kept the grown people awake in the church below. This he did in some places with a rod, which had a ball on one end and a fox-tail on the other. With the ball he tapped any man found asleep, but if a woman forgot herself and took a little nap, she was awakened by the fox-tail brushing her face. In the Northern States the churches had no fire in them, but little foot-stoves were carried to meeting. In all the colonies people were seated in church ac- cording to their dignity or wealth. The pew of a Gov- At church. I lO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Laws against scolding and drunkenness. ernor or the Speaker of the Assembly often had some sort of ornament on it as a mark of distinction. If men were punished for swearing, women were also forbidden to be too free with their tongues. In Virginia and some other colonies, women, for scold- ing or slander, were put upon a ducking - stool and dipped in the water — to cool them off, perhaps. In New England they were gagged and set by their own doors, " for all comers and v. goers to gaze at." Drunk- ards were sometimes obliged to wear a red letter D about their necks, and other offenses were punished by suspending a letter, or a picture, or a halter about :<^^^ the neck. THE DUCKING-STOOL Other curious punishments. Standing with the head and hands fast in the pillory, to be pelted with eggs by the crowd, and sitting with the feet fast in the stocks, were forms of punishment. In some places there were cages, in which criminals were confined in sight of the people. Punishments in the pillory and stocks, or in a cage, were inflicted on some occasion of LAWS AND USAGES IN THE COLONIES. I II public concourse — a lecture-day or a market-day — to make the shame greater. More severe than stocks or pillory were the custom- ary punishments of whip- ping on the bare back, cropping or boring the ears, and branding the hand with a hot iron. There were also some- times, for great crimes, t cruel punishments of burning alive, or hang- ing alive in chains, but these were very rare. Our forefathers were more superstitious than people are now, and they were very much afraid of witches. This foolish belief in witch- charms against witches. craft prevailed both in England and America, People sometimes nailed up horseshoes, or hung up laurel- boughs in their houses, to protect themselves from magic charms. When butter would not come for churning, red-hot horseshoes were dropped into the milk to "burn the witch out." When pigs were sick and thought to be bewitched, their ears and tails were cut off and burned. There were people tried in almost every colony for witchcraft. In England and in many other countries, executions for witchcraft were more common than in any of the colonies. In England and in America old women were sometimes put into the water, to find out whether they were witches or not. If THE STOCKS. The Salem witch- craft excitement. Religious perse- cution in the col- onies. jj^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. a woman were a witch she would float ; if not, she would go to the bottom, according to the popular belief. Of the many excitements about witchcraft in the colonics, the one that went to the furthest extreme was that in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. So great was the agitation that the most serious people lost their self-pos- session, and some poor folks even believed themselves to be witches, and confessed it. In the fright and indignation that prevailed, twen- ty persons were executed, and the jails were crowd- ed with the accused. One fourth of the in- habitants of Sa- lem moved away, afraid either of the witches or of being charged with witchcraft. At length reason returned, the prisoners were released, and there was the deepest grief that the fanaticism had gone so far. There has never been an execution for witchcraft in this coun- try from that day to this, though there are still some ignorant people who believe in such things. In most of the colonies there was, at some time, per- secution for religious opinions. In Virginia, only the PUNISHMENT OF A DRUNKARD. LAWS AND USAGES IN THE COLONIES. jj^ Church of England form of worship was allowed at first, and Catholics, Puritans, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Baptists were persecuted. In Massachusetts, for a long time, only the Puritan or Congregational wor- ship, as set up by law, was allowed. Those who advocated other doctrines were punished, and many Quakers were whipped, and some of them even put to death, for coming back after they had been ban- ished. Lord Baltimore wished to give toleration in Maryland to all who believed in Christ, but the law- makers of Maryland afterward made laws to annoy those who were of Lord Baltimore's own religion — the Roman Catholic. Roger Williams, who was banished from Massachusetts for his opinions, founded what is now called Rhode Island, on the plan of entire lib- erty in religious matters. He went further than Lord Baltimore, and gave to Hebrews and to unbelievers the same liberty with Christians. In Pennsylvania, where the Friends or Quakers were in the majority, there was toleration ; and persecution ceased in all the colonies before the Revolution. CHAPTER XX. THE SPANIARDS IN FLORIDA AND THE FRENCH IN CANADA. Hitherto we have spoken only of English colonies French and span- --.,.., r 1 1 • r 1 '^^ neighbors. in North America, but a great part of the history oi the English colonies consisted in conflicts with the neighbor- ing colonies of other nationalities. We must now go 114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Ponce de Leon discovers Florida. De Soto's expe- dition to the Mississippi. back for a moment and glance at the rise of these estab- lishments of France and Spain in North America. In 1 5 13, twenty-one years after Columbus made his great discovery, Ponce de Leon, an old Spanish ex- plorer, set sail from the island of Porto Rico to dis- cover a land reported to lie to the northward of Cuba, and which had somehow come to be called Bimini. It was said to contain a fountain, by bathing in which an old man would be made young again. On Easter Sun- day Ponce discovered the mainland, which he called Florida, from Pascua Florida, the Spanish name for Easter Sunday. In 1521 Ponce tried to settle Florida, but his party was attacked and he was mortally wounded by the Indians, without ever finding the fountain of youth. Florida was then believed to be an island. After the death of Ponce de Leon, other Spanish adventurers explored the coast from Labrador southward, and even tried to find gold-mines and plant colonies in the inte- rior of the country. The most famous of these expeditions was that of Hernando de Soto, a Spanish explorer, who reached Florida in 1539. He marched through Georgia, Ala- bama, and Mississippi. He was determined to find some land yielding gold, like Mexico and Peru. But he treated the Indians cruelly, killing some of them wantonly, and forcing others to serve him as slaves. The savages, in turn, attacked him again and again, until his party was sadly reduced. De Soto tried to descend the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, but at the mouth of the Red River he died of a fever. His body was buried in the Mississippi, to keep the Indians from disfiguring it in revenge. A few of his THE SPANIARDS IN FLORIDA. 115 followers reached the Gulf and got to the Spanish set- tlements in Mexico. By virtue of these explorations the Spaniards laid st. Augustine founded. claim to the whole continent of North America. In 1565 a Spanish party under Menendez arrived in Florida. They put to the sword the members of a French Hu- guenot colony already planted there, and then laid the foundation of St. Augustine, forty-two years before the first permanent English colony landed at Jamestown. St. Augustine is thus the oldest city in the United States. But the Spaniards were too busy in Mexico and in Central and South America to push their settle- ments farther to the north, though they were very jeal- ous of the English colonies, and especially of South Caro- lina and Georgia. In 1524 an Italian named Verrazano explored North verrazanos voyage. America from about the region of North Carolina to the coast of Newfoundland. As Verrazano had been sent out by Francis I, King of France, to discover a way to China, the French claimed a great part of North America by virtue of his discoveries. Ten years after Verrazano's voyage, a French cap- cartier-s voyages, tain named Jacques Cartier was sent by Francis I to find a way to China and the East Indies, which was at that time the chief motive for all explorations. Cartier ex- amined the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. The latter was found so barren that it was thought to be the land allotted to Cain. On this voyage Cartier got into the bay now called the Bay of St. Lawrence; but he returned to France without discovering the magnificent river of that name. The next year he returned and entered the river St. Lawrence, hoping that he might ii6 n I STORY OF THE UXITED Sl^ATES. Champlain founds Quebec. CHAMPLAIN. French explora- tions in the inte- rior. find a way bv fresh water to get through to the other side of the land, and so to China and India. He reached Quebec, the Indian inhabitants of which dressed some of their nun up like devils to frighten Cartier from going farther up tiie river. But he pushed on in small boats to Montreal, where there was a fortified Indian town, and where he was well received. An effort was made to plant a French colony in Canada in 1541, but the attempt was defeated by many misfortunes. Sixty years passed before the French again made serious efforts to colonize in the part of America which they called New France. Then, in 1603, new exertions were made under the leadership of one of the most remarkable men of his age, Samuel de Champlain, who became the founder of Canada. After some in- effectual attempts to plant on the coast, and many careful explorations, Champlain founded Quebec in 1608, the year after Jamestown was planted in Virginia. As the Jamestown colony lived by pro- ducing tobacco, Quebec existed from the first on the profits of a successful Indian trade. It was always the capital of the vast establishments of the French in America. The French, like the English, were trying to find the Pacific Ocean, and they were much more daring in their explorations than the English colonists, whose chief busi- ness was farming. A French explorer named Joliet reached the Mississippi in 1673, and another French- man, La Salle, explored the great country west of the QUEBEC IN CHAMPLAIN'S TIME, AFTER A DRAWING BY HIM. THE FRENCH IN CANADA. 117 Indians. Alleghany Mountains, and discovered the Ohio After many disasters and failures, La Salle succeed- ed in reaching- the mouth of the Mississippi. Father Hennepin, a priest, explored the upper Mississippi. The French then laid claim to all the country west of the AUeghanies. Over this region they established posts and mission- houses, while the English contented themselves with multiplying their farming- settlements east of the mountains. To make sure of their title, the French, in later times, buried metal plates at certain points in the Mississippi Valley, on which were engraved the claim of their king to the country. When La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi, Founding of Lou- isiana and of he took possession of the country in the name of Louis French posts XIV, and called it Louisiana, in honor of that king. The settlement of Louisiana was begun in 1699, The French held the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, the two great water-ways to the heart of North America, and they controlled most of the Indian tribes by means of missionaries and traders. They endeavored to con- nect Canada and Louisiana by a chain 'of fortified posts, and so to hold for France an empire, in the heart of America, larger than France itself. But the weakness of the French in America lay in the fewness of their people. Canada, the oldest of their colonies, was in a latitude too cold to be a prosperous farming country in that day. Besides, its growth was checked by the system of lordships with tenants, which some of the English colonies had also tried. But inferior as the French were in numbers, Ihey were strong in their military character, for they FRENCH GENTLEMAN OF THE TIME. ii8 HISTOKY OF THE UXITED STATES. Weakness and strength of the French in Amer- ica. COUREUR OES BOIS, OR WANDERING FUR-TRADER, OF CANADA. The French in- fluence over the Indians. were almost all soldiers. The English were divided into colonies, and could never be made to act together ; but the French, from Canada to the Mississippi, were abso- lutely subjected to their governors. The French were also rendered terrible to the English colonies by their skill in controlling the Indians. The great business of the French in Can- ada was the fur-trade, and this was pushed wnth an energy that quite left the English traders be- hind. The French drew furs from the shores of Lake Superior and from beyond the Mississippi. The French traders gained great influence over the Indians. The English treated the Indians as in- feriors ; the French lived among them on terms of equality, and, in many cases, intermarried with them. The French also gained control of the Indian tribes by means of missionary priests, who risked their lives and spent their davs in the dirty cabins of the savages to teach them religion. The powerful Iro- quois confederacy, known as the " Five Nations," and afterward as the " Six Nations," sided with the English, and hated and killed the French. They lived in what is now the State of New York. But the most of the tribes were managed by the French, who sent mission- aries to convert them, ambassadors to flatter them, gun- smiths to mend their arms, and military men to teach them to fortify, and to direct their attacks against the settlements of the English. MISSIONARY PRIEST. i'U--. C/.' LONG-HOUSE OF THE IROQUOIS. THE FRENCH IN CANADA. 119 The wars between the French colony in Canada and subjects of dis- pute between the the EngHsh colonies in what is now the United States French and Eng. 1.11 1 i T^ 1 T^ I'sh in America. were caused partly by wars between r ranee and Eng- land in Europe. But there were also causes enough for enmity in the state of affairs on this side of the ocean. First, there was always a quarrel about territory. The French claimed that part of what is now the State of Maine which lies east of the Kennebec River, while the English claimed to the St. Croix. The French also claimed all the country back of the Alleghanies. With a population not more than one twentieth of that of one of the English colonies, they spread their claim over all the country watered by the lakes and the tributaries of the Mississippi, includ- FRENCH CLAIM IN THE PRESENT STATE OF MAINE. PRESENT TERRI- TORY OF THE UNITED STATES, SHOWING BY WHOM IT WAS CLAIMED BEFORE 1763. I20 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. ing more than half of the present United States. Sec- ond, both France and England wished to control the fisheries of the eastern coast. Third, both the French and the English endeavored to get the entire control of the fur-trade. Fourth, the French were Catholics and the English mostl}' Protestants. In that age men were very bigoted about religion, and hated and feared those who differed from them. CHAPTER XXL COLONIAL WARS WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN. "King William's There wcrc four wars with the French during the War" begun. . colonial time. The first was called " King William's War," from William III, King of England. It lasted from 1689 to 1697. In this war the first severe blow fell on the settlements of Maine, where the Indians in the French interest attacked the settlers in June, 1689, paying old grudges by torturing their victims. But the French did not escape. The Iroquois Indians were in alliance with the English, and had, besides, their own reasons for taking revenge on the French. In this same summer of 1689 they attacked the settlements about Montreal at daybreak, and killed, in their horrible way, two hundred people, and carried as many more into captivity. Frontenac. Thcsc ravagcs of the Iroquois, carried almost into the town of Montreal, created a panic in the whole French colony, which had been almost ruined by bad govern- COLONIAL WARS IVITLI FRANCE AND SPAIN. j2i ment since their former governor Count Frontenac had been removed. The King of France found it necessary to send Frontenac, who was now in his seventieth year, to encourage the Canadians and carry on the war with the Iroquois. The old governor resolved to show the power of Canada, not by striking the Iroquois, but by striking past them, so as to make the English settlements feel the terror suffered by the French. He thought by such acts to win the respect and perhaps the friendship of the Iroquois. Frontenac sent out three war -parties composed of Destruction of Schenectady. French soldiers and Canadian Indians. One of these parties marched against Schenectady, and the story of this expedition will serve to give us a notion of the general character of many attacks that occurred about this time. The march was made in winter through deep snows, the French and Indians enduring incred- ible hardships. " They marched for two-and-twenty daies All through the deepest snow, And on a dismal winter night They strucke the cruel blow." So runs one of those old ballads by which our fore- fathers celebrated such bloody occurrences. The town of Schenectady was surrounded with palisades, through which there were two gates. But so secure were the inhabitants, defended, as they thought, by hundreds of miles of snow-drifts, that the gates were open and the whole town fast asleep. When warned to keep watch, the people had made light of the matter by constructing snow images of sentinels at each gate. The French and Indians scattered themselves all through the town in J 22 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. small parties, so as to waylay the doors of every house to prevent escape. Then the war-whoop was raised, and the work of slaughter began. Men and women alike were shot and tomahawked ; on children no am- munition was wasted — they were killed by being dashed against the door-posts of the houses or thrown into the fire. The bodies of the dead were outraged, and the village was set in frames. The Indians in the town, to the number of thirty, belonging to the Mohawk tribe of Iroquois, were spared and sent home, in order to detach their tribe from the English interest. Sixty of the inhabitants were killed in this attack. Some escaped out of their beds and ran toward Albany, sixteen miles away. Part of these perished of cold, and some got to Albanv, with the loss of limbs from frost. A number were carried into a midwinter captivity. Other assaults. The Frcuch party now had equal hardships to get back. Seizing forty of the best horses they could get, they hastened away ; but they suffered from hunger, and they were overtaken when almost at home by a party of Mohawks, and fifteen or more were killed. Another of Frontenac's parties of French and Indians, after strug- gling for three months through the snow, attacked Sal- mon Falls, in New Hampshire, at daybreak. The peo- ple made a brave resistance ; but, after thirty of them had been killed, the rest surrendered and were taken to Canada. Another party attacked a post on Casco Bay, in Maine, where the city of Portland now stands, capt- ured and destroyed it. Colonies combine Thcsc succcsscs of the Frcttch, SO far from disheart- for defense. ening the English, only roused them to revenge. They now felt the evil of their division into separate colo- COLONIAL WARS WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN. 123 nies, and in 1690 a congress of commissioners from several colonies met in New York to consider the best means of carrying- on the war with some sort of united action. This congress, which foreshadowed the ulti- mate union of the English colonies, planned an invasion of Canada. In accordance with this plan, Sir William Phips took Attempt to take Quebec. Port Royal, in Nova Scotia. Two expeditions were sent against Quebec : the one from New York and Connecti- cut was ordered to go by Lake Champlain ; the other, from Boston, under Sir William Phips, was sent in a fleet of thirty-four ships. The expedition by way of Lake Champlain fell a victim to dissensions among its officers and to discontent of the Indian allies, and retired with- out even embarking on the lake. Phips reached Que- bec, but found it impregnable to his force. The management of a horde of undisciplined Indians Peter schuyier. is always a matter of delicacy and difficulty, demanding a peculiar tact. Among the English there was one man at this time who was capable of controlling the Iroquois. This was Peter Schuyler, the first mayor of Albany. At this time Albany was peopled almost wholly by those who spoke the Dutch language, settlers who had come from Hol- land while New York was a Dutch province, or their descendants. Colo- nel Peter Schuy- ler was of this i| 124 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Schuyler invades Canada. Colonel Schuy- ler's expedition against the French. Dutch race. He had been born in Albany while it was a Dutch post and a center of the Indian trade, and he had grown uj) with a knowledge of the manners and speech of the neighboring Iroquois and a familiar ac- quaintance with the savages themselves. The Indians had great confidence in " Quider," as they pronounced his name. In 1 69 1 Schuyler led a party of white men and Mo- hawks against Canada. He attacked and got the better of a body of French and Indians of double the number of his own ; and when after this success he found himself intercepted by a strong body of the enemy, who lay between his soldiers and their canoes, he called to his men that there was nothing for it but to fight or die there. After a struggle of an hour he broke the French line, got into their rear, and, turning on them again, at length defeated them, regained his canoes, and returned home. Schuyler did what he could to prevent Indian cruel- tics. He was shocked to find that his hungr}' Mohawks were eating the French they had killed. The whole con- test was made up of barbarities and miseries without result, until peace between France and England, in 1697, brought a little welcome repose to the colo- nists of both nations after eight years of war and massacre. In 1702 began what was known as " Oueen Anne's War." In this contest Ens^land fousfht against Spain as well as France. South Caro- lina was involved in a war with the Spaniards and Indians of Florida, while the Northern colo- nies were struggling against Canada. The Gov- COLONIAL WARS WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN. 125 ernor of South Carolina made successful inroads upon "Queen Anna's War " the Florida Indians, but he could not capture St. Au- gustine. Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, was again taken from the French in 17 10, but the attempts made to take Quebec were once more a failure. In 1709 Peter Schuyler took five Iroquois chiefs to "The Five in. _, , , , . dian Kings" in England as ambassadors m order to keep the Iroquois London. Indian faithful to the English. These chiefs were made much ^^^^' of in London, where they were called " The Five Indian Kings." The war was not- able for the hor- OLD HOUSE *"^" ffl *"■" OEERFIELD. /***'« I! ^'«||f':i:r':'i- |Fi^. ■:.■-■-£>;!'/,/_,, rible onslaughts of the Canada Indians on some of the towns of the North- ern frontier. Deerfield, in western Massachusetts, was destroyed in 1704, and more than a hundred of "its in- il 126 III STORY OF THE UXITED STATES. GATEWAY AT ST. AUGUSTINE. ■^>v ''^" habitants carried into captivity. The war lasted -Jl»!' v*^ ° about eleven years. A treaty \ —- - _ was made in 171 3, and there was a long peace between France and Eng- land. But the intrigues of both powers with the sav- ages continued, and even in times of peace with France New England had many bloody engagements with the Indians of Maine, who were under the influence of the French. COLONIAL WARS WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN. 127 St.AuguWWnc^i GEORGIA AND FLORIDA AS THEY WERE IN OGLETHORPE'S TIME. In 1740, during- a war with Spain, General Ogle- ogiethorpe and y [ ^ c r^ • • •> T^, ^^^ Spaniards in thorpe, the lounder 01 (jeorgia, tried to conquer Flor- Florida. ida, but the fortifications of St. Augustine were too strong for him. Two years later the Span- iards invaded Georgia, but Oglethorpe ma- noeuvred his little force with so much skill as to lead the Spanish into ambuscades and defeat them at every point. In 1744 the war between England and France, known as " King George's War," began. x\t that time many French priva- teers were sent out to plunder New Eng- land ships. These privateers came out of Louisbourg, a French stronghold on Cape Breton Island. Governor Shirley, of Mas- sachusetts, sent against this place four thousand un- trained New England militia. They were commanded "King George's War " and the by a merchant, and their officers did not know even the first capture of I- •!• T-i 1 1 • Louisbourg. meanmg ot military terms. But they made up m cour- age and enthusiasm for their inexperience. The Ameri- cans had few cannon, but their favorite amusement had always been target-shooting, and the deadly skill with which they used their muskets made it almost im- possible for the French to work their guns. The ex- citement over this contest put a stop to almost all kinds of business in the Eastern colonies, and when at length the powerful fortress surrendered to a little army of farmers and mechanics, there was no end of joy in New England. This was the chief victory of the war, and it gave the American troops confidence in themselves. At the peace, concluded in 1748, England returned Louisbourg to the French in exchange for J 28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. advantages elsewhere. This was a bitter disappoint- ment to the New-Eng-landers, who called the day of its surrender a " black day, to be forever blotted out of New England calendars." CHAPTER XXII. braddock's defeat, and the expulsion of the acadians. Washington sent TiiE Frcuch madc usc of thc years that intervened to protest against r r> i i i i r i the French forts, bctween thc pcacc oi 1 748 and the outbreak of hos- tilities in 1754 to draw a line of posts along thc Ohio and near to the Alleghany Mountains, intending to con- fine the English to the country east of the AUeghanies, and to secure to themselves the whole of the great inte- rior valley. This was especially exasperating to Vir- ginia, which claimed the western countr3\ George Washington, then a young man of twenty-one, who had already spent much time on the frontier as a surveyor, was sent into the wilderness by the Governor of \'irginia as an ambassador to urge the French to depart peaceably. This errand the athletic and cool-headed young man ac- complished, in spite of great hardships and dangers. Washington's Xhc Frcuch officcrs were very much impressed by embassy. ^ r j Washington, and showed him many courtesies, though they tried to persuade his Indians to leave him. On his return a French Indian tried to kill him by firing at him, and then pretending that his gun had gone off accident- ally. The Indian was caught, and Washington's com- BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 129 panion, Gist, would have killed him, but Washington But he and Gist were obliged to travel on foot all night and all the next day to avoid pursuit. They found the Alleghany River filled with floating ice. The two travelers built a raft and endeavored by this means to ferry themselves across, but the ice caught the pole with which Washington was pushing and threw him into the river. He caught hold of the raft and drew himself out. He and Gist were obliged to pass the night on an island, and Gist was badly frost-bitten. Washington got back to Williamsburg in January, and the story of his adventures produced a great excite- ment in the little capital, and became the chief topic of talk in the plantation-houses of Virginia. The governor was like the man in the fable who Washington tries . to expel the tried soft words at first, but threw stones when nothing French. 10 I30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. else would drive the thievish boys from his apple-tree. The year after Washington's embassy— that is, in 1754 — Washington was sent as a major at the head of some troops to dislodge the French, who had built a post at the head of the Ohio, w^here Pittsburg now stands. This thev called Fort Duquesne. Washington found the French too strong for his force, but, by surprising and defeating a skulking party of them, he brought on a great war betw^een France and England, which the French wished to ■; postpone. Washing- ton was himself after- ward attacked by a superior force, and compelled to capit- ulate and retire from the disputed ground. In 1755 Gen- eral Braddock, ■m |I»»H' ■^S^iJ^'t"^ an Eng- lish YOUNG WASHINGTON RALLYING BRADOOCK'S TROOPS. Braddock's expe- dition. ^^ officer, marched from Virginia in command of an army of English regulars and colonial militia, to drive tlie French from Fort Duquesne. Braddock was brave BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. 131 THE DOTTED LINE SHOWS BRADDOCK'S MARCH FROM FORT CUMBERLAND, ON THE POTOMAC, TOWARD FORT DUQUESNE. and honest, but harsh and brutal in manners. He could not understand the nature of a war in the woods. Like other Eng- lish officers of the time, he despised the American militia and their half-Indian way of fight- ing. He thought it cowardice to skulk behind a tree or to crouch by a log to fire. He insisted on training the colonial militia to fight in European fashion, though his whole march was through a forest where it was impossible to form a battalion. When only eight miles from Fort Duquesne, the Braddock attacked. French and Indians attacked Braddock's army. The scarlet coats and solid ranks of the soldiers, who ad- vanced waving their hats and crying " God save the king!" made a good target for Indian marksmen, and the English were mowed down by the deadly fire that came from trees and gullies where no enemy was to be seen. The British soldiers, though brave enough, were unused to such warfare, and unable to do anything to repel the unseen foe. After standing huddled together for three hours, they broke and fled. The Virginians, whom Braddock had despised, had stood their ground for a while, fighting behind trees like the Indians ; but Braddock, esteeming this cowardly, ordered them to " come out in the open field like Englishmen," and even struck some of them with the back of his sword. General Braddock exposed himself fearlessly. He Braddock defeat- ed and killed. had four horses killed under him, and was on the fifth T-,-, HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. when he was mortally wounded. George Washington, who was the only officer on Braddock's staff not killed or wounded, behaved with admirable courage. He had two horses shot under him, and four bullets pierced his clothes. Nearly all the officers of Braddock's army were killed or wounded, and the soldiers who escaped the slaughter fled back to Fort Cumberland in a wild panic. Expulsion of the In the same summer with Braddock's defeat came the removal of the Acadians. Acadia was the name of the region now included in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It had been settled by the French about one hundred years when the English conquered it in 1710, during Queen Anne's War. The people were a very ignorant peasantry, who contin- ued to speak French and to take sides secretly with their own nation in every struggle between the two countries, though they had lived forty-five years under Enoflish rule. In this war the hard resolution was taken to scatter the Acadians through the various English colonies. They were seized and put on board vessels and sent away ; their houses and barns were burned, and their lands confiscated. Their sufferings have ex- cited pity even to our own times, and have been made the subject of Longfellow's poem of " Evangeline," which is a story of the time : " When on the falling tide the vessels departed, Bearing a nation with all its household gods into exile, Exile without an end, and without an example in story, Scattered were they like flakes of snow, when the wind from the northeast Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the banks of Newfoundland." EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS. "^ZZ ,A'i> N, Some of the Acadians got to Louisiana, some to Can- ada, and some, after great liardships, made their way- back to Acadia ; others were scattered in various places. Almost the whole of this year's operations of the Battle of Lake George. Failure British and colonial troops ended in failure. Sir Will- of Johnson's and t: i^ i/^ il-i.T-1 Shirley's expedi- lam Johnson was sent to capture Crown romt, a Jhrench tions. fort on Lake Cham plain. His raw forces succeeded in beating off the French in the battle of Lake George but Johnson, who was no soldier, did not even at- tempt to go farther, and Crown Point was not attacked. General Shirley set out to capture the French fort at Niagara, but he was outgeneraled by the French, and did not reach it. The statesmen who governed England at this time were very incompetent. The colonies were divided by factions and jealousies, many of the colonial governors were incompetent, and the war in America was carried on half-heartedness and stupidity. Lord Loudon was sent, in 1756, capture of Fort . William Henry, to command the troops m Amer- and massacre of ■A:- SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. with T T 1 • 1 • , T • 1 part of the gar- ica. He laid siege to Louisbourg rjson, in 1757, but failed to take it. For this movement he drew away many of the troops that had protected the New York frontier. Aware of this, the French, under Montcalm, besieged and captured Fort Will- iam Henry, at the south end of Lake George. By the terms of ca- pitulation the colonial troops were LORD LOUDON. T^, HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. to be allowed to return home, but after they had sur- rendered the fort the Indian allies of the French fell on them and killed a great many. Others they seized and carried off. while Montcalm besought them and threatened them in vain. The great disgrace of the American wars in the last century was the use of sav- age allies by civilized nations. ^^ CHAPTER XXIII. FALL OF CANADA. In the midst of this war wnth France, William Pitt, afterward Earl of Chatham, became Prime ^s- Minister of England. He was one of the great- *" est orators and perhaps the greatest English statesman of his time. His advancement had 3 w^^ been retarded by the jealousy which King WILLIAM PITT. George II felt of his opposition to all encroach- ments on liberty. But so great was his popularity that Pitt conducts the the king felt obliged in 1757 to intrust the government to war against France with hiiu. Up to that momeut the war had brought England vigor. only disgrace and defeat. But Pitt infused his own fiery spirit into every department of the government. From the moment his strong hand was felt, the tide turned in England's favor everywhere. Pitt made great changes in the conduct of the war in America. He was resolved, indeed, to take Canada, and to drive the French out of America, as the only means of winning a lasting peace in that quarter. He chose his commanders with care, and FALL OF CANADA. ^35 from the time he came to power the English colonies began to feel some hope of getting rid of the enemy that had so long sent the Indians, like wolves, to destroy the defenseless settlements. In 1758 the English, under Amherst, again laid siege to Louisbourg, that great fortress which New-Englanders had once captured. After a siege by sea and land, last- capture of lou- ing nearly two months, and much hard fighting, the town Amherst, 1758. surrendered. In September of this same year the French fort, capture of Fort 11 1 T^ 1 • 1 11 1 r T^' Frontenac. called rrontenac, which stood where the town of Kmgs- ton in Canada now stands, and controlled Lake Ontario, was taken by an English expedition. General Forbes, though so sick with a painful and General Forbes •11 1 1 1 • 1 • obliges the mortal illness that he had to be carried on a litter, cut a French to aban- road through the thick forests on the Pennsylvania quesne. Pitts- mountains, marched to the Ohio, and forced the French ^"""^ founded, to abandon Fort Duquesne. The English established a fort here and called the place Pittsburg, in honor of the great prime minister who had turned the cur- rent of the war from defeat to victory, and who had become the idol of the peo- ple in the American colonies. The English army in America suffered one considerable de- ACADIA, PORT ROYAL, AND LOUISBOURG, AND THE ROUTE BY SEA BETWEEN BOSTON AND QUEBEC. 136 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Defeat of the English at Ticon- deroga. Decline of the French power in America. Wolfe attacks Quebec. MONTCALM. teat at Fort Ticonderoga. on Lake Champlain. Gen- eral AbcrcrDUibv had sailed down Lake George and marched through the woods to attack Montcalm, at Ticonderoga. The English and colonial troops tried to carrv the French works by assault, but after several re- pulses thev retreated in a panic to their boats, and sailed back to the fort at the south end of Lake George. But the English successes in 1758 pushed the French in America far toward ruin. Louisbourg, the great French stronghold, from which privateers were sent out, was gone, and bv the fall of Fort Duquesne and Fort Frontenac the routes from Canada to Louisiana were cut off. The fur-trade of Canada was destroved, and the Indians of the interior were no longer willing to come to the support of the French, seeing the English in possession of the main roads into their countrv. During the siege of Louisbourg, Wolfe, a voung brigadier-general, had attracted much attention bv the energv and daring of his operations. He was sent bv Pitt to take Quebec, if such a thing were possible. Quebec is on a high, steep blutl, overlooking the St. Lawrence where that river is narrow, and the natural strength of the fortress is very great. All through Julv and August of 1759, Wolfe's army and the English fleet tried in vain to tind a weak spot in the defenses of the Canadian stronghold, but the fortress frowned on them fn^n its inaccessible heights. In several attacks made at various points, the English were repulsed. As the season of storms was coming on, and the fleet must soon leave, even Wolfe began to despond. But. in spite of sickness and pain, this heroic man roused his army to make one more attempt. Meantime Mont- FALL OF CAXADA. 137 calm, who commanded the French forces, was extremely visfilant. He kept his horses saddled day and night to ride to anv point that might be assailed, and he did ncit take off his clothes for nearly three months. Wolfe put his men in boats and dropped down, • " in the night, from the fleet above the town to a little bav, now known as Wolfe's Cove. Twenty -four volun- teers climbed the steep preci- pice bv a rough path and drove off the guard at the top. When firing was heard, the whole force landed and clambered up the rockv steep, holding by bushes. When morning came, the British soldiers were in line of battle on the " Plains of Abra- Wolfe scales the Heights of Abraham. I -.8 HISTORY OF THE UXJJED STATES. a ham," less than a mile from Ouebec, where the French must tight or have their sup- plies cut off. Montcalm attacked imme- diately, but his ranks were bro- ken bv the steady English hre, and Wolfe led a charge in person. Though twice wound- ed by bullets, Wolfe kept on until a shot en- tered his breast, inflicting a mortal wound. When told Defeat of the _ French on the that thc cncuiy wcrc fieeing everywhere, he said, " Now, " Plains of Abra- . i r i • • i >> -» r ham." Death of God bc praiscd, I die m peace ! " jNIontcalm, who was Wolfe and Mont- , ,, i i • i t i i t i n calm. ''ilso mortally wounded, said, i am happ}- that I shall OLD VIEW OF QUEBEC. Fall of Quebec, 1759. Canada ceded to the English, 1760. not live to see the sur- render of Quebec." K Ouebec soon capitu- ^ lated, and the fate of Can- ada was sealed. The French attempted to retake the citv in vain. Thc surrender of Montreal, in 1760, com- FALL OF CAXADA. 139 pleted the conquest of Canada by the English. By the treat}' between England and France, made in 1763, all the French possessions in America east of the Missis- sippi, except a district around New Orleans, were ceded to England. The joy in the colonies knew no bounds. The peo- Rejoicing in the pie had seen their shipping cut off bv privateers, their property wasted by taxation, their paper money depre- ciated, and their young men destro3'ed by almost con- tinual war. The frontiers had been desolated by the Indians, under French influence, for three quarters of a century. Now they looked forward to peace, and the expansion of the English settlements in America into a vast empire. CHAPTER XXIV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COLONIAL WARS WITH THE FRENCH. The Eno-lish and French resrulars wore neat uniforms. The French were remarkable a long way off for the white, the English for the red, which predominated in their dress. The drill of regular soldiers was careful, and their discipline severe. They fought with great steadiness, standing up and facing the enemy, The regular soi- dicrs and they and their officers held in contempt the skulking wav of fighting which prevailed among the colonial troops on both sides. FRENCH OFFICER. 140 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The American troops. CANADIAN SOLDIER. British officers and colonial sol- diers. FUNT-LOCK. INDIAN MOCCASINS. The Americans, in both the French and English colo- nies, had learned to fight in the woods. They loaded their guns lying on the ground, and they fired from be- hind trees and stumps, now running forward and now re- treating and charging again. The regular troops took no definite aim, but fired at the enemy's line, while the colonists were the best marksmen in the world, and the man whom one of them covered with his gun was generally doomed. In the first siege of Louisbourg the victory was achieved by the deadly aim with which colonial musketeers picked off French artillery-men. At the battle of Lake George it was said that the American provincials fought in the morning like good boys, about noon like men, and in the afternoon like demons. The British officers were generallv incapable of get- ting on well with the American soldiers. They looked with contempt on men who wore little or no uniform, were often tattered, slovenly, and even barefoot, and ^ sometimes carried in the same company guns of the various sorts they had used in hunting. The Amer- icans made a bad show on parade, and refused to fight standing up in close ranks. Bv the side of the neatly-kept, red-coated British troops, the American militia looked shabbv enough. The British officers holding the kins^'s commission as- sumed to command American officers of his/her rank, and this caused a dislike of the English to spread through the colonies. Pitt ordered that the American officers should take equal rank with the British, and this order gave great satisfaction in America. The English troops were rather unfit for the work of fighting in the woods. " Our clothes, our arms, T FLINT-LOCK GUN. COLONIAL WARS WITH THE FRENCH. 141 LORD HOWE. our accoutrements, even our shoes and stockings, are English troops in II • r 1 • •• /-> 1 TTT - ^^^ woods. Lord all improper tor this country, wrote Lreneral \\ olte Howes reforms. from America. Lord Howe, who was one of the noblest of men and best of generals, changed the dress of his men to tit them for marching in the wil- derness. Hair was worn long in that dav, and Lord Howe cut off his own fine head of hair to persuade the men to sacrifice theirs. He reduced the officers' baggage, and dismissed the great company of washer- women, setting a good example by washing his own linen in the brook. Lord Howe cultivated the friend- ship of the American officers, and treated the soldiers with great respect. He was second in command to Abercromby, and was killed in a skirmish just before the attack on Ticonderoga. The defeat of Abercromby in the battle which followed is attributed to the loss of Lord Howe, who was the real soul of the array. (See the preceding chapter.) It was impossible to keep troops enough in the field to protect the long frontier. Xo one could tell where the Indians would strike, and when they had mas- sacred a fam- ily they es- caped too swiftly for pursuit. The colonies were ^^^ *?^ LOBO HOWE WASHING HIS UNEN. 1,2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Rewards for diiveii to offcr rcwards for the scalps of Indians as thcv were accustomed to pay for wolves' heads. One can see how barbarous their feelings were, however, in the offer of smaller rewards for the scalps of Indian women and children Rangers. The pcrils of the frontier led to the formation of com- panies of rangers, who fought the Indians in their own wav. In the South the rangers were mostly mounted men, who scoured the frontier to intercept any companies of Indians which mis^ht invade the settlements. Ranoers were also emploved to assist the armies in the field bv capturing stragglers from whom information could be gained, and by traversing the woods to guard against sur- prise. Robert Rogers. Qnc of thcsc raugcrs, Major Robert Rogers, became verv famous lor his daring expeditions in the region about Lake George. He had many desperate lights with the French. He and his men journeved on skates or snow-shoes in winter, and in light whale-boats or afoot in summer. His main objects were to capture prisoners for ' infi^rniation and to annov the encmv. Once, with fiftv men, he carried his liirht whale-boats six miles over a mountain-gorge, from near the middle of Lake George to the waters of Lake Champlain, and then rowed with muffled oars under the French fort at Ticonderoga, so close as to hear the sentry give the watchword, and then passed the fort at Crown Point in the same way. He captured and sunk two sloops laden with provisions, hid his boats, and got back afoot to Lake George. Afterward he returned and reconnoitred Lake Chamolain in his boats, captured some prisoners, and again hid his boats. This time the French found the boats, and sent out scouts COLOXIAL WARS WITH THE FRENCH. 143 to find some water-passage by which they could have come into Lake Champlain, not suspecting that they could have been carried over. Rogers, when imable to capture an_y stragglers, once determined to get informa- tion by securing a sentinel on duty. With five men he walked coolly up to a sentinel near the French fort. When challenged, he answered in French. Then, when he had got near the soldier, and the latter demanded, in ROGERS'S SLIDE, LAKE GEORGE. . ,ra-,oLr amazement, "Who are you?" he answered, "Rogers," and took him prisoner. There is a tradition that, in es- caping from the Indians, he once threw his packs down a steep rock to the ice on Lake George, and then turned round on his snow-shoes and walked awav with his snow- shoes reversed. The Indians, seeing the tracks, believed that two men had approached and slid down the fright- ful slope. The place is still known as " Rogers's Slide." frontier. 144 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Evil influences of 111 miiiiv wiiys the Frcoch wars tended to corrupt wars. ^^^ people of the colonies. A race of traders secretly sold arms to the Indians that were butchering their own people. Another set of men, some of whom were con- nected with the government, sold provisions to the French, \q\-\ manv embarked in privateering — that is, they fitted out ships to capture and plunder the merchant-ships of France. This was only a kind of law- ful piracy. Many of the soldiers who returned from the war had learned habits of idleness and dissipation. Sorrows of the Thc sorrows inflicted on both the French and English colonists were more than can be imagined. The frontier people lived in continual fear of sudden death by the tomahawk, or slow death by torture. Yet their courage grew with their danger. Loveweirs Of all the engagements on the Northern frontier none excited so much interest as that of Captain Lovewell's thirty-four men with a party of fortv-two Indians who ambushed the white men near the present site of Frye- burg in Maine. The flight lasted from ten in the morning till night, when the Indians retreated. One half of Love- well's party was killed, including the captain, who fell at thc first fire, and the young chaplain Frye, who was left wounded and dving in the woods. This melancholy struggle was celebrated in a rude ballad that became " the most beloved song of all New England." Its nar- rative of blood and desperation suited the gloomy taste of the time, and it was Ion": chanted bv colo- nial firesides. Captivity in Can- In 1 689 captivcs takcu in Maine were carried to ada and among /~< i i 1 1 1 r- the Indians. Canada and sold there. From that time forward innu- merable people captured on the frontier by the Indians fight. COLONIAL WARS WITH THE FRENCH. 145 were sold into Canada, enduring horrible sufferings in their forced journe3-s through the woods. Many of these were ransomed by their friends. Husbands made dangerous and sorrowful jour- neys to deem WHITE CAPTIVES DRIVEN INTO CANADA BY INDIANS. their wives, and parents went in search of their children. Great com- passion was excited in New England for the captives, and collections were frequently made for their i-edemp- tion. Sometimes captive children were reclaimed who had been educated in French, and had quite forgotten the language and the religion of their parents. One of the first of many thousands of captives carried incidents of captivity. to Canada was a little girl named Sarah Gerrish. An Indian girl once tried to drown her by pushing her off a precipice into the river, but she saved herself by catch- ing hold of the bushes. Once she was so weary that she overslept, and awoke to find herself alone in the woods and covered with snow. She followed the tracks of the Indians until she overtook them. Again, the Indians built a great fire, and told her that she was to be burned, but she threw her arms around her Indian master's neck II 146 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. and begged him to save her. She was sold to the French in Canada, and kindly treated by them until she was returned. In the fall of 1677 two men, White and Jen- nings, set out from the Connecticut River for Canada, to redeem their wives and children carried off by Indians. Without guides they paddled through Lake Champlain and reached Canada. After seven months' absence they brought back about twenty captives in all. The people sent horses to meet them at Albany and bring them into Hatfield, where they were received with the greatest joy. One woman, when she got her children together, after captivity, found one of her sons, a lad of eleven, an Indian in habits, and not able to speak any but the Indian language ; while a daughter of fifteen, who had been educated in a Canadian convent, spoke nothing but French. One Pennsylvanian got home just as the sale of his property at auction had been completed, his neigh- bors having supposed him dead. James Smith, having- endured six years of captivity among the Indians, came home a few days after his sweetheart had married an- other man. Curious results Thc Canadians were generally kind to the captives of captivity. . . that fell into their hands, and some of the prisoners were very sorry to return. Many of the captives remained among the savages ; one Indian village contained a hun- dred white people carried away in childhood. These had forgotten how to speak English. Some of the Indian tribes doubled their numbers in the last French war by adopting white children. Three thousand men, women, and children, were carried into captivity from Pennsylvania and the provinces south of it in the year 1756. COLONIAL WARS WITH THE FRENCH. ^aj The colonies did not immediately have peace. The Pontiac's war. Indians of the Western country hated the English, and the occupation of the old French forts by small English garrisons excited their jealousy. Under the lead of Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, a great conspiracy was formed in 1763, the year of the peace. Pontiac had arranged a treaty-meeting with Major Gladwyn, the officer in Fort Detroit. He and other chiefs had filed off the barrels of their guns so as to carry them hidden under their blankets. They intended, by a treacherous surprise dur- ing the meeting in the council-room of the fort, to cut off the whole garrison. But an Indian girl revealed the plot to the commander, and the chiefs found the fort If bristling with bayonets, and gave over their assault. But, a few days later, they laid siege to the fort, which, however, succeeded in holding out for five months, when the Indians abandoned the siege. Man}- of the smaller frontier forts were taken and the inmates massacred. Fort Pitt, where Pittsburg now stands, was at- tacked, but succeeded in holding out against the savages. The settlers on the frontier suffered horrible inroads from the savages. It became necessary to march forces into the Indian coun- try. General Bouquet, with five hundred men, defeated a large body of Indians in a desperate redoubt at pittsburg, built two days' battle at Bushy Run, in Pennsylvania, in 1763. "Pontiac's War," as it was called, was brought to a close in 1764, and the frontiers had a brief rest. But already there were seen the beginnings of that great quarrel of the Americans with the mother-country which brought on the bitter struggle of the Revolution- ary War, with new horrors from fresh Indian wars. by bouquet in 1764. 