/\S MASTER'S PRIMARY HIST O OF THE UN ITE D E 178 .1 .11175 1901 Copy 1 NEW VO-Mv i can: book go/ \rv Class JH II? Book • ' Gop>7ightN° Ax COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. A PRIMARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES BY JOHN BACH McMASTER PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA °X*ther men had debts for- given them, or suits at law stopped, if they too would go. Three small ships or car- avels were seized without the owners' consent. In the largest, called the Santa Maria, Columbus went. Another Mas the Pinta. The smallest was called the Nina, which means Baby. On board the three were exactly ninety men. Just before sunrise one summer morning, the little fleet set The voyage sail on the greatest voyage of discovery made by man. All sorts of terrors rilled the minds of the sailors. When they were at the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, a volcano burst into eruption, and they were sure this was a sign of bad luck. When the last of the Canaries disappeared behind them, they wept and wailed as if their hearts would break. Then the jw Santa Maria 10 HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA compass needle began to act queerly, and they were sure it was bewitched. Next the wind for days blew from the east, and they were sure they would never be able to sail home against Departure of Columbus it. But Columbus calmed their fears, explained the sights they did not understand, hid from them the true distance they had sailed, and went calmly on. At last signs of land began to appear. Now a tuft of grass ; now some seeds; now a branch with some berries on it ; now a piece of wood cut and carved by a human hand, floated by. Then land birds flew over the ship. Finally, one night in October, Columbus saw a light moving, as if somebody were running along shore with a torch. Next a sailor saw land dis- tinctly, and then all saw a long, low beach a few miles distant. He thought it Columbus thought he had reached one of the islands of the part of the ° m , indies Indies, and early the next morning went on shore, and m the HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA 11 presence of his men took possession of the island in the name claims the of the King and Queen of Spain, and called it San Salvador, S p*, n ,f for which means Holy Savior. At the sight of the Spaniards in their glittering steel armor and bright-colored clothes, the natives fled to the woods; but finding no harm was done them, they soon gathered about the strangers, gazed at them in wonder, and at last grew bold enough to touch the whiskers, hands, and faces of the new- comers. The natives seemed nearly as strange to the Span- The natives Lards. Their straight black hair, naked copper- colored bodies painted, some black, some white, some red, told Colum- bus at once that he had found a people quite unlike the curly-headed, black negroes of Africa, and made him feel sure that he was near the island of Cipango, a part of the long-sought Indies. The day of this dis- covery was October 12, 1192, and the island was one of a group we know as the Bahamas. After giving the people red caps, glass beads, hawk's bells, and other trinkets, and receiving in return parrots, and balls of cotton yarn, Columbus set sail to explore, and reached the gn d u s ™n" s thei coast of the island we call Cuba. A month and more was now island Columbus Point (First land seen by Columbus, W)8) 12 HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA Armor of Columbus Columbus finds a third island spent sailing along its shores. The Spaniards landed here and there to seek for gold, and on one occasion Columbus sent a party of men into the interior to search for a great city and a king who ate from dishes of gold. But the explorers found instead little villages of palm huts, from which the people fled as they ap- proached. At this stage of the voyage, Pinzon, the captain of the JPinta,' deserted Columbus and sailed away to seek for gold on his own account. Columbus, however, went on along the coast of Cuba to the eastern end and soon beheld another island, whose beauty so reminded him of Spain that he named it Hispaniola, or " Little Spain." And now another disaster befell him, for while off Hispan- iola, or Haiti, the Santa Maria, with Columbus on board, was ^ wrecked, and the crew were forced to go on shore. The natives were so kind, uid the life of idleness so enjoy- ^st able, that when the time came for Columbus to go back to Spain the sailors begged to be left behind. Some were left in charge of a rude fort, and so became the first colony of Span- iards in the New World, though they were soon killed. The voyage home in the Returns to Nina was a stormy one : again and again the little ship seemed abmit to sink, but in time it reached Palos in safety, and Columbus became the hero of the hour. Crowds followed Kind of huts Columbus saw Spain HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA 13 Columbus thought he had reached the Indies him wherever he went ; the King and Queen received him with great honor at court, listened eagerly to all he said, and gave him great power over the lands he had discovered or might discover ; and he was promptly sent on a second voyage to the west. In all, Columbus made four voyages, discovered Jamaica, But a continent blocked the way to the Indies 14 HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA Porto Rico, the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and even readied the coast of South America, and sailed along the shores of Honduras and the Isthmus of Panama. But the fact that he had discovered a new world, that a great continent blocked his way to India, never en- tered his mind. He thought he had reached Asia and some islands off the coast of Asia, and so the lands were called the Indies, and the inhabitants Indians. Long afterwards, when his mistake was found out, these islands were named West Indies, and those near Asia East Indies. As soon as Columbus had shown the way, others were quick to follow, and the Explorers new coasts were visited by Spaniards, Portuguese, Frenchmen, and Englishmen. Notice what then happened : 1. These explorations proved that not the coast of Asia, but a new world, had been found. This was called America, after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who explored the coast of South America for the King of Portugal. 2. When it was shown that a continent blocked the way to Asia, a search was begun for a passage through or around it. 3. In the course of this search, first for a southwest passage, and then for a northwest passage, the coast of America was still further explored. 4. These explorations gave Spain, France, England, and Hol- land claims to parts of what is now our country. Statue of Columbus, Barcelona Columbus Results of exploration HOW EUROPEANS FOUND AMERICA 15 Painting by R. BaUxca Reception of Columbus at Barcelona SUMMARY 1. Four hundred and fifty years ago the people of western Europe were trailing with the East Indies. 2. The Turks began to cut off this trade, and the merchants of Europe needed a new route to the East. 3. Columbus (149:2 ) set off from Spain to find this route by sailing west- ward across the Atlantic. 