148 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XXV. now THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED. Three forms of XllE closc of thc Frcncli war made way for the government in •' the colonies. Revolutioii. But, bcfore we consider the events which led to the separation of the colonies from England, it will be best to ask, How were the colonies governed at the close of the French wars? There were three forms of government in America — "royal," "charter," and ".proprietary." Colonies under The oldcst colonj, Virginia, after the Virginia Com- royal govern- ments, pany was dissolved, was under what was called a roval government, because the king appointed the governor, and approved or disapproved of the laws that were passed. New York had been granted to the Duke of York as a proprietary government, but when that duke became king, as James II. it became a i-oyal, or king's province. New Jersey became a royal colony after the king bought the right of the proprietors, and East and West Jersey were united. The two Carolinas were proprietary governments at first, but in 1729 the king bought out the proprietary rights, and they became royal governments. Georgia was first settled under a body of twenty-one trustees, but in 1752 these trustees surrendered the government to the king. In 1679 * New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts, and became a royal colony. So that, after 1752, there were seven colonies under royal governments, namely, Vir- ginia, New York, New Jersey, North and South Caro- lina, Georgia, and New Hampshire. HO IV THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED. 149 Three colonies — Massachusetts, Connecticut, and colonies under charter govern- Rhode Island — were under charter governments ; that ments. is, they were for the most part governed by their own people, according to charters granted by the king. Massachusetts, after it lost its first charter, had a gov- ernor appointed by the king, but the power remained mostly in the hands of the Legislature. Maine was at- tached to Massachusetts. Marvland had been given to Lord Baltimore, Penn- colonies under ^ _ proprietary gov- svlvania to William Penn. Baltimore and Penn were emments. called " proprietors," or " proprietaries." The heirs of these first proprietors exercised in these two colo- nies power somewhat similar to those of the king in the roval colonies. These were called pro- prietary governments. Delaware had been ceded to Penn by the Duke of York, and, though it had a separate Legislature, it was under the same governor as Pennsylvania. There were, colonial court-house, therefore, at the close of the French wars, three proprietary governments^ — Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, Each of the thirteen colonies had a legislative bodv- coioniai Legis- PHILADELPHIA. BUiLT 1707. latures. These were divided into two houses. There was a Lower House, or Assembly, elected by the people. . The members of the Upper House, or Council, were generally appointed by the king in the royal colonies, and by the proprietary in the proprietary colonies. In the charter colonies governors and members of the Council were elected by the Assembly. In order to pass a law both houses of the Legis- how laws were passed in the lature must vote for it and the governor must agree colonies, to it. We have kept the same rule. Our State and ernors. jrQ HISTORY OF 'J- HE UNITED STATES. national laws are made in this way now. The body we call the Senate takes the place occupied by the governor's Council in the colonies. But in our time the people elect the governors and both houses of the Legislature. In nearly all of the colonies the people had no voice in choosing the governor or the Upper House of the Legislature. The people could not, there- fore, make laws which were not agreeable to the king or the proprietary. There was, consequentl}', almost a continual quarrel between the governors, acting under instructions from England, and the representatives of the people. Character of As thc pcoplc of thc colouics had no influence in the colonial gov- r i • selection of their governors, they were generally un- worthy men. At first they were often the relatives of court favorites ; in later da\-s they were frequently selected to please some influential man who could con- trol the vote of a representative in Parliament. Some of them were ignorant and tyrannical, some were dissi- pated, and others were greedy money-getters. Lord Cornbury, who governed New York, was a cousin of Queen Anne. He squandered the resources of the col- ony, imprisoned whom he pleased, and rendered himself contemptible by occasionally masquerading in women's clothes. Andros, Governor of New York and New Eng- land, was a tyrant unmitigated in most of his acts. Many of the governors gave themselves up to securing a for- tune by any means in their power, and some succeeded. Sir William Berkeley in Virginia arrogated to himself one third of the gross returns of the Indian trade; Gov- ernor Fletcher in New York sold licenses to pirates to live unmolested in his province ; and Governor Eden, of HOW THE COLONIES WERE GOVERNED. j r j North Carolina, was believed to be a partner in Black- beard's spoils. To increase their profits the governors would sometimes overthrow land-titles already granted, thus obliging the owner to pay them large fees for new grants. Royal governors generally acted as judges, sit- ting in the highest court, and thus they held two thirds of the authority of their colony. As they had a power of appointment to and removal from many offices, they could do pretty much as they pleased. The only check on them was the right of the Assembly to fix the salary of a governor from year to year. All the governors were not bad ; some, like Spotswood in Virginia, Robert Johnston in South Carolina, and Dongan, Bellomont, and Burnet in New York, were conspicuous for public spirit. But the exasperation which the colonists felt toward most of their governors was a source of aliena- tion from the mother-country. All laws regulating the trade between the colonies commercial laws made by the and with other countries were made by the English English Pariia- Parliament. The colonies were obliged, often much against their will, to admit negro slaves, brought in by English merchants. They were forced to send nearly all their leading products to England for sale. They were not allowed to buy any European goods, except in England, and no foreign ships were allowed to enter a port in this country. Laws were made to discourage people in the colonies from making and trading in such things as were made in England. There were English laws against the manufacture of iron-ware and woolen g6ods by the Americans. The colonists had many furs, and could make hats very cheaply, but no hatter was allowed to send hats from one colony to another ; he 15^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Custom-houses and smuggling. could even be punished for load- ing his hats on a horse to carry them to another colony. Custom-houses were established by law in all the ])rincipal ports of the colonies, and the duties were collected for the king. The object of these duties was not so much the revenue derived from them, as the effect of duties on foreign goods in compelling the colonists to buy chicHy products of English manu- facture, and in enabling the ofificers to exclude goods not brought from England. But the colonists evaded these restrictive laws in every way possible, and there v/as a great deal of smuggling along the whole coast. Goods were sccrctlv landed in the lonesome creeks on Long Island or in little bays to the southward. Much smuggling was done by bribing the customs col- lectors, and sometimes the governors as well. Chests of tea were often packed in the middle of hogsheads of sugar, and thus brought in from the West India islands instead of from England, as required by act of Parlia- ment. Tobacco, which could only be lawfully shipped to English ports, was put aboard Dutch ships at sea from American vessels, or from little boats that ran out of creeks along the James River or the Chesapeake. The people thus learned to disregard the laws of the mother-country, and bv the unwise acts of Parliament the minds of the colonists were prepared for resistance to English authority. EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 153 CHAPTER XXVI. EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY IN THE COLONIES. The colonies were settled at a time when the Eng- Love of liberty in the colonists. lish people were trying to establish the principles of liberty in their own government. Many of the colo- nists were driven to this country by acts of tyranny. The settlers in America brought with them the English love of liberty. They w^ere always ready to assert their right to "the liberties of Englishmen." Then, too, the hardy, independent life of pioneer settlers tended to cherish the passion for freedom. Free government was first established in America Early struggles _ for liberty in by the Virginia charter of 161 8, as we have seen in a Virginia, previous chapter. The king, in dissolving the Virginia Company, struck a blow at the liberty of the colony, but the people strove hard to maintain their freedom. When, in 1624, the clerk of the Virginia Council be- trayed their secrets to the king's commissioners, the Vir- ginia Assembly sent him to the pillory, and had part of his ears cut off, to the great disgust of King James. When Sir John Harvey was Governor of Virginia, he opposed the people, and the Council deposed him in 1635, and sent him to England. King Charles I was offended at their presumption in deposing a royal gov- ernor, and he sent him back again as governor. But the people succeeded in having him removed in 1639. Sir William Berkeley, the royal Governor of Virginia, Bacon's rebel- opposed the people, and in 1676 refused to allow them to make war on the Indians, who were ravaging the front- lion. THE PILLORY, AS USED IN AMERICA. 154 HISTORY OF THE UXl'lED STATES. icrs. This he did. lest the large profits he was making out of the fur-trade should be reduced. The people of the frontier put themselves under the lead of a brilliant IIF. Be 3'oung man, Nathaniel Bacon by name. Bacon belonged to a family prominent in the county of Suffolk, in Eng- land. He was educated in the law at Cambridge. His habits, like those of other young gentlemen of the time, had been extravagant, and he exceeded the allowance made him b}'- his father. About 1673 he went to Vir- ginia, where he had a cousin, also named Nathaniel Ba- con, who was rich and childless, and who wished to make the younger Nathaniel heir to his fortune, if he could have persuaded him not to embrace the popidar cause. But the generous heart of the younger Bacon w^as touched witli the wrongs of the people, and, though he had been appointed a member of the governor's Council, he yielded to the request of the people and became their EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. jrr leader. He showed exxellent ability, and he was idolized by the people, who stood guard day and night over his house lest he should be assassinated by order of the governor. Bacon forced the government to give him a com- Bacon against , , 1 T • 1 ^^^ Indians. mission, and he got the Legislature to pass some good laws, that were much needed. Then he marched against the Indians and drove them back, to the great relief of the suffering people of the frontier. He was a good Indian fighter, but, like most men of that time, he showed no mercy to the savages, whose torture of their prisoners had awakened the most violent re- sentment. In fighting the Indians he caused his men to stand so close to their fort that the}' could fire through the port-holes, and yet, by standing at one side, escape the fire of the Indians. When Bacon got back from the Indian war and had siege and de- . _ struction of dismissed a part of his men, he found that Berkeley had Jamestown, proclaimed him a rebel, and taken measures to have him arrested. With a little handful of men, he marched swiftly on Jamestown, which was garrisoned by a force five times as strong. As he passed along the road the people brought out food to refresh his soldiers, and the women cried after him, "General, if you need help, send for us! " He promptly threw up a trench on the narrow neck of land that connected Jamestown with the main- land, and, after a week of siege, he took it and burned it to the ground. Governor Berkeley fled to the Eastern Shore of Virginia under Chesapeake Bay, and the people of Virginia, except the few on the eastern side of the bay, took an oath to sup- port Bacon, hailing him as a deliverer. 15^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Bacon's death. But Bacon was worn out by the cares and exposures of the Indian war and the Jamestown siege, and he soon died. His body was secretly buried by his friends, who sunk it in the waters of the river, in order that his ene- mies might not dig up his bones. The only document to be found that appears to have been written by Bacon's own hand is signed " Nathaniel Bacon, General, by con- sent of the people" — so that he was something of a republican, though he lived a hundred years before the Revolution. With all the vigor of his measures, he was ever lenient to his foes. When he was dead, his enemies testified that he was " not bloody-minded." His military and political devices and the celerity of his actions and decisions show that he was a man of genius. Indeed, " Nat Bacon," as he was called, is the most romantic and heroic figure, take him all in all, of the colonial period of our history. After Bacon's death there was no one his equal to protect the cause of the people. Sir William Berkeley succeeded after a while in reducing Bacon's followers, and in confiscating for his own use much of their prop- erty. Twenty-three leading men he put to death. For this severity the king recalled him in disgrace, and the old despot died at last of chagrin. Attempts to dis- Soou after Massachusetts had been settled, under the solve the Massa- chusetts charter, patent or charter of the Massachusetts Company (see Charles I. pagcs 40, 41), an attempt w^as made to destroy that charter bv the same kind of a lawsuit that had been used to overthrow the charter of the Virginia Company. But the Massachusetts charter had been carried to America, and, when the judges in England sent orders to have it brought back to be examined, the rulers of Berkeley's re- venge. GOVERNOR ANDROS. EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LLBERTY^ jcy the colony made excuses until the troubles in England caused the matter to be laid aside. In the reign of Charles II, proceedings were again Massachusetts 1 • 1 TV T 1 1 1 • /-r,^ • rebels against taken agamst the Massachusetts charter, and m io86 it Governor Andros. was dissolved. King James II, who had by this time come to the throne, soon after appointed Sir Edmund Andros Governor of New York and New England. He tried in every way to overthrow the liberties of the colonies. The people of New England were exasperated to the highest pitch, and when they heard that the Prince of Orange had landed in Eng- land, to overthrow James II, they rose against An- dros and imprisoned him, establishing a government of their own. This was in 1689. During the time that Andros was governor of all The charter of ■NT r^ 1 1 1 1 1 • 1 rr Connecticut hid- New England, he had tried to carry off the Connecti- den in an oak. cut charter. But it is said that, whep the charter was brought in and laid on the table, the lights were sud- denly blown out, and when they were lighted the charter was gone. It had been taken away and hidden in the hollow of an oak-tree. This tree stood for nearly a hun- dred and seventy years after, and was always venerated as "the Charter Oak." Andros was supreme Governor of New York as well Leisier-s rebei- lion in New York. as 01 New England. In New York there was also great dissatisfaction with his government, and, when the com- mon people heard that Andros had been put in prison in Boston, they rose against his lieutenant, and set up Captain Jacob Leislcr for governor. Leisler, who gov- erned the colony for more than two years, was a plain merchant, with no knowledge of government. He was bitterly opposed by the rich men of the colony. Though 158 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. a man of patriotism, he was imprudent, and, after the arrival of a roval governor, his enemies succeeded in having him executed for treason. Rebellion against The propdetors of Carolina governed their two colo- the proprietors in . . i • •. j u -J • South Carolina. Hics lu a selhsh and greedy spirit, and were, besides, ig- norant of the wants and character of their people. The North Carolinians were often in insurrection against the governors sent to rule them. In 1719 the people of South Carolina overthrew the oppressive government • of the lords-proprietors and put themselves under the authoritv of the king, who bought out all the rights of the proprietors ten years later. Legislative re- The spiHt of liberty was in all the colonies. The sistance to colo- , . , .^ . . • i rr niai governors. govemors appointed in England made continual eilorts to encroach on the freedom of the people. These gov- ernors, as the direct representatives of the sovereign, were able to engross a great deal of power in their own hands, and to enrich themselves and their creatures out of the resources of the colonies. The}" were held in check, as we have said, by the disposition of the colo- nial Assemblies to settle the amount of their salaries from year to year. English statesmen greatly desired to have permanent salaries fixed for the governors, so that they might not be dependent on anvbodv but the king. On this point there were long-continued quarrels between the royal governors and the Assemblies ; but, for the most part, the colonies held the purse-strings in their own hands, in order by this means to guard their liberties. < < o h 3 O > If) a: o s :z: < o ir < ^ < < z XI CO a: o 55 s < ^Ul 5^. ^ d > p '- (r £ 5 a is §3 < ca a. ^-> IE _] -J u. THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 159 CHAPTER XXVII. THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. From the preceding chapter it is evident that long General causes ^ of discontent. before the Revolution there was much dissatisfaction in the colonies. Many of the governors sent over were tyrannical and dishonest. The Americans did not like the transportation of criminals, nor the action of the British government in annulling the laws made to keep jj out slaves. They were also much annoyed by English laws, which prevented them from sending away woolen goods, hats, and iron-wares of their own make, from one colony to another. Most oi all, they disliked the " navi- gation laws," the object of which was to compel them to do most of their trading with England. The enforcement of these unpopular laws was in the The writs of assistance. hands of custom-house officers. The collectors of cus- toms in Boston, in 1761, asked the courts for "writs of assistance," which would give them the right to search any house, at anv time, for the purpose of finding smuggled goods. This produced a great excitement, and made the navigation laws still more unpopular. The trial which took place about these writs was a kind of beginning of the quarrel which brought on the Revo- lution fourteen years afterward. But England and the colonies, while always carry- The stamp Act. ing on a family quarrel, had little thought of separat- ing. Separation would probably have come when the colonies grew too large to be dependent, but this might at least have been postponed for two or three gen lOO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Violent oppo- sition to the Stamp Act. Career of James Otis. JAMES OTIS. erations if the men who ruled England had not tried to tax the American colonies. Parliament passed, in 1765, what was known as "The Stamp Act." This law required that all bills, notes, leases, and many other such documents used in the colonies, should be written on stamped paper, which should be sold by officers at such prices as should bring a revenue to the Eng- lish government. All newspapers were required to be printed on stamped paper. The American people quickly saw that, if the Brit- ish Parliament could pass such an act, they could tax America in any other way. The cry was raised in all the colonies, " No taxation without representation ! " Patrick Henr}', a brilliant speaker, took the lead in the agitation in Virginia, and James Otis, an eloquent Boston lawyer, was the principal orator in Massachusetts. Otis was born at what is now West Barnstable, on Cape Cod, in 1725. After studying in his native town he went to Harvard College, where he was graduated when he was eighteen years old. But, wishing to lay a good foundation, he spent a year and a half more in general studies before he entered on the study of the law. He practiced at first at Plymouth and afterward in Boston. He rose to the highest rank in his profession. He was an honorable man, and would nover take unfair advantages of an opponent. When the customs officers applied for " writs of assist- ance," which would enable them to search any house at any time, it became the duty of Otis, as advocate- general, to argue in favor of these writs. But he gave up his lucrative office and took the side of lib- erty. He made a great speech, five hours long, against THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. i6i PATRICK HENRY. the writs, and this speech is considered by some the starting-point of the Revolution. It was in this speech that he first raised the popular cry against " taxation without representation," which was the watchword of the Revolution. In the great struggle over the Stamp x\ct, and in the debates that followed, to 1769, he was the brilliant leader. When the bitterness of the controversy with England was at its height he became involved in an affray with several ofihcers of the customs, and was seriously injured. Soon after this his mind, Avearied by the exciting controversies in which he was engaged, became gradually deranged, and he retired from public affairs. In 1783 he was killed by a stroke •of lightning. Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, Vir- R'se of Patrick Henry. ginia, in 1736. He was chiefly educated in a school taught by his father. He read law and began the prac- tice of his profession. In 1763 he was engaged to plead in defense of the people against a suit of the parish clergy. It was known as " The Parsons' Cause." Before a court, in which his own father was the presiding magis- trate, he pleaded the case of the people with such extraordinary eloquence and vehemence that the clergymen rose and left the room, and Henry's father wept tears of triumph, while the people carried the young lawyer about on their shoulders. Elected to the Virginia Legislature, he immediately took the lead against the Stamp Act and became famous. It HANOVER COURT-HOUSE, VIRGINIA, WHERE PATRICK HENRY SPOKE AGAINST THE PARSONS' CAUSE. 12 l52 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. was in his speech on the Stamp Act that he uttered the famous words, " CtEsar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third — " As Henry reached this point his opponents cried " Treason ! trea- son ! " But the orator finished by saying, " may profit by their example," and added, " if that be treason, make the most of it ! " When pleading for the organi- zation of the Virginia militia, before the Revolutionary War had begun, he closed with these memorable words : " Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it. Al- mighty God ! I know^ not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death ! "^ Henry was several times Governor of Virginia. He died in 1799. General oppo- Uudcr thc Icad of Otis and Henry and other speak- sition to the ^ Stamp Act. crs and writers of great influence, the new movement against the Stamp Act became a tide hard to resist. The rivalries and jealousies between the various colo- nies died out in the new patriotic feeling, and the ex- citement ran like a flame of fire from New Hampshire to Georgia. There was everywhere a call for union among the colonies. A congress of delegates from nine of the colonies met in New York in October, 1765. It is known as "The Stamp-Act Congress." But the people were too much excited to stop at orderly measures. In colony after colony violent mobs com- pelled the stamp-officers to resign. In some places the people pulled do\vn or rifled the houses of British offi- cials. The authority of thc king and Parliament was defied. Not one man in all the colonies dared to sell a piece of stamped paper. THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 163 Though America had almost no manufactures, the The Americans agree not to merchants pledged themselves to import no English import English 1 •lie, \ , 11 A 1 1 1 goods. Repeal of goods until the Stamp Act was repealed. As black the stamp Act. goods came from England, the people resolved to wear no black at funerals, and they began to dress in home- spun. They resolved, also, to eat no more mutton, in order to increase their own production of wool. English merchants, whose trade was hurt by these measures, now joined in the clamor for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and it was repealed in 1766, to the great joy of the colonies. But Parliament passed another bill at the same time, other acts of ,,.-.■. - oppression. asserting its right to tax the colonies. New ways ol raising a revenue in America, vvithout the consent of the people, were tried. Troops were quartered in the colo- nies, and the people were required to pay the expense. This the colonies refused to do. In 1770 a collision took place between British troops and some inhabitants of Boston. Three of the people were killed. This was called " The Boston Massacre." It excited deep feel- ('d ing in all the colonies, and Samuel Adams, the leader M ' of the Boston town-meeting, with five thousand citi- ■"" zens at his back, compelled the governor to with- draw the troops from the city. Samuel Adams was a grreat Revolutionarv char- acter, ranking not a whit below Henry or Otis in his influence on the early stages of the movement. Adams was born in Boston in 1722. He was graduated at Harvard College at twenty years of age. He was services of 111 1 1-1 11' • 1 Samuel Adams. already devoted to liberty, and his oration when he received the degree of master of arts defended the right of the people to resist the supreme magistrate, "if the SAMUEL ADAMS. tax on tea. 164 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. commonwealth can not otherwise be preserved." He was one of the first to oppose taxation by Parliament, and he early became the chief organizer and leader of the revolutionary movement in Massachusetts. He is said to have proposed the Congress of 1774. When General Gage offered pardon to the Americans, he ex- cepted Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Adams was a member of the Continental Congress and a principal advocate of American independence. He lived a pure and incorruptible life, and, though always poor, the king could not buy him from the path of virtue. He died in 1803. Opposition to the Yielding in part to the storm in America, the Parlia- ment took the tax off of nearly everything except tea. By releasing a part of the English duty on tea sent to America, the government arranged it so that the Ameri- cans, after paying a tax in America, would have their tea cheaper than before. The Americans were not contend- ing for a little money, but for a principle, and they re- fused to receive the tea. They began to drink tea made of sassafras-roots, sage, raspberry-leaves, yaupon, and other American plants. The English government sent over consignments of tea to the principal ports. At Bos- ton a company of fifty men, disguised as Mohawk In- dians, boarded the ships and emptied three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the sea. This is known as " The Boston Tea-Party." In New York the people emptied a private consignment of tea into the water, and the ships which were sent by the government they com- pelled to go back to England. Philadelphia also sent the tea-ships home again. In Charleston the tea was landed, but purposely stored in damp cellars, where it rotted ; THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 165 and at Annapolis, a ship that had paid the duty on a pri vate consignment of tea was burned in the harbor. The English Parliament pun- ished Boston by closing its port until the tea thrown , ^ overboard should be paid for This act produced a great VX deal of distress in Boston, by ruining its business and throw- ing its working-people out of employment But it ex- cited the sympathy of the other colonies, who sent aid to its people and who resolved to support it. A committee in New York immediately suggested that Massa- chusetts should call a congress, and thus the colo- nies were finally brought into a union against the mother-country. The Boston Port BUI and its effect. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION AND DECLARATION ^v OF INDEPENDENCE. "<, Though the Congress of the thirteen colonies which ^ met in Philadelphia in 1774 had no authority to make 11 , , , . 1 . The Congress of laws, the people chose to obey its recommendations and 1774. i66 PINE-TREE FLAG, USED ABOUT BOSTON AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. .4^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. to disobey the governors sent to them from England. The Congress petitioned the king and Parliament to restore their rights. But mean- while the colonies organized the militia, and col- lected military stores, that they might be ready to fight for their liberties. General Gage was in command of the Bi-it- ish forces at Boston. He resolved to check the re- British troops bellious spirit of the people. He sent out troops sent from Boston to Concord. from Bostou soon after midnight on April 19, 1775, to destroy some military stores at Concord, about twen- ^^^^^^f\ ty miles away. Paul Revere, an engraver and an active patriot, was sent to tell Samuel Adams and John Han- cock, who were at Lexington, that the British were coming. He waited at Charlestown until he saw a light hung in a church-steeple, which was '^ a signal to him that th "^-itish troops were moving. Then he 'rode to Lexington, warning the people of their danger: " So through the night rode Paul Revere, So through the night went his cry of alarm, A cry of defiance and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo for evermore ! " The poet Longfellow wrote a famous poem on Paul Revere's ride, from which the lines above are extracted. The Americans had formed companies ready to be called out on the minute ; these were called " minute- men." At Lexington the British troops fired on the r 'nute-men and killed eight of them. At Concord the soldiers destroyed the s -res. GENERAL GAGE. Paul Revere's ride. The men, ' minute- THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION. 167 ''^^%'^ f"-^ :?f^-\ >-0 -^^ ETHAN ALLEN. But the minute-men were now pouring in from the The battle of Lexington and whole country, and the English troops beat a hasty re- the beginning of treat back through Lexington. The Americans, swarm- ing like maddened bees, attacked them in the rear, in front, and on both sides. The minute-men fired from behind trees, rocks, and stone fences. The Eng- lish retreated in a state of exhaustion, with a loss in killed and wounded of nearly three hundred men ; the Americans lost about eighty -five. Messengers on horseback carried the news of the *' battle of Lexington," as it was called, all over New England and into the Middle and Southern colo- nies. The people now knew that the war so long threatened had begun. Soon after the battle of Lexington, Ethan Allen, at the capture of Ticon- deroga. head of eigh- ty backwoods- men from Ver- mont, known as " Green Mount- ain Boys," made a sudden descent on Fort Ticon- deroga, near the south end of Lake Champlain, En- tering the fort RUINS OF TICONDEROGA. in the night, he found the commander in bed, and summoned him to surrender. " In whose name ? " demanded the of- " In the name of the great 1 68 III STORY OF THE UXITED STATES. The battle of Du:ilcer Hill. Jehovah and the Continent- al Congress !"^ replied Allen. With the fort Allen se- _ cured a sup- .-• ply of pow- der, then very much needed by the Americans. After the battle of Lexington, an irregular armv of New-Englanders blockaded the English troops in Bos- ton. A detachment sent to encamp on Bunker Hill threw up breastworks on Breed's Hill instead. Here, on June i/th, the British attacked them with nearly THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION. 169 double their force, and, though the Americans were farmers who had never fought, and had almost nothing but fowling - pieces to fight with, they twice re- pulsed the British regu- lars with great slaugh- ter, and, when their am- munition was exhausted, fought with the butts and barrels of their guns compelled to retreat. One third of the British force was killed or wounded, and the result of the battle was to give great confidence to the Americans, who have always regarded the battle of Bunker Hill, as it was called, more as a victory than a defeat. Meantime it fell to the Continental Congress, in ses- w^ashington T-.1 -1 1 1 1 • 1 1 • 1 • r r made command- sion m Philadelphia, to elect a commander-in-chiel lor er-in-chief. the new army. Colonel George Washington, of Vir- ginia, who had gained distinction for zeal, courage, and prudence in the French and Indian wars, was chosen to this responsible place. George Washington was born in Virginia, February Washington. 22, 1732. His father was a planter, with a large landed property ; his mother was a woman of great force of character, but, like many ladies of that day, she had little education. Washington got such learning as the poor country schools of the time afforded, but he made the most of it. His exercise-books are models of method and neat- ness. Besides the common branches of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he learned surveying and book-keeping. He was a lad of great RATTLESNAKE FLAG, USED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. IT SOME- TIMES BORE FOR MOTTO, " DON'T TREAD ON ME i " I70 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. I . rJ 0^" ■^ CrowrT,H;.,nti ;/ |)^ I Ticont(erp''gaj \^ Vi ^ _Skeiiest«oraugh (K */ " j", Vy Edward i ightsJ Benn'inJtoni Strength, and took the lead in all athletic sports, and he became one of the best horsemen of his time. lie bore hard- ships with great resolu- tion, he spoke the truth, he was eco- nomical, indus- Ih artfordT T'""' ^, '">:; „r»E(PTicoT: ,^ Mjonmouth N trious, and systematic in / his habits. He was, while yet hardly more than a boy, engaged in surveying wild lands for Lord Fairfax, an English nobleman, who owned a great tract of V'ir- ginia territory, and lived in the vShcnandoah Valley. He thus came to know the front- ier country and the habits of the Indians. He was made a major of the militia at nine- teen, and he was but twenty- one when Governor Dinwiddie sent him on a mission to the THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION. 171 French posts on the Ohio, as we have told in another chapter. By his prudent conduct in Braddock's and Forbes's expeditions, and in the defense of the Virginia frontier, he won the confidence of the American peo- ple. He was a member of the Continental Congress of 1774. He was not a brilliant man, but even in 1774 Patrick Henry pronounced him. for " solid information and sound judgment, unquestionably the greatest man " on the floor of the Continental Congress. In accepting a place at the head of the " Continental "^^^ English evacuate Boston. Army," as it was called, Washington declined all pay except his expenses. He set out for Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, where he took command on July 3, 1775. He brought his irregular army to a tolerable state of organi- zation, and closely besieged the British in Boston until March of the next year, 1776, when he sent a strong force to occupy and fortify Dorchester Heights, which com- manded the harbor and the town. This compelled the English to withdraw their troops fi^om Boston to Hali- fax, in Nova Scotia. Up to this time the Americans had been fighting for independence their liberties as British subjects. Few dreamed that the war would end in a separation from the mother- country. But now the people were everywhere becom- ing weaned from attachment to England. The colo- nies, one after another, formed constitutions inde- pendent of England, or took steps looking toward independence. On the fourth day of July, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the " Declaration of Independence." This act was a formal separation of the united colonies from Eno;-land, whose kinof was no more to be king in the thirteen colonies. declared. FLAG BORNE BY AMERICAN TROOPS AT THE SOUTH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION. Ij2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The Declaration xhc Declaration says : " We hold these truths to be of Independence. self-evident : That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- suit of happiness." The Declaration of Independence gives an account of the various acts of tyranny which the colonies had suffered under the government of George III, and then says: "We therefore, the rep- resentatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these united colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- merce, and to do all other acts and things wdiich inde- pendent States may of right do." This dignified and eloquent paper closes with these solemn words : " And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." This immortal paper, perhaps the most famous state paper in the world, was wi'itten bv Thomas Jefferson, who was born near Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1743. His father was a noted land-surveyor, and one of the authors of a map of Virginia, and he left an ample fortune. THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION. 173 MONTICELLO : HOME OF JEFFERSON. Thomas was an eager student. He was graduated at William and Mary College, and was soon recognized as perhaps the most accomplished general scholar in the col- onies. He was an excellent mathe- matician, and knew Greek, Lat- in, French, Span- ish, and Italian. There was al- most no knowl- edge that he was not eager to ac- quire. He was not gifted as an orator, but with his eloquent pen he rendered great services to the cause of liberty in America. He used his best endeavor to have slavery and the slave-trade abolished. He took the lead in the repeal of the colonial laws that gave to the oldest son the largest share of the father's property. He was also the leader in separating church and state, and giv- ing to the people religious freedom. To him we owe the change of our money from pounds, shillings, and pence to a simple decimal system of dollars, dimes, and cents. To him, also, was due at a later period the pur- chase from France of the territory west of the Missis- sippi. Jefferson's mind was one of the boldest and most original of the time. But though Jefferson wrote the Declaration, the chief J°hn Adams. advocate of the independence of the colonies from the earliest period had probably been John Adams, who was a forcible speaker. Adams was one of the committee which reported Jefferson's draft of the Declaration to 174 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Congress. Both Adams and Jefferson came to the presi- dency of the republic they had helped to found, and by a curious coincidence they both died on the same day, and that day was the Fourth of July, 1826, just fifty years after the signing of this Declaration of Independence. CHAPTER XXIX. the battle of trenton, and the capture of burgoyne's army. GEORGE III. The people received the Declaration with joy. A single year of war had destroyed their attach- ment to England, and they now earnesth' repudiated the sovereign whose health they had but lately drunk at all festivities, and for whose welfare they had until DtsTHOVING THE STATUE OF GEOKuE \tW YORK CITY. THE BATTLE OF TRENTON. 175 recently prayed in all their churches. Pictures of the king were destroyed ; his coat-of-arms was torn down from public buildings and thrown into patriotic bonfires. The leaden statue of George III, which stood in Bowl- ing Green, in New York city, was run into bullets. But the joy of the Americans was soon turned into anxiety. About the time of the adoption of the Decla- ration of Independence, General Howe landed a large body of English troops on Staten Island, near New York, and a few days later his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, came with re-enforcements. The battle of Long Island was fought near Brook- lyn, on the 27th of August, 1776. In this battle the Americans were defeated, and Washington withdrew his troops from Brooklyn, and left the whole of Long Island in the hands of the British. The Amer- icans were not strong enough to hold New York, and it was soon evacuated. Fort Washington, above New York, with two thousand Americans, was captured by the British, who soon crossed the Hud- son. Washington was obliged to retreat, step by step, across New Jersey into Pennsylvania, with the English following close on his heels, the British advance- guard sometimes entering a place as the American rear- guard quitted it. When the news came to Philadelphia that Wash- ington had abandoned New Jersey and crossed the Delaware, there was the greatest alarm. Congress, then Joy of the people at the news of the Declaration of Independence. Arrival of an English army near New York. ADMIRAL LORD HOWE. The battle of Long Island, and the evacuation of New York by the Americans. Alarm of the Americans at Washington's retreat. 176 niSrORY OF THE UNITED STATES. THE RETREAT FROM LONG ISLAND. sitting in Philadelphia, adjourned to Baltimore. Many of the people of Philadelphia fled in terror by every road or bv such boats as could be had. The army of Washington, thinly clad, was dwindling by sickness, and the time of enlistment of many of the men had al- most expired. It was necessary to strike a blow that would hearten the people, for the American cause was on the verge of ruin. THE BATTLE OF TRENTON. 177 HESSIAN TROOPER. The British government, finding that Englishmen The Hessians, were not eager to fight against those whom they es- teemed their countrymen in America, had hired a body of troops from one of the German princes. These sol- diers were called Hessians, because most of them came from that part of Germany known as Hesse-Cassel. Like all mercenary troops in Europe at that time, these Hes- sians were in the habit of plundering and oppressing any people that fell into their power, and their outrages on the inhabitants of New Jersey did much to turn wavering Americans to the side of the Revolution. About twelve hundred of these hireling troops were • stationed in Trenton, New Jersey. On the night of Christmas, Washington crossed the Delaware in The capture of Trenton, open boats at a pomt above Trenton. It took all night to effect the crossing on account of ice in the river, and it was eight o'clock before the Americans reached Trenton. After a sharp battle of three quarters of an hour the Hessians surrendered, and Washington soon after prudently recrossed the Delaware. This success was a flash of light in the darkness, and the joy of the colonists knew no bounds. The prisoners were marched through the streets of Philadelphia, and one of the Hessian standards was hung up in the hall of Congress. Washington soon crossed the Delaware and re- occupied Trenton. Lord Cornwallis marched from HESSIAN TROOPER'S BOOT. 13 178 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Battle of Prince- ton. AMERICAN FLAG, ADOPTED IN 1777. Burgoyne's ex- pedition. GENERAL BURGOYNE. Princeton with a strong force, and on the 2d of Janu- ary, 1777, attacked the Americans east of that town, and drove them back, fighting step by step. The Dela- ware was full of running ice, and if Washington had been beaten he could not have retreated. It was night by the time Cornwallis had driven the Americans into Trenton, and he waited for morning to strike a decisive blow that was to have annihilated the main army of the Revolution, and perhaps put an end to the war. But Washington resolved on a bold move. He threw up intrenchments in the face of the enemy as though to defend the place, but at midnight the fires were replenished and the American army slipped away. B3- marching around Cornwallis, Washington got in his rear, and attacked the troops remaining in Princeton, winning the battle before Cornwallis could come up. This success compelled the English to evacuate a large part of New Jersey, and put new life into the American cause. The battle of Princeton was fought on the 3d ot January, 1777. In this year a strong force of British and Hessians was dispatched, to Canada, to de- scend from there by the old and often-traveled water-route through Lake Champlain and Lake George and the Hudson River. This army, under General Burgoyne, was ex- pected to reach Albany and to form a junction with the British troops about New York. The effect of this would have been to cut the colonies into two parts. Burgoyne compelled General St. Clair to evacuate Ticonderoga, and captured the artil- CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE'S ARMY. 179 lery and all the stores which St. Clair Fan of Ticonderoga. was trying to move. He then went to Skenesborough, now Whitehall, at the south end of Lake Champlain. At length he reached the Hudson at Fort Edward, having gained complete control of Lake Champlain and Lake George. But this was the end of Bur- goyne's successes. An expedition sent against Fort Stanwix, near the present village of Rome, in New York, was foiled in its purpose. The militia, led by General Herkimer, fought the severe battle of Oriskany for the relief of the besieged fort. Herkimer, mortally wounded, sat by a tree to give orders and encourage his troops. With the aid of a sally from the fort the field was held. Arnold now marched to the relief of the fort, and he sent forward spies, who gave exaggerated accounts of the strength of his troops, and so frightened the British away From Fort Edward, Burgoyne sent out a force of his hired German troops into what is now Vermont, to capture stores and horses. But the militia of western New England, who, like almost all men in a new country, were accustomed to the use of fire-arms from childhood, gathered under the lead of General Stark, and at the battle of Bennington utterly defeated the detachment sent out by Burgoyne". Relief of Fort Stanwix. HESSIAN MADE PRISONEB BY MILITIAMAN. i8o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Defeat and sur- render of Bui- goyne. :' t!> aC GENERAL GATES. The whole Northern country was up now. The ranks of the army under General Gates, which opposed the march of Burgoyne, were quickly filled by militia pouring in from New York and New England. In a hard-fought battle at Bemis Heights the Americans won a decisive victory ; Burgoyne was soon hemmed in on every side by the increasing American force. He tried in vain to get back to the lakes. His retreat was cut off in every direction, and on the i6th of October he surrendered his whole army. This victory delivered the American cause from the greatest peril, and brought joy without measure to the people. CHAPTER XXX. THE DARK PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. The battle of Tii^ ovcrthrow of Burgoyne relieved the American the Brandywine, " Sept. II, 1777. cause of one great danger, but it was sorely beset in other quarters. General Howe had taken his army around by sea, and landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay, in or- der to capture Philadel- phia, which was then the seat of Congress. Washington's army was inferior to the British, and he retired behind GENERAL SIR WILLIAM HOWE. THE DARK PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. l8l the Brandywine River, where, on the nth of Septem- ber, 1777, was fought the battle of the Brandywine. The Americans were forced to retreat, and the British entered Philadelphia. On the 4th of October Washington attacked the Battle of cer- _-,.., ^^ y^, .1111. 1 r mantown, Oct. 4, British at Crermantown, near rhiladelphia, but, after a 1777. stubborn fight, he was again defeated. The winter of i777-'78 was the darkest season of the winter-quarters Revolution. Washington went into winter-quarters at ^^^^-'^^. Valley Forge. Many of the soldiers were without shoes, and in their marches over frozen ground they left blood in their tracks. Some of the poor fel- lows sat up by the fires at night, for want of blankets to keep them warm. The war of the colonies against Arrival of foreign England had excited much sympa- thy in Europe. Many foreign officers had come over to assist the Americans. Some of these were mere adventurers, but others were men of ability and generous spirit. Count Pulaski, Baron Steuben, and Baron De Kalb were excellent officers. But no other foreign officer rendered to the American cause services so important as those of the young Marquis de La Fayette, who was born of an illustrious French family on the 7th of September, 1757. He was but nineteen years old, with every prospect which great wealth and family influence could give, when he .^ embraced the cause of liberty in America. i^n] Against the command of the King of France, he freighted a ship with materials of war at his own ofHcers. BARON STEUBEN. l82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. La Fayette LA FAYETTE The alliance with France, 1778. expense, and landed in America in 1777, to offer his services as a simple volunteer. He quickly w^on the favor of Congress and the life-long friendship of Wash- ington. He was made major-general, and, though so young, showed ability as a commander. His conduct was always prudent. He was wounded at the Brandy- wine, and he distinguished himself by a masterly re- treat from Barren Hill and fine conduct at the battle of Monmouth. In Virginia, when CornwaUis threat- ened him with a superior force, and boasted that the "little boy," as he called La Fayette, could not get away from him, the young marquis avoided a battle, and prepared by his skillful movements for the final success at Yorktown. La Fayette was all his life a (i/TT^-.^ lover of liberty and order. He took a brave part in the French Revolution, but refused to go to y extremes. He was arrested and imprisoned for •-■ ' years in Austria, in spite of American efforts to relieve him. At the instance of Bonaparte, he was freed in 1797. He visited the United States in 1824, when he was welcomed as the guest of the nation. He made the tour of the country, rejoic- ing in its prosperity. He was everywhere received with enthusiasm by those whose fathers he had helped in their hour of distress. Congress voted him $200,000 and a township of land for his losses and ex- penses in the Revolution. Though an old man, he took part in the French Revolution of 1830, and remained the devoted friend of human liberty until his death in 1834. France had from the first taken a lively interest in the fate of America, partly from a jealous dislike of Eng- land, partly from the love of liberty that was growing THE DARK PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 183 6IR HENRY CUNTON. among the French people. The courageous persist- ence with which Washington attacked Howe's army at Germantown made a strong impression in France, and on the 30th of January, 1778, a treaty of alliance between France and the United States was signed. Intelligence of this treaty was re- ceived in America with the greatest joy. The first result of the alliance with France was the recovery of Philadelphia. Sir Henry Clinton, who had succeeded Howe in command of the British forces, British retreat 1 . , , , 1 , , r^ , f''°"' Philadel- 'I was afraid that the rrench might blockade the Delaware, phia, and the and thus shut him up in Philadelphia. He therefore mouth,°june"i8, retreated across New Jersey to New York, pushed by '^^^' Washington's army. During this retreat the battle of Monmouth was fought. The Americans gained a partial victory, the English retreating under cover of night. One of the most brilliant enterprises of the war was capture of stony the capture of Stony Point, on the Hudson. General Anthony Wayne led a force of Americans, by defiles in the mountains, to within a mile and a half of the fort on the evening of July 15, 1779. To prevent discovery, all the dogs on the road were killed. At midnight the Americans moved on the fort. The advanced guard carried empty guns with fixed bayonets, and thus faced the fire of the defenders as they rushed over the works and made the British garrison prisoners. When the war had lasted three or four years, the The British con- n . . , , -11. quer Georgia and British government became convinced that it was a south Carolina. most difficult task to subdue the Northern and Middle felted "t"the^bat- States. The people could not be subjugated even when ti^of camden, the armies were beaten. But as there were more slaves, and as the white population was more scattered, in the 1 84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Sergeant Jasper. GENERAL MOULTRIE. Southern States, it was supposed that it might be easier to overrun them. At the close of the year 1778 the British captured Savannah, and Georgia was soon subjugated. In the next year an attempt was made by the Americans, assisted by the French fleet, to capture Savannah, but it failed. In this attack Count Pulaski lost his life. After a regular siege, a British fleet and army took Charleston in May, 1780. General Gates, who had commanded the Northern department when Burgoyne surrendered, was put in command of all the American troops at the South. But Gates was utterly beat- en, and his whole force routed and dispersed, by the British under Cornwallis, at the battle of Camden, in South Carolina. There was no longer any American army worthy of the name in the whole South. The war in the South developed notable instances of heroic courage among the patriots. During the defense of Fort Sullivan, in Charleston harbor, in 1776, under General Moultrie, the fort bore a flag with a crescent on it. This was before the Americans had adopted a national flag, and a crescent probably signified the belief of the people that a new country would grow stronger as time advanced. In the hottest of the fire this crescent flag was shot away. A sergeant named Jasper leaped down outside the fort and recovered the flag, which he fixed to a sponge-staff. This he stuck in the sand, and then returned unharmed to the fort. For this act the Governor of South Carolina gave GENERAL LINCOLN, WHO DEFENDED CHARLESTON IN 1780. THE DARK PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 185 him his own sword. In 1779 he was engaged in the attack on Savannah, when the colors of his own regiment were shot away. Jasper tried to replace them on a parapet, but he was mortally wounded. In this condi- tion he brought away his colors. In the South as in the North the British- army found spirit of the people. it hard to gain permanent advantages. The Americans hesitated to enlist in the Continental army because, under the discipline customary at that time, the position of a private was a hard one. Flogging was a punishment thought necessary to good order in the American as well as in the English army, and one can readily conceive that men so high-spirited as the Americans of that day would not readily submit to such discipline. The soldiers were also poorly paid and badly fed. But, however often or severely the army might be beaten, the people at the South as at the North refused to be subdued, but whenever occasion offered rose against the invaders. Two South Carolina officers gained renown in the irregular warfare which the patriots of that country car- ried on against the greatest odds. General Thomas Sumter for his resolute fighting got the name of " the game-cock," and General Francis Ma- rion was known as " the swamp-fox." In the darkest hour of the American cause in South Carolina, Marion, who had already distin- guished himself as an officer, formed " Ma- rion's Brigade." His men were armed with what they could get. Some carried rude sabers hammered out of old saws ; their bul- lets were often made by melting down pewter mugs and platters. They lived chiefly on hominy and Marion and his men. /v% -:y i^-' GENERAL SUMTER. 1 86 HISTORY OF THE UATITED STATES. GENERAL MARION, potatoes, and they were capable of any amount of hard- ship, in which their commander set them a good exam- ple by sleeping on the ground, usually without a blanket. With this force Marion would move with incredible swiftness, striking now one weak point in the enemy's defenses and then quickly falling on another far away. He knew every by-way ; it was impossible to entrap this swamp-fox. When hard pressed by the enemy, he would disband his force, leaving every man to extricate himself. The enemy would next discover his whereabouts by his falling suddenly in full force again on some remote post. He gave the ^ '' British no peace ; they could not get men enough to hold the countr)^ Yet, with all his boldness, Marion was famed for his sweet temper, his gentleness with his men, and his forbearance toward his foes. He re- strained his troops from plunder, he was always opposed to harsh measures against the Tories, and after the war he resisted the passage of acts to confiscate their property. >i^- UNIFORMS OF FRENCH SOLDIERS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXXI. THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION. It was in 1780, when the affairs of the Ameri- cans were at a very low point, that there occurred the treason of Benedict Arnold. Arnold was a brave soldier and a capable and even brilliant lead- er, but in all the affairs of life he had proved him- self lacking in the highest integrity. Arnold had led THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION. 187 West Point 2> Ft.IVldntgom - -flf ,/• ""■'Ol.U"r'OV*S> POWOtS-HOn.'H A.\0 CA«TE£?L m SOLWP? OF TWS CONvSltCS& F1^?•l A OAAMING BY A SER«A.\ OFFICER *T THC Tme. Weakness of the American gov- ernment during the Revolution. FORT PljWN. A REVCCU"nc.\A.>Y BtOOt-MO.. i£ ON "ns£ !«E» VCRII F1!Oi\TieR. mon seamen, from prizes taken in this kind of war, drew many men into it, and prevented etiHstments in the army. The farmer-militia usually wore brown tow-shirts and carried long fowling-pieces. Their ammunition was carried in a pow- der-horn and shot -bag. They were sometimes barefoot, after the fashion of many country people of that time. Bay- onets were often lacking:. At the battle of Saratos:a one of the divisions of the Americans had but one bayonet to everv three men. It is said that they put one bullet and two buck-shot in a gun together. There were many men among the Americans whose aim was very deadly. The riflemen from the frontier were capable of incredible accuracy in shooting. Double-barreled guns were al- most, though not quite, unknown at that time. The percussion-cap had not yet been invented, but the old firelocks, set off by a burning fuse, had all disappeared. The small arms were probablv all flint- locks — guns and pistols that were set off by a flint striking a piece of steel. There were no breech-loaders and no revolvers. Firing was much slower and less effective than now. The bayonet was more important then than in recent warfare. The American troops suffered extreme hardships. The paper money issued by Congress to pay the soldiers declined in value until it was almost worthless. In more J I X FKCM A PRINT OF TK€ Time. /.YCIDEJTTS t>/" TJ/E HErOZmOXASH' «'^/^. 193 than one campaign the barefoot soldiers left blood on the eround when thev marched. To relieve the necessities of the soldiers, patriotic women collected blankets and sent them to the armv. When the Revolution broke out there were nearlv three millions of people in the American colonies. During the war the population increased. and. notwithstanding the interruptions of business and the destruction of property, the wealth also increased. The loss of credit and the inefficiency and suffering of the armv were principally due to the weakness of the government. There were, indeed, thirteen crovem- ments. bound tosrether verv looselv. Congrress had no wav of making each State pay its proportion of the expense of the war. and so one State waited p"^t of t^e -nme. for another. It was not until some ^. ; ^^ years after the peace that a strong W ^^ y^ crovernment was formed. EKiERAL. PROM * One of the most notable exploits of conquest of the lUiaois country the war was the bold march of General by ciark. George Rogers Clark, at the head of a little band of frontiersmen, to the dis- tant posts in Illinois on the Missis- sippi River. These he captured by courage, skill, and craft, and he also took and held Vincennes in Indiana. The seizing and securing of these remote posts for the United States were of the highest importance. At the peace with England our possession of these places gave the United States the territory north of the Ohio, and perhaps changed the destinv of the country. ISRAEl. PUT1HAM. A HOTEO iSexERAL W THE B£>>0UUTlO(«. 14 ii£*0*.w"''C'^A'^* «w5H.£T CA B.^Cw X S£SS. IQA HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XXXllI. THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. State constitu- ^\-j' [\^q beginning of the Revolution the different tions adopted. colonies were governed, in one way or another, by authority derived from England, as we have seen in an- other chapter. After they went to war with England for their rights, they still carried on government under English charters as English colonies. New Hampshire was the first to change. In December, 1775, more than half a year before independence of England was declared, this colony set up a State government for itself. In the May following, Congress advised the several colonies to form State governments. The people in the different colonies had been accustomed to different ways of trans- acting their public business. The\' mostly made their new governments on the plan of the old, only leaving out of the account the authority of the king. Origin of the T\\c thirteen colonies, though Ivins^ so close to- States. . . " gether, had been used to acting in almost entire in- dependence of one another, and even in the distresses of the Revolutionary War they jealously held them- selves apart, and kept up a kind of separateness of gov- ernment and interest. It never occurred to them to do away with dividing-lines and make themselves into one state. We owe our present federal system of govern- ment to this local feeling, which had been produced by colonial conditions. For a large country like ours the divi<>i()n into States is a fortunate arraiiijement, and a source of strength to the government ; but it was not THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. jgr brought about by anybody's wisdom, but by the course of events. When the States had changed to independent forms of states inde- pendent of government, they still regarded themselves as independ- one another. ent of one another. Congress was only a meeting of the representatives of States allied to one another. The feel- ing of union and nationality had not had time to grow. All taxes were levied by the States, and the authority of Congress was very weak. Much of the suffering of the armies during the Revolution grew out of the inability of Congress to levy a tax without the assent of the several States, or to raise troops by direct authority. The bes.t endeavors of Washington and his men were thwarted by this lack of cohesion among the States. But these thirteen States, fighting against the same confederation enemy and under the same officers, and suffering the same sorrows, came by degrees to feel themselves a country. They found it necessary to bind themselves together and to give more power to Congress. So, in November, 1777, when the war had been going on two years and a half, Congress adopted a plan for a perma- nent confederation of the States. This was a very short step toward a national government, for in this plan the | States were treated as sovereign nations ao^reeing- to form themselves into a perpetual confederation. Each State had but one vote in Congress, however many representa- tives it might send, so that the largest State in the Con- federation counted for no more than the very smallest. Only the States were recognized ; the people, many or few, were not counted. And the several States were so jealous of their independence that it was more than three years after this plan had passed Congress before all the 196 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. States could be persuaded to agree to it. The Confed- eration was completed in 1781. It was a wretchedly weak government, which very soon fell into contempt at home and abroad. Meeting of the i3yt tliis wcak govcmment continued for several Convention. ycars after the close of the Revolution, until it became evident that its feebleness would bring the country to ruin. In 1787 a convention met in Philadelphia to form a constitution better suited to give strength to the nation. George Washington, who had retired to private life when the war ^vas over, was chosen president of this convention. It was a hard task to persuade the con- vention to agree to lay aside State jealousies and form a strong central government. The best patriots of the day looked with extreme anxiety for the decisions of the convention, for its deliberations were in secret. The constitu- Two or tlircc delegates were so dissatisfied that they tion framed. withdrew, and it was feared that others would leave, and that the convention would break up without result. The wisest men trembled with apprehension. The aged Franklin, greatly reverenced by all, rose in the conven- tion one day and expressed his despair by proposing that henceforth the sessions should be opened with prayer. He said there was now no hope except from Heaven, the wit of man having been exhausted. But the proba- bility that a failure of the convention to agree on some plan would throw the country into convulsions, and per- haps into civil war, brought the delegates at length to reconcile their difTerences, and to unanimously recom- mend the Constitution as it was tlnally adopted. When at last the delegates were signing their names, the ven- erable Franklin said that he had frequently asked him- rilE ADOPTION OF THE COxVSTITUTION. jg^ self, in the course of the debates, whether the sun pict- ured behind the chair occupied by Washington as presi- dent of the convention were a rising or a setting sun, but that he now knew that it was rising. But the battle for the Constitution was by no means The constitu- 11 . , . , rr\ r \ 1 • 1 tion adopted. over when the convention adjourned. 1 he hght which the people had made for the freedom of their local gov- ernments from English tyranny had made them jealous of any superior government. There were people who saw in the ofifice of president, provided for in the new Constitution, something kingly, and who feared that the new Congress would prove as tyrannical as the British Parliament had been. It was arranged that the Consti- tution should not go into force in any part of the coun- try until nine of the States had accepted it. The fight in manv States was a bitter one, and it was not until June, 1788, that the ninth State adopted it. Then there was great joy in the minds of those who knew how im- portant a firm national union was. Rhode Island was the' last of the thirteen States to accept the Constitution and come into the Union. This she did in 1790. The Constitution as then adopted is, with a few Three depart- , , .. - T • 1 merits of the amendments, the one we live under now. It is there- Federal gov- fore important that we Americans should understand ^'■"'"^"^• its main features. Under the old Confederation, the exe- cution of the acts of Congress was intrusted chiefly to committees of its own members. But the new Consti- tution made an almost complete separation of the gov- ernment into three parts, each of which is confined to its own duties. First, the legislative, or law-making, department is The legislative called in the Constitution " the Congress." It includes 198 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. two bodies — a House of Representatives, chosen by the people, and a Senate, chosen by the Legislatures of the several States. In the House of Representatives each State is allowed a greater or less number of members, according to its population. In the Senate each State, large or small, has two members. A bill must get a majority of votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to become a law. It must also be approved by the President. But, if the President refuses to sign it, then two thirds of both the Senate and the House may pass it, and it becomes a law in spite of the President's veto. The executive Sccoud, thc exccutivc department, which consists of department. the President (and those appointed under him). The President is chosen for four years. He is commander- in-chief of the army and navy. He appoints all the chief executive officers, with the consent of the Senate. In case of the death of the President, the Vice-Presi- dent takes his place. The judicial Third, the judicial department consists of the Su- department. preme Court of the United States and such lower courts as Congress may establish. The President ap- points the judges of the United States courts, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The constitu- Tliis Coustitutlon shows wisdom in the men who tion a result of experience, made it, but truc wisdoiii always learns from history. Those who adopted the Constitution did not originate its provisions ; they were the outgrowth of the histor}^ of the country. We have seen in Chapter VI that the Great Charter given to the struggling little colony of Virginia in 161 8 provided in an imperfect way a repre- sentative government, with two divisions in the Assem- THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 199 bly somewhat like our two houses of Congress. The other colonies were formed on this model, with some variations ; and all through the colonial time, in all the struggles of the colonies for their liberties, this plan of government was in course of development. In the Fed- eral Government, the President has the power to veto a bill passed by Congress, just as the colonial governor could veto bills passed by the Legislatures. In most of the colonial governments the Upper House, or Council, was appointed by the king or the governor. Our na- tional Senate is chosen by the several States. This is a relic of the old semi-sovereign character of the States under the Confederation. So that the Constitution is a growth, and is only to be understood by studying the history of the people of the United States. Though the system of intrusting a great deal of our The division of r 1 • power between law-making to the several States grew out of the origi- the several states nal colonial condition of the American people, yet it has proved to be a great advantage of our plan of gov- ernment that law-making for the regulation of morals and the ordinary business of life is left to the States, so that the people of each region can have laws suited to their necessities. It is also a great source of strength that the general concerns of the whole country — the money, the foreign commerce, treaties with foreign na- tions, and affairs of war and peace — are settled by the central government of the whole United States. Before the Revolution, the Episcopal Church of Eng- land was established in the Southern colonies, while the Congregational churches were supported by law in all the New England colonies except Rhode Island. During the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson led a movement in states. Freedom of re- ligion, of the press, and of speech. 200 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. favor of religious freedom. Now there is no religious establishment in any part of the country, but all are free to worship in their own way. The Constitution provides that Congress shall not interfere with religious freedom, or with the freedom of speech or the freedom of the press. CHAPTER XXXIV. THE NEW REPUBLIC AND ITS PEOPLE. Washington When thc Constitutiou was adopted, a new nation elected first President. was formcd out of thirteen States, which before that time had been almost independent of one another. The old Confederation had no executive head, but by the pro- visions of the new Constitution there was now to be chosen a President of this new nation, and the whole country turned its eyes to one man. General Washing- ton, who had been for five years living quietly on his plantation at Mount Vernon, was the only person thought of for President, and he was elected without a rival. John Adams was chosen Vice-President. Washington's ^g thcrc wcrc HO railroads, Washington was obliged journey to o .^ New YorK. to travcl in his carriage from Mount Vernon, on the Potomac, to New York, the temporar}^ capital. Every- where he was detained by the applause of the people, who now looked to his wisdom to complete the work of consolidating thirteen separate States into one na- tion. Troops of horsemen escorted Washington from place to place, and every town welcomed him. His passage through Philadelphia was a sort of triumph. Ill: ^-, GEORGE WASHINGTON. FROM A PAINTING BY GILBERT STUART. 202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Washington's reception in New York. When he reached the bridge over which he had led his victorious little army out of Trenton to fight the battle of Princeton, he found a triumphal arch erected by the women of Trenton. It was supported by thirteen pil- lars, and had a large dome, with a sunflower and the significant inscription, " To thee alone." Another in- scription read, " The Defender of the Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters." As Washington passed beneath this arch, girls dressed in white sang an ode of welcome, and strewed flowers before the newly chosen President. From Elizabethtown Point, in New Jersey, he was brought to New York in a handsome barge built for the purpose, and manned by thirteen master-pilots dressed in wdiite. Six other barges, with oarsmen in white, escorted him. When he landed on a carpeted stairs at the wharf, he w^as received by the governor and the whole city with every possible honor. On the 30th of April, 1789, just where his statue now stands in Wall Street, the first of the presidents took a solemn oath to support the Consti- tution of the infant country. The country, when Washington became President, contained less than four millions of people. The single State of New York has a larger population than the wdiole country had in Washington's time, and Penn- popuiation of the sylvauia also has more, while Ohio and Illinois have each country at the beginning of ucarly as manv. I he census of 1890, when it comes to admin'isfr^t'ion. t)e added up, Will doubtlcss show that in one hundred years the population has increased to more than seventy The smaller square represents the population of the United States in 1790, 3,929,214. The larger square represents the population of New York in 1880, 5,082,871. THE NEW REPUBLIC AND ITS PEOPLE. 203 millions, or to at least eighteen times as many as there were when the first census was taken in 1790. The three or four millions of people in America, when Population most- , -^ . . 1 1 r' • 1 1 'y along the sea- the Constitution made the States one nation, were settled coast, chiefly along the Atlantic coast. The center of popula- tion was east of Balti- more, on the eastern shore of the Chesa- peake Bay. This shows how closely the inhabitants clung to the sea, which was almost the only great high- 204 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. way of their commerce, for, lackinij^ railways and even good roads, they could carry on little tratific except by sea or alonij navig^able streams. The traveler who made his wa}- up into the countr}', found the population becom- ing more sparse, and the houses generally mere cabins. By the time one jcached the Alleghany Mountains, there was an end of settlements. All to the west of the mount- ains was a wilderness, tilled with hostile savages and wild beasts, except the little pioneer settlements in Ken- tucky and Tennessee. The western line of the territory of the United States was the Mississippi River, but the unbroken forests and prairies of that region were about as hard to reach as the interior of Alaska is to-dav. Modes of travel: The pcoplc of the tirst ycars of the republic had never sailing-vessels and stage- drcauied of either railroad or steamboat. One of the coaches. ^ i r , i r » i commonest modes oi travel from one town to another was by sailing-packets. When one set out, it was impos- sible to foretell the length of the voyage ; all depended on wind and weather. It usuallv took several days to sail by sloop from Albany to New York, and passengers, having provided themselves with patience and plenty of fishing-tackle, thought the lazy journey delightful. Rude stage-wagons were run between the larger towns. It took six days to make the journey from Boston to New York, and two or three to get from New York to Phila- delphia. A journey required as many days then as it does hours now. Travel by private Many traveled in their own coaches or in lio;ht two- vehicles. wheeled vehicles. The ferries were a terror to these. Large rivers were usually crossed in rude scows, and not without danger, but at some places it was necessary to swim the horses over and iioat the carriaare at the stern THE NEW REPUBLIC AND ITS PEOPLE. 205 of a canoe. Sometimes two canoes were put side by side and lashed together, so that a horse might stand with fore-feet in one and hind-feet in the other, to be ferried over a river. Probably the most comfortable of all modes of travel Horseback trav- eling, at the time was that of ndinir on horseback. In America there were everywhere horses that ambled naturally. The " natural pacer," of Virginia, and the " Narragansett pacer," of Rhode Island, were highly prized, and were matters of wonder even in Europe. Two people often journeyed with but one horse. The first rode ahead and tied the horse by the road ; the second, when he came up, rode on past his companion and in turn tied the horse and left him for the other. This was called " traveling ride and tie." WAGONS AND CARRIAGES OF THAT TIME When Washington became President, all the chief Badness of the ^ roads generally. towns were on the sea-coast, or on the tide-water of the The great wagon- T • T-> ^ • r^ • ^ r traffic in Penn- rivers, except Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. Outside ot syivania. that State, the roads were so bad that a lar^-e tradins;-- town was not possible away from water conveyance. The interior trade of Pennsylvania was carried on in great wagons, known as Conestoga wagons, each drawn 206 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Carrying the mails. AND FLUTE. Education. by six or eight stout horses. There were ten thousand or more of these wagons running out of Philadelphia. The wagon-trade with the interior made Philadelphia the chief town of North America. Trade with remote districts of the country was still carried on by means of pack-horses and bateaux, or small boats. Men who pushed bateaux with poles, or followed the wandering lives of pack-horsemen in the woods, or wagoners from town to town, were naturally rough and boisterous in manners and without much education. There was not much letter-writing then, and the mails were carried mostly on horseback, with little regularity and no speed, so that news sent by mail almost became history by the time it reached the reader. The newspapers were published weekly, and were slow with their news and rather dull in their comments. There were schools in all the leadins: towns and cities. In New England there were schools in al- most every township. But there was no public-school sj'stem like that which prevails at present. The schools were, for the most part, poor ; the discipline in them was severe, and sometimes brutal. Boys were taught to read and write, and sometimes to "cast accounts." Girls learned to read, sometimes also to write. But needle- work and fancy-work were thought more appropriate to their sex. The oldest college in the country was Har- vard, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1638. The next oldest was the college of William and eiNCING WITH THE HARPSICHORD THE NEW REPUBLIC AND ITS PEOPLE. 207 Mary, at Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, which was chartered in 1693, in the reign of William and Mary, and which at the beginning of the Revolution was the richest college in the colonies. Yale College, in New Haven, founded in 1700, was the third in age. There was also a college in New York, one in Philadelphia, and another in Princeton, New Jersey. But we are not to think of any of these colleges as great institutions. They were, rather, little more than academies in the number of their students and in their provisions for the education of pupils. For a long time after the colonies were settled there science, ntera- 11 1. ture, and art. had been little that one could call literature or art or science. People busy in cutting down forests and build- ing new towns have no time to write books or paint pictures. The early books were almost all on politics or religion. But in the fifty years before the Revolu- tion there came to be a considerable interest in science and literature. In the period following the Revolution, nearly all the great minds were interested in politics, and the lighter forms of literature were not cultivated with much success, but the writings of Madison, Ham- ilton, and others, on questions of state, give luster to their age. Almost at the beginning of Washington's administra- FrankUn. tion there died the aged Benjamin Franklin, first of Americans to achieve a world-wide and enduring fame, and one of the very greatest men of his century. Frank- lin was the son of a tallow-chandler, and was born in Boston in 1706. He learned the printer's trade in his brother's office, and also did some rude engraving for the paper. Though working hard in the daytime, he 208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. read diligently at nia^ht, and made remarkable advancement in knowl- edge. At seventeen, he went to Philadelphia, entering the city poor, and munching a roll as he walked along the streets of the town of which he was to become the most famous citizen. After manv vicissitudes he rose to the owner- ship of a printing-office. He published an almanac, known as " Poor Richard's," which became famous for its wise proverbs, and he printed and edited the best newspaper in the American colonies. Franklin was postmaster-general for the colonies. Me became a careful student of the new science of electricity, and in 1752, by means of a kite, he proved that the lightning of the clouds was electricity. This discov- ery, and the invention of the lightning-rod, made him famous in Europe. He pro- moted the formation of libraries and other Htcrar\- institutions, and furthered the pub- lic welfare in manv wavs. He went to London more than once as agent for his Franklin in pub- o\\v\ \\u(\ otlicr colouics, aud was cliicflv influential in lie life. . securmg the repeal of the Stamp Act. He was in London as agent for several of the ci^lonies when the Revolution broke out. but he immediately returned to BIRTHPLACE OF FRANKLIN. HOME AND SOCIETY IN WASHINGTON'S 'TIME. 209 America. lie was one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and he went to France in 1776 as ambassador. In France he was treated with something- Hke idolatry by all classes of people, from the king downward. It was his skillful hand that negoti- ated the treaty with that country, without which the Revolution could hardly have succeeded. He assisted in making the treaty of peace with England in 1782, and took part in framing the Constitution of the United States in 1787. He died in Philadelphia in 1790, aged eighty-four years. It was said of him that " he wrested the thunder from the sky and the scepter from tyrants." Franklin was a great journalist, author, statesman, pa- triot, scientist, and philosopher. Few men have ever gained distinction of so many sorts. conveniences. CHAPTER XXXV. HOME AND SOCIETY IN WASHINGTON'S TIME. Not only did the people of the United States, in the Lack of modem time of President Washington, have no railroads and no steamboats, but they lacked a great number of other con- veniences. Telegraphs and telephones were imknown. Electric lights are an invention of our own time, but our ancestors did not even have gas or kerosene-oil. Lamps of any kind were almost unknown ; houses were lighted with tallow-candles, though some of the people made candles of a green wax derived from the berries of the wax-myrtle tree. The poorest people burned a wick in 15 210 If/STOh'V ()/•• ■/•///■: rXlTKD Sl.lTES. Lite uinoii^ \\\c farmeis. -J' VHOOL-WHBEL. Hubits ol thr backwoodsmrn. Negro slaves. ;i \(.'sst"l contaiiiiiii;- a little i^^reasc, oi li-;hti(l i)icccs v\ |)itcli-i)iiu' (Ml tlu- lu-aith. Willi siuli lights, it was lU) i;ri'at \ittiic that tlu'\ went to W\\ early. \\\v\\ the strei'ts 1)1 laij;c' towns wi-rc lighted with ilini lanterns. StoNi's tor lu-atiiii;- w iMX' almost nnknown; those lor i-ookini; weie not \ et dri-anuHl ol. Wood was the onl\ Inel used in housi'S. lilaeksmiths burned chart'oal. There were lew mines and ver\- lew mamilaiiures. Wool or lla\ was pnpai (.il and spun at home, and then wo\iMi into plain homespun eloths lor men's and women's wear. \\\c i;r(.\itiM" pait ol thi' people were tarmers. and the lainier rareU' spiait monev. What his lamil\ ate and wore was prmlueed at ; liomi". The rouj;h sln)es woi n in winli'i" were, periiaps, b()uv;ht ol a neii.ihl)orinj.;" cobl)ler. but tlie\ were sometimes made at home. The ehildren, and, in man\ lases, tlu" parents them- sel\es. wiMit baretoot in summer. rK>w s, waj^'ons, and shnls were mostly made on the larm. lii mauN' parts ol the eountr\ the plow was unknown. and the p.u'k h(>rse oi" rude sledge ttrnk the j^hu'e ol the wan'ou. The laiiiiiuii- was j;enerallv of the roughest kind, but the l.iiul w.is new and lertile. There were main b.ukw oodsmen w ho had a dress ot their own. Thi'\ wore loose hunting-shirts ol tleer-skiii or homespun, a lur eap, moeeasins, and buekskin leggius. These woodsnuai li\i'd b\ huntiiii.;". b\- trap[>iiii;\ bv poliui:;" boats and ilriviui.;- p.iekdiorses. In small Indian trading, and souK^times b\- pett\ tarmiiii;-. Until attcM" the Rexolution, moehanies and workingmeu wore l(.\itherii breeehes. Ol the ne.irh lour millions ot people in tlu- Tnited States in 1700. about one seventh were negio slaves. HOME AiXD SOCIETY IN IVA SHEVGTOA" S TIME. 21 I Slavery had existed in Massachusetts from an early period, but it had been declared illegal by the courts of that State about the time of the Revolution. In every other State there were slaves. But they were compara- tively few in the Northern States, which had no agricult- ure in which slave-labor was profitable. Of the North- ern States, New York hatl the most slaves — nK^x than twenty thousand. Nearly seven eighths of all the slaves were in Maryland, Virginia, and the two Carolinas. These were the lands of tobacco, indigo, and rice culture. In parts of these States counti-y life preserved aris- Traits of life at .the South. tocratic forms derived from England. Here, until after the Revolution, the oldest son of the family inherited the land, according to the custom of the old English law. Some of the great planters lived like nobles. They were accustomed to manage public affairs, and from this class came some of the most eminent statesmen of the period following the Revolution. Virginia was called " the Mother of Presidents," because so many of the early presidents were born in that State. But the poorer people at the South had little or no chance for education, and were gen- erally rude and illiterate. There were few towns in the Southern States, very few mechanics, and little of the ship-building and manufactures that were soon to make New England rich. But in Washington's time the Southern States were the richest as well as the most populous. If they had but little town life, there was much social gayety in tiie plantation-houses. The so-called cities of the United States, at the time society in the cities. of the adoption of the Constitution, were only what would now be counted towns of moderate size. But FLAX-WHEEL. 2 I JUS ION Y OF THE L'XITED STATES. HAT WORN IN WASHINGTON'S TIME. Costume in Washington's time. HIGH HEAD-DRESS OF THE TIME. Comparative dis comfort of the life of the time. in eacli of these little capitals there was an upper class which alTected the stvle and iashii)n of the Enplish gentry. Cientlenien antl ladies s::athered at fashionable houses in the afternoon, and spent the tinie in talking, anil sii)pini;" tea Ironi ilaintv little china cuj>s. Some- times large parties rode out to a juiblic garden in the count rw or a taveiMi bv the sea-side, to (irink tea. In most ol the chief towns there were held once in two weeks " assemblies," or balls. At these assemblies there weie stately minuets and countrv-dances, and much nu)ney was lost and won at card-tables in a rot>m pre- pared lor lashionable gambling, which was then one of the recognized amusements of good society. About the time of the Revolution irentlemen wore their hair long, and powdered it white. Ladies dressed their hair in a lofty tower. C)ne tine ladv of the time paid six hundred dollars a year to her hair-dresser. Gentlemen, as well as ladies, wore bright colors and a variety of i ich fabrics, so that a fashionable assemblv pre- sented a gay appearance. " Short-clothes," or breeches coming to the knee only, were still fashionable : only very plain men wi>re long tri)users, and even these were obliged to put o\\ short-clothes if thev wished to attend a concert or ball. But, with all this gaycty in the upjier ranks of so- ciety, life was less comfortable then than now. The commiMi people lived hardly, with few ci>mforts and fewer luxuries. h^en the rich, with all their loaded tables and fine show, lacked some of the substantial comforts ol our modern life. There was more drinking ti^ excess then, and there was less refinement in speech and manners, than there is now. IVA SHING TON ' S PRESIDENC V. 2 1^ CHAPTER XXXVI. WASHINGTON'S I'RKSIDENCY, FROM 1 789 TO 1 797. Bkkork the Ivevolution, officers of state affected a Aristocratic usages in the great deal of dii^nity, and public life was attended with colonies. much ceremony, borrowed from the customs which pre- vailed in England. Much of that division of society into classes which prevails in England had passed over to this country. Students in Harvard College, for example, were placed in a certain order in the catalogue accord- ing to the supposed rank of their fathers, and a student was required to yield the baluster side of the stairs to his social superior, though he might be the veriest dunce in the school. But the American Revolution had two sides to it. Democratic A 1 • 1 • T^ 1 • 1 feeling in the Apparently it was only a resistance to English oppres- Revolution, sion. But, in resisting oppression, the claim was set up thcit the }"»oor man's rights were as sacred as the rich man's, and from this came the assertion that, in matters of right, all men ought to be free and equal. This led the Legislature of Virginia to modify its laws regarding negroes and Indians, and the courts in Massachusetts to declare slavery illegal. A few years before the Revo- lution the social distinctions in Harvard College were abandoned ; and the thought of the equal rights of men which runs through the Declaration of Independence spread easily among the people in a new country such as the United States was at this time, for most of the people were plain, hard-working folk, leading independ- ent lives, and resenting the arrogance of the great. 214 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The question of titles. V MARTHA WASHINGTON. Washington not a partisan. Anti-Federalists. But when the Constitution was adopted, and a new government was to take a place in the family of nations alongside the great kingdoms of Europe, it became a question of how much of the old English pomp and ceremony there should be about it. Most of the men in public life were used to the old colonial titles, and the United States Senate wished to address Washington as " His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties." But the people generally, filled with ideas of the equality of men, disliked such pompous titles, and so it was thought enough to call him " The President of the United States." But so fixed were the old no- tions that fashionable people could not bring themselves to speak of the wife of their President as Mrs. Washing- ton; it became customar}^ to call her " Lady Washington." The capital of the country, which was at first in New York, was removed to Philadelphia in 1791, to remain there until it should be fixed permanently on the Potomac River. Washington was re-elected in 1792 without op- position. He kept himself aloof from political parties, and tried to be impartial. But his preference for a strong central government attached him rather to the party called Federalist than to its opponents. In the fierce struggle that led to the adoption of the Constitution, those who favored the federal system of government took the name of Federalists ; those who opposed the adoption of the new Constitution were known as anti-Federalists. Some of these opponents were great patriots like Patrick Henry. Samuel Adams was also for a time in opposition. We must remember that, until the Constitution was actually tried, there was room WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY. 21 ^ for doubt as to how it would work, and, as the colonies had suffered from the King and the Parliament of Eng- land, the States were naturally afraid that a President and a national Congress might prove as bad. After the Constitution was adopted, there were still The Federalist many questions to be settled. The Federalists were in favor of construing the Constitution so as to strengthen the central government. They also liked to see the government conducted with pomp and ceremony. The Federalist party was strong in the cities, and among people of wealth and those devoted to commerce. Such people in that day were generally aristocratic in their feelings, and leaned to English ways. In the war be- tween England and France, the sympathies of the Fed- eralists were in favor of England and against France. When once the battle over the Constitution was The Republican ended, opposition to it also ended, and there were no more anti-Federalists. But those who had opposed the federal system, and some who had favored it, set them- selves to interpret the Constitution in such a way as to limit as much as possible the authority of the Federal Government. This party was called the Republican, and sometimes the Democratic Republican party ; but it is not to be confounded with the Republican party of later times. The members of this party were afraid that the United States Government would grow too strong, and perhaps overthrow the liberties of the peo- ple. They wished to increase the power of the States and diminish that of the United States. They cherished ideas of individual liberty and equality, and were afraid of an aristocracy. The old Republican or Democratic party of that day sympathized with France, which had, in the ,(! 2l6 nisroRY OF THE uxited states. Alexander Hamilton. ALEXANDER HAMILTON great Revolution of 1789, overthrown the monarchy and set up a republic, and the Republicans disliked England. Manv of them at one time showed their partisanship by wearing the tricolored cockade worn by republicans in France. The Republican party in America wished to bring in republican manners and simple tastes, and they objected to the stately ceremonies which Washington and the Federalists liked. The leader of the Federalists was General Alexan- der Hamilton. This great man was born in the Island of Nevis, in the West Indies, in January, 1757. His father was poor, and he was put into a counting- house. At fifteen years of age he wrote for the " St. Christopher's Gazette " an account of a hur- ricane that had just desolated the Leeward West India Islands. The remarkable ability shown in this description attracted the attention of the chief men of the place, and the boy w'as sent to the American continent to be educated. In 1774, when but seventeen years of age, while a student in King's College (now Columbia College), in New York, he made a speech on the Revolutionary side at a large meeting in the fields, which at once stamped him as a wonderful youth. He also wrote several anonymous pamphlets which attracted great attention, and were at- tributed to the leading men of the party. In 1776, when he was but nineteen, he took command of an artillery company, and so distinguished himself at the battle of White Plains and in the retreat across New Jersev that Washington put him on his own staff. He was emploved by Washington in many delicate and confidential mis- sions, and he distinguished himself in more than one WA SHING TON'S PRE SI DEN C V. 21 7 battle. He led the assault on one of the British out- works at Yorktown. But his great work lay in his efforts to persuade the American people to adopt the Federal Constitution, by which the national existence was firmly established. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he held Congress firmly to the duty of paying every dollar of the national debt at its face. He also prevailed on Congress to adopt the debts incurred by the States in carrying on the war, and he thus established the credit of the nation and strengthened the Federal authority. In his notions of government he favored English mod- els. Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. The leader of the old Republican party was Thomas Jefferson the leader of the Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. Republicans. He was Secretary of State in Washington's first Cabinet, while Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury ; so that the chiefs of the two great parties were in the Cabinet at the same time, a thing impossible in our day. During Washington's administration there began Indian troubles at the West. those troubles with the Indians which have plagued the government and the people of the frontiers from that day to this. The English Government refused to sur- render forts which it held among the Indian tribes in what is now Ohio, and encouraged the savages to hos- tilities. There arose in consequence a most deadly and cruel war between the white settlers in Kentucky and the tribes living on the north side of the river. More than fifteen hundred Kentucky settlers had been killed in seven years, and very many carried away to die by torture or to languish in captivit3\ The name " Ken- tucky " signifies " Dark and Bloody Ground." It was i| 2l8 J/ISJOHY OF THE UXJTED STATES. KENTUCKY CAPTIVES. Harmer's defeat. ':, SO called by the savaofes because of the fierce encounters which took place there between the different Indian tribes, none of whom dared to inhabit Kentucky permanently. The horrible slaugh- ters of settlers in the same territory made it also a dark and bloody ground to the white people. General Ilarmer was sent aorainst the Indians in Ohio in 1790, but the wil)' chiefs Blue Jacket and Little Tur- tle waited until he had divided his troops, when they fell on part of them, and destroyed them almost utterly. WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY. 219 General St. Clair was selected to attack the Indians st. ciair-s defeat, 1791. in the following year. lie was surprised by Little Tur- tle and a strong force of Indians, wdio routed his army. The Indians butchered the wounded with the most bru- tal cruelty while St. Clair's army was in flight. Washington was greatly distressed at this defeat. He now selected General Wayne, who had gained dis- tinction in the Revolution, and whose courage was such general st! that he was called " Mad Anthony Wayne." Wayne was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1745. He received a good education for the time, and be- came a land-surveyor. During the troublous times of Waynes career. 1774 and 1775 Wayne devoted himselj to drilling military companies in his own county. He entered the army as colonel in 1776, and distinguished him- self in many actions. His most notable ex- ploit, perhaps, was the storming of Stony Point, on the Hudson. This formidable work he carried at midnight by a bayonet-charge, the soldiers' guns being empty. He after- ward handled a small force in Georgia in such a way as to hold in check a much larger O'' body of British troops. It was his careful organ- ization and bold execution of various enterprises during the Revolution which caused his selection by Washington to retrieve the fortunes of the Indian war after St. Clair's defeat. Wayne was as prudent as he was brave. The In- wayne-s victory on the Maumee, dians called him " The Black Snake," and they also 1794. called him " The Chief who never Sleeps." After try- ing in vain to make peace with the Indians, Wayne attacked and defeated them, driving them from their ANTHONY WAYNE 220 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. WAYNE'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE INDIANS. The whisky rebellion, 1794. Retirement and death of Wash- ington. hiding-places by a brilliant bayonet- charge. This bat- tle was fought in 1794, on the Mau- mee River, in north- western Ohio. The Indians received a chastisement so severe that it gained a peace which lasted eighteen years. When Wayne returned from this successful expedition against the Indians, he was received in Philadeli)hia in triumph. "^ There was about this time a rebellion in western Pennsylvania, known as " the Whisky Insurrection." The people of that remote region raised Indian corn. The roads over the mountains were such that they could not well haul this corn to market, so they fell to making it into whisky, in which shape it was less bulky and more easily carried. The new United States tax on whisky interfered with this business, and the people rose against the revenue officers. Washington sent troops to enforce the law, and the people submitted after the ringleaders of the rebellion had fled. Washington declined to be a candidate for the third time, and in September, 1796, the "Father of his Coun- try " issued a farewell address, full of good advice. At the end of his term, in March, 1797, he retired to Mount Vernon, where he spent his closing days in peace. He died December 14, 1799, in the last month of the eight- eenth century. Of the man)^ great men of the last century, he was, though not the most gifted, probably TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND AND TRANCE. 221 the most illustrious. The whole United States paid honor to his memory, and to this time his is the only American birthday celebrated as a public holiday. '"^■■■'(HvJfiJ^'';;;?'':",':;;;,;?^ WS^s^M^^P^p'' \ Mf)UNT VERNON. CHAPTER XXXVII. TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND AND FRANCE. — PRESIDENCY OF JOHN ADAMS. When the English jrovernment acknowledged the Grounds of com- plaint against independence of the United States, in 1783, there re- England, mained still in the hands of English troops, as we have said, certain military posts in the Indian country which were within the territory of the United States. The EngHsh government retained these posts among the In- dians, and, by the encouragement given to the tribes, kept alive the Indian war. When Wayne defeated the Indians on the Maumee, he found Canadians fighting oa the side of the Indians, and he drove them before him under the very guns of a fort held by the English, who did not dare to aid the savages and their allies. There was also much anger in America against the English government on account of the illegal seizure of Ameri- can vessels by British cruisers. 