4. He landed on one of the Bahama islands, discovered Cuba and Haiti, and claimed them for Spain. 5. Columbus having shown the way, other explorers followed him. fi. After many years they proved that not India, but a great continent blocking the way to India, had been discovered . 7. Then came attempts to find a way around it. which resulted in the explo- ration of the Atlantic coast of Xorth and South America. 16 THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE The Indians Arms and implements CHAPTER II THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE When the first white men came to our shores, they found the country thinly inhabited by the people Columbus had named Indians. They had copper-colored skin, coarse, jet-black hair, high cheek bones, thick lips, small eyes, and no whiskers. For a long time it was believed that in their wars with the whites they had become greatly reduced in number. But this is not the case. There are . quite as many liv- Indian warrior ing in the United States lived in the same terri- dred and fifty years ago, the In- all over the country, from the Now few dwell east of the great mass are far to greatly changed their learned to live like The Indians near the east coast nor a metal knife, mals and one stone to-day as then tory. Two hun- dians were scattered Atlantic to the Pacific. Mississippi River ; the the west of it. All have mode of life, and many have white men. whom the early settlers met had never seen a gun, nor a sword, nor an ax. They killed ani- another with stone tomahawks or hatchets, arrowhead ant l_ stone- or bone-tipped arrows which they shot from wooden bows. As they knew nothing of iron or steel or brass, all their tools were made from wood or stone or the bones of animals. Thus, out of fish bones, they made fishhooks and needles, and out of flint, knives and hatchets. Bone fishhook THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE 17 Making a birch-bark canoe In the northern part of our country, where birch trees were abundant, they made canoes of birch bark, sewing it together with strips of deerskin, and covering the seams with spruce tree gum to make them watertight. In the South they used trunks of great trees hollowed out by fire. Along the Atlantic seaboard the country was heavily Food w< >< ided, and in the woods there were plenty of deer, elk, bears, foxes, wolves, and small ani- mals, which the Indians A dugout hunted and killed for food. West of the Appalachian Moun- tains was the region of the great treeless prairies, over which ■OH. PR. II. — 2 18 THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE Snowshce The bark house The wigwam roamed immense herds of bison or buffalo, whose meat, shaggy hair, and hides served the redskins for many purposes. The meat was dried and kept for food, the hair was woven into cloth or twisted into ropes, and the hide was tanned and cut into ropes or worn as a blanket. The sea or the rivers sup- plied fish, beavers, and otters, and in the woods were found wild turkeys, and berries and other fruits. Besides food obtained by hunting and fishing, many tribes raised Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, and squashes. They also raised tobacco. Their only domestic animal was the dog. A tribe was a number of Indians speaking the same language, and generally spread over a wide region. Each tribe was divided into smaller groups living in villages, which were often surrounded by high stockades or fences for purposes of defense. Within such walls there were either long houses of bark, in each of which a dozen or more families lived together; or wigwams, in which single families dwelt. A wigwam was usually made by thrust- ing thin poles into the ground in a circle and bending the tops together and tying them. Over the poles were then placed /* bark or the skins of animals, especially buffalo hide. On the ground in the middle of the wigwam was the fire, the smoke of which went out through a hole in the top which served as a chimney. """ Matches being unknown* Buffalo-skin wigwam THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE 19 Clay bowl the Indian lighted his lire by pressing a pointed stick against Fire and a piece of wood and making it turn around rapidly. To give cooking it this motion he would take a little bow, wrap the string once around the stick, and move the bow quickly back and forth till the heat produced by the revolving stick set fire to the wood. Over the fire thus made, the In- dian women would broil fish laid across sticks raised above the flame, and in the Wooden dish ashes would roast corn, squashes, or sweet potatoes. Such as knew how to make clay pots would put them on the fire and boil meat and vegetables in them. Such as used wooden vessels filled them with water and threw in hot stones till the water was hot enough to cook whatever they wished. Indian corn when dried was pounded into meal, mixed with water, and baked in the ashes. Neither men nor women wore much clothing. Deerskin clothing moccasins or shoes embroidered with shell beads and quills of the porcupine, deerskin leggings (in winter), a strip of deerskin about the waist, and a "deerskin cloak over the shoulders completed the dress of the men in northern parts. The women wore deerskin aprons and beaver- skin mantles. In the South mantles were woven from a plant called silk grass. About the neck ;is ornaments were claws of bears, eagles, or hawks, and strings of beads made from sea- shells and called wampum. This wampum was highly prized and was used not only for ornament, but also as money, and was woven into belts to be given as presents when treaties Moccasins 20 THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE What the men did were made. Indeed, for many years after the colonies were founded, the white settlers used wampum as money. The duty of the Indian man, or " brave," was to hunt, fish, and fight. He would make arrows, bows, canoes, and stone tools, but he thought any other kind of work Avas beneath him. No young Indian was of any importance till he had killed an enemy and brought home the scalp ; and the more scalps he brought home, the greater " brave " he was thought to be. As the scalp was the proof of victory, each warrior wore a scalp lock as a challenge to his enemies, and defended it with his life. The lock was made by shaving the hair close except on the crown of the head, where it was allowed to grow long, and was ornamented with feathers. The Indian's way of fighting was to the white man dishonorable. The fair and open fight had no charm for the redskins. To their minds it was the height of folly to kill an enemy at the risk of their own lives, when they- might shoot the foe from behind a tree, or waylay him in „ r J J Wampum Manner of ambush as he hurried along a forest trail, or at the fighting t j eac "[ f n ight rouse their sleeping victims with the hideous war whoop and kill them in cold blood. The Indians were very skillful in laying an ambush, that is, in hiding themselves so that they could attack the enemy when he did not expect it. Digging up