222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Jay's treaty. France and the Jay treaty. Election of John Adams, 1796. To prevent a new war with Great Britain, Washing- ton sent John Jay to England in 1794 to make a treaty, "Jay's Treaty," as it was called, was very unpopu- lar in America, especially with the members of the Republican party, who thought that it yield- ed too much to England. But it was confirmed by Washington and the Senate, for, according to the Constitution, every treaty made with a foreign nation must be agreed to by the Sen- ate. It provided for the surrender of the West- ern forts by England, and it prevented a war with Great Britain, which would have been a misfor- tune to so weak a country as ours was at that time. When a war with England came at last, in 18 12, the United States had nearly twice as many people as it had when the Jay treaty was made. This treaty with Great Britain was exasperating to the French government, which was then engaged in war with England. As France had helped the United States to gain its independence, the French expected the assist- ance of America in their new war with Enorland. Wash- ington wisely kept this country free from alliances with either of the contending nations. In 1796 John Adams, the candidate of the Federalist party, was chosen President over Thomas Jefferson, who ,was the candidate of the Republicans, or Democrats. Adams, who was the son of a farmer, was born in Brain- tree, Mass., in 1735. He graduated at Harvard, taught school for two years, and began the practice of law when he was t\yenty-three years of age. He took an active l)art in the Stamp-Act agitations from 1765 onward. He removed to Boston in 1768, and soon became a leadino- TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 223 JOHN ADAMS. lawyer and a chief of the Revolu- tionary part3^ Adams was one of the foremost men in the Congress of 1774 and 1775, and w^as one of the leading advocates of the Decla- ration of Independence. He w^as one of the commissioners to nego- tiate the treaty of peace with Eng- land, and was minister at London for three years. Adams was Vice- President during the whole of Wash- ington's presidency. He was an able and courageous man, honest and true to his con- victions, but irritable and somewhat quarrelsome. His peculiarities had something to do with his unpopularity and his defeat wdien he ran for the presidency a second time. He died on the 4th of July, 1826, exactly fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, and on the same day with his ancient rival, Jefferson. The administration of Adams was occupied with the difficulties with France. That country, after the great Revolution that overthrew the monarchy in 1789, had now fallen into the hands of a government called the " Directory." It was composed of five directors. The successes which their armies achieved under the command of the rising young general, Napoleon Bona-^ Discourteous be- havior of the parte, made the Directory very overbearing. When French Direct- the United States sent a new minister to Paris, the °^^' French government refused to receive him, and pres- ently ordered him to leave the country. In 1797, President Adams, who desired to avoid a war The Directory seek to extort if possible, sent three envoys to France, having assur- money from the United States. CANNONEER, 1797. 224 ///SJOA'V OF THE U XI TED STATES. SEAMAN, )7aB. •• Not one cent for tribute ! " Peace made with Napoleon Bona- parte. Removal of the capital to Wash- ington, 1800. ances that they would be received with honor. But the American envoys were informed that, in order to secure a peace, the United States must make a loan to the French government and pay secret bribes to the members of the Directory. The envoys refused this dishonorable demand, and, when it was known in America, the popular cry became, " Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute ! " The tricolored cockade was no longer worn, but a black cockade was put on by those in favor of a war with France. " Hail, Columbia," then a new song, became universally popular. Ships were built, an army was raised, and Washington was made commander-in-chief. But the French did not wish a war, and Napoleon Bo- naparte, who had now overthrown the French Directory, made a new agreement with the United States in Septem- ber, 1800. Thus the infant countrv again escaped a war. In the vear 1800 the government was removed from Philadelphia to Washington City. In 1790 Congress had resolved to fix the perma- nent capital on the Potomac River, and the selection of the site was left to Wash- ington himself. When the government moved th^re, in 1800, the place was almost a wilderness. The few people living in the new town were scattered over the whole region, and one sometimes had to go a mile or two through a forest to see his next-door neighbor, though both were living within the " Federal Citv," as Washinirton had named it. ' i^U- THE WHITE HOUSE. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 225 It was thoufrht desirable that the national capital The District of *" Columbia. should nt)t be within the jurisdiction of any State. A tract ten miles square was given by Virginia and Mary- land to form the District of Columbia. But the portion taken from Virginia was afterward ceded back to that State. The District of Columbia is governed wholly by laws made in Congress, in which its inhabitants have no representative. CHAPTER XXXVIII. JEFFERSON'S SEAL. ELECTION OF JEFFERSON. — WAR WITH TRIPOLI. The Federalists favored a strong gov- ernment, as we have said, and, like every party, they were inclined to carry their principles to an extreme. In the excite- ment caused by the troubles between the United States and France they were led to pass laws more stringent than was neces- sary, and certainly more severe than pub- lic opinion justified. Foreigners were required to live in America fourteen years before they could be natu- The alien and J sedition laws. ralized. By what was called the " Alien Law,' the President was given authority to send out of the country, without trial, any " alien " or unnaturalized foreigner. By the " Sedition Law," speakers and news- paper writers were to be severely punished for " libel- ing " the officers of the government. Many of the peo- ple thought the alien law took away the right of trial by jury, and that the sedition law attacked free speech 16 THOMAS JEFFERSON. ELECTION OF JEFFERSON. 22 7 and a free press. The unpopularity of these laws con- tributed to the overthrow of the Federal party, and the cry of " the Alien and Sedition Laws " was kept up against the party to the end of its existence. In the presidential election of 1800, John Adams was services ren- 1 T^ 1 1 • T 1 1 • 11 1 dered by the the i^ederahst candidate a second time, but he was de- Federalists, feated, and the Federalist party never was able to elect another President. The Federalists had secured the adop- tion (jf the Federal Constitution ; they had made the na- tional government strong ; and they had begun the work of paying the national debt in full, and so making the credit of the government good. No party ever did a better work than the Federalists did in bringing a bank- rupt and disorderly confederacy into a firm union. But the Federalists leaned too much to the Eng-lish The Republican party and its notions of government that had prevailed before the work. Revolution. The Republicans held more to the equality of men ; they trusted the people, and believed in prog- ress toward a larger personal liberty. The Federalist movement made us a nation ; but the movement repre- sented by the old Republican party made us republi- cans and Americans. The events which took place during the election of The oid mode of electing a 1800 disclosed a serious defect in tlie workings of the President. Constitution. The convention which framed that instru- ment had been afraid to trust the people with the elec- tion of the chief magistrate of the nation, perhaps be- cause they had not been accustomed to such an election by the people in the colonies. At one time it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution to have the President elected by Congress ; but this seemed to make him too dependent on that body. So a new plan was Mi 228 71 /STORY OF THE CXI TED STATES. Struggle between Jefferson and Burr in 1800. AMERICAN SEAMAN IN JEFFERSON'S TIME. The Constitution changed. invented. The people were to choose *' electors " in every State, in proportion to the population of the State, or rather to its number of representatives in Congress. Each of these electors was to vote for two men for President. The one receiving the highest vote was to be President, the one receiving the second highest num- ber was to be Vice-President. This plan produced a quite unexpected effect in 1796. in which year John Adams was made President, and Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the opposite party, became Vice-President. In 1800 the Republicans resolved to elect Jefferson President and Aaron Burr Vice-President ; but, as the only wav of electing a Vice-President was by voting for him as one of the two candidates for President, it happened that both Jefiferson and Burr received the votes of all the Republican electors, and had, therefore, exactlv the same number of electoral votes, although nobodv had thous^ht of Burr for President. The Con- ~:\ stitution provided then, as it does now, that the choice between the twc\ in case of a tie-vote, should be by the House of Representatives. The Federalists dis- liked JeffersiMi in particular, as the great chief of the Republicans ; the most of them, therefore, voted for Burr. This produced a new tie in the House of Representatives, and there was danger that the 4th of March would arrive and find the country without a President ; but, after a long struggle, some of the Federalists cast blank votes, and allowed Jefferson to be elected. This dangerous struggle led to a change in the Con- stitution, by which the electors were to vote for but one candidate for President and one for \'icc-President. IVAR WITH TRIPOLI. 229 AMERICAN SOLDIERS ABOUT 1800. This method of voting for electors still prevails, but it has not served the purpose intended by the founders of the government. They hoped that each State would choose a body of its ablest men, and that the people would leave the work of choosing a President to these electors. But the people vote for electors, each pledged to vote for a particular man. The voter takes no notice of the names of the men for whom he votes as electors ; he really votes for the candidate for President. The electors only serve to record the popular vote by States. During Jefferson's time, the United States was at peace with all the great powers. The wars raging in Europe had injured the commerce of England and Prosperity of American com- France. Foreign merchants, whose countries were at merce. war, preferred to send goods in American vessels, to prevent their being captured by the enemy. In this way American commerce became very prosperous. The little Mohammedan states, along the southern war with the . . Barbary pirates, coast of the Mediterranean, had long earned on a pirati- isoi. cal warfare against the trade of Christian countries. The nations of northern Europe paid them a 3'early tribute to protect their ships from robbcr3\ The United States was obliged to redeem from slavery Americans captured by the Dey of Algiers, and also to pay tribute. But in I So I the Pasha of Tripoli, having been refused addi- tional presents, broke into open war. This war may almost be said to mark the birth of the American navy. It was a period in which Amer- icans were fond of danger- ^^O HISIORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Achievements of ous cxplolts. The officcFs and mcii of this small sea- !crn'nll"y in'Th[s foFcc, mostlj rccruited from merchant-ships, performed war. Peace, 1805. ^^^^ ^^j daring before Tripoli which have never been forgotten, and which yet serve for an example to their successors. In many actions Americans boarded the pirate-ships, and fought in desperate hand-to-hand en- counters, witii swords, pikes, and bayonets. The frig- ate Philadelphia, having run on the rocks, was captured by the Tripolitans, and the crew reduced to slaver3^ Lieutenant Decatur ran into the harbor at night in a ketch, boarded the frigate and burned her, escaping -^ J' with his men by rowing his little boat under a storm of fire from the enemy's batteries. After four years of blockade and war, the obstinate ruler of Trip- oli was brought to terms. He made a treaty of ; , \ peace in 1805. ^ V But in 18 12, Algiers, another of the Barbar}' ^V '\ ' powers, declared war against this country, capt- STEPHEN OECATUR. urcd Auicricau vessels, and reduced the crews to slavery. The same Stephen Decatur, who, as a lieuten- The later war aut, bumcd thc Philadelphia, was sent to the Mediter- with Algiers. c • i r i tt Abolition of ranean bea, m 1815, as commodore of a squadron. He ute, 1 15. captured the chief vessels of the Dey, and forced that prince to release his prisoners, and to come on board the commodore's ship and sign a treaty. The United States never afterward paid tribute to any of the pirate powers. |,, THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GREAT VALLEY. 9 -, t ^0 ^ CHAPTER XXXIX. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GREAT VALLEY. The first settlers in Virginia tried more than once Eariy expedi- 11 • 1 • 1-1111 \ tions to the to reach the mountains, hoping to imd gold there. At westward. a later period the Virginians sought to cross the mcjunt- ains in order to get to the Pacific Ocean. In 1679 a German ex})lorer named Lederer tried to go across the mountains from Virginia ; but the people who went with him deserted him, and, though he boldly pursued his journey alone and returned safely, he seems barely to have succeeded in reaching the mountains, and he cer- tainly did not come anywhere near to the Pacific. Gov- ernor Spotswood, of Virginia, also tried to go through the mountains with a company of gentlemen, and he claimed to have discovered a pass by which one could get over. When he came back he instituted an order of " Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," formed at first of those who had been with him on the journey. The people in the colonics commonly rode their horses bare- foot ; but for this extraordinary'' journey in the moimt- -ains, where there were rocks, it became necessary to shoe the horses. Hence the name of this order, every mem- ber of which wore a golden horseshoe. But, while the French were exploring the whole in- opposition to ^Vcstcrn settle*- terior valley and making friends and allies of many sav- ment. age tribes, the English authorities in the c(jlonies were without much enterprise in this direction. It was thought by English statesmen that settlements in the interior would neither buy English goods nor be subject to Eng- 2^2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. lish control, so that it was a favorite plan with them at one time to establish a western bonndary be^'ond which the settlements should not advance, which was much like makinjj: a law to rea:ulate the tides of the sea. Descent of the i^nf the mvsterious wilderness, infested bv tribes of Ohio and Mis- sissippi, tierce and cruel Indians, piqued the curiosity of daring men, and from time to time one and another ventured to push far into the unknown land and bring back strange stories of its appearance. It was told that one John Howard, with his son, at an early period, had traveled through the desolate mountains to the Ohio River. Here thcv killed a buffalo-bull and made a boat bv stretchino; the animal's hide over ribs of wood, after the frontiersman's manner. In this frail craft thev made their wav manv thousands of miles down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, where the French authorities, who then possessed Louisiana, sent them to France on suspicion of being spies. They were afterward released, and got back to Virginia. In 1766 the same perilous voyage was made in a pirogue by Captain Gor- don, a British engineer. The pioneer In thc gradual spread of settlements from the sea back toward the mountains there had been formed a new race of men, the like of whom the v.orld had hardly ever known before. These were the frontiersmen, who kept moving forward in advance of the settlements; men lov- ing solitude, hardship, and danger for their own sakes. The whole power of the British Empire could not have prevented these daring fellows from following their im- pulse and pushing across the mountains into thc western vallevs. Thev were trained from their vouth in all the arts bv which a backwoodsman lives without buvins: or race. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GREAT VALLEY. 233 DANIEL BOONE. selling. Such men know how to get food and raiment and shelter in the most desolate wilderness with no other tools than a trusty rifle and a sharp knife, and no sup- plies but what they can carry in powder-horns and bullet- bags. If the first settlements at Jamestown and Plym- outh could have been planted by such a race of pio neers, half the early miseries of these colonies would have been avoided. One of the finest types of this class was Daniel Boone. He lived on the Yadkin River, in North Carolina. As early as 1760 Boone crossed the AUeghanies into the unbroken wilderness. There stands, or stood until lately, a tree in Eastern Ten- nessee which bore the following inscription carved upon it, probably by Boone himself, with that awkward use of letters to be expected of a backwoodsman : "D. Boon Cilled A. Bar On Tree in ThE yEAR 1760." In 1769 Boone went into what is now Kentucky with Boone settles a party. One of his companions was killed by the In- dians, one was eaten by wolves, and three were lost, no one knows iiow. Boone himself had been seven days a captive among the Indians, but had managed to escape. There being no one left but Boone and his brother, the brother went back for ammunition and horses, and Daniel Boone was for one winter the only white inhabitant of Kentucky. During this lime he had frequently to change his sleeping-place from night to night in order to avoid falling into the hands of lurking savages ; and he had an encounter with a bear, from whose grip he only saved himself by killing it with his knife. At this time he was three years without tasting bread or salt. After he had built a palisaded fort and 14 I N \ 2-? A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. brought settlers to Kentucky, his daughter and two other young girls were carried off by the savages, and Boone was captured in trying to rescue them. He was only released by an attack made by his friends when he had been tied to a tree to be put to death. Carried into captivity afterward, he barely escaped torture, and was adopted into the tribe, from which he escaped in time to warn his friends at Boonsborough that a party was marching to attack the place. In a fight with two Indians he exposed himself enough to draw the fire of one of them, whom he shot; then, drawing the fire of the other in the same way and dodging it, he came to a hand-to-hand struggle, and warded a blow from the sav- age's tomahawk with his empty gun while he killed his antagonist with his knife. Boone survived his perils, and lived to see populous States where he had explored trackless forests. He died in Missouri, at the age of eighty-three. Hardihood of the Kcntucky was settled by men of this type, and an pioneers. . ' , equally bold race took possession of Tennessee and of the other States west of the Alleghanies. The incessant conflicts with the savages, who were encouraged by the English during the whole period of the Revolution, would have disheartened men and women of anv other type. But in the middle of every stockade like Boons- borough there was an open space where these daring people, when not actually beleaguered by Indians or engaged in toil, forgot their hardships and perils in social intercourse or passed their leisure hours in merry frolics and dances. This race, now disappearing, was distinctly the product of American conditions, and has left its stamp upon the interior country to this dav. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GREAT VALLEY. 235 ceded to the Gen- eral Government. Some of the colonies had been chartered to run Territory north of the Ohio River through to the Pacific Ocean, and these claimed all the territory west of them as far as the United States ex- tended — that is, to the Mississippi River. The Virginia charter, which was the oldest, made the line of that colony run " west and northwest." Under this charter Virginia claimed much of the territory north of the Ohio River, and all of that which now forms Kentucky. The territory lying north of the Ohio was ceded to the United States by Virginia and the other States claiming it. In 1787 this territory Avas organized as " The Northwest Territory," and its government was regulated by an act which has since be- come very celebrated. It is commonly known as " The Ordinance of Eighty-seven," from the year in which it was adopted. The Ordinance of Eighty-seven declared that, in the Northwest Territory, all children of a father who died without a will should inherit the estate equally, thus doing away with the aristocratic The Northwest ... .'' , , 1 1 1 T- 1- 1 Territory estab- privileges given to the oldest son under the English ushed by the and colonial laws. It also forbade slavery in the terri- Eighty-seven° • tory north of the Ohio. This ordinance made Ohio, In- diana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin free States. % :.6 J/ISIOKY 0J-' TJIE L XI TED STATES. The Ohio pio- The foundation of the State of Ohio was hiid bv a neers. company of cniii^rants from New Enj^land, who settled on the Muskino;um River in 1788. They were led by General Rufus Putnam and the Rev. Manasseh Cutler. Thev called the boat which floated them down the riyer on their arrival the "Mayflower." They called their new \o\\\\ Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, then Queen of France, who had taken a lively interest in the American Reyolution. These settlers were a fine body of educated pei>ple. They suffered many hardships and perils durini;- the Indian wars. Great rush of Soou after the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 and emigrants to the West. the purchase of the Indian title to the land, people began to pour into the Western country, some to the north side of the Ohio, others to re-enforce the settlements already established by Boone and his companions in Kentucky, or those foiuided bv Robertson, Sevier, and other pio- neers in Tennessee. A large number of Revolutionary officers and soldiers, impoverished bv the war, were among: these settlers, particularly in Ohio. The first emigrants carried their few goods over the mountains on pack-horses. Those settling on either side of the Ohio embarked at Pittsburg or Wheeling in large flat- boats roughly built of irreen lumber. In these they floated down the river tt) one of the new settlements on its banks. The flat-boat was then broken up. and its planks used in building the settler's cabin. Pennsylvania wagons, after a while, took the place of the pack-horse in the j(>urney over the mountains ti> Pittsburg. Rude and danger. Yho people of tliis intcritM" couutrv were almost shut ous life of the first settlers west out troui the world. Thcv raised flax and sometimes of the mountains , , , grew wool, and spun and wove at home. Their spni- THE SETTLEMENT OF THE GREAT VALLEY. 237 niner-whecls and looms were made bv themselves. For chairs they made rude stools, their tables and bedsteads were such as they could make, antl thcv used wooden bowls for dishes. They tanned their own leather, and made rude shoes at ht)nic, but half the year they went barefoot when not on a journey. The husks of Indian corn were used for making' various articles, such as ropes, horse-collars, brooms, and chair-bottoms. Barrels and bee-hiyes were made by sawing hollow trees into sec- tit)ns. By splitting one of these sections a child's ci^adle was ct)nstructed. For tea they drank a decoction of sas- safras-root or the leaves of the crop-vine. Their sugar they got from the maple-tree. Their small boat was a canoe made from a single log, or a pirogue, which was a canoe enlarged by splitting it in the middle lengthwise and inserting a plank. The danger from Indians was so great for many years that the settlers never went to their fields without carrying their rifles. Whatever supplies the Western settlers got, they Pacuhorse and flat-boat trade. brought from the towns on the eastern side of the mount- ains, by means of pack-horses and wagons. Even iion was thus imported, and in many regions salt brought on pack-horses sold for ten dollars a pound. For these goods the settlers exchanged furs, ginseng, and other light articles. The produce of Western farms was too heavy to be packed across the mountains. It could only be sold by floating it thousands of miles down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. This was done mostly in very large flat-boats, which were rowed down the river with great sweeps, but could not be brought back against the current. The fiat-boat men at first irot home in a roundabout way by taking passage on ships % 2-^8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. sailing from New Orleans to Virginia or Maryland, and then crossing the mountains to Pittsburg. Boats and boat- But, as thcrc was a necessity for some trade up the men on the Ohio . 11 i i i 1 1 and Mississippi, nvcr as well as down, there were presently used the "bargee" and the "keel-boat," both of which had sharp- ened bows, and could be toilsomely forced up against the stream by setting poles, oars, and sails in turn, and which sometimes were towed, or " cordcUed," by the boatmen walking along the shore. Four months were consumed in the voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburg. The boatmen were rude and lawless, and navigation was ren- dered dangerous by the Indians and highwaymen that infested the banks of the rivers. CHAPTER XL. THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA AND THE TREASON OF AARON BURR. Settlement of Of coursc, thc scttlcmcnts of English people before Louisiana. 1800 were all made in the country east of the Mis- sissippi, which was then the western line of the United States. All the territory from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains was included in what was then called Louisiana. We have related in a previous chapter how the region about the mouth of the Mississippi River was first explored by La Salle. The first settlement in Louisiana was made in 1699 by emigrants from France. In 1722 New Orleans was made the capital of the Louisiana country, and in 1727 wives were sent out to THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIAXA. 2^Q the settlers on the plan adopted b}- the English for peopling Virginia a hundred years earlier. In 1762, after the English had taken Canada, France ceded Louisiana to Spain. For a long time the principal in- . dustry was the raising of indigo, but in 1794 the cult- ure of sugar was introduced, and the colony was at once rendered prosperous. As the mouths of the Mississippi were entirely in The French offer to sell the prov- Louisiana, Spain wished to deny to our people the ince. right to navigate the river freelv. The Western people were a warlike race, and they wished to make short work of the difficulty by seizing New Orleans and the lower Mississippi. Our government sought to make a more prudent settlement by buying enough of Lou- isiana to give us a way to the sea. But in the year 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte, who was fast getting control of Europe, procured the cession of Louisiana back to France. He entertained, along with the other dazzling schemes that filled his brain, the project of rebuilding the French power in America. James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston were commissioned by President Jefferson to buy from France, if possible, the portion of Louisiana needed to secure to the United States a free navigation to the sea, including the city of New Orleans. But Napoleon had begun to see that Eng- land, all-powerful at sea, would wrest Louisiana from his grasp. He therefore surprised the American com- missioners by offering to sell to the United States the whole territor}-. The commissioners had no instruc- tions to make so large a purchase, but there was no time to communicate with America; the opportunitv to more than double the territory of their country was a 240 JIISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. Territory in- cluded in the Louisiana purchase. Discontent in the Southwest. dazzling one, and they concluded a treaty of purchase, bv which the United States was to pay fifteen million dollars. When the treaty was concluded, the negotiators all rose, and Livingston said: "We have lived long, and this is the fairest work of our lives. The treaty we have just signed will transform a vast wilderness into a flourishing country. From this day the United States becomes a first-class power. The articles we have signed will produce no tears, but ages of hap- piness for countless human beings." By this purchase the country ac- quired more territory than all she had before possessed, and there was opened to her the prospect of bccominir one of the s^reatest nations on the earth. French Louisiana included in whole or in part the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis- souri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska*, Colorado, and the Territories of Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and the Indian Territory — that is to say, there are at present twelve very large States and Territories almost wholly made from Louisiana as bought from France in 1803. Before the purchase of Louisiana there had been some dissatisfaction in the Western country, and a few restless characters had labored to further a project for separating the interior country from the Eastern States, which seemed remote in that day of slow and tedious trafiic by horse-paths through the mount- ains. After the annexation, the French inhabitants THE TREASON OF AARON BURR. 241 of New Orleans, and the region about it, were not well pleased that they had been transferred to the United States without their own con- sent. Spain at that tiiue hckl V Texas, and was in a state of semi- hostiHty to the United ^States. The people of the Southwest, on the other hand, were not averse to war with Spain. These various causes of discontent and disturbance offered a field for an ambitious and intriguing man. Such a man was Aaron Burr. After Burr had allowed himself to be used against his Downfall of Aaron Burr. own party* in 1800, endeavoring to snatch the presi- dency from Jefferson whom he had supported, the Republicans would have nothing" to do with him The Federalists, hoping to succeed by the aid of Burr's friends, nominated him for Governor of New York. But Alexander Hamilton, the great leader of the Federalists, would not support a man so mischievous as Burr, and he procured his defeat. Burr, in revenge, fought a duel with Hamilton and killed him. This made Burr more than ^ ever detested, and he now embarked in a dark scheme to seize territory from the Spaniards in Mcx- 17 AARON BURR. 242 ///SrOA'V OF THE UNITED STATES. ico, and piDbably to detach Louisiana and perhaps all of the Western States from the Ihiited States, and so to phiv the small Napoleon on the American conti- nent. I le enlisted soldiers and procured arms, and started flat-boats loaded with these down the Ohio ami the Mississij^pi. Hut his plot was discovered and he was tried lor treason, but he could not be convicted for want of sufTuient evidence. lie spent most of his remainino^ years in poverty and popular neglect, and died at an advanced age. CHAPTKR XLl. 15EC.INNING OF TlIK Sl-XOND W \i; W mi ENGLAND. The war between DuKlNG JetTcrscMi's admiuistratiou the Knglish govern- France. mciit was iuvolvcd '\\\ \\ loui;- war with Napoleon, wlu) had made himself Emperor ot the h'rench, and had conquered a great jKiit of western luirope. 1 le was, perhaps, the irreatest militarv genius of modern times, and it seemed that nothinir could withstand his armies. But Cireat Britain, being an island, was jn'otected b}' the interven- ing channel Irom the advance of Napoleon's troops. England, moreover, remained in possession of the sea as the greatest maritime power in the world. Impressment of luiglish uaxal of^ccrs wcrc allowcd to impress seamen from British merchant ships- -that is, to force them to serve in ships ot war antl in this struggle with Napo- leon they found theniseU es in great need of seamen. But England had also long claimed the right to impress her seamen. /■///'; SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND. 243 own subjects wlicn found on sliips of other nations. Many Enii^lish sailors sought employment in American ships, and every man born in (Ireat Britain who sailed before the mast in an American vessel was liable to be I seized by an English man-of-war. As English naval offi- cers were allowed to judge whether a man was a native of their countrv or not, thousands of natives of America were impressed on British ships. It was very exasperat- ing to Americans to have their ships stopped on the high-seas and searched, and their citizens forced to serve in the navy of a foreign power. American seamen hated this impressment system ; and one poor fellow, when or- dered to get his clothes and come on board an English man-of-war, went below and chopped off his left hand, and came on deck with the bleeding stump, on which the officer left without him. But England was all-powerful |1 on the sea, and the United States had to bear with such insults or give up sailing ships. During this war between England and France, which interference with our commerce. shook the whole civilized world, our country tried to be neutral. But England wished to interrupt our trade with the countries under control of France, while Bonaparte issued orders to check our trade with England. The successive decrees which these two powers issued, one after another, became so severe at last that our ships could not sail to any port without the greatest danger of being seized by the cruisers of one or the other nation. As the English were much stronger at sea than the French, they did us the more harm. If our country had been strong, it would not have The embargo of 1807. borne these outrages so long ; but it was then but a small nation, and far from being prepared for a war with Eng- 244 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Election of Madison, 1808. land. President Jefferson was very anxious to avoid war, and to go on paying off the debt of the country, which was his leading purpose. The President thought that the United States niiiiht get the offensive decrees re- pealed by stopping all its trade with the outside world. An act was therefore passed in December, 1807, forbid- ding the departure of vessels from American ports. This was known as "The Embargo of 1807," or "Jefferson's Embargo." The embargo was the only very unfortunate act of Jefferson's administration, which, up to this time, had been most popular. It was like destroving our own commerce to keep others from ruuiing it. While our ships rotted in port, English ships got the trade with other nations which we had lost. New England and New York suffered heavily by the destruction of their com- merce, and were therefore very much opposed to the embargo. Some hot-headed people in the Eastern States talked of dissolving the Union, to get rid of the embargo, which would have been much like cutting off one's head to cure a toothache. The embargo was called a " terra- pin policy," as though the country' had pulled its head and feet into its shell, as a terrapin does when frightened. This embargo lasted about fourteen months, until the law was repealed in 1809. In 1808, James Madison, of Virginia, was elected to succeed Jefferson. Me was the candidate of the Re- publican, or Democratic, party, for, notwithstand- ;' ing the unpopularity of the embargo, the Federal- ist party was now so much in the minority that it carried but a little (n-er one fourth of the electoral vote. George Clinton, t)f New York, was elected Vice- President. rilE SECOND -WAR WITH ENGLAND. 2\^ I In 1811 the irritation of the American people against Tecumseh and England was increased by the outbreak of an Indian war in the Northwest. It was believed that En 1 • western army. latter had surrendered Detroit. But the Kentuckians, who formed the most important element in the North- western army, remembered the surrender of Detroit by one superannuated ofificer, and they did not wish an- other. With that independence of strict discipline which was as characteristic of them as their courage, they declared their unwillingness to serve under any- body but Harrison, whose vigor at Tippecanoe had won him the favor of the Western country. The gov- ernment could not do otherwise than yield to the wishes of the Kentuckians. Winchester was put in command of a part of Har- The defeat on the river Raisin. rison's army, but the same ill-luck attended him that befell the other Revolutionary officers who were brought forth in old age to command in this war. Winchester was defeated on the river Raisin, in Michigan, in Janu- ary, 181 3. He surrendered his men to the British gen- eral. Proctor, a very brutal man, who, to his eternal infamy, left the wounded Americans to be massacred and plundered by the Indians of his army. The Ameri- cans were roused to revenge, and the war-cry of the enraged Western troops became, " Remember the river Raisin ! " In the spring of 18 13, General Proctor, with a great siege of Fort Meigs by Proctor force of English soldiers and Indians under Tecumseh, and xecumseh, 1813. 256 H/STOKY OF THE UXITED STATES. \ Battle of th^'Thames ■- ^Ft.Meigs ^t.stephenson Croghan's gallant defense of Fort Stephenson, 1813. INFANTRYMAN, 1812-1834. laid siege to Harrison's little army in Fort Meigs. When Proctor, whose force was much stronger than Har- rison's, sent a demand for the surren- der of the fort, Harrison answered, " Tell General Proctor that, if he shall take the fort, it will be under circum- stances that will do him more honor than a thousand surrenders." Harri- son and his troops contrived to thwart every endeavor to capture the fort until re-enforcements arrived, when the enemy gave up the siege and retired. In the summer following. Fort Stephenson, a weak stockade with a single six-pound gun, was brilliantly defended by a young Kentucky officer named Croghan, with only a hundred and sixty men, against a force many times as strong, commanded by General Proctor. Harrison ordered Croghan, who was but twent3'-one years of age, to abandon the fort. But Croghan, like other Kentuckians of the time, cared more for courage than for subordination, and, knowing the fort to be im- portant, he resolved to hold it. The English tried to persuade him to surrender, to avoid the massacre of his garrison at the hands of the Indians, to which the answer was. that when the fort should be given up there would not be found a man alive in it. Croghan shifted his six- pounder from one angle to another, to give the impres- sion that he had several heavy guns. When the fort was assaulted at its weakest part, the Kentucky riflemen opened a deadly hre. But the brave English soldiers at length reached the ditch, and began to chop down ~] THE ARMY IN THE WAR OF 1812. 257 the stockade. The six-pounder, which had been double- loaded with grape-shot and slugs, and concealed where it covered the whole ditch, was suddenly fired. Hardly a man of the assailing party escaped, and the English army retreated the next morning. During the night, Croghan's men, not daring to open the gate, let down water to the wounded Englishmen outside, and at length, by means of a trench, brought them in and cared for them. In order that Harrison's proposed expedition against Preparations on /~\ t • \ 1 • 1 • Lake Erie. Canada might succeed, it became necessary to gain con- trol of Lake Erie. Both sides made the utmost exer tions in building ships in the wilderness. American mechanics were brought from Philadelphia on sleighs. Oliver Hazard Perr}^ an officer but twen- ty-seven years of age, had charge of the American preparations from the beginning. A little fleet was launched on Lake Erie at length, and its officers and men were anxious to rival the glory of the American ships at sea. In PERHY. the battle of Lake Erie, fought on the 15th of Sep- tember, 181 3, Commodore Perry hung up for his signal " Don't give up the ship ! " the dying words of Law- Battle of Lake rence. When his flag-ship was riddled and disabled by the enemy, he took down his signal and got into a small boat, and was rowed to another vessel, standing upright while the enemy w^as raining shot about him. Reaching the ship Niagara, he sailed down on the British line and broke it, and at length compelled the whole fleet 18 258 HISTOID y OF THE UXITED STATES. Harrison's ad- vance. [\*h;- J DRESS OF A FRENCH CANADIAN ABOUT THAT TIME. Battle of the Thames. Death of Tecumseh. to surrender. " We have met the enem}-, and they are ours — two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop," Ferry wrote to General Harrison at the close of the battle. One of the most elTective devices used bv, Ferry in this action was the firing of bits of scrap- iron sewed up in leathern bags. By this means he was able to tear the enemy's sails to pieces, and leave his ships helpless. Perry's victory opened the wav for a forward move- ment by Harrison's army. In Harrison's general orders, when he set out for Canada after Perry's victory, he said : " Kentuckians, remember the river Raisin ! but re- member it only while victory is suspended. The re- venge of a soldier can not be gratified upon a fallen enemy." Harrison retook Detroit, crossed into Canada, and pursued Proctor's army, which he overtook at length on the river Thames. The two forces were about equal, but Proctor formed his army in open order, as is usual in fighting against Indians. Harrison took advantage of the weakness of the British line, and ordered his cav- alry to break through the center and get in the rear. This was done at a dash, and the English arm}- was soon utterly routed. Proctor, afraid of falling into the hands of soldiers who remembered the river Raisin, saved him- self by fleeing in a carriage, and then by leaving his car- riage and taking to the woods. The brave Tecumseh was killed in resisting the first charge of the cavalry. He was one of the ablest men produced by the Indian race, and it is to his credit that he never countenanced the barbarous custom of tortur- ing prisoners. The battle of the Thames, and the death THE ARMY IN THE WAR OF l8l2. 259 of the warlike Tecumseh, broke up the confederacy of the Indian tribes, and brought peace to the frontier. Thouofh Harrison and his Westerners succeeded so well in invading the sparsely settled Upper Canada, the attempted invasion of Canada to the eastward was no easy task, and it proved a failure under the lead of the feeble old generals who had survived from the Revolu- tion. But the rise of young gen- erals — Brown, Scott, and Ripley — to command changed the as- pect of affairs, and an invasion of '■ -' A- /.; E ;.• I E FRENCH CANADIAN WOMAN. Canadian territory was made in Attempts to con . quer Canada not the summer of 18 14. Fort Erie was taken, and the battle of Erie fought and won by the Ameri- cans early in July. The battle of Lundy's Lane was stubbornly contested, and lasted till mid- night. The Americans were left in possession of the field, but the next day they retreated. Be- fore winter set in, the Americans retired to their own side of the Niagara River. In March, 18 14, Napoleon was con- quered and banished to the island of Elba. England, having now peace in Europe, was free to send re-enforcements to Canada, and in this same summer of 18 14 the English entered the United States, by Lake Cham- plain, the way so often traveled by French and English expeditions in the old French wars and in the Revolution. Sir George Prevost, the British commander, had made successful. Bat- tle of Lundy's Lane, 1814. 26o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. MACOONOUGH. English attempt his preparations carefully, and on the nth of Septem- to invade the United States, oer, 1814, a sharp engagement between the advanc- ' '^ ing English army and American troops took place at Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, while the little squad- ron of British and American craft were fighting on the water. The result of the naval battle decided the fate of that fought on land. The English vessels were superior in men and 2:uns to the Americans, but the fate of the doubtful conflict was won by the skillful management of Commodore Macdonough, who commanded the Ameri- can fleet. The English squadron was at length com- pelled to surrender a part of their vessels and to get the rest away as quickly as possible. So severe was the fight, that not a sound mast was left in either squad- ron — the masts were splinters and the sails were rags. As soon as the English general learned that the fleet had been beaten, he drew off his men, and that night made a precipitate retreat to Canada. But the English invasion, by way of Chesapeake Bay, was more successful. In August, 1814, the British landed in Maryland an army stronger than any that could be brought to meet it. On the 24th of that month a battle was fought at Bladensburg, which resulted in a victory for the English, who entered Washington, and burned the Capitol and most of the public buildings. The same force that had taken Washington attacked Baltimore by land and water, but the vigorous defense of that place forced the British to retire. Battle of Bla- densburg ; fall of Washington, 1814. THE ARMY IN THE WAR OF iSi2. 261 It was during this attack that the song called "The xhesongof "The Star-Spangled Star-Spangled Banner" was written. Francis S. Key, the Banner." author of* the song, had gone to the British squadron, with the consent of the President, to secure the release of a friend detained as a prisoner. Key was himself detained during the attack on Baltimore ; and when the firing had ceased, uncertain of the result, he waited for the daylight, to see which flag floated at Fort McHenry, When he saw that the Stars and Stripes were still there, he wrote the verses on the back of an old letter. They were soon after printed, and, as they suited the patriotic feeling of the times, they were soon sung all over the country. It is a noteworthy fact in the history of the flag that changes in the flag. the " Star-Spangled Banner " of Key's time had fifteen stripes and fifteen stars. The old flag of thirteen stripes and as many stars had been changed in 1795 to fifteen of each, in view of the accession of Ver- mont and Kentucky to the Union. But in 181 8 the rule was adopted which still holds — the stripes were permanently reduced to thirteen, to represent the original States, and the stars were henceforth to be as many as there should be States at the time. The persuasions of Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, had raised up a war party among the Creek war with the Indians, who dwelt mostly in southern Alabama, A large part of the nation, under the lead of a half-breed chief named Weathersford, or " Red Eagle," made war on their white neighbors and on the Indians of their own tribe who were disposed to be friendly to the United States. British agents supplied these Indians with arms. Weathersford, like Tecumseh, had a prophet to help him, who had been initiated into the office by THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER BETWEEN 1795 AND 1818. 262 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Overthrow of the Creeks ; rise of General Jackson. Jackson seizes Pens&cola. Jackson's victory at New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Tecumseh's brother. Weathersford also imitated Te- cumseh in discouraging the barbarities of the Indians, but he could not restrain them, and cruel outrages of torture and massacre took place. General Andrew Jackson, then an officer of the Ten- nessee militia, led a force into southern Alabama, and, after overcoming the greatest difficulties and fighting many bloody battles, he broke the power of the Creeks, so that Weathersford himself entered Jackson's tent and surrendered. This was in April, 1814. Jackson, from being a commander of volunteers, was now made a major-general, and put in command of the troops in the Southwest. Florida was at this time in possession of Spain, which was at peace with the United States. But that power was secretly in sympathy with England, and English troops made Pensacola, in Florida, a base of operations against Mobile. With his usual fiery zeal, Jackson marched into Spanish territory, captured Pensa- cola, and dislodged the British. He then retired. Jackson hastened to New Orleans, which was soon threatened by a large British force. With an energy unsurpassed perhaps in modern history, he formed an army out of the men and material within his reach, and built defenses against the British approach. He formed companies of free colored men, and he even took the convicts out of prison to make soldiers of them. After several prelimina- THE ARMY IN THE WAR OF l8i2. 263 ry battles, the English endeavored to carry Jackson's works by storm on the 8th of January, 18 15. But Jack- son's preparations were so thorough, that the enemy was repulsed with a frightful loss of twenty-six hun- dred men. The Americans lost but eight killed and thirteen wounded. Sir Edward Pakenham, the British commander, was killed, and the attack on New Orleans was abandoned. When this battle was fought, peace had already been made, but the news had not yet reached this country, major-general, 1812. The treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, in Belgium, on the 24th of December, 1814. By the terms of this treaty. Peace of Ghent, neither Great Britain nor the United States gained any- thing. The right of searching American vessels was not mentioned in the treaty ; but the war had shown Great Britain that the right to search could no longer be main- tained against a spirited nation, and American ships have never been searched from that time to this. The war had caused a great deal of suffering and suffering caused misery in this country, by the derangement 01 business, the destruction of property, and the loss of life. The news of the peace was hailed with delight. CHAPTER XLIV. EXPANSION OF THE UNION. Let us now go back to the period immediately fol- Vermont admit- . . ted as the four- lowing the adoption of the Constitution, and trace the teenth state, 1791. birth of new States. The boundaries of the old States 264 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Vermont, 1791. GENTLEMAN'S RIDING- ORESS, EARLY PART OF THE CENTURY. Kentucky, 179a. had been fixed bv royal grants and by decisions made in England. But, as soon as the Revolution broke out, English control was at an end, and the spread of the Revolutionary spirit began to break down the authority of some of the States in parts of their dominions. The people of what is now called Vermont had set- tled on their lands under grants made by the Governor of New Hampshire, supposing themselves to be in that State. From this fact the country was called " The New Hampshire Grants." But, as New York set up a claim to all lands west of the Connecticut River, and as the royal governor in New York wished to get rich from the fees allowed to him for granting lands, a claim was set up that the country west of the Connecticut and north of Massachusetts belonged to New York, and this was upheld by the authorities in England. But the peo- ple of the New Hampshire Grants were a race of hardy pioneers. They refused to pay for their lands a second time, and made successful opposition to the officers of New York. When the Revolution broke out, the " Green Mountain Boys " set up as an independent State, and called it Vermont — a name derived from the French for " Green Mountain." They even annexed the adjacent parts of New York and New Hampshire. By 1 79 1 all their difficulties with other States were settled, and Vermont was admitted to the Union as the first addition to the " Old Thirteen." Kentucky was a part of Virginia, but the continued Indian wars after the Revolution made it of great impor- tance that the people west of the mountains should have a State government nearer than that at Richmond. After much trouble and many failures, Kentucky secured a EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 265 HAIR DRESSED LIKE A HELMET, ABOUT 1806. separation from Virginia, and in February, 1792, the new State was admitted to the Union. The people of this country have generally emigrated Tennessee, 1796 in pretty straight lines to the westward. As Virginians broke over the mountains into Kentucky, so North Caro- linians crossed into the valleys of Tennessee. The Ten- nessee settlers also had trouble with the parent State, and at one time set up a new State without authority, giving it the name of Franklin. This was given up, and the people returned to their allegiance to North Caro- lina until that State ceded its lands west of the mountains to the Union after the adoption of the Federal Constitu- tion. This region, with other Southern territory, was set up in 1790 as a territorial government, and in 1796 was admitted into the Union, with the name of Tennessee. These two States, Kentucky and Tennessee, had ohio, 1803 slaves. But the Ordinance of 1787, as we have seen in a previous chapter, did not allow slaveholding in the territory north of the Ohio E-viver; so that all the States formed out of that territory were free States from the beginning. In the two years following the passage of this ordinance, twenty thousand people made their way down the Ohio River. But the horrible Indian wars checked the settlement of the country until after Wayne's great victory. Ohio was admitted to the Union Feb- ruary 19, 1803.* It was more than nine years before another State was Louisiana, 1812 admitted. In 18 12 the southern part of the great terri- tory bought from France was admitted, under the name of Louisiana — the name at first given to the whole. TURBAN HEAD-DRESS, WORN EARLY IN THIS CENTURY. * This is the correct date, according to late investigations. 266 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Rapid expansion after the war. Indiana, i8i6. Mississippi, 1817. Illinois. 1818. Alabama, 1819. Maine, 1820. OPERA HEAO-DRESS, EARLY IN THE CENTURY. Debate over the application of Missouri. State of the slavery question. Thus, when the War of 1812 began, the old Union of thirteen States had increased to eighteen. The second war with England, and particularly the naval battles and tlie crushing defeat which Jackson in- flicted on the British troops at New Orleans, made the United States respected in Europe as it had never been before. Emiirrants besjan to flock to America. The peace with the Indians caused the Mississippi Valley, then called " the Far West," to hll up rapidly. In more than thirtv years after the Revolution, only five States were added to the Union ; but the next six States were admitted in six successive years — Indiana, next west of Ohio, in 1S16. The defeat of the Creeks had opened the Southwest ; and the new State of Mississippi, between Tennessee and Louisiana, was admitted in 181 7. Illinois, west of Indiana, was admitted in 1818; and Alabama filled the gap between Mississippi and Georgia in 18 19. In 1820 the District of Maine, long attached to Massa- chusetts, though separated from it geographicallv. was admitted as an independent State. By 1820, therefore, all the territory east of the Missis- sippi, except the extreme northern portion, now included in Michigan and Wisconsin, had been made into States, and the State of Louisiana had been made out of the territory which had been bought from France. But, by this time, a new State on the west of the Missis- sippi River was knocking at the door of the Union. This was Missouri. Over the admission of this State there was a great debate, lasting through three sessions of Congress. The cause of this debate, which was one of the most important in our history, was the fact that Missouri pro- EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 267 posed to come in as a slave State. The bringing of slaves into the United States had been forbidden in 1808. The States north of the southern line of Pennsylvania had all, before 1820, taken measures to free their slaves. The States south of the southern line of Pennsylvania, having much of their wealth in slaves, and cultivating crops that seemed +0 require their labor, had by this time mostly given up the thought of freeing their slaves. So that there were now two classes of States in the Union : free States and States having slaves. Each of these divisions of the Union was afraid that the other would get control of the country. It had usually been the custom, in admitting new States, to bring in one from the North and one from the South, to keep the balance good. EVENING DRESS IN JEFFERSON'S TIME. 268 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. A new phase of the slavery ques- tion. CHILD'S DRESS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE 19TH CENTURY. The Missouri Compromise. Missouri ad- mitted, 1821. ^ .^ WALKING-COSTUME, 1807. Growth of popu- lation. But Missouri brouii^ht up a new question. According t(^ the Ordinance of 1787, the States north of the Ohio had all come in as free States ; but those to the south of that river had been allowed to enter as slaveholdine States. The French province of Louisiana had been pur- chased as slaveholding territory, and the southernmost part of it had been admitted as a slave State. But now the question arose whether all the great region bought from France was to be added to the Southern side of the scale. Missouri was west of the Mississippi, and so far north as to seem to break into the line of free States. Most of the people at the North wished all the new territt>rv made into free States; most of the people at the South wished to have it all open to settlement by Southern people with slaves. The question was finally decided by letting Missouri come in as a slave State, but slavery was at the same lime forever forbidden in the rest of the territory north of the southern line of Mis- souri. Thus all the territory to the north and west of that State would be free. This was known as the Mis- souri Compromise. It was adopted in 1820. and Missouri was finally admitted in 1S21. Henry Clay, the most famous of the orators and political leaders of the day, was very active in promoting this measure. The " Old Thirteen " had now grown to twenty-four. The expansion of the nation in population and wealth was very ra]iitl. In 1820 there were more than nine and a half million people in America. This was about three times as many as there were when the Revo- lutionary War was ended. FROM MONROE TO VAN BUREN. 269 CHAPTER XLV. FROM MONROE TO VAN BUREN. — RISE OF WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS. JAMES MONROE. A GREAT part of the expansion of the Union by the admission of new States, described in the preced- ing chapter, took place in the ])residency of James Monroe, who was chosen to that office in 18 16. Mon- roe was born in Virginia in 1754. As soon as he had graduated at William and Mary College, in 1776, he joined the Revolutionary army. He dis- tinguished himself in several battles. He was min- ister to France and to England, and was Secretary of State when Madison was President. Monroe was a man of even temper, with very little party feeling, and Monroe's presi- . , . dency ; the era of With the greatest desire to be just and to act wisely, good feeling. He was very popular, and his administration was called " the era of good feeling." The Federal party being by this time almost extinct, Monroe was re-elected in 1820 without any opposing candidate. Next to the Missouri Compromise, of which we have Purchase of rior- ... 1 • 1 1 111 •'^^ from Spain, spolcen in the preceding chapter, the most remarkable 1821. event of Monroe's administration was the purchase of the Peninsula of Florida from Spain. French Protest- ants had made a settlement in Florida in 1564, but they were nearly all cruelly put to death by Spaniards in 1565, in which year the Spaniards founded St. Augustine, the oldest town in the present United '^** States. In the Treaty of 1763, Spain ceded Flor- | v In 1783 it was ceded back to ida to England SPANISH STANDARD, 270 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Announcement of the " Monroe Doctrine," 1823. Retirement of Monroe. ■-S1'*- ^ y Spain. Its purchase by our governmerit was completed in 1 82 1, and General Jackson, who had seized part of Florida during the War of 1812, and again in the Semi- nole War of 181 8, having both times to relinquish it, was now sent to receive the new province from the Spanish governor. In 1823 the countries in America to the south of us, which had been colonies of Spain, were striving to estab- lish themselves as independent republics, and it was feared that an alliance of European nations would help Spain to subdue them. President Monroe, therefore, sent a message to Congress, in which he announced what has always since been known as " The Monroe Doctrine." This doctrine was, that the United States would object to any attempt on the part of European powers to "extend their system " of interference to " any part of this hemi- sphere." This was a declaration of independence for the whole of America. The United States still main- tains the principle as stated by Monroe. Monroe, who went out of office in 1825, was the last President connected with the Revolution. After leaving the presidency, he was very poor. He died in New York on the fourth day of July, 1831. He was the third President to die on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. MONROE'S HOME AT MONTPELIER, VA. FROM MONROE TO VAN BUR EN. 271 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. For want of "any issue between them, both the old parties may be said to have gone to pieces, and new ones were not yet formed. There were four candidates for the presi- dency in 1824: Crawford, Jackson, Adams, and Clay. No one of these got a majority of the electoral votes, and the duty of electing a president devolved on the House of Repre- sentatives, which elected Adams. John Ouincy Adams, the sixth President, was the son of John Ad- ams, the second President. He was born in Braintree, Mass., in 1767. He studied in France sketch of j. q. and Holland, and spent some tmie in Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and England, while yet a boy. He graduated at Harvard College when he was twenty years old, and studied law. He was at various times American min- ister at the courts of Holland, England, Prussia, and Russia, and was one of the commissioners to negotiate the treaty with England at the close of the War of 1 81 2. He was Secretary of State in Monroe's Cabinet, and President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. The administra- AdminiGtration of the second tion of Adams was Adams, a stormy and un- popular one. He was extremely hon- ADAMS HOUSES AT BRAINTREE, MASS., BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN ^^^ anCl laitnlUl, ADAMS AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 272 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Election of An- drew Jackson in 1828. but, like his father, John Adams, he had no gift for win- ning friends. He could not bend to the people ; his cold manners and his disregard for the opinions of others made him ene- mies, who succeeded in preventing his re-election. When John Quincy Adams quitted the presidency he did not leave public life, but sat in the lower house of Congress from 1 83 1 to 1848, and this was the most brilliant part of his career. At eighty years of age he was still called " The old man eloquent." He died in the Capitol at Wash- ington in. 1848. In 1828 Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, was chosen President, taking office in March, 1829. He was re-elected in 1832, and held office in all for eight years. Jackson was born in North Carolina in 1767. He joined the Revolution- ary army in South Carolina when he was but fourteen years old. He studied law and settled in Nashville, Tennessee. He was a member of the United States Senate and judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee before he became distinguished as a soldier. His military achievements are told in a previous chap- ter. He was President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. As the first President that had risen from the ranks of the common people, he was very popular, and was supposed to represent the \ American ideas of the time. He was called " Old ANDREW JACKSON V<«l-I«3b Hickory " by his admirers. DRESS OF A LADY IN JACKSON'S TIME. FROM MONROE TO VAN BUR EN. 273 i'i^J 'THE HERMITAGE" OF JACKSON. Jackson was a man sincerely patriotic and honest, character of . , Jackson's admin- but self-willed and of a violent temper. He was the nrst istration. President who turned out of g-overnment office the men who were opposed to him, appointing his own friends in their places. He vetoed a great many acts of Con- gress. He succeeded in breaking: down the United States Bank, which, up to that time, had kept the pub- lic mone3^s. He vetoed al- most all the measures pro- posed for the promotion of roads and other " internal improvements" by the Gen- eral Government, holding that the Federal Government had no right to tax the people for such enterprises. Jackson set his face against the doctrine advanced by John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, in his time, that a State could " nullify " a law of the United States. The business of the government with other nations was conducted during Jackson's ad- ministration with great spirit and ability, and the country was respected abroad. Jackson died in 1845. As the moderate and peaceful administration of Mon- roe helped forward the dissolution of the old Federal and Republican parties, so the administration of a man of strong party feeling and of stormy temper like Jackson made new party divisions. Jackson loved his friends and hated all opponents. The country came to be di- vided into Jackson men and anti-Jackson men. The Jackson men claimed to succeed to the old Democratic- Republican party, and, retaining one of the names by 19 Rise of the ■Whig and Demo- cratic parties. 2 74 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. JOHN C. CALHOUN. Differences be- tween the parties. which it was known, they were called " Democrats." Those who were opposed to Jackson were called " Whigs," a name formerly applied in England to the party opposed to the arbitrary power of the king. The principal feature of Amer- ican politics for about twenty vears was the rivalry of the Whig and Democratic parties. The main differences be- tween the Whig party and the Democratic were : I. That the Whigs advo- cated the re-establishment of the United States Bank ; the Democrats opposed it. 2. The Whigs were in favor of the building of roads and canals at the expense of the United States. The Democrats did not believe that the gov- ernment of the Union should undertake " in- ternal improve- ments," as roads and canals were then called. 3. The Whigs generallv wished to increase the pow- er of the Federal Government ; the Democrats were more in favor of what were called States' rights. ^A ^.t^tftfrft^. ..^ - llr.-Cii- HOME OF CALHOUN, RISE OF WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS ^75 The Democrats thought that, whatever power the Con- stitution did not expressly give to the General Govern- ment, could only be exercised by the States. The srreat leaders of the Whig party were Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Daniel Web- ster, of Massachusetts. These were two of the greatest ora- tors the country has ever known. Another orator ot the first rank, John C. Cal- houn, of South Carolina, was on the Democratic side. He believed in the power of a State to " nullify " a law of the nation. But the Demo- cratic party generall}- agreed with Jackson, that the laws of the United States were The great party *., . . leaders. Clay. supreme until the courts decided them unconstitutional, webster. 2=d Clay, Calhoun, and Webster are often spoken of to- gether. They were the three great statesmen of what is sometimes known as " the compromise period " of American histo- rv. Henry Clay was bom in Vir- ginia in 1777. He was a poor boy, and srained his education with difficulty. He settled in Ken- 276 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Election of Buren, 1836. Van tucky as a young man, and long represented that State in the House of Representatives and the Senate. John C. Calhoun was born in South Carolina in 1782, and vi^as graduated at Yale College. Clay and Calhoun were both bold advocates of the war with England in 181 2. Webster, who was born in the same year with Calhoun, entered Congress in 18 13, during the war. From this time these three men gradually came to the front as the greatest mas- ters of the art of debate the country had known. Calhoun was a member of Monroe's Cabinet, Clay of John Quincy Adams's, Webster of Harrison and Fillmore's. But they were all three greatest in Congress. Each of them desired to be President, but all were disappointed. Calhoun was Vice- President for eight years, from 1825 to 1833. Clay was active in bringing about the Missouri Compromise, which Calhoun favored. Later than this Calhoun became the chief advocate of the doctrine that the States were sov- ereign, and that the Union was a compact of sovereign States. Clay and Webster, on the other hand, were advo- cates of the authority of the Union. Clay was the author of the Compromise of 1850, which Webster favored. Cal- houn died in 1850; Clay and Webster in 1852. In 1836 Martin Van Buren, of New York, was nomi- nated by the Democrats and elected President. He fol- DANIEL WEBSTER. mSE OF WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS. 277 lowed the policy of Jackson, but in a gentler way. He did not veto any bills passed by Congress. Van Buren was born at Kinderhook, New York, in 1782. He lived more than twenty years after his retirement from the presidency, dying in 1862. WEBSTER'S HOME AT MARsHFItLD. CHAPTER XLVI. THE STEAMBOAT, THE RAILROAD, AND THE TELEGRAPH. Soon after 1800, certain changes ^ ^ > began in ways of travel that have made life different from that of our forefathers. We have seen in pre- vious chapters that travel in old times was very slow. Men jogged along day after day and week after week to make a journey of hun- dreds of miles on horseback, or they were jolted over bad roads in stage-wagons or carriages. Pack- horses or heavy wagons carried all the freight that went by land. Boats, rowed or pushed Modes of travel at o J ^ the beginning of with poles, went slowly up and down the rivers, carry- the 19th century. ROBERT FULTON. 278 I/ISrOKY OF 7 HE CXI TED STATES. ^ '^^^^^fl ing passengers and freight. Periaugers, with oars and sails, and other small vessels, plied uji and down the coast, and all the ships at sea were propelled by sails. In ships our people made great im- provements. The " Baltimore clipper," a schooner with raking masts — that is, masts that slanted backward — was fa- mous for its speed. Our frigates gained advantages in .the War of 1812 by be- ing better sailers than the English men- of-war. At a later period the Ameri- can " clipper-built ships " were the swift- est sailinsf-vcssels in the world. This -< BALTIMORE CUPPER. Improvement in supcrioritv iu buildiug swift craft and sailing them has ships made by . i • i \ • i Americans. Bai- rcmamcd witii Amcrica to the present tunc. timore clippers. ^^j-^^^^. ^j^^^ invention of thc stcam-cnginc in England, Fulton's first i ■ t^ i-' .1 i i \ steamboat, 1807. attcuipts wcrc UKidc ui rraucc. Scotland, and xXmerica to build boats that would go by steam. Rut Ri^bcrt Fulton, an American, built the hrst reallv suc- cessful steamboat. This boat, the Clermont, was launched in 1807, and ran between New York and Albanv. to the great wonder of all who saw her. Steamboats soon after took the place of keel- boats on the Western rivers, and they greatlv aided in the rapid development of settle- ments in the new countrv. Steamboats served for commerce and travel where there were rivers and lakes. But how should the traffic on the Western rivers and the Great Lakes be connected fULTL>N'S HK>r &lf^MdL'Mi. The Erie and other canals. STEAMBOAT, RAILROAD, AND TELEGRATH. 279 with the rivers east of the Alleghany Mountains and the sea? Canals, long used in Europe, were thought of for this purpose, and Washington was much interested in a proposed canal from the Potomac to the Ohio River. But the first great canal in this country was that from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The chief promoter of this work was Dc Witt Clinton, Governor of New York. It was eight years in construction. It was begun on the 4th of July, 1817, antl in 1S25 its completion was cele- brated by a procession of boats from Lake Erie to the ocean, where Governor Dc Witt Clinton poured a keg of Lake Erie water into the sea, as a sign of their union. This canal, by opening a trade with the West, made New York the greatest cit}^ of the United States. But, for the more mountainous country of the Middle The -National Road." States, a great " National Road " for wagons was planned and built from western Mary- land as far as the western part of Indiana. The exten- sion of railroads soon ren- dered it of no importance as a national work. But the greatest change of all, in the life of Americans, was made by the railway, which was introduced from England. The first railroads were merely tracks of iron Railroads intro- duced about 1830. bars, on which little cars, loaded with coal, were drawn from the mines. The first railway in the Lhiited States was but two miles long, and was used only for haul- ing stone. The cars were drawn by horses. The first THE FIRST RAILROAD PASSENGER-CAR IN ENGLAND. FIRST STEAM PASSENGER-TRAIN IN AMERICA. 28o HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STA7ES. American im- provements in railroads. Invention of the electric tele- graph. First electric telegraph. passenger-train in America was run on the Baltimore and Oliio Railroad in 1S30, but the cars were drawn by horses the first year. The extension of railways was very rapid ; they changed America more than anv other country, because here the distances are so great. We have almost as many miles of railway as all the world besides. The first passenger-cars were merely stage-coaches on the rails, and in other countries they still keep something of this form. In America large, airv cars for passengers were early introduced, and the parlor-car. the sleeping- car, the hotel-car, and the dining-car arc all of American origin, and are little used elsewhere. The street tram- way, or horse-railroad, and the elevated railways for rapid travel in cities, were first used in this country. The electric telegraph, in its present practical shape, was the invention of an American artist. S. F. B. Morse. In old times people sent messages by objects shown on high ground, bv lights displayed at night, ov by bon- fires kindled on the hills. Even the wild Indians sent intelliirence across the i^lains by waving a blanket over a fire and thus makino- a " smoke- signal." In 1S35 Morse set up and worked a telegraphic wire by elec- tricity. But it was seven years later belore he could persuade Congress to appropriate money to set up the first line. During the years of struggle to get his invention tried. Morse was so extremely poor as often to be with- out food for a whole day together. In 1S4J Morse had t^. K, a. MORSE. STEAMBOAT, RAILROAD, AND TELEGRAPH. 281 THE WAY THAT LITTLE GIRLS DRESSED WHEN gone to his lodgings in despair on the last night of the session of Congress. There were a large number of bills in advance of the one for promoting the telegraph. But the next morning the daughter of Commissioner Ells- worth called at his lodgings and informed him that a bill had passed granting $30,000 to build an experimental tele- graph line. When the first line was built from Washing- ton to Baltimore, in 1844, this 3-oung lady was allowed to dictate the first dispatch, which she did, sending the words, "What hath God wrought!" The first public news dispatch brought to Washington the intelligence grandma was a child. that James K. Polk had been nominated for President. Silas Wright, a Senator, who was put in nomination for Vice-President at the same time, sent a message de- . clinino;- the nomination. But the members of the con- vention would not believe that news could go to Wash- ington and back in so short a time, and so the}' waited to hear bv other means before they would believe that the messao^e was genuine. The introduction of the railwav and the invention change in modes of living produced of tiie telegraph have completely changed the condi- by railroad and tions of our life. In former times it w-as weeks after a ^ ^^^^^ presidential election before the result could be gener- ally known. So wide is our country to-dav that, if intel- ligence had to be carried, as formcrlv, by stage-coaches and post-boys on horseback, it would take months for an important event to be known in remote regions of the country. Now, every important bit of news is known from end to end of the country in a few hours. Rail- roads, too, have made distant places seem near together, and distributed the comforts of civilization to the most remote parts of the country. A BONNET OF 1830. 282 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XLVII. ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. — BEGINNING OF THE MEXICAN WAR. The "hard times " of 1837. During the administration of Van Buren, various causes brought on severe financial distress in 1837. The " hard times " were attributed by the people to the hostility of Van Buren to the banks. In 1840 General William Henry Harrison was nominated by the Whigs against Van Bu- ren. The canvass of that year was one of wild excitement. The Whigs, to please the popu- lar feeling of the time, boasted that their candidate lived in a log-cabin and drank hard cider. They drew log-cabins on wheels in their processions. It is known in the histor}^ of Amer- Harrison elected ican poHtics as the " Log-cabiu and Hard-cider Cam- President, 1840. His death. paign." Harrison was triumphantly elected, and was inaugurated amid wild rejoicings. But he died in one month after the beginning of his term. Harrison was born in Charles Citv County, Virginia, in 1773, and was a son of Benjamin Hai-rison, Governor of Virginia. He was educated at Hampden-Sidney Col- lege, and entered the army as an ensign in 1791. Harri- son was aide-de-camp to General Wavne in his campaign WILLIAM H. HARRISON. Sketch of Harri- son's life. ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 283 in Ohio, and was afterward Secretary of the Northwest Territory, delegate in Congress, the first Governor of Indiana Territory, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. His selection for the presidency was due to the fame won in his conduct of the war against Tecumseh, and his admirable and fortunate career in the second war against England. When nominated for the presidency, he held the humble office of clerk to the county court. The Vice-President who had been elected at the same Tyler's adminis- 1 rT-> 1 . tration. time with Harrison was John Tyler, who was born \\\ Virginia in 1790, and who had been a member of Con- gress and Governor of his native State. On the death of Harrison, Tyler succeeded to the presidency, accord- ing to the Constitution. He did not sympathize with the views of his party regarding the bank question, and, when Congress passed a bill for its re-establishment, he vetoed the measure. This act brought on him the anger of the Whigs and a sus- picion of bad faith. His whole administration was passed in dis- sension with the party that elect- ed him, and when he left office he was not popular. In 1844 the Whigs nominated the eloquent Henry Clay for Pres- ident ; the Democrats nominated James Knox Polk, of Tennessee. Polk, who advocated the annexa- tion of Texas, was elected. Polk was born in Tennessee Poik elected President, 1844. in 1795, and he was the first President that was a native of the country west of the Alleghany Mountains. He JOHN TYLER. 284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Career of Houston. JAMES KHOX POUe had been Speaker of the national House of Representatives, and was nominated in preference to Van Bii- ren because the latter opposed the annexation of Texas. The most important event of Tr- ier's administration was the passage of a bill for the annexation of Tex- as, which was accomplished just be- fore Tyler gave up office to Polk. Texas had been one of the States of the Republic of Mexico. A large number of Americans had settled on grants of land there. These came into collision with the Mexican government, which was arbitrary and oppressive, and an armed revolution broke out in Texas in 1S35. The Texans were commanded bv General Sam Hous- ton. Houston was born in the mountain-region of Vir- ginia in 1793. He got little education, and showed from the first the vein of adventurousness which ran through his career. When the familv removed to Tennessee, he spent much time with neighboring Indians, and was adopted br one of the Chero- kees. He enlisted in the army, and attracted Jack- son's attention bv his braverv in his great battle with the Creek Indians. He was promoted in the army, but resigned, studied and practiced law, and was twice elected to Congress. Becominsr un- popular, he followed his Cherokee father to his new home on the Arkansas River, adopted the Indian dress, and lived three years in the tribe, visiting Washington THE MEXICAX WAR. 2%- The Texan Revolutioo. in the interest of the Indians. In 1S32 he went to Texas, then a Mexican State, and in the Texan Revolution he became commander-in-chief. Santa Anna marched against the Texans, and at the taking of Fort Alamo he put to death all opposed to him. and he also executed five hundred men at Goliad. Houston prudently fell back until Santa Anna was com- pelled to weaken his force bv detachments. At last, with seven hundred and tiftv men. Houston surprised the main division of the Mexicans, about eighteen hun- dred strong. The Texans went into battle crying, " Remember the Alamo I ** and Santa Anna's army was destroved and he made prisoner. Texas gained a virtual independence bv this battle and Texas annexed and admitted. Houston became President of the new republic, which remained independent for about ten years. The people of Texas were largely from the United States, and in 1845 Texas was annexed to the United States by treaty, and admitted to the Union. In territorv Texas is about the size of France. The annexation of Texas was strongly opposed by some people in the United States because its laws opposition co the annexation of allowed slaverv, and it would be an addition to the Texas. power of the slaveholding States. Its annexation was also opposed by many who feared a war with Mexico, for that country had never given up its hope of re- conquering Texas. There were alreadv other grounds of quarrel with Grounds of quar- rel with Mexico. Mexico. In the violent revolutions in that countrv TEXAS 265,780 Square Miles FRANCE 204,178 Square Miles 286 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. American citizens had been robbed of a great deal of property by those claiming authority. As one Mexi- can government quickly overthrew another, the United States tried in vain to get a payment of what was due to our citizens. And even if Mexico had consented to the annexation of Texas, there would have re- mained a dispute about its true boundary. Our government supported the claim of Texas, that the Rio Grande was the true border, while Mexico would not allow that the State of Texas ex- tended farther to the west than the Nueces River. When General Taylor occupied this disputed terri- tory, in 1846, the Mexicans attacked his troops, and thus hostilities began. With a force much inferior to that of the Mexicans, Taylor fought and won the battle of Palo Alto, and afterward attacked and defeated the Mexicans in a strong position at Resaca de la Palma. These defeats drove the Mexicans across the Rio Grande. In Ma}' Taylor crossed the river and took possession of the citv of Matamoros. But the Mexi- cans showed no disposition to make peace. Having Capture of Mon- rcccivcd rc-cnforcements, Taylor marched on the forti- terey. fied city of Monterey, which was defended by more 100 iOO 300 Beginning of the Mexican War. THE MEXICAN WAR. 287 than ten thousand Mexicans. Taylor's force was smaller. The place was captured on the 24th of September, 1846, after several days of hard fighting-. General Taylor now advanced farther into Mexico, Battle of Buena Vista. but the United States government changed its plans, . and orders were sent to Taylor to detach all but five thousand of his troops to the assistance of General Scott, who was to command in a new campaign, which was to be made into Mexico by way of Vera Cruz. Thus weakened, Gen- eral Taylor took up a strong po- sition at Buena Vista, where he was assailed by twenty thou- sand Mexicans under Santa Anna. After two days of the most coura- geous fighting, and after running the greatest risk of an overwhelming defeat, the little American army achieved the most brilliant victory of the war — a victory which made Taylor the idol of the country, and afterward brought about his election to the presidency. By this time the war had shown the immense supe- character of the American troops. riority of the American troops, the most of whom wei"e volunteers. The Mexicans often fought bravely, but the frequent revolutions and petty civil wars in Mexico had demoralized officers and soldiers. The arms of the Mexi- cans were also out of date. The Americans of that time were brave and enterprising, and a little too fond of mili- tary glory. They fought with great boldness and steadi- ness, and their early victories made them expect success. 288 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XLVIII. THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR, AND THE ANNEXA- TION OF NEW TERRITORY. SANTA ANNA, It is probable that the government of the United States expected at first to conclude the war after one or two battles by Taylor on the east side of the Rio Grande. But, if the Mexicans proved them- selves as soldiers inferior to the troops which marched against them, they showed themselves stubborn in their refusal to treat for peace after repeated de- Wr r- feats. Mexico was so filled with factions, and one Mexican government was so soon turned out by Conquest of New Mexico. Persistence of the auothcr, that uo rulcr felt himself strong enough to take TV/T g V 1 p 3 n S the responsibility of making a humiliating peace. The war had been begun with the view of securing Texas, and of enforcing the claim of that State to the territory east of the Rio Grande, as well as to reclaim the damages due to citizens of this country. But many of the American people at that time were eager for more territory, and the object of the struggle was pres- ently changed. Soon after war was declared. Colonel Kearny was sent to conquer the thinly settled northern portion of Mexico and Upper California. New Mexico was conquered without resistance in August, 1846. A civil government, subject to the United States, was im- mediately established there. A much more important acquisition was California, which was taken from Mexico before Colonel Kearny could get there. The name of this State while it be- Conquest of Cali- fornia. THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 289 longed to Mexico was Alta California, or, in English, Upper California ; Lower California still remains a part of Mexico. Upper California was first visited by Span- iards in 1542. Sir Francis Drake, the same who took Ralegh's colony back to England in 1585, visited Upper California in 1579, calling it New Albion, which means New England. It was nearly two hundred years later, in 1769, when Catholic missionaries from Spain made the first settlement of white people in that countr^^ There were only about ten thousand white inhabitants in the whole province when it was seized by the United States in 1846. In the summer of that year California settlers from the United States set up a movement for independence and tried to establish a government, known now as " The Bear Flag Republic." They were aided by Captain Fremont (afterward a general), who was in the province as the leader of an exploring expedition. United States naval officers on the coast, expecting a war between this country and Mexico, raised the Ameri- can flag on shore, and after some fighting the province remained in American hands and was definitely annexed at the close of the Mexican War. The sparsely settled portions of Mexico known as object of the war changed. California and New Mexico had now come mto the hands of the United States, and it became a main ob- ject with the government to close the war in such a way as not to surrender the great territory thus acquired. When it became evident that General Taylor's vie- scott-s expedi- •\ It ' 1 111 • r ^^ox\ planned. tones m northern Mexico only wounded the vanity of the Mexicans without subduing them, it was resolved to land a force at Vera Cruz and march into the interior. 20 290 HISTORY OF THE UiXJTED STATES. Vera Cruz taken. It was thought that the Mexicans would readily make peace when their capital was threatened. General Scott, at that time commander-in-chief of the American armies, took charge of this expedition. He landed on the 9th of March, 1847, and immediately laid siege to Vera Cruz. The city surrendered on the 27th of the same month. Marching into the interior, General Scott found the Mexican general, Santa Anna, opposing him at a strongly fortified posi- tion. On the 1 8th and 19th of April, 1847, Scott fought the bat- tle of Cerro Gordo, completely defeating and dispersing the Mexican army. But the more the Mexicans were defeated, the more unwilling were they to make peace with an invading army. One of the most difficult undertakings that ever fell to the lot of an armv now became necessary. The American force of ten thousand men had advanced into the very heart of Mexico. It had to subsist on the coun- try, and to attack the Mexicans, now rallying in great numbers, in strongly fortified positions. Battles about the Arrivcd iu tlic rcgiou of the capital. General Scott capital. Surren- *" der of the city of fought aud wou the battle of Contreras on August 20, Mexico . 1847, ''I'^J the battle of Churubusco on the same day. After this battle there was an armistice, but attempts at negotiation failed, and on the 8th of September Scott defeated the Mexicans at Molino del Rey. On the morn- ing of September 13th the American troops carried the Battle of Cerro Gordo. Difficulty of Scott's march. THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 291 fortress of Chapultepec by storm, going over the works with scaling-ladders and fighting a hand-to-hand battle within the castle walls. The city of Mexico was attacked ^^^3j^ ^^ -^;4er^^,y i^^^v?'^"- X^f^or ^ Af-^' >,v}' ■Puebia / *%^,„ SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN FROM VERA CRUZ TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. at the same time, and the next day it was evacuated by the Mexicans and occupied by General Scott. Although the Mexicans had lost every considerable battle from the beginning of the war to the conquest of the capital, their national pride made them very loath to conclude a peace. In February, 1848, nearly five months after the capture of the capital, a treaty was signed, by which all the territory of New Mexico, as then consti- tuted, and Upper California, became United States territory. Our gov- ernment, however, agreed to pay fifteen million dollars to Mexico, and to discharge the claims of our own citizens against that country. General Winfield Scott, whose victories brought the Mexican War to a close, was born in Petersburg Virginia, in 1786. He entered the army in 1808. His brilliant services Peace concluded, February, 1848. WINFIELD SCOTT. 2Q2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. General Scott. in various battlcs duFing the War of 1812 had raised him by the close of that contest to the rank of major- general. In 1 84 1 he became general-in-chief of the army. His conquering march from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico showed high military ability. He ran for President in 1852 and was defeated. When the civil war began he was seventy-five years old, and* he was obliged by infirmities to yield the chief command to younger men. General Scott died in 1866, at the age of eighty. Opinions about There has always been a difference of opinion in the United States about the Mexican War. Even at the present time opinions are divided as to whether it might not have been wisely avoided. It cost us the lives of thousands of brave men who fell in fighting on a for- eign soil, or perished by the heat of the climate and the diseases of the country, and it caused much misery to in- nocent people in Mexico. No doubt, the ignorance and prejudice prevailing in that country at the time, and the frequent overthrow of one government and the setting up of another, made it difficult to treat with Mexico without war. From the time that American settlers became a dominant clement in Texas, a collision with the Mexicans was probably inevitable. The territory ac- The territory acquired from Mexico, first and last, was quired from Mex- i tt • i r> /■ i -i-v i ico. larger than the United States at the close of the Revolu- tionary War. It comprised all the region now included in Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, the greater part of Colorado, and a part of Wyoming. The acquisition of this territory has exerted a most impor- tant influence upon the recent history of the country. By throwing into the hands of an energetic people the THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 293 gold and silver mines of that region, it has added so largely to the world's stock of the precious metals as to affect profoundly the commerce of the globe. Vast min- eral rich- es, immense cattle-raising interests, with innumerable oth- er sources of wealth, have been added to the United States. This annexation opened to us the trade of the Pacific, and added immeasurably to the vari- ety of climate and production within the bounds of the United States. The unexpected political results which followed will be traced hereafter. Belore the Mexican War broke out, the United States Discovery of the 1 1 \ • i- ^ ^1 n -c o 1- Oregon country. was already reachmg out to the racihc. Some discover- ies had been made in that quarter as long ago as 1791. A certain Captain Gray, from Boston, went to the Pacific coast to trade for fui's in 1787. These he took to China, and brought back a cargo of teas from there to the United States in 1790. He was the first man to carry the flag of the new American Republic round the world. In 1791 he 294 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Explorations by Lewis and Clark. The Oregon dis- pute. went to the Pacific again, and in 1792 entered before any other naviirator the mouth of a large river which he called the " Columbia," after the name of his ship. This srave the United States a claim to what was called the " Oreiron country " — Oregon being another name for the Columbia River. The province of Louisiana, which was purchased from France in 1803, included the territory drained by the Mis- souri. Captains Lewis and Clark were sent by President Jefferson in 1803 to ascend the Missouri and cross the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia. These brave explor- ers, after the greatest dangers and hardships, spent a win- ter on the Columbia, and returned to St. Louis in 1805, after an absence of two years and four months from the settlements of civ- ilized people. Our claim to the Oregon country rests chief! V on the exploration bv Cap- tain Gray and that by Lewis and Clark. When the Mexican War began, we were engaged in a dispute with Eng- land regarding our right to this territory. This dispute was settled in 1846 by a treaty which gave the United States all south of latitude 49°. After the admission of Missouri in 1821, no new States were taken into the LTnion for fifteen vcars. Arkansas was admitted as a slave State in 1836, and was balanced t^^^5 ^ / A' <> u f t ^^ this map represents ihc vi^^"*V ' ' i' o H 1 7" £ f^ R I T R Y S*" Country- at.\)uircd lij disci -s^ |r ^^-^ i"~ ' ' TnV ^'^' SCALE OF MILES THE CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 295 by Michigan, which came in as a free State in the follow- Admission of Arkansas, 1836; ing- year. Two States in the extreme South were admit- Michigan, 1837; ted in 1845 — Florida, which we had acquired from Spain, Texas.^is^; as we have seen, and Texas, which had been a part of ^°'^*' '^f L^'^" ^ consin, 1848 ; and Mexico and then an independent republic. But in 1846 California, 1850. Iowa was admitted, and in 1848 the extreme northern State of Wisconsin. In 1850 Congress admitted Cali- fornia, the first State on the Pacific coast, which was then like a new world to Americans. war. CHAPTER XLIX. THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN POLITICS. The annexation of Texas opened a new chapter in The annexation of Texas sets in American history. It involved us in a dispute which motion a chain produced the Mexican War. That brought a large addi- end^n"the ^\v\\ tion to our territory. It became necessary to settle the question of slavery in the annexed territory, and this opened the slavery agitation anew. Both of the old parties were after a while split asunder by the debate, and the question of slavery or no slavery in the Ter- ritories became the leading issue in our politics. In sixteen years from the annexation of Texas, this chain of causes had plunged the country into the most tremen- dous civil war in the history of the world. In just twenty years the war had ended in the entire abolition of slavery in the United States. Thus, the annexation of Texas brought about unforeseen results which changed the history of the continent. 296 HISTORY OF TJIE UNITED STATES. Anti-slavery agi- AftCT the acloptioH of the MissoLiri Compromise in tation opposed. • 1 t 1 i • • i- • 1 1820, it had been an accepted maxim in our pontics that the slavery discussion should not be reopened. William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and a few others who insisted on advocating the abolition of slavery, were frowned upon as unpatriotic. They were severely perse- cuted even by Northern people, who feared that their agitation of the subject might destroy the Union. The wiimot Pro- But, whcu the arrangement made by the Missouri viso. Compromise was once disturbed by annexing Texas and other Mexican territory, the political struggle between the free and slave States began anew. In 1846, during the Mexican War, a bill was introduced in Congress looking to a peace with Mexico, to be made by a pur- chase of territor)'. Mr. Wiimot, of Pennsylvania, moved to add a proviso that slavery should never exist in the territory thus acquired. This was known- as "the Wii- mot Proviso." The proviso was finally rejected, but it opened the question of freedom or slavery in the new region before the Mexican War was ended, and the agi- tation thus introduced once more into politics did not cease while slavery existed. Election and Thc first cffcct of the cxcitemcnt was to render cer- death of Presi- • i j r r i r-v dent Taylor. taiu the defeat of the Democratic party in the election ceedTto^ th"e''' ^^^ ^^48- A large number of Democrats and a smaller presidency. number of Whigs seceded from the old parties and formed the Free-Soil party, which desired to shut slav- ery out of the Territories. The Democrats nominated General Cass ; the Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, the hero of Buena Vista, for President. The Free-Soilers nominated ex-President Martin Van Buren. Taylor was elected. THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN POLITICS. 297 ZACHARY TAYLOR. General Taylor was the twelfth President of the United States, and of these first twelve Presidents sev- en were born in Virginia, which ofot the name of " the Mother of Presidents " from that fact. Zach- ary Taylor was born in Virginia in 1784, but he was carried to Ken- tucky in his infancy. He got a commission in the army Avhen he was twenty -four years old. He gained his first distinction by his gallant defense of Fort Harrison in the war against Tecumseh's In- dians. In a war waged against the Seminole Indians sketch of Tayior. in Florida he defeated the savages in a severe battle at Okeechobeie. His fame rests chiefly on his achieve- ments in the Mexican War. After serving for a year and four months, President Taylor died, and was suc- ceeded by Millard Fillmore, of New York, the Vice- President. But while the countr}^ was excited over the presiden- Discovery of gold in California. tial election, an event took place in the' newly annexed Territory of California that gave fresh violence to the slavery debate. Particles of gold were discovered in the Sacramento River in 1848. The California mines proved to be the richest in the world. In 1849, ^ great rush of people to the new Territory set in. Ships loaded with passengers sailed around Cape Horn to seek their fortunes in a land of gold. Long trains of emi- grants in ox-carts wended their way across the almost unknown region between the Missouri River and the 298 IIISIORY OF THE UNITED STATES. California a free State. Fugitive slaves and the slave- trade in the Dis- trict of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850. Pacific slope, a region at that time occupied by bands of warlike Indians. In 1S49 the people of California set up a State govern- ment without authority from Congress, and asked to be immediately admitted to the Union. As part of the new State was south of the Missouri Compromise line, and as its Constitution forbade slavery, the slave States were opposed to this addition to the number of free States. Meantime the growing anti- slavery sentiment at the North made it harder to reclaim run- awav slaves, who escaped in large number to the free States. The Southern States complained of this as a violation of the Con- stitution, which provided that all such fugitives should be sent back. At the same time many people in the Northern States complained that the public traffic in slaves in the city of Washington was highly improper in the capital of a free countrv. The veteran statesman Henry Clay had always been a skillful compromiser of difficulties. He now arranged and carried, with the help of Webster and others, the measures which have since been known as ** The Com- promise of 1850." By this compromise slavery was to be continued in the District of Columbia, but the buvins: and selling of slaves there was to be abolished. At the same time a new and severe law was made for the return MILLARO FILLMORE. THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY IN POLITICS. 299 Franklin Pierce. of fugitive slaves, which was no longer left to the States, but intrusted to United States officers. California was admitted as a free State, and New Mexico organized as a Territory without slavery. The leading statesmen of the country imagined that these measures, which were adopted after long debate, and which gave something to each side, would forever put to rest this dangerous question. There was indeed a lull in the excitement. The little Election of Free-Soil party, which had helped to defeat the Demo- crats in 1848, cast fewer votes in 1852 for its candidate, John P. Male, than it had cast for Van Buren in 1848. The Whigs nominated General Winfield Scott, the con- queror of the city of Mexico, but divisions on the slaverv question had broken the power of that party, and Frank- lin Pierce, of New Hampshire, the Democratic candi- date, was elected bv a large majoritv. Pierce w^as born in New Hamp- shire in 1804. He was a lawyer, a member of the House of Representa- tives, and a United States senator. He served in the Mexican War as a brigadier-general under Scott. He was a man of correct life, but of mediocre ability. The Compromise of 1850 did not prove to be, what its promoters called it, "a finality "; that is, an end of the debate. The fugitive-slave law exasperated the North- opposition to the IT-" 1-1 1 -^ -i. J ^1 fugitive-slave ern people, hver}- negro claimed under it excited the law. sympathy of the people and awakened opposition to slavery. Every arrest of a fugitive slave was made the FRANKLIN PIEKCE. ^OO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. occasion of anti-slavery speeches, and so great was the feeling that in many places it became impossible to exe- cute the law. Effect of "Uncle The anti-slavcry sentiment at the North was quick- Tom's Cabin." cned and diffused at this time by the publication of the novel entitled " Uncle Tom's Cabin." It was calcu- lated to excite sympathy for slaves, and it at once reached a circulation that has hardly an equal in the history of literature. Dissatisfaction at Thc South was equally dissatisfied. The violent cen- sures of anti-slavery speakers and writers excited bit- ter feelings. It soon became evident also that about all of the territory remaining to be admitted into the Union would, in the nature of things, come in as free States. It was seen that this would put the slave States in the minority, and destroy what was called " the bal- ance of power " between the two sections. Efforts to secure Attcuipts wcrc thcrcforc made to purchase the isl- new territory at the South. The and of Cuba in order to make new States from it. But Spain refused to sell Cuba. The desire of our people for new territory had been greatly inflamed by their recent acquisitions, and threats were made to seize Cuba by force. Expeditions were secretly fitted out in the United States to promote insurrections in the island, but they came to nothing. Several attempts were made by '' filibusters " to seize territory from the weak states in Central America. These were' continued until i860, when the chief filibuster, William Walker, was captured and executed by Central American authorities. filibusters. APPROACH OF THE CIVIL WAR. \o\ CHAPTER L. BREAK-UP OF OLD PARTIES. — APPROACH OF THE CIVIL WAR. The Whig- party was passing- into decrepitude. The Decay of the ^Vhig party. measures it had advocated — the United States Bank, the tariff, and internal improvements — were no longer of the highest importance in the eyes of the people. The Whigs had been badly beaten in 1852. Those The American, 1 1 i-\ • r 1 1 !• 1 Know-nothing opposed to the Democratic party lelt obliged to take party, new ground. A party was founded in 1853 which pro- posed to keep foreigners out of office and to make them wait a longer term before becoming citizens. This was styled the " American party." Its members were organ- ized in secret lodges, and it carried many elections by surprise. The public was much excited by the mystery attending the action of this organization. To all ques- tions about its doings the members of the order answered, " I don't know." From this arose the name " Know nothing," which was commonly applied to the party. Know-nothingism spread rapidly for two or three years but died as quickly as it had come into life, for the slavery question took a new form, which left no room for any other debate. This new form was brought about by the bill organ- izing the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, introduced in 1854 by Senator Douglas, of Illinois. This bill re- The Kansas-Ne- ,.,-.. .^^ . 1-1111 braska Bill. pealed the Missouri Compromise, which had been adopt- ed in 1820, and had been always afterward looked upon with almost as great reverence as the Constitution itself. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 02 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By that compromise slavery had been forbidden in all new territory north of latitude thirty-six degrees and a half. Kansas and Nebraska were on the north side of this line. The " Nebraska Bill," as it was called, repealed this restriction, and left it for the settlers in the new ter- ritory to decide the question of slav^ery for themselves. This was called " Squatter Sovereignty " in the discus- sions of the time. Formation of the Thc cxcitcment regarding the repeal of the Missouri Free-Soil and . i r i • i • then of the Re- Compromisc exceeded any ever before known in this pu ican par y. countr3\ Many people in the North and some at the South regarded it as an act of bad faith. Most of the people of the South claimed that they had an equal, right with free-state people to take their property of every kind to the new Territories. Both sides became exceedingly violent. As President Pierce favored the Ne- braska Bill, those Whigs who took the same side gener- allv went over to the Democratic part}', while those op- posed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, whether Whigs or Democrats, united, and, with the old Free-Soil party, formed an " Anti-Nebraska party." This present- ly took the name " Republican," but it is not to be con- founded with the old Republican part}' of the days of Jefferson. Violent collisions Meantime the great strujjefle between the two sec- in Kansas. tions had been transferred to the new Territory of Kansas. This lay directly west of Missouri, and a strong effort was made to secure it, both by the North and the South. Emigrants poured in from both sides of the line between the free and thc slave States. So- cieties were formed at the North to promote emigra- tion, and in Missouri to keep emigrants from the free APPROACH OF THE CIVIL WAR. 303 States away. Many free-state men were stopped and turned back on the Missouri River. The free -state people and the slave-state people now came into collision on the Kansas prairies. Men from Missouri assisted the Southern party. Rival governments were formed. Kan- sas soon became the scene of a violent struggle. Mid- night assassinations and mobs were common, and some- thing like open war broke out from time to time. The men from the Northern States soon had a majority, and asked admission to the Union. The bloody feud in Kan- sas had by this time produced the greatest excitement in Congfress and convulsed the wliole countrv. While the people were in this state of passionate Buchanan elected President, 1856. excitement about the struggle in Kansas, the presidential canvass of 1856 came on. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania ; the new Republican party nomi- nated John C. Fremont, who had become known as a daring explorer in the Western plains, and who had taken part in the conquest of Cali- fornia. The American, or Know- nothing, party nominated ex-Presi- dent Millard Fillmore. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, was elect- ed. Fillmore got but eight electo- ral votes, Fremont one hundred and fourteen, and Buchanan one hundred and seventy-four. The election showed that the people were interested in nothing but the settlement of the slavery question. No presidential election had ever before turned wholly or chiefly on this question. JAMES BUCHANAN. )04 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Sketch of James Buchanan, the fifteenth President, was born in Pennsylvania in 1791. He was a successful lawyer, a member of Congress, United States minister to Russia, member of the Senate, and Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Polk. He was minister to England during the administration of Pierce. In 1854 he was one of the signers of a document known as the " Ostend Manifesto," by which three foreign ambassadors of the United States assembled at Ostend, in Belgium, threat- ened that their Government would seize the island of Cuba by force if it could not be purchased from Spain. Buchanan lived until 1868. Dissolution of the The divisiou of parties on the slavery question caused Union feared. ,••• r,, tt^ t- rr . men to forebode a division of the Lnion. hvery effort to settle the question once for all had failed. The Mis- souri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas- Nebraska Bill, had all failed to quiet the agitation of the slavery question. Two forms of society existed under the same Government which were incompatible Avith each other. In such a conflict one or the other must give way and go down. The Dred Scott It was thought that, if it could be settled bv a decision decision. '' of the Supreme Court, from which there is no appeal, everybody would acquiesce, and the matter would be ended. The Supreme Court of the United States at length attempted to settle the question of slaver}- in the Territories, and thus take it out of politics. In the spring of 1857, '^^ the case of a negro named Dred Scott, who sued for his freedom on the ground that his master had taken him to a free State, the Supreme Court de- cided that the African whose ancestors had been slaves had no rights under the Constitution, and that Congress APPROACF^ OF THE CIVIL WAR. ^©5 had no power to forbid slavery in the Territories. So far from settling the question, this decision proved to be oil on the fire. The North now feared that slaver}* would be made national bv a new decision of the Su- preme Court, which might establish the right of the citizen of one State to convey slave-property to another. While the Northern people were alarmed over the John Browns raJd, 1859. Dred Scott decision, an event occurred which carried the excitement at the South to a still higher pitch. In 1859 John Brown, who had borne a conspicuous part as a free- state man in the murderous feuds of the Kansas struggle, seized the United States armory at Harper's Ferry, in the mountains of Virginia, and undertook to liberate the slaves. As he had but eighteen men under his com- mand, he was soon overcome. He was tried and exe- cuted, but this raid alarmed the South, more than the Dred Scott decision had the North. People in the Southern States began to fear that the Northern people generallv were trying to arm the slaves for the murder of their masters. The excitement over the subject of slavery had Lincoln elected President, i86d. already divided into two parts nearly all the great religious denominations, and had destroyed the Whig party. In 1S60 it divided the Democratic organization. The majority in the convention of that party nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, the author of the Kansas- Nebraska Bill. The Democrats who adhered most strongly to the South put forward John C. Breckin- ridge, of Kentuck}-. The Republicans nominated Abra- ham Lincoln, of Illinois. The Constitutional Union party, as It was called, which desired to make peace between the angry sections, nominated John Bell, of 21 3o6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STAIES. Tennessee. Lincoln was elected. We have now reached the point where the angr)- debate between the North and the South was at last about to break into a long and terrible war. Increase in the Ouc element in the political jealousies of this excited number of free . . c c c^ tit- States. Minne- timc was thc incrcasc or tree btates. Minnesota was i858^^o^'gon, admitted in 1858, Oregon in 1859, ^"^ Kansas soon after 1859: and Kansas, ^j^ elcctioH of Lincolu, in 1861. There was now no terri- 1861. ' tory left at the South from which new slave States could be made. CHAPTER LI. HOW THE GREAT CIVIL WAR BEGAN. The movement of The excitcmcnt at the South had reached a pitch that secession. rendered an effort to break up the Union inevitable. From the moment that Lincoln's election was known, active preparations were made in what were called the " cotton States " — South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas — to dissolve the Union of States. Difference of From the beginning of the government there were opinion about State sever- two opiuious in regard to the power of a State under the ^'^" ^' Constitution. The Federalists thought that nearly all the powers of government were vested in the United States authorities, but the Jefferson Republicans held that a State retained a considerable share of independence. At a later period the chief advocate for the sovereigntv of the State had been John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, who thought a State could declare an act of Congress a: < f -N ■-V <: rr" 110 IV THE GJ^EAT CIVIL WAR BEGAN. ^q? null — thai is. not valitl within its l)t)unds. In iS;;j the State i)t Smith Carolina tieclareil the tarilT law null, and lorbatle its eiti/ens Xo pay the iluties. This was ealled nullification ; but President Jackson, who tlid not believe in the doctrine, threatened the nnllitiers with the army and navy ot the Unitetl States, and South Carolina was compelled to submit. The States-riohts doctrine — as the belief in the rieht The seven "cot- ^ . ton States pass of a State to act mdependently was called — had found a ordinances of se- good many adherents in the South, and in the present excitement the extreme Southern States claimed that, by exercisinof the risfht of the individual State, they mieht lawfully secede from the Union. South Carolina first passed an ordinance of secession on December jo, i860. By the 1st of I'ebruary each of the seven " cotton States " had declared itself separated from the ITnion and independent. Meantime the recollection of the success of the Mis- The Peace con- vention meets in souri CompriMiiise in 1820. and ol the Compromise of vain. 1850, led some members of Congress to try to settle the troubles once more by compromise. Many plans for changes in the Constitution and laws were proposed in Congress, but all without avail. A " Peace Convention," suggested by Virginia, assembled in Washington on the 4th of February, 1861. There were delegates from all but the seceded States. John Tyler, ex-President of the United States, was president (^f this convention. But the plan of compromise suggested by the Peace Convention failed, like all others. The time for compromises had gone by, and it was beyond the ingenuity of man to pre- vent a collision between the two sections which had op- posed each other in politics, and were now about to try 3o8 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The period of confusion. Anderson in Fort Sumter. U their strength and endurance in the deadly struggles of the battle-field. It was a time of great trouble and division. Many people at the North sympathized with the secession movement ; and others were opposed to any forcible measures to retain the Southern States in the Union. Many people at the South, on the other hand, were in favor of maintaining the Union. Even the Cabinet of President Buchanan was divided. Some of the members of the Cabinet desired to help the seceding States to which they belonged ; the other Secretaries considered secession rebellion, and urged that force should be used to suppress it. The President, for his part, did not be- lieve that the States had a right to go out of the Union, but he also did not believe that he had any authority to compel them to stay in. So everything was in confu- sion, debate, and perplexity in that awful winter, during which a storm was gathering, the force and extent of which nobody could divine. All eyes were turned to Charleston harbor, where thousands of excited Southerners faced a little garrison of seventy men under command of Major Robert An- derson. On the evening of the day after Christmas, Anderson suddenly moved his garrison in the dark from the weak Fort Moultrie into the strong^- er Fort Sumter. A ship sent with supplies and re-enforce- ments was fired on by the South Carolina batteries and turned back. Castle Pinckney"1'^?t<^^;^2> "^^l-Wti Ft.NloultriV* '' ,,'/ Ft.Surnter Ft.Jo' HO IV THE GREAT CIVIL WAR BEGAN. 309 On the 4th of February, the day that the Peace confederate gov- ernment formed. Convention met m Washington, there assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, a conven- tion of delegates from the se- JEFFERSON DAVIS. ceded States. This convention proceeded to form a new gov- ernment, under the title of '' The Confederate States of America." Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was elected President. Jefferson Davis, who held the office of President as long as the Confederacy existed, was born in Kentucky, June 3, 1808. He was graduated at West Point in 1828. He left the army in 1835, and be- came a member of Congress ten years later. In the Mexican War he was colonel of a Mississippi regiment, and was distinguished for cour- age and coolness in action. He served several years as United States Senator from Mississippi, and was Secre- tary of War in President Pierce's Cabinet. He again entered the Senate in 1857, from which he resigned when Mississippi seceded in 1861. On the 4th of March, Abraham Lincoln was inaugu- rated President of the United States. Measures were soon taken to re-enforce and supply the garrison of Fort Sumter. But the ships sent were de- tained outside the bar by a storm, and, as soon as their coming was known, all the Confederate batteries about the harbor opened on Fort Sum- ter, which, after a while, replied. For thirty-six The bombard- ment of Fort Sumter. CONFEDERATE FLAG OF 1861. lO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. The war begun. hours the bombardment continued, setting fire to the wood-work of the fort and poi^nding its walls to pieces. At the end of this time Major Anderson, whose provis- ions were nearly exhausted, agreed to evacuate the fort. Curiously enough, nobody was killed on either side in this bombardment. But the attack on Fort Sumter changed the whole situation. Doubt was at an end on both sides. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, forced now to take one side or the other, soon joined the Confederacy. On the other hand, the Sun- day morning on which Major Anderson marched out of Fort Sumter saw the Northern States also almost of one mind. Men were wild with excitement, and political par- K A N First Secession . j '^States Ihat joined the CoiiJ'eilcracy after tite if ar bciian. forgotten. It was not for Con- gress or the I 'resident to decide on peace or war — the war burst uncontrollably from the pent-up passions of the people. Perhaps so wild a burst of feeling was never before known to pervade such multitudes. HO IV THE GREAT CIVIL IVAJi BEGAN. 311 In response to a call from the President, nearly a hun- The rush to arms, dred thousand men enlisted in the Northern States in three days. Trains loaded with volunteers began to move toward Washington. Money and ships without stint were offered to the government by the rich. Regi- ments marching through the streets of towns were greeted everywhere by the shouts of the people, who sometimes wept as they cheered them. The Southei-n people were equally enthusiastic and The south in arms. unanimous — equally resolved and hopeful. The young men of the South eagerly took up arms, and poured like a torrent into Virginia. The great civil war had burst upon the country in all its fury. CHAPTER Lll. CONFEDERATE VICTORY AT BULL RUN. — THE FIRST WESTERN CAMPAIGN. We are to remember that, though the war was caused The question of Union or seces- by slavery, it was not at first about slavery, but about sion. secession. " Our States are sovereign, and have a right to secede when they think they have reason," was the Southern view of the matter. " You are a part of the Union, which forms but one nation, and to break up the Union is rebellion," was the Northern view. But the passions excited by the long and bitter debate over ques- tions relating to slavery lay at the bottom of the struggle. Neither side dreamed of the weary and bloody conflict which was to follow. Each expected to settle the matter 12 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Advantages and disadvantages. The prompt movement from the North secures the border region. Early battles in West Virginia. in two or three battles. Both of them found out what stubborn work it was to tight against Americans. The Southerners were naturally more military than the Northern people ; they were generally accustomed to the saddle and the use of fire-arms. Many of the Northern men, especially those of the Eastern States, had to learn to load and tire a gun after they went into the army. For a long war the North had sev^eral ad- vantages. Money, trade, and the mechanical facilities for producing arms, ships, clothing, and other military necessities, belonged in a superior degree to the North. It had also the advantage of numbers ; the South the advantage of fighting in defense of its own ground, and of moving on shorter lines. The divided sympathies of the people in the border States, and the quick sending forward of volunteers from the North bv man}' railroads, prevented Mary- land, Kentucky, and Missouri from seceding. In the western part of Virginia, where the slaves were few, the Union sentiment was strong, and this re- gion, in 1862, sepa- rated itself from Vir- ginia and formed a new State, which took the name of West Virginia. Several battles, though of no great mag- nitude, were fought to secure control of West Virginia. The Union armies here were commanded by General George B. McClellan. A small battle at Philippi w^as won by the Union troops, and a more considerable engagement at Rich Mountain BULL RUN.— FIRST WESTERN CAMPAIGN. Z'^Z The South loses the border. ments. ~M jr (r< (June II, 1861), lasting about an hour and a half, gave the possession of West Virginia to the Federal Gov- ernment. The failure to secure the border region was a seri- ous loss to the Confederacy, for this was a land of Indian corn, most valuable for feeding of armies. The South thus lost also the Ohio and Potomac Rivers — the best line of defense. The war had opened with several small actions, such opening move as the seizure of ports and navy-yards by the Confeder- ates, the attack on Union troops by a mob in Baltimore, several skirmishes in different parts of the country, and battles in the mountains of Vir- ginia. The Confederates had moved their capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, and the hrst important battle-ground would lie between the two capitals. So sure were the people of a short war, that most of the Northern volun- teers had been called out for only three months, and it was thought necessary to fight a battle before their time should expire. The people and newspapers at the North were clamoring for a forward movement, and the com- manders were despised for their caution. General McDowell moved toward Richmond, and on the 2 1st of July, 1861, the battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, was fought, chiefly by raw troops on both sides. Generals Joseph E. Johnston and Beauregard commanded the Confederates. The battle was a se- p. g. t. beauregard. ■'J / mVIN MCDOWELL. FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN. o I l- < UJ z < o z o c: < BULL RUN.— FIRST WESTERN CAMPAIGN. 3^5 vere one and the losses were heavy, but the Confederates confederates win 1 1-1 1 1 TT • **^^ *^''^* battle. were re-enlorced at the right moment, and the Union army was at length entirely routed, and fled back to Washington in confusion. The early struggle in eastern Kentucky was a little Early struggle for "r . . . ' ^ Kentucky. war by itself. Besides minor skirmishes, Colonel Gar- field, afterward President, defeated the Confederate lead- er Humphrey Marshall in the little battle of Preston- burg on the 17th of January, 1862. Another sharp con- flict took place at Mill Spring two days later, in which General George H. Thomas was victorious over the Confederate greneral Zollikoffer, 'who was killed in the engagement. The battles in Missouri and Arkansas proved a side side campaign in . Missouri. campaign that had for its aim the securing of this State, in which opinion was much divided for the Union or the Confederacy. The Govern- or of Missouri took sides with the Confederacv. In the hard- fought battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1 86 1, General Lyon, of the United States army, was killed, and his troops retreated after the fight. The Con- federate general Price attacked Lexington, Missouri, on the 1 8th of September following, and captured nearly three thousand Union soldiers. In November follow- ing, General Pope, of the United States army, by sev- eral skillful movements, intercepted and captured large bodies of recruits on their way to join the Confeder- ate arm3^ A severe battle fought at Pea Ridge, in northwestern Arkansas, on the 6th of March, 1862, finally 3i6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. /^-^ Grant takes Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. secured Missouri to the Union, by preventing the Con- federate forces from re-entering that State. ♦ The first important movement after Bull Run was ^ the campaign which broke the Confederate line at the West, and gave the Mississippi River above Vicksburg to the control of the Federal Government. Ulysses S. Grant, who had already begun to show good military abilities, moved \ ' ^ ^ ^ "nv^^^-^aa against Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, ■^^^MT\;\ m co-operation with the gunboat fleet under ANDRE* H. FooTE. Commodorc Foote. Grant and Foote captured Fort Henry February 6, 1862. The Tennessee River here runs near to the Cumberland River. On the Cumberland, only about twelve miles from Fort Henry, was the Confederate Fort Donelson. After a stubborn battle, in which the Union loss was twenty- three hundred men, this fort was also surrendered, and with it fifteen thousand Confederate troops. This broke the center of the Confederate line of defense in the West, and forced them to fall back from Nashville and other points. General Pope, supported by gunboats, now moved against the Confederates who blocked the Mississippi at New Madrid and Island No. 10. New Madrid was evacuated, but, in order to capture Island No. 10, Pope, who was on the west side of the river, must cross be- low the island and cut off its supplies. As the batteries on the island commanded the channel, he had to die: a canal across a bend in the river in order to get trans- port-boats below the island, so as to ferry across the Mississippi. It took nineteen days to cut this canal. Gunboats could not get through it, and the transports Fall of Island No. 10. JOHN POPE. BULL run:— FIRST WESTERN CAMPAIGN 317 could not cross without their protection. Two gunboats were run past the batteries of the island at night. Cut off on all sides, the island was compelled to surrender, with nearly seven thousand men. The object of the Union troops in attacking Island No. 10 had been to take a step toward getting possession of the Mississippi River, so as Grant moves toward Corinth. to get the use of this great highway, and at the same time separate the Confederacy into two parts. For the same purpose the forces under Grant, after taking Fort Donelson, pushed southward up the Tennessee River, and a movement was planned to take Corinth, in the northern part of Mississippi. Many railroads centered at this place. The Union army, under General Grant, was gathered near Corinth, at Pittsburg Landing, in Tennessee, on the banks of the Tennessee River. Grant had from thirty to forty thousand men, and had no thought of a powerful enemy near at hand. The Con federate general, Albert Sidney Johnston, rapidly col- lected a strong army, and determined to crush the force at the Landing before Grant could be re-enforced by the arrival of another army under General Buell The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, began on Sunday morning, April 6, 1862. Johnston undertook to attack in such a way as to surprise and drive Grant's The great battle army back between the river and a creek. The loss on putsburg' Land- that dreadful Sunday was great on both sides. The '"^' Confederates, with desperate "energy, drove Grant's men ./" A. S. JOHNSTON. 3^S HISTORY OF THE UNITED ^ STATES. back until Pittsburg Landing was almost in their pos- session. But their general, Albert Sidney Johnston, was killed. Buell's army began to arrive, and the Union troops were re-formed in the night. The second day's fighting was also extremely severe. The exhausted Confederates under Beauregard at length retired from the field. This was the first great battle of the war. The Union army, when it had a little recov- '"" ered from the terrible shock and had been re- cruited, moved forward against Corinth, which, after a siege, was evacuated by Beauregard on the Corinth evacu- 30th of May. Thc conscqucnce of this success was, that federates. thc wholc Mississippi Rlvcr, as far down as Vicksburg, came into possession of the Federal authorities. D. C. BUELL. CHAPTER LIII. THK WAR AT THE EAST. — FROM BULL RUN TO GETTYSBURG. Mccieiian com- GENERAL ScOTT, who was commander-iu-chief of the mander-in-chief. armies of the United States at the beginning of the war, was old and infirm, and he soon retired. McClellan, by his well-planned battle at Rich Mountain, in western Virginia, had shown capacity, and he was now called to command the forces in front of Washington. General McClellan was born in Philadelphia in 1826. He was an industrious student and carried off honors in school. He was graduated at West Point, and distinguished himself by valor and good conduct in the Mexican War. In 1857 THE WAR AT THE EAST. 319 he resigned frorr the army, to accept a place as chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and later was president of another railroad. At the beginning of the war he was appointed major-general of volunteers. On his accession to the Army of the Potomac he spent eight months in organizing and disciplining his army. Instead of moving directly against the Confederate Peninsular cam- r 1 • • r r 1 • i\ /r /-^\ paign begun. forces lying in tront of him, McLlellan thought best to Battle of wiii- take his army by water to Fortress Monroe, and from '^""^ "'^^' there to go up between York River and James River toward Richmond. The land between these two rivers forms a peninsula ; this is therefore known as the Peninsular campaign. From the beginning the campaign was unfortunate in many ways. Part of the troops which McClellan ex- pected to receive were detained for the defense of Washington. The Confederates forced him to spend a month in the siege of Yorktown. Yorktown was evacuated on the 5th of May. McClellan's troops pur- sued the retiring Confederates, and fought the battle of Williamsburg that day. The Confederates retreated at night toward Richmond. The Confederate general, Thomas J. Jackson, was Battle of Fair operating in the Valley of Virginia. He now made a series of rapid manoeuvres, by which he defeated or con- fused several bodies of Union troops and alarmed the authorities at Washington, so that McDowell's troops at Fredericksburg were held back from joining McClellan GEORGE B. McClellan. 320 IIISrORY OF Tlli'l UNITED STATES. before Richmond. Meantime the Confederate forces de- fending;^ Richmond, under General Joseph E. Johnston, fought the battle of Fair Oaks by attacking one wing of McClellan's army while it was divided into two parts by the Chickahominy River, and won a partial success. Johnston having been wounded in tiiis battle. General Robert E. Lee succeeded him. Jackson now slipped away from the V^alley of V^irginia, and suddenly brought his force down by lail to assist Lee in the struggle against McClellan. General Jackson, who helped to derange McClel- lan's plans, was a native of Virginia, born in 1824, and graduated at West Point in 1846. In the Mexi- can War he was tw-ice brevetted for meritorious conduct. He resigned from the army in 1852, and became a professor in the Virginia Military Insti- tute. He entered the Confederate service at the Thomas Jonathan beginning of tlic war. r')uriiig the first battle of Bull Jackson. • i i Rim he resisted a charge with so much steadfastness that he gained the title of " Stonewall " Jackson, by which name he will be known in history. The promptness and rapidity of his march- es, and the obstinate courage he showed , on the battle-field, made him an im- ^'^Z ''^^^^^^^^^ / \'%,\^^ portant factor in the war. — T /^ «? ^rf \X '=^r-^T— 1 After the arrival of lack- ' STONEWALL " JACKSON. '"■'i- Ric/i ■^ 'J>-2X \ ^ FfTNIonrqe/ son and the failure of his own re - enforcements, McClellan withdrew his troops to the James River. About this time the two armies were engaged every day ; these THE WAR AT THE EAST. 321 conflicts are known as the Seven Days' battles. For a The seven Days' belt 1 1 cs whole week the Confederates beat upon McClellan's army. Its months of discipline and drill enabled it to fall back slowly before Lee's furious onslaught. But McClellan's first plan had failed. The President Pope in command at Washington. had lost confidence in McClellan's ability to overmatch such generals as Lee and Jackson. A new commander must be found. Pope, whose energy and success at Island No. 10 had given him reputation, was put in command of the army in front of Washington, and the troops on the James River were brought back by de- pfrees to re-enforce him. But Pope proved not to be equal to the Confederate generals in his front. Jackson made a great cir- cuit around through Thoroughfare Gap, and cut off Pope's commu- nications with Washington. The Union troops fought bravely on the old Bull Run battle-field (August 29 and 30, 1862), and Pope showed his usual energy, but his enemy had beaten him in skillful manoeu- vres, and his army fell back dis- heartened to the neighborhood of Washington again, where it was a year before. McClellan, who, in spite of the unfortunate outcome of his cam- paign, had won tlie confidence of the men in the East- Great battle at Antietam, in ern army, was now again j)ut in command of it. Lee Maryland, 1862. followed up his advantages by crossing the Potomac. 322 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. A. E. BURNSIDE. Burnside suc- ceeds McClellan, and is defeated at Fredericksburg. Hooker succeeds Burnside. De- feated at Chan- cellorsville, 1863. Meade and Lee fight a great bat- tle at Gettysburg, GEORGE G. M&AOE. Meantime he sent a force and captured Harper's Ferry, with eleven thousand Union soldiers. On the i6th and 17th of September McClellan and Lee fought one of the severest battles of the war at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, in Maryland. On the i8th Lee withdrew across the Potomac, and McClellan followed slowly, and again made the Rappahannock his line. But McClellan had lost the confidence of his su- periors, and he was now finally removed. General Burnside was next put in command of this imlucky army. McClellan had been thought too cautious, but Burnside was rash. He crossed the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and assailed the Confederate works on the heights back of the town on December 13, 1862. His arm)' was again defeated with great slaughter. Burnside was relieved, and General Joseph E. Hook- er was tried. In the spring of 1863 General Hooker fought what was called the Chancellorsville campaign, where, like those who had gone before, he was outma- noeuvred by Lee's generalship and Jackson's marching. On May 6th Hooker recrossed the Rappahannock. Lee soon after crossed the Potomac, and pushed his veteran army into Pennsylvania, striking for Harris- burg. Hooker was relieved from commanding the army opposed to Lee, and General George G. Meade suc- ceeded him. Near Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, the vanguards of the two great armies met on the ist day of July, 1863. The people of the North and those of the South were filled with fear and anxiety as this battle approached. The courage of the troops on both sides was simply marvelous. On the second day of the battle the Confederates carried works at THE WAR AT THE EAST. n n n 0^0 both ends of the Union line. The next day the Union army recovered the lost ground on its right. The Confederates then made a tremen- dous assault, known as Pickett's charge, and broke through the cen- ter of the Federal army, but they were soon driven back defeated. Lee's army rested a day and then retreated. Lee had lost about one third of his men ; Meade had lost a good deal more than a fourth of his. In all, about forty-eight thousand had been killed, wounded, or captured in this awful struggle between two veteran and resolute armies. CHAPTER LIV. VARIOUS OPERATIONS IN 1 862 AND 1 863. In order to give a clear account of the campaigns introductory, about Washington and Richmond, down to the battle of Gettysburg, we have put that branch of the war into one continuous story in the preceding chapter. Many things of the highest importance were happening else- where, while McClellan and the generals who came after him were wrestling with Johnston, Lee, and Jack- son for Washington and Richmond. At the very moment that McClellan was getting Battieof the iron- clads at Fortress ready to move his army to the Peninsula, there took Monroe. 324 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. gy^ Norfolk JOHN ERICSSON. place a famous naval battle in the waters of Hampton Roads, near Fortress Monroe. The Confederates, hav- ing seized the Norfolk Navy- Yard, had changed the hull of the steam-frigate Mer- rimac into an iron-plated steam-ram, and named it the " Virginia." On the 8th of March, the Virginia, or, as she is gener- ally spoken of, the INIerrimac, came out from Norfolk into Hampton Roads, and after a battle sank the sloop-of-\var Cum- berland. The frigate Congress was next disabled and afterward burned, for nothing built of wood could make any impression on this iron monster, whose sloping sides resisted cannon-balls as a bird's feathers shed the rain. The loss of life on both the vessels that were destroyed was great. The steam - frigate Minnesota, which was aground, was only saved from destruction by the coming of night. It was expected that, with the morning, the iron ship would complete the sinking of the shipping in Hampton Roads, and then go to the Potomac and attack Washington cit}-. But, at midnight, there arrived from New York, all unexpected, a little iron-plated vessel, named the Monitor, of a new pattern, invented by John Ericsson. The next morning, when the Mer- rimac came out again, the Monitor successfully de- fended the Minnesota, until the Confederate ram, having met its match, retired. The chief peculiarity of the Monitor was a revolving turret on top, with walls eight inches thick, made of iron plates. It had openings for two large guns, which could be fired in anv direction, and which threw shot weighing one hundred and sixty-six EMANCIPA TION PKOCLAJMA TION. ;25 pounds with a charge of fifteen pounds of powder. The construction of ^ the Monitor. vessel sat low in the water, and was described by the Confederates as a Yankee cheese-box on a raft. Vessels of this type proved themselves superior to any others used during the civil war. The conflict in Hampton THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAO. Roads changed the construction of war-ships the world over, for it proved that wooden ships were of no use against iron ones. At the beginning, many of the Northern people, who Preliminary emancipation were very much in favor of the war to preserve the proclamation. Union, had been opposed to the abolition of slavery. But, as the struggle went on, the feeling at the North against slavery, as the cause of the war, increased. On the 22d of September, 1862, just after the battle of Antie- tam, President Lincoln announced that, if any portion of the country should remain in arms against the govern- ment on the first of the following January, he would declare the slaves in that part of the country free. 126 HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. The Emancipa- tion Proclama- tion and its results. Capture of New Orleans. On the 1st of January, 1863, a proclamation de- clared the slaves free in those regions yet in arms against the United States, "as a fit and necessary war- measure for suppressing said rebellion." Certain por- tions of the South, already subjected to the military authority of the United States, \yere excepted in the proclamation, and every effort ^vas made to keep the declaration of freedom within the limits of the Presi- dent's constitutional powers, by confining it, at least in appearance, to strictly military purposes. But its effect was to pledge the country to the extinction of slavery if the Confederacy should be overthrown, and in this light it becomes a point of departure in the history of the United States. We have seen that the first object of the Union ar- mies in the West \yas to Avrest the Mississippi River from the Confederate forces who held it bv powerful works at \'icksburg and bv forts be- low New Orleans. While the armies were operating above, the river was attacked from below. On the i8th of April, i86j. the bombardment of the forts below New Orleans was begun bv a fleet of irunboats. and the firing lasted for five days, but the forts held out. At two o'clock on the afternoon of the 24th. Far- ragut. in command of the fleet, took the bold course of running his ships past the forts. The Confederates resisted bv a tremen- dous fire from the forts and from their ships. They also tried to burn the United States vessels bv floatinsr FALL Of XEIV ORLEAXS. 127 down upon them fire-i-afts and burning steamboats load- ed with cotton, and they attacked them alsi) with an iron- clad ram, named the Manassas. But, notwithstanding this resolute defense, Farragut got by the forts, with some loss, and captured the citv. The forts afterward surrendered. While Halleck dallied after tak- ing Corinth, the Confederate gen- eral BraofS: took thirt\"-tive thousand men bv rail to Mobile, and thence northward on another line and seized Chattanoo2:a. We shall see that it afterward cost the Bragg at chat- tanooga. Union troops some of the most desperate battles of the war to dislodge the Confederates from this stronghold. From Chattanoosra Brasfg moved north and invaded ^""^^^ ^'^^ ^"^" * =** in Kentucky, 1862. Kentuckv. and tried to reach Louisville, on the Ohio. A foot-race took place between the two armies, but Buell and the Union troops reached Louisville first. After a severe battle at Perryville, October 8, 1862, Bragg once more retreated to Chattanooga. Part of the L^nion armv was yet at Corinth. While Battle of coHnth. Braofor Qi^(^| Bucll were manceuvrinir in Kentuckv. the Confederates, under General \'an Dorn, attacked this place on the 3d and 4th of October, 1862, and by the most desperate fighting drove the L^nion army from line to line until a part of the attacking force actually gained the town. But the resistance of the troops under Rosecrans was as stubborn as the attack was resolute, and Van Dorn's assaults were repulsed. Hitherto in manv operations the Confederates had G""^"* ^"^^ ""^"y ^ devices against the advantage in generalship. Thev were especially vicksburg. BRAXTON BRAGG. 328 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. I Siege and surren- der of Vicksburg, 1863. strong in this regard in the Vii'ginia campaigns. But the Union armies of the West were gradually coming under the control of General Grant, a man of restless vigor and tremendous power of endurance under diffi- culty and repulse. All his first attempts to take Vicks- burg failed. Plan after plan was tried. A ditch was dug across the bend of the river opposite Vicksburg, in the hope that the river would change its bed, but this failed. Grant tried to open oth- er channels to reach the water- courses in the rear of the city. From time to time, when one plan failed, he resorted to a new device. At last gunboats and trans- ports were run past the batteries. Crossing the Mississippi at Bruinsburg, be- low Vicksburo;-, Grant 2:ot in the rear of that stronghold. He took Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and by a series of movements and successive battles he at last succeeded in shutting up the Confederate general Pem- berton, with his entire army, in the fortifica- tions of Vicksburg. Grant twice tried to carry the fortifications by assault, but the Confeder- ate soldiers were well-seasoned veterans behind strong works, and the assaults proved costly failures. The Union army, therefore, settled down to a regular siege of the place. On the 4th of July, 1863, the day after the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, the half-starved garrison of Vicksburg, numbering about thirty-two thou- sand, surrendered to General Grant. During the siege FALL OF VICKSBURG. ■^^yr. the inmates of the town had been forced to endure severe hardships, and many of the people took refuge in caves dug in the bank to be safe from the shot thrown into Vicksburg by the besieging army. While Grant was operating against Vicksburg, Gen- surrenderor Port Hudson. eral Banks, who had taken an army of the Federal troops by sea to New Orleans, was trying to capture Port Hudson, larther down the river. Here, as at Vicksburg, two assaults were repulsed. But, when Vicksburg sur- rendered, Port Hudson was obliged to yield. This gave the Union armies possession of the whole of the Missis- sippi River, and cut off the western States of the Con- federac}^ from the eastern. CHAPTER LV. THE CAMPAIGN BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND ATLANTA. The Western part of the war had become divided The war in cen- tral Tennessee. into two main parts. The Union armies won their first object when they gained control of the Mississippi. But another long and bitter contest was fought out before they could secure the strongholds of central Tennessee and northern Georgia. The first great battle on this line was that of Stone Battle of stone r^ • TV T f 1 r 1 11 1 r I River, or Mur- Kiver, or Murireesboro, fought on the last day oi the freesboro. year 1862, about the time that Grant was beginning op- erations against Vicksburg. The conflict was marked by the brilliant charges made by the Confederates under Bragg, which at length broke to pieces the whole right NASHVILLE AXD ATLANTA. IZ"^ wiiiiT of the Union arm v. General Rosecrans had sue- ceeded Buell in command of the Union troops. The re- sult of tlie day's fighting was very favorable to the Con- federates. But in the latter part of the day the half-de- feated Union soldiers, luider the immediate command of General Thomas, made the most determined resistance to the dashes which the Confederates continued to make. Some of the generals wished to retreat, but Rosecrans, who had defended Corinth with so much stubbornness, announced his intcntic^n to " light or die here." On the next day, which was the first day of 1863, neither of the shattered armies was in a condition to make a serious attack. On the third day of the battle the Confederates, by a tremendous charge, drove back part of the left wing of Rosecrans's army, but they were soon cut to pieces and themselves driven back. After the two armies had bravely held their ground with varying fortunes for three days, Bragg retreated, and Rosecrans entered Mur- freesboro. Each army had lost about nine thousand in killed and wounded, besides those captured. In the simimer and autumn of 1863, Rosecrans, by some well-planned manoeuvres, put Bragg at such disadvantage that he was forced to fall back from time to time until he had left Chattanooga in the hands of the Union troops. But Bragg received re-enforcements, and the great battle of Chickamauga was fought on the The battle of ,,,,,, . ^ , . Chickamauga. 19th and 20th of September, 1863. It was a battle of BATTLES ABOUT CHATTANOOGA. 2>2>^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. GEORGE H. THOMAS. Battles at Chat- tanooga. charge and counter-charge. On the first day the Union army won considerable advantage ; but on the second day the right half of Rosecrans's army was broken, and it retreated in confusion toward Chattanooga. The utter rout of the Union army was prevented by General Thomas, whose division had also saved the army at Mur- freesboro. With extraordinary coolness he held the left wing against repeated assaults, and, when ammunition failed, his men used their bayonets to repel the Con- federate charges. Though Bragg's troops, by splendid fighting, had gained a great victory, Thomas, by the most brilliant defense of the war, kept them back long enough to enable Rosecrahs to prepare for the defense of Chattanooga, to which place the Union troops retreated. Grant, who had gained great reputation by his Vicksburg campaign, was now given command of all the forces west of the mountains. Rosecrans was relieved, and Thomas, who was called " the Rock of Chickamauga," was put in his place. Grant took immediate command of the besieged troops in Chattanooga, with Thomas next. Bragg having sent away a part of his army to attack Burnside in East Tennessee, Grant took advantage of this weakening of his force to attack Bragg in his front. The main body of Bragg's army was intrenched in Chattanooga Valley. Bragg also held Missionary Ridge, in his rear, and Lookout Mountain, to the southwest. Hooker attacked and carried Lookout Mountain on the morning of November 25, 1863, while a mist shut out the summit from the valley. This is sometimes called " The Battle above the Clouds." But Sherman, who had NASHVILLE AND ATLANTA. zz: J. E. JOHNSTON. previously carried an outlying hill at the north end of Missionary Ridge, was checked in his attempt to advance by the obstinate resistance of the Confederates under General Hardee. Grant, therefore, sent the army under Thomas out of Chattanooga to attack the Confeder- ates in front, with instructions to carry the first line and lie down. By a swift charge, under a severe fire, they carried the line at the foot of the mount- ain ; but the guns of the Confederates on the top of Missionary Ridge sent a galling fire upon them. Without orders one impatient regiment after an- other rushed up the hill. Bragg's troops made a vigorous resistance, but the eager assailants carried the line in six places, and the Confederate army was forced to retreat. Grant was now put in command of all the Union Sherman against t , . r 1 • Johnston. Kene- armies, and he took charge m person of the troops in saw Mountain. front of Washington, while Sherman was left to com- mand the Western army. Sherman, a man of incessant activity and ability of many kinds, was confronted by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, who had been appointed to succeed Bragg. Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807. He was graduated at West Point in 1829, and distinguished himself as an engineer and in active service during the Mexican War. He resigned in 1 861, and entered the Confederate arm}^ where he always displayed the greatest prudence and ability. Sherman, by skillful manoeuvres, tried to force Johnston to fight in the open field ; but Johnston preferred to draw his antagonist farther south, so as to increase the diffi- culty of supplying his army, and to compel Sherman to attack him behind breastworks. Man}^ severe engage- J. B. HOOD. 334 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Hood succeeds Johnston. Sher- man takes At- lanta. ments were fought, but Johnston avoided a general battle. At length Sherman attacked Johnston at Kenesavv Mountain, but the Confederates re- pulsed him. The Confederate government, dissatis- fied with Johnston's long and cau- tious retreat before Sherman, re- moved him, and General Hood took his place. Hood be- lieved in sharp fighting, and several battles took place at various points about Atlanta, but they generally resulted in favor of the Union army. At length, Sherman got a consid- erable part of his force south of Atlanta, so that Hood was compelled to abandon that city or be shut up in it. MAIN POINTS OF THE CAMPAIGN BETWEEN NASH- VILLE AND ATLANTA. CHAPTER LVI. FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG.- THE VALLEY. -THE WAR IN Grant confronts Lee. In the spring of 1864 Ulysses S. Grant, who had taken Vicksburg and won the battle of Chattanooga, was put in command of all the armies of the Union. Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. He spent his boyhood on a farm. In 1839 he was appointed a cadet at West Point, from which he was graduated about the middle of his class in rank. As a lieutcMiant in FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG. 335 the Mexican War, he was conspicuous for bravery, tak- ing part in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and the assault on Monterey. He also took part in the siege of Vera Cruz, and the succeeding battles of Scott's campaign. He resigned from the army in 1854 and en- gaged in farming, but . was not successful. When the cival war broke out he was a clerk in the leather-store of his father in Galena, Illinois, on a small salary. He then became mustering officer for the State of Illinois, was ap- pointed colonel of the Twen- ty-first Regiment from that State, and thus entered on his great military career. We have seen that Grant left Sherman to command °''^"* '" '^''■" ginia. in the West, while he took up his headquarters with Meade in front of Washington. The veteran Eastern armies that had fought so long against each other, be- tween Washington and Richmond, were now to fight to the death, each under the most famous general on its side. Robert Edward. Lee, who now confronted General Robert e. Lee. Grant, was born in Virginia, June 19, 1807. He was graduated at West Point in 1829, second in his class. He distinguished himself as an engineer in the siege of Vera Cruz. He was for three 3"ears in command of the Military Academy at West Point. When his own State ULYSSES S. GRANT. 33^ HISTORY OF 'J-JIE IWIIED STATES. •&&■ ol \'irginia seceded, he th()iii:;lir himself bound to ga witli it. lie resiijned his coniniission on the 20th of April, iSoi, and was made conmuinder-in-chief of the \'irginia State forces, and later a Confederate general. To his irreat ability was mostly due the stubbornness of the strujj.i2:le carried on h\ the Confederates between Richmond antl Washington. Under Grant and Meade, tiie Army ot the Potomac moyed for- ward toward Richmond. It en- countered Lee's army in a region of dense woods, lull of under- growth, known as " The Wilder- ness." Grant's forces were much the more numerous, tor by this time the South, which had put forth nearh- its whole streuirth from the beginning, was becom- ing somewhat exhausted. On the other hand, Lee fought behind in- trenchments, and, in changing his Desperate battles positiou, uioycd ou shc^rtej- liucs than his opponent. For in "The Wilder- . . 