the hatchet meant preparing for war. Going on the warpath meant waging war. Burying the hatchet meant making peace. A warrior's scalp lock THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE 21 Squaw carrying papoose Labor of all sorts was done by the women, or what the squaws." They planted and pounded the corn, 7™ n a °f d brought the water, dressed the skins, made the clothing-, and, when the band traveled from one place to another, carried the household goods and belongings. Taking care of the children, or " papooses," was a simple matter. Till a child was old enough to run about, it was carefully wrapped up in skins and tied to a wicker framework, and hung up on the branch of a tree, or leaned against the trunk, or car- ried on the mother's back. Once able to go alone, the boys were taught to shoot with arrows at a mark, to fish, and to make stone arrowheads and tools ; and the girls, to weave, make pottery and baskets, and do all the things they would be expected to do as squaws or wives of the braves. In the eastern part of our country, all along the seaboard, Indians in the the Indians lived in villages and wandered about very little. Hunting parties and war parties traveled great distances, but each tribe had its home. Thus the Massachusetts dwelt along the east coast of our state of Massachusetts; the Pequots, in east- ern Connecticut ; and the Iroquois, in central New York. So it was in the Ohio valley. But on the great plains of the Northwest the Indians were wanderers, having no fixed homes, but roving the plains with their women, chil- dren, and all their belongings. 22 THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF FIFE indians in Southwest In the far Southwest, where are now Arizona and New Mexico, dwelt still another sort of Indians. They did not live in wigwams of skin, or lints of hark, but in great fort- like houses of adobe, or sun-baked clay. These houses the Spaniards called pueblo*, a word meaning villages or towns, for they were really huge hotels in each of which lived the people of a whole village. Some were two, some were four, and one seven stories high. The second story was set back from the first, the third from the second, and the fourth from the third, thus leaving in front of each story a broad space like a street. There were no doors. The Indians climbed by ladders from story to story, and entered the pueblo through holes the roofs of the different stories. Man}' of the pueblos which were standing when the white man first saw these Indians, more than three %* hundred years ago, have since then crumbled away. But the Indians of to-day still live in the same sort of houses, little changed in appear- ance. Several such pueblos may be seen in the southwestern part of our Now, these houses have doors ; but the Indians still go from story to story by lad- Zuni woman making ° r, , i pottery ders. Now, the Indians have flocks and herds. obtained of course from the Spaniards, who first brought horses, hogs, and cows to our country. They raise corn, wheat, barley, and fruit, make pottery, spin and weave country THE INDIANS AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE 23 A pueblo cloth, and make baskets. Yet they are the same kind of Indians that the Spaniards met when they first entered the land that is now the United States. SUMMARY 1. "When Columbus discovered America he thought he was on the coasl of the Indies, and called the inhabitants Indians. L*. At that time they lived all over our country; now most of them live in the West. 3. They knew nothing of iron and steel, and made their hatchets, knives, fishhooks, etc., out of stone or bones, and their canoes of bark or tree trunks. 4. They lived by hunting, fishing, and growing Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, and squashes. West of the Appalachian Mountains were many buf- faloes, which the Indians hunted. 24 THE SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH Horses, cows, sheep, and pigs were unknown to the Indians. They had dogs, and wild turkeys from w 7 hich our tame turkeys are descended. Most of the labor was done by the squaws. The braves did little else than hunt, fish, and fight. The Indians in the eastern part of our country did not wander much ; but the Indians of the plains were rovers. In the Southwest were the Pueblo Indians. CHAPTER III Ponce de Leon's search THE SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH The Spaniards following in the track of Columbus took possession of Cuba and Haiti, Porto Rico, and the other West Indies, and sent explorers from these islands (map, p. 43). One of these Spaniards, Ponce de Leon, got it into his head, from something the Indians told him, that on an island to the northward was a fountain of youth, and that whoever drank of its waters would never grow old. Nothing would do but he must find it, and with his king's leave he accordingly set out from Porto Rico. On Easter Sunday, which in Spanish is Pascua Florida, he came in sight of a coast which, in memory of that day, has ever since been Discovers called Florida. He landed near the present town of St. Florida Augustine, and, not finding his fountain of youth, turned back. Later he tried again, but the Indians drove him off. Spanish treasure ships THE SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH 25 Another Spaniard, while sailing along the coast of the Gulf Narvaez it th seeks for gold Spanish soldier of Mexico, entered the Mississippi River. He called River of the Holy Spirit, and brought back such wondrous stories of the Indians and their gold orna- ments that a third Spanish soldier, named Narvaez, sailed from Spain to occupy the country which seemed so rich in gold. With several hundred reckless followers at his back, he landed on the west coast of Florida, and, leaving his ships, marched inland. But as he pushed on through the woods and swamps, food grew scarce and some of his men died of hunger. Hostile Indians shot others from behind trees and bushes. Swamps, lakes, and many streams made prog- ress slow, and more soldiers died of fevers. At last the army, with ranks thinned by hunger, sickness, and fights with the red men, turned back and reached the coast far to the west of their ships. By dint of great labor live rude boats were made and launched. Meets and in these what was left of the band put to sea and went westward. But their sufferings at sea were as great as on land. Storms scattered and wrecked the boats. Two of them with all on board went down. The others crossed the mouth of the Mississippi where it rushes into the Gulf, and were driven on what the explor- ers called, truly enough, Misfortune Island. There they passed the winter, and in the spring those who disaster Mm Spanish cannon 26 THE SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH were still alive, sixteen in number, determined to escape. But when the time came to go, several were too sick to move and were left behind. The rest reached the mainland somewhere in Texas, and all save three were slain by the Indians. Of the men left on the island one died, another disappeared, and vaca another, named Vaca, lived six horrible years among the in Texas [ n di ans . He was passed about from tribe to tribe. He was sometimes a slave, sometimes an outcast, always a nuisance to the poor savages. He could not be a warrior because he was too weak. He could not gather wood or draw water be- cause none but women did such things. He could not hunt because he did not know how to track animals, lie could walk, however, and would wander off and trade with the northern Indians. He would take shells and shell beads from the seashore tribes and exchange them for skins, red clay, and flint with the northern inland tribes. In the course of these trading trips Vaca saw " hunchback cows." They were the Sees " hunch- back cows ' ' bison or buffalo then roaming by millions over the plains, and he was the first European to see them. But he also heard of his three companions, and at last found them. These four wretched beings, all tl«d were left of the many whom Narvaez had led in search of gold and conquest, then tried to escape from the Indians. After several months, led by Vaca, they succeeded, and set out toward the west. Their way was across Buffalo THE SPANIARDS IN THE SOUTH 27 Texas, and ^ as they went on from tribe to tribe, they wanders noticed that the Indians they met were westward more and more civilized. The tribes on the coast Were wanderers, living on roots, berries, and fish, and had little clothing. Far back from the coast, the Indians dwelt in sod houses, raised beans and pumpkins, and wore cotton clothes which they washed with a soapy root- Once the four Spaniards met a native with the buckle of a sword belt hung around his neck, who told them of white men like themselves. Then they met a band of Spaniards, and aided by them pushed on till they came to the west coast of Mexico, and wandering down the shores of the Gulf of California, reached a Spanish town. They had walked across our continent from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of California. When the Spanish ruler of Mexico heard the wonder- ful story of Vaca, he sent another explorer, Brother Maici is, to find out more about the country of which Vaca had so much to tell. As Marcos trudged along he came to an Indian village where he was told of seven The bufialo as the Spaniards drew him Avonderful cities with houses {From Led by the delighted red men, Cartier and his band landed and marched through the dense forest to a clearing, where, in the midst of cornfields, stood the Indian village. Around it was a high fence or stockade of tree trunks. Passing through the narrow entrance, the French found themselves in an open space surrounded by long houses of bark, from which women and children came in crowds. They touched the whiskers of the men, and felt their faces and their strange armor. Then the women Indian long house of bark THE FRENCH IN THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY 33 and children were pushed aside, and the lame, the old, and the blind were brought to be touched and healed by the white strangers, whom the Indians thought to be gods. After an exchange of presents, Cartier sailed back to the site of Quebec, and in the early summer of the. next year went home to France. Because of this voyage up the St. Lawrence, the French King now claimed the country round about that river, and made some attempts to settle it. But one after Quebec another they failed, until, alter many years, Champlain sailed up the St. Lawrence River and founded champlain Quebec (1608). He made friends with the neighboring Indi- ans, who, when they saw the wonderful things the French could do with their guns, begged him to go with them to fight the [roquois Indians, who lived in what is now central New York. So with them Champlain went to the lake which now bears his name, and there one night beheld in the distance a mass of dark moving objects which he knew to be canoes filled with the foe. The Iroquois at Champlain once founds Quebec Defeat of the Iroquois at Lake Champlain (From an old print) McM. PR. H. 3 made for the ? ndthe Iroquois shore and passed the night in putting up such rude de- fenses as the} r could. In the morning the Canadian Indians landed and marched into the forest till they came near their 34 THE FRENCH IX THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY Early French pistol Hatred of Iroquois enemy. Champlain then advanced, and fired his musket. The woods rang with the report. One chief fell dead, and another rolled on the ground wounded. Then arose, says Champlain, a yell like a thunderclap, and the air was full of whizzing arrows. But when another and another gunshot came from the bushes, the Iroquois fled like dec]'. They had never seen nor heard a musket before, and did not understand what it was. They only knew that it suddenly made a terrible noise and smoke and that at the same time one or more of their men fell down dead or wounded. The musket of the white man had done its work. The victory was Avon, but it made &M - r % the Iroquois hate the French for many years afterward. These Indi- ans lived in the region south of Lake Ontario and were the fiercest and most powerful tribes in America. ( Because of the hatred of the Iroquois, the French never made settlements south of Lake Ontario; but pushed Iff Ww*^"' their explorations westward across Canada iff ' to Lake Huron and beyond. First of French explorers went brave Catholic priests and missionaries. With cru- French priests journeying c iiix, Bible, and altars on their backs, they through the wilderness ■,-, -, xl i r i i n i b walked through forests and paddled up French rivers where no white man had been before, building bark chapels in the woods, and trying to teach and convert the THE FRENCH IN THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY 35 French soldier natives. The Indians were often hostile and some- times treated the missionaries with great cruelty, even burning them to death; but neither these savage foes nor the cold of winter, neither hunger nor the hardships of the wilderness, could stop the brave and devoted priests. For half a century after the founding of Quebec, French settlers came to Canada but slowly. Then the King of France, deepty in- terested in the welfare of Canada, began to send over at least three hundred men a year. By and by shiploads of young women came, that every unmarried man might have a wife. The life of an early colonist was a hard one. His home was a log hut. His food and that of his family was such vegetables as he could Early French raise on the little piece of land he had settlers cleared of trees, such game as he could kill, and eels, fresh in the summer, but smoked and dried in winter. During the long, cold season of ice and snow he cut timber and made planks and shingles which he ex- changed at Quebec for clothing and other articles he must have, as powder, bullets, tools. Besides encouraging farming, the gov- The fur trade eminent tried to get more people engaged in fishing for cod and in catching whales. But the only sort of trade that really flour- ished in Canada was the trade with the Indians for furs. Everybody wanted to buy and sell beaver skins. Each year a Costume of French woman 36 THE FRENCH IN THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY Flintlock pistol and powder horn Coureurs de bois great fair was held at Montreal to which the Indians came by the hundred from the western lakes in their bark canoes. Merchants from Quebec and Mont- real would arrange their goods along the outside of the palisades, and their bright-colored cloth, beads, blankets, kettles, and knives were exchanged for beaver skins. All these merchants had to obey the orders of the King's officers ; and the officers used their power unfairly, and so got nearly all the profits of the fur trade. Numbers of hardy young men, therefore, took to the woods and traded with the Indians far beyond the reach of the officers. In hope of stopping this, the governor forbade any one to trade with the savages in the forest unless he had permission, which he must buy from the governor. Some merchants obeyed, and paid the price. But the young men went on trading as before. By so doing they became outlaws, and if caught, might be whipped and marked with a red-hot iron. But they were not often caught, for they lived with the Indians, and seldom went near the white settlements. They were called wood rangers, or coureurs de bois. They built forts at many places in the West and North- west. One of these early forts was at Detroit. But their great meeting place, and the center of the beaver trade, was a mission station on the Strait of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan Missions joins Lake Huron. From there, in twos and threes, they would and forts get f ortn an j roam the forests, trapping beaver. Wood ranger THE FRENCH IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 37 Great Lakes The wood rangers often married Indian women, and this went a long way to make the Indians of the Northwest friendly toward the French. The English, on the other hand, fought the Indians and did not marry into their tribes. As the priests and traders went further and further westward, French on the they planted trading posts, stockaded forts, and mission stations along the shores of Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, JL and Lake Superior, and . explored all the country round about. Our Central States are covered with French names, which con- stantlv remind that France once owned a great part of our country. 1 When, in the course of their wander- ; .r ; ings, the priests trad- ers reached the country about Lake Superior -" and Lake Michi- . gan, they began to hear of a river so great and long that the Indians called it Mississippi or "the Father of Waters." Might not this be the long-sought passageway to the Indies ? the French asked themselves. In hopes that it was, two men whose names ought to be remembered, — Father Father Marquette, a priest who had founded the Mackinac mission, Mar i uette and Joliet, a soldier. — were sent to find the Father of Waters and follow it to the sea. Shooting the rapids 1 Anions names of French origin are Joliet, Duluth, Terre Haute, Carondelet, La Salle, Sault Ste. Marie, Prairie 0 Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina. The first Ralegh's band soon went back to England ; the second disappeared, and se emen s what befell it is not known to this day. Though Ralegh's attempts were failures, the time for the planting of the first successful colony was near at hand, and in 1607 (one year before Cham- plain founded Quebec) three ships full of men crossed the Atlantic from England. They were sent by the Lon- don Company, and sailed for the coast of Virginia, as the English called the whole coun- try from what is now South Carolina to Maine. Entering the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, the colonists one beautiful May day sailed up a broad river which they called the James in honor of their king, and, landing on its bank, began a , ,t i • i ,i t Virginia and Maryland settlement which they named & Jamestown. For shelter some had tents made of sails ; others had cabins with grass or bark roofs; others had holes in the ground. Presently their food gave out. and many fell sick and died, captain John They did not know how to live in a wilderness. Had it not mi been for Captain John Smith, every one of them would have perished. Smith took command: he set the men to building good huts; persuaded the Indians to bring food ; and for two years kept the colonists together. 4<; THE ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA Story of Pocahontas Grave of Powhatan, James River {Present state) Sometimes with a boat fuli of companions he would go off to explore the country. On one of these trips most of his men were left to guard the boat, while he with four others paddled up a river in a canoe. Suddenly a band of Indians attacked the little party, captured Smith, and killed the others. Sure that his life was in danger, lie at once began to amuse the Indians. Taking out his pocket compass, he showed them the needle trembling and quivering and always pointing one way. Amazed at what they saw, they spared his life and took him to the village of the great war chief called the Powhatan, and into a long wigwam. Before the lire sat the Powhatan, dressed in a robe of raccoon skins. Beside him were his squaws, and along the walls the other women and the warriors. After a very long debate it was decided to kill the prisoner. Two stones were placed in front of the chief, and Smith's head was laid upon them. Near by stood the warriors, clubs in hand, and just about to dash out his brains, when Poca- hontas, a little daughter of the chief, rushed up and laid her head upon Smith's and saved him. This is the story as it was THE ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA 47 told by Smith; it may be true, but some say that Smith made it up. Pocahontas, at all events, was a real Indian girl, and was a good friend to the Jamestown people, and finally married John Rolfe, one of the settlers. While Smith was in command the colony grew and did fairly The starving well. But when he returned to England, evil days came upon time the people. Food grew scarce ; the Indians became hostile ; famine set in, and the sufferings of the starving people were so terrible that in a few months their number was reduced from five hundred to sixty. These, too, would have perished had not two little ships with more settlers arrived just at that time. But when the newcomers saw the starving people, all that were left of the once thriving colony, their hearts failed them, vting bii lien Marriage of Pocahontas 48 THE ENGLISH IX VIRGINIA i and they decided to leave Jamestown forever. Then the huts were stripped of everything worth taking away, and the set- tlers, boarding the ships, sailed down the river. Such, how- ever, was not to be the end of Jamestown. As the settlers neared the sea they met three well-stocked vessels from Eng- land, and turning back reoccupied the huts just abandoned, and began a new struggle for a living. Tobacco And a struggle it was. The newcomers were quite unfit for raising y^ Q j n ^ w ilderness, and the colony can not be said to have become prosperous till the colonists began to raise tobacco, which greatly changed the whole course of events