11^ 1 • ness." Sixteen days, in the Wilderness and about Spottsylyania Court-House, the armies were so close \o each other in the thick brush that the men had to be continually on guai'd, and so the\" got little chance for sleep. When they changx-d jiositions, the maiching was generally done in the night, while the davs witnessetl the most tremen- dous lighting that had been seen since the battles of the great Napoleon. In sixteen thus the l^nion army lost 37.500 men. and Lee's losses, tluiugh much less,, were seyere. ^^I^B^^ l^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^pr 'W'Jfc: i^^^l ^^^H ''o^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^HBP^^'^ %' ^J| ^^^^^^^^tr^ ROBERT E LEE. FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG. 337 «5 Lee was not crushed, but Grant got nearer to Rich- Manoeuvres, mond from time to time by secretly moving- a part of the army from his right and marching it around to the rear of his other troops, and then pushing it as far ahead on his left as possible. By thus outRanking Lee, Cii"ant compelled him to fall back, that he might not be cut off from Richmond and his su})})Hes. But Lee always managed to fall back in time to be again be- tween Grant's army and Richmond. The two great o^enerals and the two veteran armies were well matched, and neither could gain a complete victory. This hjjhtin"- and this movin»" to the eastward and coia Harbor, around Lee's Hank were kept up with varying success until Grant got near to Richmond, when, on the 2d of June, 1864, at Cold Harbor, he attacked the Con- federate works along the whole line. The Union army was repulsed with a loss of nearly six thousand men in an hour. On the 13th of June, 1864, by an- other rapid march to the left, Gen- eral Grant's army began to cross the James River. As soon as over, thc}- made an attempt to capture Peters- burg, in order to cut off one source of supplies and re-enforcements for Richmond. The outer works near Petersburg were carried, but the Con- federates fell back to new lines, and received re-enforce- Attempt to take . Petersburg. ments. The attempt to drive tiiem out of these by assault failed. The Union troops now built trenches close up to the Confederate works, and the two armies 23 WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN. Explosion of the mine. Attack re- pulsed. IflSTOJiY OF THE UNITED STATES. luUl these frcnvniiii;- lines, face tc) face, for nine months, until within a few days of the eK>se of the war. Soon after the sieire beiran, a iiune was duir from the trenches of the Union army under an aiii^le of the Confederate works. Bv this mine a part of the works was blown up on the 30th of July. An attack was made immediately after, but it was badly man- aged, and onl)- resulted in the loss of a great many Union soldiers. Hunter marches In all the ycars of the war there had been a smaller up the Valley, ^ ^ _ ^ . ,. . . r^, . and tries to take Campaign Carried on in the Valley ot N'irgima. This fer- Lynchburg. ., ,i ,. , ■- • i tile yalley lies between two iangcs oi mountains. Its northern end reaches the Potomac not very far away from Washington. In this valley the Confederate gen- FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG. ^^g eral Breckinridge defeated General Sigel at New Mar- ket on the 15th of May, 1864. General Hunter, who took command of the Union troops, defeated the Confed- erate general Imbodcn at Piedmont twenty days later. Hunter, with eighteen thousand men, pushed for L)mch- burg, which was a place of the greatest importance. He destroyed railroads and worked much damage, but Lynchburg was re-enforced in time to save it. Finding his retreat down the Valley cut off, Hunter saved his starving army by making his way into the Kanawha Valley. This took him to the west of the Alleghany Mountains, and quite out of the Valley. The Valley was thus left open to Early, who marched ^^'''y marches -^ ^ -^ down the Valley, a Confederate force down to Harper's Ferry and across and fies to take Washington. into Maryland. Early defeated a small force under Gen- eral Lew Wallace at Monocacy on the 7th of July, and pushed straight for Washington, which he might have captured at a dash had he been a little .quicker ; but i-e-enforcements from Grant's army marched into the works as the assault began, and he was *'|*^f^a ^ \ repulsed. He retreated again \\\^ the Valley, pur- ' sued by a strong force. But, when a part of the Union troops was withdrawn and sent back to Grant, Early attacked and defeated those under Crook at Kerns- town, and threw his cavalry across the Potomac again, and into Pennsylvania, where they burned Chambers- burg. In getting back into Virginia, this cavalry force was attacked and defeated. General Philip H. Sheridan was now given charge of sheridan in the , . Valley. Battles the Union troops on this line. Sheridan was for a long at Winchester time very wary, determined not to risk a battle against an experienced general like Early without a good chance 340 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. for success. When Early's force had been weakened by the sending of part of it to Petersburg, Sheridan attacked him and won the battle of Opequon, or Winchester, on the 19th of September, 1864. Three days later, Sheri- dan attacked Early in his trenches at Fisher's Hill, having sent a force around to suddenly assail him on one side or flank, while the rest of the Union troops charged the works in front. Early's men, attacked on two sides, were routed and driven fartfier up the Valley to the south. Sheridan burned all ' the barns filled with grain, and carried off all the stock in the Valle}-, to prevent the Confederates from returning. But when Sheridan went back toward the Potomac, Early, largely re-enforced, followed him through this land of Destruction in the starvatiou. While Sheridan was absent from his troops, Cedar Creek. a part of Early 's force, leaving behind their swords, can- teens, and ever3'thing that could make a noise, moved in the night along a lonely path until they got around on the ffank and behind the Union troops, and surprised them while they were asleep. Early, at the same time, with the rest of his force, attacked Sheridan's army in front. This was the beginninor of the battle of Cedar Creek. The Confederates defeated and drove back the Union troops for four miles, capturing many prisoners. Sheridan, hearing the firing, put spurs to his horse, and rode up the Valley, calling to his fleeing soldiers, " Come, boys, we're going back ! " His presence turned the tide. and by night he had defeated Early once more. A few PHILIP H. SHERIDAN. FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG. 341 smaller actions ended the campaign, for most of the troops on both sides were needed at Petersburg, where the last struggle of all was to take place. Philip Henry Sheridan, who decided the long struggle sheridans career. in the Valley, was a native of Albany, N. Y., and was born March 6, 1831. He was graduated at West Point in 1853. He first won distinction as a commander of cavalr}', and he showed great qualities at Perryville and Murfreesboro, after which he was made a major-general. At Chickamauga and in the battles about Chattanooga he further distinguished himself. His campaign in the Valley of Virginia and the part he played in the closing scenes made him one of the most famous generals of the war. He succeeded Sherman at the head of the army, and in 1888 he was made a full general. Only Grant and Sherman had attained that rank in the United States Army before him. He died at Nonquitt, Massachusetts, August 5, 1888. COLD COMFORT. 342 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER LVII. CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. Sherman's march begun. Hood in Ten- nessee. Battle of Franklin. GENERAL SCHOFIELD. Battle of Nash- ville. In Chapter LV we have seen that Sherman capt- ured Atlanta, having in opposition to him the Confeder- ate general Hood. The latter was a bold man, and he determined to force Sherman to fall back into Tennessee again, by going to his rear and cutting off his supplies from the North. But Sherman, knowing that the re- sources of the South were almost exhausted, concluded to risk a blow that might end the war. Leaving the troops in Tennessee under command of General Thomas, he set out from Atlanta with the rest of his army, to march southward through the heart of the Confederac)'. Hood, refusing to follow Sherman into Georgia, pushed northward into Tennessee, resolved to strike Thomas before he could get his forces together. He attacked a part of General Thomas's troops, under General Schofield, at Franklin, in Tennessee. The Confederates made the most desperate charges, ^^ carrying, at first, a portion of the Union lines, but Schofield succeeded in holding his works long enough to get safely across the Harpeth River. He then fell back and joined Thomas at Nashville. Hood soon encamped before Nashville, where, after a rather long delay, he was attacked on the morning of December 15th by Thomas's whole army. A two days' battle ensued, which resulted in the utter defeat of Hood's army. This was a blow from which the ex- hausted Confederacy could not hope to recover. CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. ;43 While Hood and Thomas were manoeuvring in Ten- Sherman destroy- ing in Georgia. nessee, Sherman and his army were marching through savannah taken, the Confederacy. His men were consuming supplies that would otherwise have sustained Lee in Richmond. Railroads of the greatest military value were utterly destroyed, by making fires of the cross-ties and then heating and twisting the rails. Nothing could have tended more to bring the war to an end than the breaking of the railways, on which food and soldiers must be moved. Just before the battle of Nashville was fought, Sherman reached Savannah and laid siege to it, having been about a month without communication with the North. On the 20th of December the Con- federates evacuated the city, and Sherman occupied it. William Tecumseh Sherman, whose capture of Atlanta and march to the sea made him one of the most illustrious figures of the civil war, was born in Ohio in 1820, and graduated at West Point in 1840. He resigned from the army in 1853, and engaged in the banking business in San Francisco. Later he practiced law in Kansas. When the war broke out he was superintend- ent of the military academy of Lou- isiana. He was reappointed to the army in 1861. At the close of the war he was next in rank to General Grant, and he became general of the army when Grant was elected President. In order to orive Sherman, when he should move capture of Fort ^ ^ Fisher and Wil- northward from Savannah, a new base of supplies from mington. WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 344 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Sherman's march northward. SHERMAN'S MARCH FROM ATLANTA TO RALEIGH. Movements about Petersburg. the sea, and in order to stop blockade-running, an expedi- tion was sent to capture Wilmington, in North Carolina. Fort Fisher, which guarded the entrance to this place, was bombarded by a fleet and then carried by assault, on January 15, 1865. By way of Wilmington, General Schofield, with a part of Thomas's army from Tennes- see, now pushed up to Goldsboro, in North Carolina, to meet Sherman when he should reach that place. On the ist of February, 1865, Sherman's tough veterans left Savannah and moved north ward through the Caro- linas, in rain and through over- flowing swamps. Columbia was taken and burned. The Union army pushed on north- ward, General Sherman having opposed to him his old antagonist, General Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston did not give battle till Sherman had reached Averysboro, in North Carolina. Here the Confederates were defeated ; but at Benton ville, on the 19th of March, Johnston came near to defeating one column of Sherman's army before re-enforccments could reach it. Sherman, by his marches, had broken to pieces the interior lines of travel in the Southern States, and greatly added to the troubles of Lee in Richmond. Neither re- CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. 345 enforcements nor supplies could be had without difficul- ty. The Southern people, who had bravely suffered the greatest hardships, were now disheartened. Lee began to consider how he could retreat. But Grant, whose force was more than twice as large as Lee's, moved Sheridan's command around to the south of the Con- federate works, in order, if possible, to prevent the dwindling Confederate army from getting away. Lee was everywhere outnumbered, and his men were Battle of Five Forks. Lee's beaten and captured, especially in the battle of Five works carried. Forks, on the ist of April. He had weakened his force in front of Grant, by drawing out troops to keep Sheri- dan from cutting the railroads that brought him sup- plies, and, while the battle of Five Forks was taking place, some of the Confederate works at Petersburg were carried by assault, and others were taken the next day. The night follow- ing, that is, the 2d of April, Lee began his retreat from Richmond. His first object was to reach Danville, Vir- gmia, ana irom that place to unite with Johnston. But, finding a Union force between him and Danville, his now starving army was turned toward Lynchburg. Sheridan's cavalry cut him off from that place, and on the 9th of April, 1865, Lee surrendered his army to General Grant, at Appomattox Court-House. Johnston could make no stand alone, and sixteen davs Johnston surren ders. Close of th later he surrendered to General Sherman. The smaller war. Lee's retreat and surrender, April 9, 1865. the 346 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. bodies of Confederate troops yielded soon after, and the four terrible years of war were at last ended. The soldiers on both sides returned to their homes. No war so vast had ever been seen in modern times; and no braver men had ever fought. The impressions left by the sufferings of the civil war have produced a strong sentiment in favor of peace. CHAPTER LVIII. TRAITS AND RESULTS OF THE WAR. — DEATH OF LINCOLN. The Trent affair. The War led to some complications in the foreign Danger of war with England. rclations of the United States. Both in England and France there were statesmen who were jealous of the rapid growth of this country. They were afraid that the United States would become more powerful than the European nations, and they would have been pleased to see it divided. In 1861 this hostile feeling in England was very much increased by what is called " the Trent affair." Mason and Slidell were sent as ambassadors from the Confederate States — Mason to England, and Slidell to France. The}- ran the blockade, getting out of the harbor of Charleston during a dark night, and reached Havana. From Havana they sailed in the Trent, an English steamer. Captain Wilkes, of an American man- of-war, stopped the Trent and took Mason and Slidell from it, carrying them prisoners to the United States. This act produced great excitement in England, and for a while war seemed imminent between the two coun- TRAITS AND RESULTS OF THE WAR. ^a^ tries. But, on the demand of Great Britain, the United States surrendered the ambassadors, as improperly capt- ured. The United States Navy had been rapidly enlarged Blockade of the Southern coast. after the war began. One of its principal duties was to blockade the Southern ports, to keep the Confed- erates from getting arms and other supplies from for- eign countries. Many fast-sailing English ships were engaged in running this blockade. These, by the law of nations, were subject to capture by United States vessels, and many were taken, but the high prices paid for the commodities that were got in, justified the risk. These blockade-runners generally entered the Southern ports at night. But, when the chief sea-ports of the South were captured one after another by the navy and the land-forces of the Union, blockade-running was gradually stopped, and the South experienced greater and greater difficulty in clothing an army and in find- ing materials of war. The Confederate government could not get much of confederate navy. ^ ^ The Alabama and a navy afloat from ports so well blockaded, but ships "the Alabama claims." were built in England and secretly sent to sea. These received Confederate commissions, and almost succeeded in ruining American commerce. The most famous of these ships, called the " Alabama," was commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes. It was built in England, and it captured in all sixty-seven merchant and whaling ships. In a fight with the United States man-of-war Kearsarge, the Alabama was sunk in the English Channel, June 19, 1864. After the war the United States set up claims against the British government on account of the dam- ages done to American commerce by the Alabama and 348 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Other Confederate cruisers built in England. The " Ala- bama claims," as they were called, after years of discus- sion, were submitted to a court of arbitration which sat in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1872, and condemned Eng- land to pay to the United States $15,500,000. Action of France Napolcon III, Empcror of the French, was also jeal- during the war. ous of the growth of the United States, and he availed himself of the civil war to establish the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico ; but, after the close of the war in this country, French sup- port of Maximilian was withdrawn, and the empire was overthrown bv the Mexican people. Powerful ships were built in France for the Confederate government, with the secret countenance of the emperor ; but the energetic proceedings of John Bigelow, United States minister at the French court, prevented all of them from sailing but one, and this got away so near to the close of the war as to be of no service. Legal-tender T\\Q expcuscs of the war can never be fully estimated. paper money, or "greenbacks." The Uuitcd Statcs Govemmcnt borrowed monev on interest, by giving bonds to pav after a certain number of 3-ears. A large part of this debt has now been paid. But, as another means of borrowingf monev, " lec^al- tender notes" were issued; that is, paper bills, which bv law could be used to pay debts and taxes, instead of coins. These legal-tender notes were printed on a pecul- iar green paper, and got the name of "greenbacks." When a great number of them had been issued, and the dangers to the government increased, the value of this paper monev declined, until at one time a dollar of it was really worth less than halt a dollar. However, as the greenbacks were b\- law gt)od for the payment of I UJ SB — lU o S < a: o u. z w Ol UJ _1 UJ 13 UJ V u- I- si liJ u. o 00 -^^ TRAITS AND RESULTS OF THE WAR. ^.q debts, they were used instead of the more valuable silver and gold, which for seventeen years disappeared entirely from general use. The depreciation in the value of money caused a great apparent rise in the values of com- modities. Long after the war closed, in 1879, the gov- ernment began to redeem these legal-tender bills in silver and gold. This was called " the resumption of specie payments." But the fact that gold or silver was U) be paid for them had made greenbacks by this time worth as much as coin, and people generally preferred to keep the paper money. The Confederate government also resorted to loans, confederate money. some of which were based on a pledge of the cotton- crop of the country. But the bonds became almost valueless as the future of the Confederacy grew hope- less. A great deal of Confederate legal-tender money was also issued. This took the place of coin, and de- clined in value until twenty dollars of it would not buy one of gold. When the Confederacy was overthrown, this money became of no value. The rapid decline in the value of its paper money was one of the greatest difficulties the Confederate government had to con- tend with in its last years. To pay its soldiers and to provide materials of war, the Confederacy could only issue paper notes, of which there were already too many. To avoid confusion, we have preferred to tell the story second election of Lincoln, 1864. of the military operations of the war without mentioning the political affairs of the time. In 1864 the Republican party ncjminated President Lincoln for re-election, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, a Southern Union man, for Vice-President. The Democratic party nominated 350 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Assassination of President Lin- coln, 1865. General George B. McClellan, and for a time it seemed that the discouragement of the Northern people with the long continuance of the war might elect McClel- lan. But the success of Sherman in taking Atlanta, the capture of the forts near Mobile by the fleet under Farragut, and the successes of the Union army under Sheridan in the Valley of Virginia, removed all doubt about the result, and Lincoln received all the electoral votes cast except those of Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey. Lincoln began his sec- ond term of office in March, 1865, while Sherman was marching northward through the Carolinas, and when the close of the war was already in sight. When Lee surrendered, Lincoln's mind was already revolv- ing plans for conciliating those who had been op- posed to him, and for re- storing the government at the South. But, while the President was sitting with his family in a box at a theatre in Washington, John Wilkes Booth, one of a band of conspirators, approached him from behind and shot him, and then leaped to the stage, crying, " Sic scuipcr iyrannis ! " which means, "Thus always with tyrants," and escaped. Booth was afterward overtaken, and killed in resisting arrest. Lin- coln died on the 15th of April, the day after he was shot. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. DEATII OF LINCOLN. orj He was deeply mourned, because he had shown himself a man of great wisdom and goodness. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, Abraham Lincoln. 1809. His father removed to Indiana when he was a lit- tle boy, and while that country was exceedingly wild and • rough. The family lived in a half-faced camp — that is, a cabin with one side left out and the fire built out-of-doors, in front of the open side. Abraham endured many pri- vations, and struggled hard to get an education. The schools were few and the teachers ignorant, but Lincoln trained his own mind by carefully thinking out every sub- ject which puzzled him, and he spent his spare time in reading. He worked on a farm, went to New Orleans on a flat-boat, was clerk in a country store, learned and practiced surveying, and then studied law. He served several terms in the Legislature of Illinois, and was a member of Congress. He became a leading lawyer and politician in his State, and gained a national fame by a series of debates, in which he was engaged with Senator Douglas in 1858. His integrity, his moderation, and his strong speeches brought him the nomination of President, and the rest of his history is that of the country. Lincoln's assassination was regretted at the South, Release of Jeffer- son Davis. where his kindliness was coming to be known, and where the people feared that his death might lead to measures of retaliation. But the war was closed without acts of revenge, and nobody was put to death for a political offense. Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confed- eracy, who had been captured in Georgia at the close of the war, was arraigned before a court on a charge of high treason. He was confined in Fortress Monroe for two years, when he was released without being tried. ■2C2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER LIX. POLITICAL EVENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. The question of The war Settled two questions long debated in this State independ- ence settled. country, that of State sovereignty and that of slavery. From the beginning of the government it had been dis- puted whether or not a State might act in a sovereign way in opposition to the United States government. The war answered " No " to this question. Though there are yet, and perhaps always will be, differences of opinion regarding the distribution of power between the Federal Government and the government of the several States, it is generally conceded that the result of the war definitely settled that the Union of States is not a com- pact which may be broken by the withdrawal of indi- vidual States ; that the nation is to be regarded as one and indivisible ; and that laws of Congress can only be annulled by judicial decisions. On the other hand, recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States show a care of the rights of the several States as against infringements by the laws or courts of the United States. It was accident and the jealousy of the colonies toward one another that gave us this nicel}- balanced federal system ; but its elasticity and its recog- nition of the right of local self-government probably render it the best possible for a people spread over so wide a territory and livinar under conditions so dissimi- lar, and so jealous of personal freedom. The question of The Emancipation Proclamation had only abolished slavery disap- pears, slavery in those States and districts at that time resist- POLITICAL EVENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. ;53 ing the United States government. But the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, which was adopted at the close of the war, and ratified in December, 1865, for- bade slavery in all parts of the country forever. One of the first effects of this great revolution was the destruc- tion of the social and industrial system to which the Southern States had been accustomed |^r two centuries. This necessarily entailed a great deal of financial loss and personal suffering, with some social disorder. But the ul- timate benefits of the change ai"e now almost universally recognized. To the unity of the national life the change is of great advantage. The question of slavery was a source of difficulty and division from the adoption of the Constitution until its disappearance. It is not likely that any new question will ever divide the people on sectional lines. Since the abolition of slavery in the United States, the system has disappeared from every civilized nation. A great question of history was also decided by the But one great power in North war. It was settled that the heart of North America America, is to be occupied by but one great power. Had there been more than one, the resources of the people might have been wasted and their advancement checked by standing armies, and wars happening from time to time. Without doubt the United States will act a much greater part in the history of the world and the advancement of civilization than its fragments could have done if broken apart and divided by international jealousies. On the death of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, the Vice- Andrew Johnson, , President. President, succeeded to the presidency. There soon grew up a difference between Johnson and the Republi- can Congress in regard to the measures to be adopted for the reconstruction of government in the Southern 24 ANDREW JOHNSON. President John- son impeached. Grant elected President, 1868. ^^4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, States. Congress required, among- other things, that every State which had seceded should admit the negroes to vote, before the representatives of the State should be again admitted to Congress. President Johnson held that the States had not lost the right of representation by secession and war. He did not thi^k that Congress had a right to refuse admission to lawfully elected representatives. The diifcrence between Johnson and Con- gress, on several points in regard to recon- struction, resulted in an effort by Congress to limit the power of the President to remove ofifi- cers. The Republicans were more than two thirds of each House, so that they could make law^s in spite of the veto of President Johnson. They passed a law for- bidding him to make removals from office except by consent of the Senate. This law Johnson refused to obey. The House of Representatives voted to impeach the President; that is, to bring him to trial in order tO' have liim removed as unfit to hold his office. Such a charge must be made by the House of Representatives, and the Senate is the court which has to decide the case. As less than two thirds of the Senate voted to remove him, Johnson remained in office to the end of his term. In 1868 General Grant was elected President, as the candidate of the Republicans. The Democratic candi- date was Horatio Seymour, of New York. The election turned on the dispute over measures for reconstructing-^ the Southern States. During Grant's first administration, in 1870, the last of the States that had belonged to the Confederacy com- POLITICAL EVENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. 355 plied with the conditions demanded by Conijrcss. All "^^^ seceded ^ y e> States readmit- the States were now represented in Congress for the first ted to congress. Negro suffrage time since South Carolina had seceded in i860. In this established, same year, 1870, the fifteenth amendment to the Constitu- tion was ratified. This gave to the negroes the right to vote in every State in the Union. Various causes produced in the South disorder and Disorders at the South, followed bad government for some years, but these are too much by prosperity, matters of recent political discussion to be treated his- torically. The war, too, had wasted the resources of the country and left the people in poverty. A better state of things has ensued, and the Southern people have gradually entered on a career of peace and great pros- perity. Under the old social system of the South, agri- culture was almost the only form of labor profitable ; but since the war cotton-mills have sprung up, and iron manufactures have been greatly developed in the South- ern States. In 1872 there was considerable dissatisfaction with Grant re-eiected. General Grant's administration of the government, and a portion of the Republicans formed a new party, which they called the " Liberal Republican " party. They nominated Horace Greeley for President. The Demo- cratic party accepted Greeley as its candidate also, but Grant was re-elected by a large majority. In 1876 the Republicans nominated l^uthcrford B. Disputed election of 1876 decided in Hayes, of Ohio, for President. The Democrats nomi- favor of Hayes. nated Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. The election was a close one, and the country came near to being thrown into a distressing confusion by the condition of the South- ern State governments. In some of these were " return- ing -boards," or committees, which had the right to RUTHERFOKD B. HAYES. ^1-5 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. revise tlie election returns, and throw out such as they thought hatl been affected by fraud or violence. By the votes cast, Louisiana had given a majority lor Tilden. But the RepubH- cans claimed that certain districts had been carried b}^ intimidating the ne- groes antl bv fraud. The returns from these were thrown out bv the returning-board, and the vote of the State was given to Hayes. This gave a majority of one. The most exciting debates ensued in Congress, which had finally to decide the matter. As the Re- publicans had a majority in the Senate and the Demo- crats a majority in the House, the two bodies could not agree. The question was at length referred to fifteen com- missioners, eight of whom voted to give the election to Hayes. In 1880 General Winficld S. Hancock, who had won renown as a brilliant division command- er in the Army of the Potomac, was nominated for President bv the Democrats. General James .\. Garfield, of Ohio, whose distinction was chiefly JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^uc to thc ablHty he had rOLITlCAL EVENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. 357 shown in debate on the floor of Congress, was nonii- Election of Gar- field, 1880. Hisas- nated by the Republicans and elected. Three months sassination, issi. after President Garfield was in- augurated, on the 2(1 wf July, i • 1 r^\ 1 1 r President. by the nommation ot rresident Cleveland for re-elec- tion. The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harri- son, of Indiana. The canvass was free from per- sonalities, speakers and writers confining themselves mostly to the discussion of questions relating to the revenue. Harrison was elected. Benjamin Harrison is a grandson of General William H. Harrison, the ninth President. He was born in Ohio in 1833. He entered the army at the outbreak of the war as second lieutenant, and rose to the rank of brigadier-general. He has since been a United States Senator. BENJAMIN HARRISON. CHAPTER LX. LATER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. We have seen how the United States, which was at Additions of ter- ritory before the first limited by the Mississippi River on the west and by civii war. Florida on the south, received before the civil war five additions to its territory : i. The old French province of Louisiana, a vast region west of the Mississippi. 2. The " Oregon Country," by exploration and discovery. 3. Florida, by purchase from Spain. 4. Texas, by the annexation of an independent republic, once a part of 36o HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. Purchase of Alaska, 1867. Mexico. 5. The Mexican cessions by treaty after the war with Mexico. To these must be added .\laska, which was pur- chased from Russia in 1867 for a little more than sev- en millii)n dol- ALASKA lars ($7,2(X>,ooo). This is the only territory we have V^g^j, ;"^;"^ that does not lie adjoining to the rest of the coun- try. It is partly in the arctic re- gions, but the cli- mate of Alaska West Virginia admitted, 1863 ; Nevada, 1864. Nebraska, 1867 ; Colorado, 1876. on the Pacific coast is not severe. The killins: of seals for their furs is the chief business interest in Alaska. The number of States at the bejjinninij of the civil war was thirty-four. Bv 1876, the hundredth year of the American Republic, the number had increased to thirty-eight. Two States had been admitted during the war. The people of the western part of Virginia were mostly on the side of the Union. This part of the State separated itself from eastern Virginia, which was acting with the Confederacy. It obtained admission to the Union in 1863, as a separate State, under the name of West \"irginia. Nevada, just east of California, and a l)art of the territory ceded to us bv Mexico, was ad- mitted in 1864. It is a land of silver-mining. In 1867 Nebraska was admitted. It is one of the most fertile of farming States. In the centennial year. LATER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. -,51 Colorado came into the Union. This State lies in the Rocky Mountain region, and has gold and silver mines. Cattle-raising is one of its chief industries. There remain, when this book is printed, two or three several Territo- ries soon to be Territories with population enough to entitle them to admitted. become States. Dakota is a rich wheat country, and is waiting to be admitted as a whole or as two States. Washington Territory promises soon to be a State, and, when it shall have been admitted, all the Territories on the Pacific coast will have become States. Utah has also population enough for a State. It was settled by people professing the Mormon religion. This religion, which was founded by Joseph Smith in western New York about 1830, allows the practice of polygamy, and some of the Mormons have more than one wife apiece. For this reason, Congress has hitherto been unwilling to ad- mit Utah to the Union. The rest of the Territories are in mountain-regions, and their increase in population is rather slow. It is probable, however, that soon after the close of the present century we shall have about fifty States in the Union. The settlement of the Western States and Territories Later Indian war. 11 11 1 • 1 • n- • 1 1 r 1\\^ Sioux mas- has brought the white people into conflict with the fierce sacra in Minne- and warlike Indians of the plains. In the summer of ^° ^' ' 1862 the eastern bands of the Sioux nation fell suddenlv upon the defenseless settlements of Minnesota and killed nearly five hundred people. In the war which followed, the Sioux were driven out of the State, and thirty-eight of those captured were convicted of murdering women and children, and hanged. Though there were no horses in America when the custer attacks the Indians in white men came, the Indians of the plains now have a the winter. 362 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. race of small ponies, descended from horses acquired long ago from the early Spanish C(jnquerors of Mexico. The Indians of the plains are said to be " the best light cavalry in the world." They were in the habit of committing their outrages on the settlements in the summer, when there was grass for the ponies. In the winter, when the ponies were almost starved, they took shelter in remote valleys, and counted them- selves safe from attack, on account of the difficulty the white men found in moving wagon-trains. But, in No- vember, 1868, General Sheridan sent General Custer, after the snow had fallen, to attack the hostile Indians in their villages. Custer, carrying his provisions on mules, followed the trail of a war party, under the chief Black Kettle, to their town on the Washita River, in the Indian Territory, and fell upon the sleeping savages at daybreak, defeating them with great slaughter. This battle terrified and subdued the Indians of the Southern plains, who no longer felt safe from pun- ishment in their winter retreats. But, in a later war with the Sioux Ig., ■' of the Northern plains in 1876, Custer, having attacked a force outnumbering his own, was sur- rounded and killed, with all the men under his immediate com- mand. In this fio-ht the Sioux were led by Sitting Bull. The Indians were afterward attacked by fresh troops and driven into Canadian territory. They have since been allowed to return. ^ INDIAN OF THE PLAINS WATCHING Fl,,. !.„,;. i^OES. h s < H X CO < H < ;64 HISTORY OF THE CXITKD STATES. Present condition of the Indians. Thciv have been other Indian wars, but, of course, the rash tiibesare always worsted in the lontr run. The bisons, or buffaloes, which roamed as far eastward as Virginia in i()ij, were also the main supjiort of the Indians of Kentucky as well as of those farther west. l>ut the hundreds of thousands of these creatures that grazed in the canebrakes of Kentucky and on the great oj'ien plains east of tiie Kockv Mountains ha\e now f)een exterminated by the march of civili/ed man. The old life to which the savages were so much attached is fast breaking down. All the hunting-grounds will soon be occupied bv farms, mines, and cities. There is noth- ing left for the Indians but to become civili/cd or tt) perish. Ciood men are now trying to protect them from wrong, and to persuade them to have their children taught to live the lives of civilized ])eo[>le, on farms, owned not bv the tribes, but bv individuals. Many In- dian children aie taught at the expense of the govern- ment. Some of the tribes located in the Indian Territory have attained to considerable civilization. CHAPTER LXI. POPULATION, WKAiril. AND MODllS Ol" 1 INIXC. TiiK first census was taken in 1790. There (^ were then less than lour million jieople (3,929,214). In iSSo there were over tiftv million 150.155,783). It is safe to estimate that, when the census of 1890 comes to be added up. there will l)e between sixty antl FOPULATIOX, WEAl.'J'JJ, MODES OF LIVING. 365 seventy million, say sixteen or seventeen times as many increase of popu- lation. as there were one hundred years before. The popula- tion of this country is already much larger than that THE DARK LINE SHOWS THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF THE CENTER OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1790. of any of the nations of Europe except Russia. It is, perhaps, safe to assume that before the close of the next century there will be two hundred million people in the United States. • The increase of wealth has been yet more remark- increase of wealth. able. This is due to the resources of the country, as well as to the enterprise of the people. Wheat from the rich farms of the great interior valley, and meat from the cattle-ranges of the Western States and Ter- ritories, are sent across the sea in vast quantities. Gold and silver from the Rocky Mountains and the Pa- cific coast, petroleum from the neighborhood of the Alleghany Mountains, and inexhaustible supplies of coal and iron in various regions, are great sources of wealth. Manufactures of many kinds also enrich the country. The United States is already the wealth- iest of the nations. In a new country men become inventive, because they Eariy American 1 r 1 1 1 1 • 111 inventions. have to hnd out how to do thmgs that they have never seen anybody do before. Americans are, perhaps, the -^56 HISTORY OF TJJE UNITED STATES. most ingenious in mechanics of any people in the world. Before the Revolution, Thomas Godfrey, of Philadelphia, invented the (]uadrant, an instrument to help the navi- gator to find his whereabouts at sea. About the same time Franklin invented the lightning-rod. There was also a valuable machine invented in South Carolina for doing- the hard labor of taking the hull off of the grains of i-ice. This was run by the ebbing and flowing of the tide. In the middle colonies flour-mills were improved, and little elevating machines invented, so that wheat did not have to be jcarried to the top of the mill on a man's back. Whitney's cot- America has since become celebrated for what are ton-gin. called labor-saving machines. One of the most remark- able of these is the cotton-oin. It took so much time and toil to pick the seeds out of cotton that only small quan- tities were raised for home use. Long before the Revo- lution, some kind of a " gin " for cleansing the cotton of its seed had been invented, but it was neglected. When, however, machines for spinning cotton thread and weav- ing cotton cloth by steam-power were invented in Eng- land, there sprang up a great demand for raw cotton. In 1794 Eli Whitney invented a "saw-gin" for taking the seeds out of cotton. This made cotton-raising profit- able, and caused tiie Southern States to grow rapidl}' in i)opulation and wealth. After the invention of the gin, indigo-culture was quite driven out by the more pM'ofitable cotton-raising. Some other re- The cottou-giu was almost tlic first of a great family markable in- , . . ventions. of labor-saviug machmes. partlv or whollv invented in this countrv. Reaping- and mowing-machines were first made successful bv American inventors. Thrashing- machines were improved here. All, the agricultural POPULATJOX, WEALTH, MODES OF LIVING. 367 mr-. machines now used have practically been introduced in the last fifty years. The hrst really successful sewing- machine was introduced by Elias Howe in 1845. Morse's telegraph came into use at about the same time. The telephone is a recent American invention, of the greatest utility. The phonograph, which at first was regarded merely as a curiosity, now bids fair to be very useful. The type-writer is another invention that exerts a great influence on life. More inventions of great importance have been made change made by I Tf ■ r 1 !• • 1 • 11 1 inventions. in the lifetime of peopfe now fiving than in all the ages before. We live in a different world from that of our forefathers, who had only saddle-horses or wagons for F> land-conveyance, and slow-sailing ships or row-boats for water-journeys. We can go around the world ^C^^ -■■'" ^W in a great deal less time than some of the first the Pennsylvania fireplace, emigrants took to sail from England to America. Our ancestors had neither kerosene-oil, gas, nor elec- tric light. Stoves were practically unknown ; for warm- ing themselves and cooking their food, people in old times had only wood-fires in wide, open fire- places, which often chilled the room with draughts of air or filled it with smoke. They card- ed, spun, wove, and dyed, by hand, wool or flax for their own clothing. Now steam is made to do most of the work in spinning and INVENTED BY FRANKLIN. (JLU V IKL HL Act. tem -,53 JI I STORY OF THE UNITED STATES. weavirii^, in making- hats and shoes, in planing boards, and in turning wood. I'^vcn delicate little things like watches are made mostly by steam nuichinerv. The factory sys- ()^,t ot tlic iisc oi machinery has grown ui) the factory 4-Am - V- I J system, which gathers working-people into towns and sets them to labor together in factories. Many people are able in this wav to contribute to the makinsr of an article, each doing his own part. This saves time, and makes each man's toil more productive. The building and running of these factories require a great deal of money; so that manufacturing is now carried on by two classes: First, the capitalists, who furnish the factory and its machines ; second, the men and women who receive wages and do the labor. This has led to great discus- sions of the rights of the working-people, and their rela- tions to those who furnish the money, or capital. CHAPTER LXII. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART IN THE UNITED STATES. Scientific pur- SCIENCE could uot flourish in a country where all suits not possible ^ at first. things were new and rude, and where the work neces- sary to sustain life occupied men's entire time. Many ol the first comers to America were well informed in the knowledge of their day, and some of them even pos- sessed large libraries ; but their children had all they could do to maintain themselves and get the simplest rudiments of education. It is only where there is some leisure that people have time to observe nature and to SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. ^50 acquire other knowledge than that which is useful in the ordinary affairs of life. But the study of science was much retarded in the seventeenth century — that is, at the time when America was settled— by the violent re- lio-ious controversies and sectarian hatreds with which the world was then vexed. The minds of learned men were largely engrossed with abstruse speculations, and with efforts to prove that their opponents were wrong on questions of theology. Medicine is the science most immediately useful and ^he study and practice of medi- necessary in daily life, and it might be expected to cine, flourish sooner than any other. But at the time of the settlement of America it was, like other branches of knowledge, darkened by ignorance and superstition. The greater part of medical practice, in the first century and a half after the settlement of the colonies was begun, was in the hands of ministers, who had read some books of physic and learned how to compound a few of the mysterious mixtures of the time, and of women who had picked up a knowledge of remedies of one sort or an- other. The use of simple medicines and some other branches of the art of healing as then understood had been taught to women in the convents during the middle ages, and had remained a branch of female education in many families in England dowm to the time of the set- tlement of America. In the colonies medical herbs were grown in household gardens, and some women-doctors came to considerable local reputation. There were also men known as bone-setters, who reduced fractures and treated other injuries successfully, though they were without any surgical knowledge except that acquired by experience. Blood-letting and tooth -drawing fell 25 370 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. mostly to the barbers, who were also surgeons in a small way. Remedies used xhe medlcincs in use soon after the settlement of the in the colonies. colonies show the low state of knowledge. Learned men prescribed for small-pox the powder made by pulveriz- ing a toad after it had been burned to a cinder. Pills of cotton were used for the same disease and others, and silk-worms dried and powdered were applied to the head for the cure of various complaints. Grasshoppers used in the same way cured colic, and ants' eggs were considered good for deafness. Earwigs boiled in oil were recommended for the hearing, and the brains of the screech-owl were believed excellent for headache. The rattlesnake was thought to be particularly medici- nal. Its skin was powdered and taken internally. The cast-off skin was also thought to be beneficial when tied about the body. The oil of the rattlesnake was an ac- cepted cure for gout, its heart was used medicinally, and its gall was given in balls made by mixing it with chalk. Tree-toads were worn about the neck in little bags for some diseases, and the feet of turkey-buzzards in oil were used to cure rheumatism. Better physi- Jn later times, as wealth and intelligence increased, cians. *" the number of educated physicians in the towns was greatly augmented. The most of these had attended Eu- ropean medical schools, particularly that at Edinburgh. Some of them made valuable contributions to medical science. But even the greatest of these doctors were also pharmacists, keeping "shops" in which they mixed and sold their medicines. Colonial quacks. In a ucw couutry, where education is necessarily somewhat neglected, quacks find a paradise, and in the SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. ^71 colonies ignorant pretenders to medical knowledge swarmed, as a writer of the time says, " like locusts in Egypt." In New York there was one doctor to every fifty families, and the most of these were illiterate char- latans. An intelligent writer maintained that more lives were lost in New York by pretended physicians than by all other causes whatever. Quacks traveled from colony to colony, frequenting fairs and other places of con- course, where they sold their plasters, pills, powders, and elixirs, by proclaiming their virtues from platforms. A man who chanced to be the seventh son in a family was a free-ordained healer of scrofula and various other com- plaints. All the quackeries known in England were transplanted to this country, and a new and particu- larly American sort originated here. The so-called " Indian doctor," pretending to secrets acquired from the hugger-mugger of the medicine-men, began to flour- ish as early as 1712. The study of botany in early times was much pro- Early botanists, moted by the desire to acquire new remedies for disease. In America many of the diseases were new, and remedies for them were sought among the plants of the country. It could not be, indeed, that intelligent men should live in a new continent, full of plants and animals hitherto un- known, without having their attention attracted to the study of these. There arose several eminent botanists among the colonists in this country. Such were Banis- ter and Mitchell in Virginia, and such was John Bar- tram, of Pennsylvania, who is said to have had "a pro- pensity to botanies " from his childhood. The other sciences most studied in the colonies were Mathematicians , . , I'll- ^""^ astronomers perhaps mathematics and astronomy, to which the writ- in the coiomes. lil^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. RITTEN HOUSE. Influence of pub- lic libraries. ings of Newton had given a great impulse about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Several Americans constructed orreries to show the motions of the planets. Philadelphia was unquestionably the center of scientific pursuits in America during the last century. Here lived the glazier Thomas Godfrey, who neglected his trade and gave his da3's and nights to the study of mathematics and the invention of the quadrant, to which we have referred. Here lived David Rittcn- house, who when a boy had covered the handle of his plow and the fence-rails about the field in which he worked with mathematical calculations, and who became famous as an astronomer. There were many other students of astronomy and cFiemistry in Philadelphia, but the center of this group was Ben- jamin Franklin, who was interested in every kind of in- tellectual pursuit and every public improvement. To Franklin was due the founding of public subscrip- tion libraries in the colonies. Books in that day were scarce and high in price, and magazines of the kind now made were unknown. In 1731 Franklin founded the Philadelphia Library. This was imitated in other towns in the colonies, and reading-rooms became fashionable. People were ashamed to be without knowledge ; and, having few public amusements, they i-ead a good deal, so that the "common tradesmen and farmers" in Ameri- can towns were said to have been better informed than people of the same class in Europe. Franklin in his old age attributes in some degree to this mental awakening produced by public libraries, " the stand made through- out the colonies in defense of their jirivileges " during the Revolution. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. nj-^ It is always interesting to trace a stream to its source, Almanac nteta. and to see the great river where it is born in a httle nil. The beginning of general literature in this country can perhaps be traced to the almanacs. These little publica- tions, which came out once a year, managed to compass a good deal within their small space. They had medical advice along with directions for farming, and many witty general remarks. Some of the best things written at the time were printed in the old almanacs, of which there were many. One of the best of these was that issued by Nathaniel Ames in Boston. But the most famous and widely known of any was the one that Franklin edited, for twenty-five years, under the title of " Poor Richard's Almanac." It attained at one time a circulation of ten thousand copies, which was extremely large in a country so thinly peopled. Franklin is perhaps the real starting-point of Ameri- writings of ^ ^ . . . Franklin. can literature. As he was the first American scientific discoverer of renown, the first American diplomatist, the founder of the first public library and the first perma- nent philosophical society in this country, so he was the first writer in the field of general literature. His writ- ings are full of acute thought on practical themes, and suited to the genius of a busy people engrossed with their outward affairs. But the good beginning made by Franklin and others Jefferson, Hamil- ton, and Madison. toward an American literature received a check from the excitements which preceded the Revolution and the dis- cussions which followed the establishment of a new na- tion. xA.s in the seventeenth century the best minds in America were engrossed by religious debates, in the last half of the eighteenth they were chiefly occupied with 374 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Irving. WASHINGTON IRVING. questions of state. Besides the prac- tical writings of Franklin and the theological speculations of the great New England divine, Jonathan Ed^ wards, almost the only works of per- manent value produced during the first two centuries after settlements in the present United States began are the writings of Jefferson. Hamil- ton, and Madison, on political sub- jects. Washington Irving, who is some- times called the father of American literature, was born in New York in His first important work was a burlesque, called " Knickerbocker's Histor)- of New York," in which he makes much sport of the quaint customs of the Dutch founders of the colony of New Netherland. The book is full of drollerv, and won praise for its author on both sides of the Atlantic. But Irving's most famous work is the " Sketch-Book," in which appear the charm- ing tales of " Rip Van \Vinkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." His " Life of Washington " is still a standard biography, and his " Life of Christopher Columbus" is the best popu- lar historv of the discoverer. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. 75 William Ciillen Bryant, born in western Massachu- Bryant, setts in 1794, was the first American who became widely known as a poet. Though he lived to be very old, his most famous poem, " Thanatopsis," was written when he was not yet nineteen years of age, and his almost equally famous " Lines to a Waterfowl" before he was twenty. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the most popular and the most widely celebrated of our poets, was born in Portland, ^Laine, in 1807. Of his shorter pieces, *' Excelsior " and " The Psalm of Life" are best known. His " Hia- watha " is an epic poem of Indian life, and his " Evangeline " is a nar- rative poem founded on the story of the expulsion of the Acadians. John Greenleaf Whittier, sometimes called " the whittier. Quaker poet," was born in Massachusetts in the same year with Longfellow (1807). Many of his poems de- scribe simple, rural life. Others relate to slavery and the civil war. One of the most charming is " Snow-Bound," a description of winter scenes in New England, written in 1866. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in 1809. He is famous for his witty poems, of which " The Last Leaf " and " The One-Hoss Shay " are two of the best known. His prose work, " The Autocrat of the Breakfast -Table," is HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. thought to be one of the brightest books in OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Z7^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. EDGAR A. POE Emerson. Lowell. Stoddard and Stedman. our literature. Holmes probably excels every other American writer for wit. Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, wrote some poems that hav^e achieved a world-wide fame. Of these, "The Raven" is the best known. Mis weird and marvelous short stories have also a permanent place in literature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803, in Boston. Some of his poems are greatly admired by literary readers ; they can hardly be called popu- lar. He is more widely known by his essays as a profound thinker and a writer of genius, poetic inspi- ration, and rare moral aspirations. James Russell Lowell was born in 18 19. He is best known to general readers by his poems in the New England dialect, called " The Biglow Papers." Lowell is also famous for his very thoughtful and witty essays, criticisms, and addresses. Whittier and Holmes are still (1888) living in advanced age. Low- ell, verging on seventy, still writes occasionally. There are other writers who achieved distinction in the period before the war, who are 3'et engaged in active literary production when this book is jiublished. The time to estimate the work of these authors has not yet arrived. Perhaps the most conspicuous men of this class are Richard Henry Stoddard, poet and critic, born in Massachusetts in 1825, and Edmund Clarence Stedman, born in Con- RALPH WALDO EMERSON. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. Z11 JAMES FENIMORE COOPER. necticut in 1833, a poet, and the author of " Victorian Poets," " Po- ets of America," and other works of criticism. Two American writers of fiction in the period before the civil war attained a world-wide fame. James Fenimore Cooper was born in New Jersey in 1783. His novels are full of action and adventure. The most famous are those known as " The Leather- Stocking Tales." A very different writer is Nathaniel Haw- thorne, who was a rare genius, and whose stories have a weird and subtile interest. Of these, "The Scarlet Letter" and cooper and Hawthorne. " The House of the Seven Gables " are general favorites. William Gilmore Simms, born in South Carolina in simms. 1806, though never attaining the literary finish and quality of his greater contemporaries. Cooper and Haw- thorne, is yet a conspicuous figure in our literature by reason of the familiar handling of old Southern life in his novels. Harriet Beecher Stowe, born in Connecticut in 18 12, Mrs. stowe. was rendered famous by " Uncle Tom's Cabin," of which as a political force we have spoken else- where. But some of her stories of New England life were enough to have given her high distinction. William Hickling Prescott, born in 1796, was at once a patient scholar and a most brill- ' * iant writer. His " History of the Reign of Fer- dinand and Isabella " and his histories of the 37^ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. Historians. Scientific investi- gators. JOHN L. MOTLEY. conquests of Mexico and Peru are as fascinating- as brilliant romances, though thej are the result of the most patient research, conducted by one almost blind. George Bancroft, born in 1800, is less elegant in style, but famous for the great knowledge of his subject shown in his " History of the United States." John Lothrop Motley, born in 18 14, wrote several works on Dutch his- tory that have achieved a wide reputation. Fran- cis Parkman has taken for his field the French settlements, voyages, and discoveries in North America, and his several histoi"ies relating to parts of this great theme are highly es- teemed. A number of Americans eminent in science have done honor to this country by their discoveries and writ- ings. Among these John J. Audubon, the adventurous naturalist, and Asa Gray, the eminent systematic botanist, though men of very different mold, are alike in their wide and permanent fame. Some of our greatest men of science are still in active service, and any attempt to distinguish them from others would be out of place here. Of the old school of writers, the greater number belonged to a group about Boston, which in the period before and during the war had attained a literary activit}^ in advance of that of the rest of the country. The writers of the present period are much more widely distributed ; the intellectual life of our time is much more pervasive. Every WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. 379 JOHN J. AUDUBON. great natural division of the country is represented in Later writers, the present group of writers. The older authors were chiefl}' poets and essayists ; those of to-day give them- selves more to works of fiction and humor. The later men of letters now in active service are zeal- ous students of our own life. The manners and character of Americans in town and country are described with fullness in recent works of fiction, and the dialect variations and folk- speech of almost every part of the United States have been studied and reproduced for purposes of literary art. Many of the older historians preferred foreign themes ; the historical writers and students of to-day in this country de- vote themselves chiefly to exploring the history of the United States. These changes probably mark a growth of intellectual independence. In the colonial time there was little or nothing that Eariy American could be called American art. Several portrait-painters of ability practiced their calling in America. In the last century three artists of American birth achieved fame in England — Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, and Gilbert Stuart. West was born in Pennsylvania in 1738. Though he had never seen a picture of any sort, he made a drawing, at seven years of age, in red and black ink, of a sleeping infant whose cradle he had been set to watch. His mother was delighted with this mark of talent, and her praise encouraged West to continue to draw. He covered his copy-book with drawings of birds, Benjamin west, flowers, and quadrupeds before he had learned to write. BENJAMIN WEST. ;8o HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. JOHN S. COPLEY. When missed from the plow one day, he was found under a bush, where he had sketched from memory portraits of every member of the family. In order to get colors, he learned from the Indians how to pre- pare the red and yellow colors with which they paint- ed their faces ; to these he added blue by getting indigo from his mother. He made a brush of hairs from the tail of the house-cat. As there was small chance for an artist in America, he settled in England, where he became the favorite artist of the king, and the President of the Royal Academy. Copley \/as born in Boston in 1737. He early showed talent, and practiced the only art for which the colonists had any taste, that of portrait-painting. He sent a portrait to West in England, and its merit John Singleton gave him a position as an artist. In 1774 he went Copley. to England, where the rest of his life was spent, and where he achieved fame as a painter of portraits <^~ historical pieces. Stuart, who was probably the ablest of the three, was a native of Rhode Island. He went to England in 1775, and was a pupil of Benjamin West. In 1792 he returned to the United States, with a particu- lar desire to paint a portrait of Washington. He succeeded in making several of these, from w.ie of which the portrait of Washington given in ihis ^ "^/ work is engraved. Stuart painted many ad- mirable portraits in Anferica. He mav almost be considered the father of American art. The conditions of our life were formerly unfavor- able to the production of a school of painters and sculp- tors, but there has been a large advance in late years. Gilbert Stuart. GILBERT STUART. SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. ^gj Artists no longer have to leave America to find sup- Later artists, port in foreign lands. Some very notable work has been done in several departments of art, but it is yet too soon to treat historically the work of our greatest artists, the most of whom are yet living and working. 26 INDEX. Abercromby, Gen. James, 136; defeatof, 141. Abraham, Hei|,hts of, 137. Acadians, expulsion of the, 132. Accessions of territory, 359. Adams, John, influence of, in Continental Cong^ress, 173; death of, 174, 222. Adams, John Quincy, sketch of, 271. Adams, Samuel, sketch of, 163, 214. Alabama, admission of, to the Union, 266. Alabama, the, 347. Alabama claims, 347. Alamo, battle of the, 285. Alaska, 360. Algiers, war with, 230. Alien law, 225. Allen, Ethan, expedition of, 167. Almanacs, 373. America, discovery of, by Columbus, i mistakes in regard to, 3 ; first seen, 5 second, third, and fourth voyages to, 6 visits to, previous to Columbus, 7 ; visits to, of Americus Vespucius, 8 ; name of, 9 ; discovery of, by John Cabot, 10 ; visit- ed by John and Sebastian Cabot, 11 ; by Vasco da Gama, 11 ; still thought to be part of Asia, 1 1 ; suspected of not being, 12 ; way through or around sought, 12 ; not known to be a continent, 13 ; colonies sent to, 15 ; free government begun in, 33 ; French and Spaniards in, 113-118. American party, tiie, 301. American seamen, courage of, 253, American troops, character of, in the Mexi- can War, 287. Ames, Nathaniel, 373. Amherst, Jeffrey, 135. Amidas, Captain, leads an expedition to America, 15. Anderson, Major Robert, 30S. Andre, Major, connection of, with Arnold, 187 ; death of, 1S7. Andros, Sir Edmund, Governor, 150 ; im- prisoning of, 167. Annawon, capture of, 83. Antietam, battle of, 322. Anti-Federalists, 214. Anti-Nebraska party, 302. Appomattox, 345. Argall, Pocahontas stolen by, 30 ; character of, as governor, 33. Arkansas, admitted to the Union, 294 ; se- cession of, 315. Arnold, Benedict, character of, 186 ; at battle of Bemis Heights, 179; treason of, 187 ; escape of, 187. Art, American, 379, et seg. Arthur, Chester A., succeeds to the presi- dency, 357. Asia, spices of, i ; stories of rich cities in, I ; attempts to reach, around Africa, 2 ; shorter route proposed by Columbus, 2, 3. Assembly, clerk of Virginia, punished for betraying secrets, 153. Astronomers, colonial^ 371. Atlanta, capture of, 334. Audubon, John J., 378. Averysboro, battle of, 344. Bacon, Nathaniel, rebellion of, 84 ; char- acter of, 154, 156 ; war of, with Indians, 15s ; proclaimed a rebel, 155 ; siege of Jamestown by, 155 ; death of, 156. Balance of power, the, 300. Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean, 12. Baltimore, Lord George Calvert, failure of his colonies in Newfoundland and Vir- ginia, 53 ; receives grant of Maryland, 53 ; death of, 53 ; his son plants a colony in Maryland, 53-55- Baltimore, Md., attack on, 260; United States troops attacked in, 313. Baltimore clippers, 254, 278. 384 INDEX. Bancroft, George, 378. Banister, John, 371. Barbary pirates, war with, 229. Bargee, 238. Barlowe, Capt., in Ralegh's expedition, 15. Barren Hill, 182. Bartrani, John, 371. Battle above the clouds, the, 332. Bear-Flag Republic, the, 289. Beauregard, General P. G. T., 313. Bell, John, nominated for President, 305. Bellomont, Governor, character of, 151. Bennington, battle of, 179. Bentonville, battle of, 344. Berkeley, Sir William, 150 ; connection with Bacon's rebellion, 153, 154 ; flight of, 155 ; return of, 156 ; death of, 156. Biddle, Captain Nicholas, 191. Bigelovv, John, 34S. Black Snake, the, 219. Bladensburg, battle of, 260. Blaine, James G., 357. Blockade, 347. Block-houses, 89 ; illustration, 192. Bloody Run, fight at, with Indians, 8. Blue Jacket, 218. Boats and boatmen. Western, 23S. Bonaparte, schemes of, 239. Bond-servants and slaves, 104. Bonhomme Ricliard, the, encounter with the Serapis, 191. Boone, Daniel, 233, 234. Booth, John Wilkes, 350. ^ Border States, condition of, 312. Boston Massacre, 163. Boston Port Bill, 165. Boston Tea-party, 164. Botanists, early, 371. Boundaries, attempts of English to fix, 232. Bouquet, General Henry, defeats Indians at Bushy Run, 147. Bowling Green, 175. Braddock, General Edward, 130, 131. Bragg, General Braxton, 327 ; at Chatta- nooga, 332 ; at Lookout Mountain, 332. Brandyvvine, battle ol the, iSo. Breckinridge, John C, nominated for Presi- dent, 305 ; in military service, 339. Brewster, Elder, anecdote of, 41. British officers, relations of, with colonial soldiers, 140. Brock, General Isaac, decorates Tecumseh, 248. Brown, General Jacob, 259. Brown, John, raid of, 305 ; execution of, 305 ; effect of his raid in the South, 305. Bruinsburg, crossing at, of Grant, 328. Bryant, William C, 375. Buchanan, James, elected President, 303 ; sketch of, 304 ; signs Ostend Manifesto, 304 ; attitude toward secession, 308. Buell, General D. C, 317. Buena Vista, battle of, 287. Buffaloes exterminated, 364. Bull Run, first battle, 313 ; second, 321. Bunker Hill, battle of, 168. Burgoyne, General John, expedition of, 178 ; defeated at Bennington, 179 ; surrender of, 180. Burnet, Governor, character of, 151. Burnside, General A. E., placed in com- mand, 322. Burr, Aaron, 217 ; downfall of, 241 ; duel with Hamilton, 241 ; schemes of, 242. Bushy Run, battle of, 147. Cabinet, first, leaders of opposite parties in, 217. Cabot, John, birth of, 9 ; his journey to Mecca, 9, to ; first voyage to America, 10; called the Great Admiral, 11. Cabot, Sebastian, voyage with his father, John, II. Calhoun, John C, traits and doctrines of, 276, 307. California, conquest of, 2S8 ; visited by Spaniards, 289; by Sir Francis Drake, 2S9 ; Bear-Flag Government in, 289 ; an- nexed to United States, 289 ; admit- ted to the Union, 295 ; admission of, opposed, 298; gold-mines found in, 297. California, Lower, 2S9. Calvert, Leonard, first Governor of Mary- land, 53. Camden, S. C, battle of, 184. Canada, French in, 116. Canadians, fighting of, with Indians, 221. Canals, 27S. Cape Cod, named by Gosnold, 20. Cape Horn, voyage around, to California, 297. INDEX. 385 Capital of United States, lemoval of, 224. Captives, selling of, into Canada by Indians, 144, 145 ; rescue of, 146. Captivity, results of, 146. Carolinas, proposed constitution of, 56 ; slow growths in, 57 ; change of govern- ment, 57. Cartier, Jacques, voyages of, 115. Casco Bay, fort, attack on, 122. Cass, General Lewis, nominated for Presi- dent, 296. Cedar Creek, battle of, 340. Central America, attempt against, by fili- busters, 300. Cerro Gordo, battle of, 290. Chambersburg burned, 339. Champlain, Samuel de, 116. Chancellorsville, battle of, 322. Chapultepec, storming of, 291. Charles II, King, land grants to favorites, 55, 157- Charleston, removal to, of Port Royal set- tlement, 56; rebellion in, in 1719, 57 ; tea destroyed in, 164 ; siege of, by the British, 184; fall of, 184. Charter Oak, the, 157. Charter of Connecticut, hiding of, 157. Charter of Virginia, the great, 33, 34 ; stolen by Kemp, 36 ; lost, 36. Chattanooga, battles at, 332 ; siege of, 327- Chesapeake, the, 253. Chickahominy River, 320. Chickamauga, battle of, 331. " Chief who never Sleeps, the," 219. Church, Captain Benjamin, 82-84. Churubusco, battle of, 290. Cities, life in, in early days, 211. Clark, Captain, explorations of, 294. Clark, General George Rogers, exploits of, in the West, 193. Clay, Henry, connection with Missouri Com- promise, 268 ; sketch of, 275 ; doctrines of, 276 ; nominated for President, 283 ; advocates the Compromise of 1850, 298. Clermont, the, 278. Cleveland, Grover, elected President, 358. Clinton, George, 244. Clinton, Governor De Witt, builds Erie Ca- nal, 279. Clinton, Sir Henry, retreat of, 183. Cold Harbor, battle of, 337. Colleges in the young republic, 207-209. Colonial life : houses, 91 ; furniture, 92 ; food and drink, 93 ; dress and modes of travel, 94 ; schools, 95 ; amusements, 96 ; modes of taking game, 97. Colonial methods of fighting, 139, 140. Colonies, English, proposed in America, 14 ; motives for planting of, 20 ; sending of, by Ralegh, 15-19 ; attempt to plant, by Gosnold, 20, 21 ; planting of, by Pil- grims, 37 ; planting of, by Puritans, 42- 47 ; planting of, by Dutch, 47-52 ; by Lord Baltimore, 53-55 ; in the Carolinas, 55- 57 ; planting of, by Quakers, 59-62 ; planting of, by Oglethorpe, 64-66 ; sent by the Palatinate, 67 ; existing ones set- tled in, by Irish, French, Germans, and Scotch, 68 ; government of, 47 ; union of, against French and Indians, 122 ; joy in, over fall of Canada, 139 ; signals used in, 90 ; government of, 148 ; governors of, 150, 151 ; aristocratic feeling in, 213 ; democratic feeling in, 213. Colored men in War of 1812, 262. Columbia College, 216. Columbia River, discovery of, 294. Columbia, S. C, 344. Columbus, Christopher, sketch of, 2 ; pro- poses new route to Asia, is deceived by King of Portugal, 3 ; courage of, 4 ; of- fers to Ferdinand and Isabella, 4 ; sails from Spainr- 5 ; other voyages of, 6 ; death of, 7. Commerce, growth of, 229. Company, Virginia, 21-36, Compromise period, the, 275. Compromise of 1850, the, 298. Confederate money, 349. Confederate navy, the, 347. Confederates, seizure of forts and navy- yards by, 313. Confederate States of America, the, 309. Confederation formed, 195. Congress, the first, 165 ; petition of, 166 ; Continental, 168. Congress, the frigate, 324. Congress, weakness of, at first, 195. Constitution, the, of the United States, ef- fect upon, of the Great Charter of Vir- ginia, 34. 386 INDEX. Constitution, the, framed, 196 ; fears about, .197 ; adopted, 197 ; explanation of, 197, 198. Constitution, ciiang^e in the, 22S. Constitution, the frigate, escapes from a British squadron, 251 ; captures the Guer- riere, 252; nicknamed "Old Ironsides," 253 ; captures the Java, 252. Constitutional Convention, 196. Constitutional Union party, 305. Continental army, 171. Contreras, battle of, 290. Convict-servants, 106. Cooper, James F., 377. Copley, John S., 379, 380. Cordelling, 238. Corinth, movement toward, 317 ; siege of, 318, 327. Cornbury, Lord, 150. Cornwallis, Lord, 177, 178 ; surrender of, 189. Cotton-gin, the, 366. Cotton States, the, 306. Council of estate, the, 33. Cowpens, battle of the, 188. Craven, Governor, 85. Creek Indians, war with, 261. '" Crimps," 105. Croghan, Major George, defense of Fort Stephenson by, 256. Crook, General George, 339. Crown Point, capture of, 133. Cuba, attempts to purchase, 300 ; secret expeditions to, 300. Cumberland, the, 324. Custer, General George A., at the battle of the \Vashita, 362 ; defeated by the Sioux, 362. Custom-houses, colonial, established by English law, 152. Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 236. Cuttyhunk, Island of, settlement in the, 20. Dale, Sir Thomas, made governor of Vir- ginia, 29 ; return to England of, 30 ; di- vision of land by, 32. Dare, Virginia, first white child born in America, 19. Davenport, John, first settlement in New Haven by, 45. Davis, Jefferson, election of, to the presi- dency of Southern Confederacy, 309 ; sketch of, 309; released, 351. Dearborn, General Henry, 250. Decatur, Stephen, 230 ; commands frigate United States, 252. Declaration of Independence, the, 171,172, 174- De Kalb, Baron, 181. Delaware, crossings of the, 1 77. De la Warr, Lord, sent with supplies to Jamestown, 28 ; search of, for gold, 29 ; sickness of, 29 ; departure of, 29 ; return of, ^,2, ; death of, zi- Democratic party, rise of, 273, 274 ; divis- ions of, 296, 305. Democratic Republican party, 215. De Soto, Hernando, expedition of, 1 14 ; death and burial, 114. Detroit, surrender of, 247. Dinwiddie, Governor, 170. Directory, the French, 223. Discovery, the, 21-25. District of Columbia, the, 225 ; slaves in, 298. Domestic animals in the colonies, loi. Dongan, Governor, character of, 151. " Don't give up the ship ! " 253. Douglas, Stephen A., connection of, with Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 301 ; nomination for President, 305. Drake, Sir Francis, carries home remnant of first colony, iS ; visits California, 2S9. Dred Scott decision, the, 304 ; effect of, in the North, 305. Dress in Washington's time, 212. Dustin, Hannah, escape of, gi. Dutch, explorations of the, 49 ; claims of the, 49 ; trading-post of the, at Albany, 49 ; settlements of the, in 1623, 50 ; settle New Amsterdam, 50 ; driven from Connecticut River, 50 ; capture posts on the Delaware, 50. Early, General Jubal A. , 339. Eden, Governor, 150. Education in the new republic, 206. Election, presidential, disputed, 355. Electors, presidential, 229. Eliot, John, 82. Elizabeth, Queen, grants Ralegh's charter, 15 i Virginia named in honor of, 16. INDEX. 87 Emancipation Proclamation, 326. Embargo of 1807, 243. Emerson, Ralph W., 376. England, troubles with, 221. English, the, claims of, 51 ; conquest over the Dutch, 51 ; capture and rename New Amsterdam, 51-58. Era of good feeling, the, 269. Ericsson, John, 324. Erie Canal, effect of, 279. Essex, the, in the Pacific, 254. Fairfax, Lord, 170. Fair Oaks, battle of, 320. Fairs, colonial, 98. Farmers, life among the early, 210. Farragut, Admiral David G., 326. Federal city, 224. Federalists, 214, 215, 225, 227, 244 ; opinions of, 306. Ferdinand, King, Columbus's negotiations with, 4. Filibusters, 300. Fillmore, Millard, succeeds to the presi- dency, 297 ; nominated for President by the American party, 303. Finances of the United States government during the civil war, 348. Fireplace, Franklin's, 367. Fisher's Hill, battle at, 340. Fishing and whaling in the colonies, 102. Five Forks, battle of, 345. Flag, the American, 261. Flax-spinning, introduced by Irish Protest- ants, 68. Fletcher, Governor, 150. Florida, 114 ; purchased by the United States, 269. Foote, Commodore A. H., at Forts Henry and Donelson, 316. Forbes, General, 135. Fort Dearborn, 247. Fort Detroit, in Pontiac's conspiracy, 147. Fort Duquesne, fall of, 135. Fort Edward captured, 179. Fort Frontenac captured, 135. Fort Harrison, 248. Fort McHenry, 261. Fort Mackinaw, 247. Fort Monroe, 319. Fort Moultrie, 308. Fort Pitt, 147. Fort Stanwix, relief of, 179. Fort Stephenson, 256. Fort Sullivan, defense of, 1S4. Fort Sumter, effect of the firing on, 310. Fort Ticonderoga, defeat of the English at, 136. Fort Washington captured by the British, 175- Fort Wayne, 248. Fort William Henry, capture of, 133. France, alliance with, 182 ; and the Jay treaty, 222 ; action of, during the civil war, 34S. Franklin, battle of, 342. Franklin, Benjamin, connection with peace treaty, 189 ; in Constitutional Conven- tion, 10, 207 ; founds a library, 372 ; his writings, 373. Franklin, State of, 265. Fredericksburg, 322. Free-Soil party, formation of, 296 ; vote in 1852, 299 ; merged in the Republican, 302. Fremont, General John C, 286; nominated for President, 303. French, explorations of, in the West, 116, 117; weakness and strength of, 118; influence of, over the Indians, 118 ; defeat of, by the English, 136; possessions of, ceded to the English, 139. French Louisiana, extent of, 240. French War, causes of, 119, 120 ; influence of, 144- Frobisher, Sir Martin, 14. Frolic, sloop of war, captured, 252. Frontenac, 121. Fugitive-slave law, the, 298 ; opposition to, 299. Fulton, Robert, 278. Gage, General, sending by, of troops to Lexington and Concord, 166. Garfield, James A., wins battle of Preston- burg, 315 ; elected President, 357 ; shot, 357 ; death, 357. Garrison, William Lloyd, agitates slavery question, 296. Gates, General Horatio, defeat of Burgoyne by, at Bemis Heights, 180 ; defeated at Camden, S. C, 184. 388 INDEX. Gates, Sir Thomas, appointed Governor of Virginia, 27 ; wrecked on the Bermudas, 27 ; reaches Jamestown, 28. General Assembly, the first, in Virginia, 33 ; influence of, 36. George III, statue of, 175. Georgia, project to settle, with distressed English people, 63 ; Oglethorpe attempts to carry out, 63 ; schemes fail, 65 ; land laws in, 66 ; government transferred to the king, 66 ; General Wayne in, 219. German immigration, 67. Germantown, battle of, 181. Gerrish, Sarah, captivity of, 145. Gettysburg, battle of, 322. Ghent, Treaty of, 262. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 14. Gladwin, Major, 147. Godfrey, Thomas, 366, 372. Goldsboro, 344. Goliad, massacre at, 285. Good-speed, the, 21. Gordon, Captain, 232. Gosnold, Bartholomew, colony brought by, to New England in 1603, 20 ; colony of, fails, 21 ; forms the Virginia Company, 21. Government, free, begun in America, 33 ; effect of the Great Charter of Vir- ginia, 34. Government, royal, of colonies, 14S ; charter, 149; proprietary, 149; weakness of, during the Revolution, 192. Grant, General Ulysses S., captures Forts Henry and Donelson, 313 ; captures Vicksburg, 328 ; given full command in the West, 332 ; of all the Union forces, 333 ; sketch of, 334, 335 ; elected Presi- dent, 354 ; re-elected, 355. Gray, Asa, 378. Gray, Captain, expedition of, to China, 293 ; entrance of, to Oregon River, 294. Greeley, Horace, 355. Green, Roger, 56. Greenbacks, 348. Greene, General Nathanael, campaign of, in the South, 1S8 ; success of, 189. Green Mountain Boys, 167, 264. Gren\ille, Sir Richard, 16. Guerriere captured by Constitution, 252. Guilford Court-House, battle of, 188. " Hail Columbia," 224. Hale, John P., 299. Half-Moon, the, 48. Hamilton, General Alexander, 216, 217. Hampton Roads, 324. Hancock, General Winfield S., 356. Hardee, General W. J., at Missionary Ridge, T,T,-},- Hard times, the, 282. Harmer, General Josiah, defeat of, 218. Harrison, Benjamin, elected President, 359. Harrison, General William Henry, 246; placed in command of the Northwestern army, 255 ; besieged at Fort Meigs, 256 ; message to Proctor, 256 ; address to his army, 258 ; recaptures Detroit, 258 ; bat- tle of the Thames, 25S ; sketch of, 282 ; election to the presidency, 2S2 ; death, 282. Harper's Ferry, 339. Harpeth River, 342. Harvard College, 2c6, 213. Harvey, Sir John, deposed as Governor of Virginia, 153; removed, 153. Havana, 346. Hawkins, Sir John, 107. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 377. Hayes, Rutherford B., declared President, 356. Hayti, colony planted in, during Columbus's second voyage, 6. Heating, former mode^; of, 210. Hennepin, Father, 117. Henry VH, King, Bartholomew Columbus sent to, 9 ; Cabot sent out by, 10. Henry, Patrick, sketch of, 161 ; connec- tion of, with the Revolution, 160, 161 ; speeches of, 162 ; death, 162 ; men- tioned, 214. Herkimer, General, gallant conduct of, at Oriskany, 179. Hessians, the, 177. Holmes, Oliver W., 375, 376. Hood, General John B., succeeds Johnston, 334- Hooker, General Joseph E. , succeeds Burn- side, 322 ; at Lookout Mountain, 332. Hooker, Thomas, first settlements in Con- necticut, 45. Hopkins, Esek, 190. House of Representatives, 198. INDEX. 389 Houston, General Sam, sketch of, 2S4 ; commander, 2S5 ; President of Texas, 2S5. Howard, John, 232. Howe, Admiral Lord, comes to America, 175- Howe, Elias, 367. Howe, General Sir William, commands British array, 175 ; enters Philadelphia, i8i. Howe, Lord, character of, 141 ; reforms of, in army, 141 ; relations of, with Ameri- can officers, 141. Hudson, Henry, search of, for China, 48 ; sails up the Hudson River to find the East Indies, 49 ; looks for China through Hudson Bay, 49 ; death of, 49. Huguenots, settlement of, in South Caro- lina, 56, 6S ; in Florida, 115. Hull, Captain Isaac, 251. Hull, General William, surrenders Detroit, 247. Hunter, General David, 339. Hutchinson, Ann, founds a sect, 44. Illinois, admission of, to the Union, 266. Imboden, General, 339. Impressment of sailors, 243, Indiana, admission of, to the Union, 266. Indians, relations of settlers with, 17-19, 21, 23, 2S-L-7, 29, 35, 36, 39, 40, 50, 54; life of, 69 ; clothing, 70 ; adornments of, 70 ; wampum, 70-72 ; houses, 72 ; furniture, 73 ; cooking, 73 ; agriculture, 74 ; canoes, 75 ; wars, 76 ; trade of, with white men, 77 ; sale of New York by, 78 ; attempts to educate, 79 ; massacres, 80 ; pass-words, 82 ; weapons, 86, 87 ; strata- gems, 8S ; escape of captives from, 90, 91; influence of the French over, 118; Six Nations, 118; wars, modern, 361; in War of 1812, 248 ; trouble with, in the West, 217. Indigo, culture of, in the colonies, 100. Inscription by Boone, 233. " Internal improvements," 274. Inventions, American, 366. Iowa admitted to the Union, 295. Irving, Washington, 374. Isabella, Queen, aids Columbus, 4. Island No. 10, fall of, 316. Jack of the Feather causes a massacre, 35. Jackson, General Andrew, surrender to, of Weathersford, 262 ; seizes Pensacola, 262 ; elected President, 272 ; character of, his administration, 273. Jackson, General Thomas J., 319; sketch of, 320. Jackson, Miss., taking of, by Grant, 328. James I, King, tyranny of, resisted in Parliament, 33 ; destroys Virginia Com- pany, 36. Jamestown, first settlement of, by Virginia Company, 22-27 \ colony of, set out to return to England, 28 ; brought back to, by Lord De la Warr, 28 ; tobaccq successfully raised in, 31 ; saved by Mr. Pace, 36. Jasper, Sergeant William, defends the col- ors at Fort Sullivan, 1S4 ; at Savannah, 185 ; death, 185. Java, the frigate, captured, 252. Jay, John, 222. Jefferson, Thomas, sketch of, 172; charac- ter, 173; mentioned, 217; elected Presi- dent, 228 ; dealings of, with France, 239 ; embargo, 244. Jefferson Republicans, opinions of, 306. Jennings, rescue of captives by, 146. Jersey, East, settlement in, of Scotch Pres- byterians, 58. Johnson, Andrew, 349 ; succeeds to the presidency, 353 ; impeachment of, 354. Johnson, Sir William, 133. Johnston, General Albert Sidney, 317; death of, 318. Johnston, General Joseph E., 313, 320 ; sketch of, zZi- Johnston, Governor Robert, 151. Joliet, 116. Jones, John Paul, exploits of, during the Revolution, 191. Kanawha Valley, 339. Kansas, bill to organize, 301 ; collisions in, 302 ; admission of, to the Union, 306. Kearny, Colonel, sent to New Mexico, 288. Kearsarge, the, 347. Keel-boat, 238. Kemp, theft of the Great Charter of Virginia by, 36. Kenesaw Mountain, battle of, 334. 390 INDEX. Kentucky, meaning of name, 217 ; Boone settles in, 233 ; admission of, 264 ; early struggles in the civil war, 315 ; invasion of, by Confederates, 327. Kernstown, battle at, 339. Key, Francis S., song by, 261. Kidd, Captain William, 102. King George's War, 127. King Philip's War, S2 ; his death, 83. King's College, 216. King William's War, 120. Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, 231. Know-nothing party, the, 301. La Fayette, Marquis de, sketch of, 181 ; as- sistance of, 182 ; visit, 182 ; death, 182. Lake Chanijikiin, battle on, 260. Lake Erie, Harrison's expedition to, 257 ; ships built for, 257 ; battle of, 257. Lake George, battle of, 133 ; saying in re- gard to colonial troops at, 140. Lane, Ralph, charge in Virginia, 16; tries to find Pacific Ocean, 17 ; carries tobacco to England, 18. La Salle, 117. Lawrence, Captain James, death of, 253. Laws and usages in the colonies, loS-iio. Lederer, expedition of, 231. Lee, Robert E., 320, 321 ; sketch of, 335. Legislatures, colonial, 149 ; character of, 150. Leif, tradition concerning, in Norway, 7. Leisler, Captain Jacob, rebellion of, 157 ; execution of, 15S. Lewis, Captain, expedition of, 294. Lexington, battle of, 167. Lexington, Missouri, 315. Leyden, Pilgrims bring church to, 37. Liberal-Republican party, the, 355. Libraries, public, 372. Lighting, former modes of, 209. Lincoln, Abraham, elected President, 306 ; inauguration of, 309 ; second election of, 349 ; assassination of, 350 ; sketch of, 351. Literature and art in the United States, 368 et seq. Literature of the new repubhc, 207, 373 et seq. ; later, 379. Little Turtle, 218. Livingston, Robert R., 239 ; declaration by, 240. Log-cabin and hard-cider campaign, 282. Longfellow, Henry W., 375. Long Island, battle of, 175. Lookout Mountain, 332. Loudon, Lord, 133. Louisbourg, capture of, 127 ; return of, to the French, 128; second siege of, 133; capture, 135 ; colonial musketeers at, 140. Louisiana, 117; purchase of settlement of, 238-240 ; admitted to ihe Union, 265. Lovewell, Captain, fight of, with the In- dians, 144; ballad about, 144. Lowell, James R. , 376. Lucas, Miss Eliza, 100. Lundy's Lane, battle of, 259. Lynchburg threatened, 339. Lyon, General Nathaniel, 315. Macdonough, Commodore, victory of, on Lake Champlain, 260. Macedonian, the, captured by the United States, 252. Madison, James, election of, 244 ; character and re-election of, 248, 249. Madison, Mrs., ensign of the Macedonian pi'esented to, 252. Madoc, Prince, tradition concerning, in Wales, 7. Magellan, Fernando, sets out on expedition around the world, 13 ; death, 13. Magellan, Strait of, first entered in 1520, 13- Mails, carrj-ing of, in early days, 206. Maine, first settlement in, 46 ; made a State, 46; admission of, to the Union, 266. Manassas, battle of, 313 ; second battle of, 321. Manassas, the fire-ram, 327. March to the sea, 342. Marco Polo, birth of, i ; visit to China, i. Marie Antoinette, interest of, in American Revolution, 236. Marietta, 236. Marion, General I'rancis, 1S5. Marshall, Humphrey, 315. Maryland, colony planted in, by Lord Bal- timore, 53 ; quarrels between Catholics and Protestants, 54. Mason, James M., 346. Mason, John, 81. INDEX. 391 Massachusetts, rapid growth of, 44 ; perse- cutions in, 44, 45. Massachusetts Company, charter of, 156. Massasoit, chief, friendly relations with, 40. Matamoros, city of, in Mexican War, 286. Mauraee, Wayne's victory on the, 219. Mayflower, the, 39, Mayflower, the second, 236. McCIellan, General George B., put in cona- mand of the army, 312 ; sketch of, 31S, 321, 322. McDowell, General Irvin, 313, 319. Meade, General George G., succeeds Hook- er, 322. Medicine, early practice of, 369. Menendez, 115. Merrimac, the, 324. Mexicans, persistence of, 288. Mexican War, differing opinions about, 292. Mexico, city of, evacuated, 291. Mexico, treaty with, 291 ; grounds of quar- rel with, 285, 286 ; territory acquired from, 292, 293. Michigan admitted to the Union, 295. Mill Spring, battle of, 315. Mills, Roger Q., 358. Minnesota admitted to the Union, 306. Minnesota, the, 324. Minute-men, the, 166. Missionaries, Spanish Catholic, in Cali- fornia. 289. Missionary Ridge, 332. Mississippi, admission of, to the Union, 266. Mississippi, descent of the, 232. Missouri, debate over the admission of, 266 ; admitted to the Union, 294 ; in the civil war, 315 ; compromise, the, 268. Mitchell, John, 371. Murfreesboro, battle of, 329. Muskingum River, settlement on, 236. Mobile, 350. Modes of travel, 278. Molino del Rey, battle of, 290. Monitor, the, 324, 325. Monmouth, 182. Monmouth, battle of, 183. Monocacy, battle of the, 339. Monroe, James, 239; sketch of, 269; pov- erty and death of, 270. Monroe doctrine, the, 270. Montcalm, 133 ; attack on, 136 ; death of, 138. Monterey, capture of, 286. Montgomery, Confederate capital removed from, 313. Montgomery, 309. * Montreal, surrender of, to the English, 138. Morgan, 188. Morse, S. F. B., 280. " Mother of Presidents," 297. Motley, John L., 378. Moultrie, General, 184. Mystic, battle with Indians at, 81. Napoleon Bonaparte, peace with, 224. Nashville, battle of, 342. National Road, the, 279. Navigation laws, the, 159. Navy, American, feats of, during the Revo- lution, 190, 191 ; deeds of infant Ameri- can, 230 ; neglect of, in the War of 1812, 350 ; faith in, of its officers, 250 ; admira- tion of, 253. Navy, British, opinion of, in 1812, 250. Nebraska, bill to organize, 301. Nebraska Bill, scope of, 302. Negro suffrage, 355. New Albion, California called, 289. New Hampshire, settled, 46 ; first to set up a State government, 194 ; grants, the, 264. New Jersey, divided into East and West, 58 ; reunited, 62 ; retreat of Washington across, 175. New Madrid, evacuation of, 316. New Market, battle at, 339. New Mexico, conquest of, 28S ; organized as free territory, 299. New Orleans, Jackson's victory at, 262 ; captured by Farragut, 326. Newspapers in early days, 206. New York, Americans evacuate, 175. New York, college in the early days, 207. New York, claim of, 264. Niagara, the ship, 257. Norfolk Navy-Yard, 324. Norsemen, adventures and discoveries of, 7. North, feeling of the, about slavery, 300 ; advantages of the, in the war, 312. Northwest passage sought, 13. Northwest Territory, the, 235. " No taxation without representation," 160. 392 INDEX. Nueces River, dispute about the, 286. Nullification, 307. Oglethorpe, General James Edward, war with the Spaniards, 127 ; sketch of, 163. Ohio, admission of, to the Union, 265 ; pioneers of, 236. Ohio River, descent of the, 232. Okeechobee, battle of, 297. " Old Hickory," 272. " Old Man Eloquent," the, 272. " Old Thirteen," 264. Opechankano, chief, house built for, 35 ; joins in plot to massacre settlers, 35 ; sec- ond plot, 8q ; death, 80. Opequon, battle of, 340. Ordinance of Eighty-seven, the, 235. Oregon, discovery of the, 293, 294 ; dis- pute about, 294 ; admission to the Union, 306. Oriskany, battle of, 1 79. Ostend Manifesto, 304. Otis, James, sketch of, 160, 161 ; giving watch-word of the Revolution, 161. Pace, life saved by an Indian boy, 35 ; saves Jamestown, 36. Pacific Ocean, discovery of the, 12. Pakenham, Sir Edward, 263. Palatines, the, 67 ; treatment of, in New York, 67. Palo Alto, battle of, 286. Parkman, Francis, 378. Parliament, the English, commercial laws made by, 151. Parsons' Cause, the, 161. Peace Convention, the, 307. Pea Rid;^e, battle of, 315. Peninsula campaign, 319. Penn, William, sketch of, 59, 60; Penn- sylvania granted to, 60; founded Phila- delphia in 1681, 61 ; rapid growth of his colony, 62. Pensacola captured, 262. Pequot War, the, 80. Periaugers, 278. Perry, Commodore Oliver Hazard, at the battle of Lake Erie, 257 ; message to Harrison, 25S. Perryville, battle of, 327. Persecution, ceasing of, 113. Petersburg, siege of, 337, 338 ; capture of, 345- Philadelphia, loss of the by, Americans, 181 ; recovery of, 183 ; capital at, 214. Philadelphia, the frigate, 230. Philippi, battle of, 312. Phillips, Wendell, opinions, 296, Phips, Sir William, 123. Pickett's charge, 323. Piedmont, battle at, 339. Pierce, Franklin, sketch of, 299 ; elected President, 299 ; favors the Nebraska Bill, 302. Pilgrims, the, distinction from Puritans, 37 ; fleeing from England to Holland, 37 ; de- cide to emigrate to escape persecution, 37 ; departure and voyage, 39; landing at Plymouth, 39 ; sufferings, 39 ; dealings with Indians, 40 ; manner of holding meetings, 41 ; defenses, 41 ; property in common, 41 ; colony united with Massa- chusetts, 42. Pioneers, the race of, 232 ; hardihood of, 234 ; life of, 236, 237. Pirates, 103 ; of Barbary, war with, 229. Pitt, William, 134, 135 ; his order relating to American officers, 140. Pittsburg Landing, battle of, 317. Plattsburg, battle of, 260. Pocahontas, stealing of, 30 ; baptism, 30 ; marriage, 30 ; journey to England, 30 ; death, 30. Poe, Edgar A. , 376. Polk, James Knox, elected President, 283. Ponce de Leon, expedition of, 114. Pontiac's conspiracy, 147. Pope, General John, 315, 316, 321. Population of the United States, 202, 268, 364, 365- Porter, Captain David, 254. Port Hudson, surrender of, 329. Potatoes brought by Irish Protestants, 68. Powhatan, trouble given by, to Virginia, 29 ; peace made with, 30. Prescott, William H., 377. President, the, powers of, 198 ; old mode of electing, 227. Press, the, freedom of, 200. Prevost, Sir George, 259. Price, General Sterling, 315. INDEX. 393 Prince Henry the NavigatOi-, first suggested discovery, 2. Prince of Orange, effect upon the colonists of his landing in England, 157. Princeton, battle of, 178. Princeton College, 207. Privateers, American, during the Revolu- tion, igi ; in the War of 1S12, 254. Proclamation of Emancipation, prelimina- ry, 325 ; final, 326. Proctor, General, cruelty of, 255 ; siege of Fort Meigs Ly, 255 ; defeat of, at Fort Stephenson, 256 ; defeat of, at the Thames, 258. Prophet, the Indian, 245 ; at Tippecanoe, 246. Pulaski, Count, 181, 184. Punishments, colonial, 110. Puritans, the, peculiarities of their faith, 42 ; origin of the name, 42 ; in England, form a company, 43 ; send colony to America, 43 ; entire company of emigrants, 43 ; make Boston their capital, 43. Putnam, General Rufus, 236. Quakers flee from England to West Jer- sey, 59- Quebec, 116; expeditions against, 123; fall of, 137- Queen Anne's War, 125, 126. Railroads, introduction of, ^9 ; improve- ments in, 2S0 ; changes produced by, 281. Raisin, battle of the river, 255. Ralegh, Sir Walter, sketch of, 15, 16 ; names Virginia, 16 ; sends colony to Ro- anoke under Ralph Lane, 16, 17 ; adopts use of tobacco brought to England by Lane, 18 ; sends colony to Roanoke under John White, 18, 19 ; death of, 19. Raleigh, N. C, march to, 344. Rangers, 142. Rappahannock, the, 322. Read mission of seceded States, 355. Red Eagle, 261. Redemptioners, 106. Religion, freedom of, igg ; controversies, 369- Religious denominations, division of, by the slavery question, 305. " Remember the River Raisin ! " 255. Republic, life in the new, 204-214. Republican party, the early, 215 ; sympathy of, with France, 216, 227 ; called Demo- cratic, 244 ; (the present one) organized, 302. Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 2S6. Revere, Paul, his ride, 166. Revolution, the, causes of, 159 ; darkest period of, 181. Rewards for scalps, 142. Rice, Thomas, 8g. Rice-culture in the colonies, 99. Richmond, Va., Confederate capital re- moved to, 313. Rich Mountain, battle of, 313. Ride and tie, 205. Rio Grande, dispute about, 286. Ripley, General, 259. Rittenhouse, David, 372. Roads, condition of, in early days, 205. Robertson, 236. Robinson, John, 37. Rochambeau, 189. " Rock of Chickamauga," the, 332. Rogers, Major Robert, daring exploits of, 142, 143. Rogers's slide, 143. Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 30 ; cul- tivates tobacco, 31, 99. Rosecrans, General W. S., at Corinth, 327 ; succeeds Buell, 331. Round Head wears Tecumseh's decoration, 248. Sacramento River, gold found in, 297. St. Augustine, Fla., founding of, 115. St. Clair, General Arthur, evacuates Ticon- deroga, 179 ; defeated, 2ig. Salem, witchcraft in, 112. Salmon Falls, attack on, 122. Samoset addres es Pilgrims in English, 40. Sandys, Sir Edwin, character of, and con- nection with Great Charter of Virginia, Santa Anna, war with, in Mexico, 2S5 ; at Cerro Gordo, 290. Saratoga, condition of fire-arms at, 192. Sassacus, 81. Savannah, Ga., capture of, 184; captured in the civil war, 343. Schenectady, destruction of, 121, 122. 394 INDEX. Scliofield, General John M., 343, 344. Schuyler, Peter, expedition ag:ainst Canada, 124 ; carries Mohawk chief to England, 125. Science, study of, 371, 37S. Scott, General Winfield, 259; in Mexican War, 287 ; expedition to Mexico, 250 ; sketch of, 291 ; candidate for President, 299. Scrooby, Pilgrim church at, 37. Secession, ordinance of, passed in South Carolit^, 307 ; different views of, 311. Sedition law, 225. Seminole Indians, war against, 297. Semmes, Captain Raphael, 347. Senate, the, 198. Serapis, the, 191. Seven Days' battles, 321. Sevier, John, 236. Sewing-machines, 367. Seymour, Horatio, 354. Shannon, the, 253. Sharpsburg, Md., battle near, 322. Sheridan, General Philip H., sketch of, 341 ; death, 341. Sherman, General \V. T. , commands in the West, 2;;;^ ; sketch of, 343. Shiloh, battle of, 317. Shirley, Governor, 127. Sigel, General Franz, 339. Simms, William G. , 377. Skenesborough, 179. Slavery, declared illegal in Massachusetts, 113; the, question, 265; in politics, 295, 296 ; effect of war on, 352. Slaves, introduction of, 106; character of African, 107 ; insurrections of, 107 ; In- dian, loS ; sold to Harbadoes, %t, ; to West Indies, 85 ; bringing of, into United States forbidden, 267. Slave-trader, the first English, 107. Slidell, John, 346. Smith, Captain John, sketch of, 24; capt- ured by Indians, 25 ; story of rescue of, by Pocahontas, 25 ; exploration by, of Chesapeake Bay and coast north of Cape Cod, 26 ; made governor, 26 ; map by, referred to, 39 ; map and letters sent by, to Henry Hudson, 48. Smith, James, return of, from Indian cap- tivity, 146. 1 Smuggling, 152. J Soldiers of 1S12, character of the, 249. South, the, traits of, in early days, 211 ; feeling of, about slavery, 300 ; advantages of, in the war, 312. Southampton, Earl of, character of, and connection with the Great Charter of Virginia, 33. South Carolina, rebellion of, against lords- proprietors, 158. Soutiiwest, discontent in, 241. Spain refuses to sell Cuba, 300. Spaniards in PUorida, 114, 127. Specie payments, resumption of, 349. "Spirits," 105. Spotswood, Governor, character of, 151, 231. Spottsylvania Court-House, 336. Squanto teaches settlers to plant Indian corn, 40. " Squatter sovereignty," 302. Stamp Act, the, 159; repealed, 163. Standish, Captain Myles, commands Plym- outh Colony, 40 ; attacks the Indians, 40 ; escorts ministers, 41. Stark, General John, defeats the British at Bennington, 179. "Star-Spangled Banner," song, 261. State charters, claims of, and ceding of, to General Government, 235. State-rights doctrine, the, 307. State sovereignty, effect of war on, 35. States, origin of the, 194 ; early relations to one another, 195 ; claims, 195 ; number of, 360 ; new ones admitted, 360, 361. Steadman, Edmund C, 377. Steamboats, the first, 278. Steuben, Baron, 181. Stoddard, Richard H., 376. Stone River, battle of, 329. "Stonewall" Jackson, sketch of, 320. Stony Point, capture of, 183 ; storming of, 219. Stowe, Harriet B., 377. Stuart, Gilbert, 379, 3S0. Stuyvesant, Peter, 50. Sumter, Fort, attack on, 308. Sumter, General Thomas, 185. Supreme Court, the, 198. Surrender of Lee, 345 ; of Johnston, 345. Susan Constant, the, 21. INDEX. 395 Swamp-fight, the, 82. " Swamp-Fox," the, 185, 186. Swedes, colony of, on Delaware River, 50. Tariff question, the, 358. Tarleton, Colonel Banastre, 188. Taxes, opposition to, 164. Taylor, General Zachary, 248 ; in the Mexi- can War, 286 ; sketch of, 297 ; elected President, 296. Teach, Edward, 103. Tecumseh, claim of, 245 ; confederacy of, 245 ; battle with, 246 ; as British briga- dier-general, 248 ; at the siege of Fort Meigs, 255 ; death, 258. Telegraph, tlie electric, invention of, 280 ; first line of, 281 ; changes produced by, 281, 367. Tennessee, admission of, into the Union, 265 ; the war in, 329. Terrapin policy, 244. Territories, question of slavery in the, 295 ; settlement of the, 361. Texas, proposed annexation of, 284 ; revo- lution in, 285 ; admitted to the Union, 285 ; boundary disputed, 286 ; political result of annexation, 295. Thames, battle of the, 258. Thomas, General George H., 315 , at Mur- freesboro, 331 ; at Chickamauga, 332. Thoroughfare Gap, 321. Ticonderoga, defeat of the English at, 136 ; surrender of, to Ethan Allen, 168, i6g ; evacuation of, by General St. Clair, 179. Tilden, Samuel J., 355. Tippecanoe, the battle of, 246. Titles, questions about, 214. Tobacco, brought into England, 18 ; thought medicinal, 18 ; called a " weed," 31 ; used for money, 31, 99 ; pipes for, made of nut- shells and straws, 18. Trade of colonial cities, 102. Traveling, early modes of, 204, 205. Treaty of Paris, 189 ; with Mexico, 291. Trent affair, the, 346. Trenton, battle of, 177. Tribute, abolition of, 230. Tripoli, Pasha of, 229. Tyler, John, administration of, 283 ; Presi- dent of the Peace Convention, 307. Type-writer, the, 367. " Uncle Tom's Cabin," effect of, 300. United States of America, 172 ; growth of, after War of 1S12, 266. United States, the frigate, captures the Macedonian, 252. Valley Forge, winter-quarters at, 181. Valley of Virginia in the civil war, 319. Van Buren, Martin, sketch of, 276 ; elected President, 277 ; connection of, with hard times, 282 ; renominated and defeated, 296. Van Dorn, General Earl, attacks Corinth, 327- Vasco da Gama, expedition of, 11. Vera Cruz, army landed at, 289 ; captured, 290. Vermont admitted to the Union, 263. Verrazano, voyage and claim of, 115. Vespucius, Americus, birth of, 8 ; voyages of, to South America, 8 ; descriptions of country by, 8 ; name wrongly bestowed, 8,9. Vicksburg, 316. Victoria, the, first voyage around the world made by, 13. Vincennes, capture of, 193. Virginia, early English name for the whole coast of North America, 16 ; first settle- ment in, 16, 17 ; second, 18, 19 ; first white child born in, 19 ; third colony to, 20-32 ; Great Charter in, 32, t,t, ; com- munity of life in, 32 ; division of land in, 34 ; sending of women to, 34 ; Indian troubles in, 35 ; Company of, dissolved, 36 ; further division of land in, 52. Virginia, the, 324. Wagons, Conestoga, 205. Walker, William, expeditions of, and death, 300. Wallace, General Lew, 339. War of 1812, causes of, 242, 243 ; declared, 246 ; pioneers of, 254. Washington, George, embassy of, to the French, 128 ; connection with Braddock, 130-132 ; sketch of, 169-171 ; given com- mand of the army, 171 ; causes the Brit- ish to evacuate Boston, 171 ; retreat of, from Long Island, 175 ; condition of the army, 176 ; crosses the Delaware and de- *^\^ 396 INDEX. feats the Hessians, 177; recrosses, 177; at Valley Korge, 181 ; resif^ns command of the army, 190 ; elected President, 200 ; death, 220. Washing^ton, Martha, title of " Lady," 214. Washington, city of, burned by the British, 260. Washita, battle of the, 362. Wasp, sloop-of-war, captures the Frolic, 252. Wayne, General Anthony, 219. Weathersford, 261. Webster, Daniel, traits and doctrines of, 275, 276. West, emigrants to the, 236. West, Benjamin, 379. West Indies, first seen, 6. West Virginia, loss of, by the South, in the war, 312. Whig party, rise of the, 273, 274 ; secession from, 296 ; decay of, 301. Whisky rebellion, the, 220. White, John, governor of Ralegh's second colony, 18. White, VV., rescue of white captives by, 146. Whitehall, 179. Whitney, Eli, 366. Whittier, John G., 375, 376. Wilderness, battles of the, 336. Wilkes, Captain Charles, 346. William III, King, charter from, in 1692, 42. William and Mary College, 2,^0. Williams, Roger, banishment of, for his faith, 45 ; founds Rhode Island, 45. Williamsburg, battle of, 319. Wilmington, N. C, 344. Wilmot Proviso, the, 296. Wilson's Creek, battle of, 315. Winchester, battle of, 340. Winchester, General James, defeat of, 255. Winthrop, John, chcsen Governor of Puri- tan Colony, 43 ; sketch of, 44 ; made Governor of Connecticut, 44. Wisconsin admitted 10 the Union, 295. Witchcraft, charms against, in ; in Salem, 112. Wolfe, General James, 137 ; death of, 138. Wright, Silas, 281. Writs of assistance, 159. Yale College, 207. Yeardley, Sir George, 34. Yorktown, Va., battle of, 189; siege of, 319- Zollikoffer, General F. K., 315. THE END. - i STATES. Nevada Delaware OiH^on Colorado Florida Rhode Island Vermont New Hampshire Nebraska West Virginia Conneetieut Maine Minnesota Arkansas California Maryland I.ovn'siana South Carolina Kansas New Jersey Mississippi Alaljama VViseonsin North Carolina Virginia Georpia Tennessee Texas Iowa Miehipan Kentucky Massachiisetw Indiana Missouri. Illinois Ohio Pennsylvania New York I'OP'N 1880. 62,266 Ku,608 174,768 ]94„S27 269,493 27H,5S1 3:?2,286 346,991 4,52,407 618,4,''i7 622,700 648, 9o0 780,773 802,.525 864.694 934,943 9a9,946 99.5,577 990,096 1,131,116 1,131 ,.597 1,202,.50.5 1,315,497 1,399,.5.50 1,512,565 1,.542,1,S0 1,.542..3.59 1„591,749 1,624,615 1,636,937 1,648,690 1,783,885 1,978,301 2,168,380 3,077.871 3,198,062 4,282,891 5,082,871 AKEA Sq. Ml. 110.700 2.050 96,0.30 103,925 58,680 1,250 9,505 9,305 76,855 24,780 4,990 a3,W0 83,365 53,850 1,58 ,,360 12,210 48,720 .30,,570 82,080 7,815 46,810 62,250 .56,010 52,250 42,450 59,475 42,0,''iO 265,780 56,025 .58,915 40,400 8,315 36,.3!^0 69,415 56,6.50 41,060 45,215 49,170 l.'.MKMWU 100,000 '^y FA ^!k POPULATION AND AREA OF THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES. The red lines and fitjures {tltove refer to populatioru The black lines and fffares below to area in square miles. I 2,(X)0,000 3,000,000 aooooo 4,000,000 soo, 000 5,000,000 boo SOOl 000 /.jr- UNITED STATES SHOWING DIVISIONS INTO STATES AND TERRITORIES. / (Alaska Omitted.) f% SFPS-ffi^O^, ^' .v'MPlO N^ ,^>" is>r>s^ y.^ .^^S^J J a li ■\j ■H ■-^ '^K ^ !<' ^ ^ V ^ V f( tr ^ ' OF M E X I Terkitorees. Wyoming Alaska Idaho Montana Arizona Indian Ty. Washington New Mexico Dakota rtoh Dist. of Col. POP'N 1880- 20,780 30,000 32,010 39,159 10,440 7;;,ooo 75,110 119,505 135,177 143.903 177,624 ARnA Sti. Ml, 97,RrO 580,000 84,800 14fi,0S0 113,0J0 64.090 69,180 ]2a,.W0 149,100 84,970 70 1,0