in Virginia. In the first place, when the people found what good prices tobacco brought in England, they raised it rather than corn or wheat, and it became the chief crop. In the second place, when men in England saw that money was to be made by tobacco growing in Virginia, they came over to engage in planting, and the colony drew to itself a better class of settlers. In the third place, tobacco became a sort of money, and the price of food, of clothes, of articles of all sorts, and even wages, were paid in pounds of tobacco. In the fourth place, as the colony grew- in num- bers, and tobacco planting became more and more the chief business of the colony, people lived on plantations rather than in towns and cities. About the time the Virginians may be said to have fairly started on their career of prosperity (when the colony was twelve years old), an odd thing happened, — a wives for shipload of young women arrived in search of husbands. Of settlers ^e men who had heretofore come over very few had wives Tobacco plant THE ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA 49 Westover, a Virginia colonial house and children. The company which man- aged affairs in Vir- ginia knew very well that without homes and children and family ties, their colony could never become prosperous. The company there- fore decided to pro- vide wives, and find- inn' ninety young women willing to go, sent them out to Jamestown. Each one was free to choose her husband. But the girls were so much sought for, that the company sent out shipload after shipload, and then each man had to pay the passage of his wife, which was one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco. During the same year in which these young women arrived, Negro slaves another ship, bearing a very different sort of people, touched at Jamestown. It was a Dutch man-of-war, and from it twenty negroes were sold to the colonists. These were the first negro slaves in our country, and from their introduction dates the beginning of slavery, which in time brought about much trouble. Many years went by, however, before slaves became numer- indented ous, and in the meantime much of the labor was performed servants by white persons called indented servants or redemptioncrs. These were men, women, and children who had been sold for a certain number of }*ears, and who would not be free till they had worked that length of time for their masters. Some of them were persons who had sold themselves in this way, in 50 TI1K ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA I I — ugra f R Great tobacco plantations onlcr to pay their passage to America; some of them were criminals, or persons guilty of some little offense, who had been sold for a time instead of being punished in any other way ; some of them were boys or girls who had been stolen from their homes and carried off by force, something like the negro slaves. These indented servants could be bought and sold like slaves or cattle, but only for the time dur- ing which they were bound to serve. When that time was up, they no longer had to work with- out pay, but might work for wages, or might get small plan- tations of their own. Some, how- ever, were lazy and became beg- gars and thieves. With the cultivation of tobacco, the arrival of the maids, and the coming of more emigrants from England, the settled part of Virginia was greatly increased. By the time the colony was twenty years old, large plantations were scattered along the banks of the York and James rivers, and Virginia had begun to be a new kind of country. There were no roads, scarcely any villages, and tobacco planting had become the chief industry. There were no roads because the plantations generally lay along some river or stream, and it was easier to pass from one to another by water than by land. There were no towns ( save a few very small ones, such as Ilenricus and Bermuda), because' almost everybody lived on plantations, and because all trade and commerce were carried on at the planter's own door. ^Sf...!..^. Main gateway at Westover THE ENGLISH IX VIRGINIA 51 The ships that came from England for the tobacco would sail up the rivers to the planters' wharves, take on board what tobacco was for sale, and pay for it with articles brought from the mother country. Tables, chairs, knives, saws, axes, nails, hammers, clothing, shoes, — almost everything the planter needed for his family, his house, his plantation, and his serv- ants, came from abroad. The Virginians bought all these things from England, not Little because they were too lazy to make them for themselves, but be- ^° n ufac cause they were so busy planting and curing tobacco, and because they had very few good work- men. So general was tobacco plant- ing, so completely did it take men away from other pursuits, that when Virginia was about twenty-five years old, a law was made forbidding brick- makers, carpenters, turners, sawyers, and joiners to plant or farm. Another effect of the Virginian way of living on plantations was, as we have said, the small number Few towns of towns. This, too, the Virginia lawmakers tried to remedy. Ruins of the church at Jamestown 52 THE ENGLISH IX VIRGINIA They ordered each county to build one brick house in James- town, and required all the tobacco raised within a certain region to be sent there. But the law was not obeyed, and Jamestown never contained more than a church, a courthouse and a few houses. To-day its site is a farm, and, save the ruined tower of the church, and some tombs and graves, little remains to show where it once stood. Yet another law required towns to be built at certain places, and offered all kinds of favors to persuade people to live in them. But this, too, was a failure, and it was a long time before the present cities of Vir- ginia struggled into the shape of villages. There were other towns established by law in each countv as Shirley Early houses places in which to try lawsuits and punish criminals, but they rarely consisted of more than the courthouse, the jail (near which stood the stocks, the pillory, and the whipping post), a wretched inn for the use of the judges and lawyers, and some- times a church. Such a place was called a " Court House " and was named from the county in which it was situated, as Hanover Court House, Culpeper Court House, and the like. In early times the houses of the Virginia settlers were of logs and built without iron. Wooden pegs were used in place THE ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA 53 of nails ; leather was used for hinges ; and a wooden latch with a leather string to lift it answered all the purposes of our door knob and lock. So valuable were nails that a common practice of settlers in later times when leaving their farms was to burn down the house and pick the nails out of the ashes ; and in the hope of stopping this custom Virginia offered to give the mover as many nails as were believed to be in the house, pro- vided he left it standing. As the people became more prosperous, log houses gave way to long, narrow board houses with huge stone or log chimneys at each end, and partitions plas- tered with mud and whitewashed. Some- times the windows were furnished with glass ; but more often only shutters were used to keep out the wind and rain. The great planters had fine houses, a few of which, built two hundred years ago, Great are still standing. They are of brick or wood, have names, P lanters ' o J houses as Shirley, or Lower Brandon, or Sabin Hall, or Westover, and are fine examples of their kind. Around the Hall, and separate from it, were the kitchen, with its huge fireplace and curious cooking utensils ; the offices, the vegetable garden, the ware- houses fur tobacco and grain, the stables, the cattle pens, the dairy, and the cluster of little log cabins where the slaves lived, known as the negro quarters. The slaves and white redemptioners, of which <>n the greal Ml M. PR. H. 4 Negro quarters 54 THE ENGLISH IX VIRGINIA Lord Baltimore Maryland settled plantations there were generally several hundred, did all the work. Some were coopers and made barrels in which the tobacco was packed and rolled to the wharf or warehouse ; others were blacksmiths, carpenters, sawyers, spinners ; some were weavers and knitters who made coarse cloth and stockings for the negroes. But this was at a time when Virginia was a hundred years or more old. Long before that time the London Company Which at first controlled Virginia had been broken up, so that the colony came under the control of the English King. Then, about twenty-five years after the founding of Jamestown, King Charles I. cut off a piece of Virginia and gave it to Lord Baltimore. This nobleman had attempted to plant a colony in New- foundland, but the French attacked him, and the climate was so cold and the winters so long and the soil so pom' that he applied to the King for a piece of Virginia. The great tract given him he called Maryland after the Queen. For it he was to pay the King two Indian arrows every year, which meant that the King did not give up all authority over the colony. About this time the first Lord Baltimore died ; but his son went on with the work, and sent out a body of colonists, who landed on a little island not far from the mouth of the Potomac River. Later they moved to the banks of the river and started the town of St. Marys. Hallway at Shirley THE ENGLISH IN VIRGINIA 55 Though Maryland was a Catholic colony, Lord Baltimore opened it to all Christians ; and soon members of several Protestant churches made their homes on its soil. What has been said of life in Virginia is just as true of life Life in in Maryland. There too people raised tobacco, lived on large Mar y land plantations rather than in towns, traveled about by water rather than by land, and cultivated their plantations by in- dented white servants and negro slaves. There were no large cities to which the planters could send their crops to be sold and shipped abroad. Each plantation had, if possible, frontage on some river or the bay, and to its wharf or " landing " would come the English merchant ships to exchange the knives, saws, silks, and muslins of the Old World for the tobacco of the New. When the plantation was not on a stream deep enough to float a great ship, the tobacco or grain would be loaded mi a raft and pushed down to the ship. When there was no stream, an axle would be made fast to each cask of tobacco, which was then aL/f 4^/l^ rolled along to market. /^^Bm^Tlfi. The first town in Maryland was St. Marys. RoIlin S tobacco to market The second, Annapolis, rose to be the most important in the colony, and remained so till Baltimore was founded when Maryland was nearly a hundred years old. SUMMARY A few years after the voyage of Columbus, Cabot sailed along the coast of North America and gave the English a claim based on discovery. About a hundred years later attempts were made by Ralegh to found an English colony on Roanoke Island, but failed. 56 THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND :i. At last the London Company planted Jamestown, in Virginia (1607), the first successful settlement by the English in our country. 4 The company sent out shiploads of young women to marry the men; and numbers of laborers, called redemptioners ; while a Dutch ship brought the first negro slaves introduced into our country. 5. In Virginia in early times there were a great number of tobacco planta- tions, and hardly any towns. 6. When Jamestown was about twenty-five years old, the King gave a large tract of land to Lord Baltimore. This new colony was called Maryland. 7. Lord Baltimore made Maryland a Roman Catholic colony; but people of any Christian sect were welcome to settle there and were not molested. CHAPTER VI THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND why the While the Virginia settlers were passing their first year in ^fv™, » the New World, a number of men and women in England who left England had begun to worship God in a manner not allowed by the laws of that time, and had been harshly treated, lied to Hol- land, where they might worship as they pleased. They were glad enough to find such a place of refuge. But if they and their children. after them were to remain in Holland, they would forget their native land, forget their native lan- guage lay aside the manners and customs of Englishmen, and at length become Dutchmen. As they were not willing to do this, they resolved to move to some part of the world where they might still be Englishmen, and yet be free to worship God in their own way. There was then only one such land, and that was America. To America, therefore, they turned, formed a company, and having 1 obtained leave to settle on the coast of what is now THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 57 New Jersey, a little band of Pilgrims .sailed from Holland to Piigrimssaii England. There others joined them, and the company thus forAmenca increased in number started in two ships, the Speedwell and the Mai/flower, for the New World. But they had not gone far from land when the Speedivell sprung a leak, and both returned to port. Some repairs were made, after which the two again set sail and had crossed three hundred miles of water, when the Speedwell leaked so badly that they were once more Pilgrims leaving Holland forced to put back. A few of the band now gave up all idea of going, and remained in England. The rest, just one hun- dred and two men, women, and children, crowded on board the other vessel, the Mayfloiver, and once more started for America. 58 THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND The weather was so bad and the wind so high that nine weeks passed before they came in sight of land, which proved to be the shore of Cape Cod, far from the Jersey coast for which they had started. The Mayflower was therefore turned southward. Hut head winds drove her back, and the Pilgrims were forced to seek shelter in what is now Prov- incetown harbor, behind Cape Cod. The country round about was so poor a place for a settlement that par- ties were sent to find a better one, and five weeks were spent in exploring the shores. At last one party, under Captain Miles Standish, entered a harbor so at- tractive that it was chosen for the settlement. To this harbor Piignms the Mayflower was brought with all on board, and a few days Plymouth De f° re Christmas, 1620, the Pilgrims went on shore to begin the building of a town, which was named Plymouth. As usual with settlers in a new country, the sufferings of the Pilgrims during the first winter were terrible. Before spring half of them died. But the rest were steadfast, and, guided by the wisdom of William Bradford and ^ _~2^ . , "\ defended by the skill and courage of Miles Standish, the colony passed through all the perils of the wil- derness. Relics of Miles Standish The Mayflower THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 59 ( )ne day in the early spring an Indian walked into Plymouth Pilgrims and and astonished the people by saying " Welcome ! " in good e n ians English. He was Samoset, and had learned the word from some fishermen who visited the coast before the Pilgrims. By and by he paid another visit with four companions, one of whom was called Squanto. Squanto had been carried away by one of the early explorers, iiad been taken to England, and had at last been brought back to his old home near Plymouth Bay. During his long stay abroad Squanto had learned to speak Eng- lish, and now he be- came a most important man in Plymouth. He acted as interpre- ter between the Pilgrims and the Indians. He taught the what squanto settlers how to fish, how to catch eels, and how to plant and tau s ht cultivate corn, and told them to put a fish in each hill of corn, as manure. On his first visit Squanto said that Massasoit, chief of a neighboring tribe, was coming to see the colonists. The Pilgrims received this chief with great ceremony, and a treaty was made, binding each to help the other and to t rade as friends. Not every chief was as friendly as Massasoit. and presently the head of another near-by tribe sent a messenger to Plymouth New England no THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND Rhode Island settled with ;i rattlesnake skin wrapped about a bundle of arrows. Nobody knew what this meant. But the next time Squanto came to Plym- outh he said it was a chal- lenge to fig-lit. When Brad- ford heard this, he tilled the snake skin with powder and bullets, and sent it back. Then the hostile chief de- cided not to fight, after all. But the Pilgrims were not the only people who could not live in England. Others, known as the Puritans, were now so harshly treated that they too turned to America. Coming over in great num- bers, they founded Salem and Boston, and other towns near by, and thus planted a new colony called .Massachusetts Hay. In a little while, however, disputes arose in the new colony over church matters, and numbers of the settlers went off under different leaders and built other towns. One of them, a young minister named Roger Williams, was so disliked that he was ordered to go back to England. Instead of going to England, Williams fled to the village of Massasoit, passed a winter there, and in the spring built a house near by at a place he called Providence. This was the beginning of the colony of Rhode Island. fainting h„ <_. //. Boughtorl Puritans going to church THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 61 About the same time another very famous minister, Thomas Connecticut Hooker, left Massachusetts Bay with a great many of. Ids settled congregation. They started westward, walk- ing through the forests, driving their cattle before them, till they came to the banks of the Connecticut, where they founded Hart- ford. Other bands soon followed the example of Hooker's party, and built two more towns near Hartford. These were the beginnings of Connecticut. Two years later another colony was started at New Haven. The arrival of settlers in the Connecticut valley led the chief of the Pequot Indians to attempt to drive out the whites, and he began by trying to persuade other tribes to join him on the warpath. Hearing of this, the settlers begged Roger Williams to do Ins best to prevent such a union of powerful tribes. Williams had little reason to love the people who had driven him into exile; but he was too noble a man to seek revenge, and by his influence the union of the tribes was prevented. Left to themselves, the Pequots now Pequotwai attacked the settlers. Men were killed on their way to the fields, people were scalped, and girls were carried off. Such things were not to be endured, and as soon as possible a little band of whites, with some friendly Indians, set off to attack the Pequots. Monument over Plymouth Rock The flag of New England 62 THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND Their village, which stood not far from Stonington, was a collection of wigwams surrounded by a circular fence or stockade of tree trunks set firmly on end in the ground. The r iM- trunks touched each other, leav- Pequot village ing chinks through which the Destruction of the Pequots Indians, when attacked, could fire. It was a bright moonlight night in May when the army came in sight of the village, within which were several hundred savages. At the sight of the stockade, the Indian allies of the English were filled with fear and slunk back. So the little band of white men went on alone to attack the whole Indian vil- lage. As they drew near, the barking of the dogs aroused the Pequots ; but some of the white men guarded the two entrances, and shot down every one who attempted to escape. Others guarded the stockade and flung burning torches over it, setting fire to the wigwams. Of the many Indians who were in the village, only five escaped death. The Pequot tribe was destroyed, and for nearly forty years no other Indians dared lift a hand against the whites. King During these years of peace the colo- waV S n ists increased rapidly in number, built new towns, and crowded the Indians more and more. The loss of their land of course angered the savages, and they would gladly have killed all the settlers. But they remembered the fate of the Pequots and kept quiet till a chief called King Philip dug up the hatchet, and began Chair of the first governor of Plymouth THE ENGLISH IN NEW ENGLAND 63 (1675) a three years' war for the purpose of white man from the country. For a time it seemed as if the people on the frontier would all be killed. Village after village was attacked and fearful deeds were done. Out of ninety towns twelve were burned to the ground, and forty were at- tacked and many of their inhabitants slaugh- tered. More than a thousand white men and scores of women and children perished be- fore Philip was killed and the war ended. And what of the red man ? As a power the Indian was destroyed, and, except when aiding the French in their border wars, disappears from New England history. Dreadful as these things were, they ought to be remembered. driving the An early flax spinning wheel We ouq-ht to know what sort of people founded our states, and at what a cost in life and suffering. King Philip's War had scarcely ended when King Charles II. New made another New England colony. Much of the Ham P shire country included in what is now Maine and New Hampshire once belonged to Ferdi- nando Gorges and John Mason. In time the heir of Gorges sold Maine to Massachusetts. But the heirs of Mason neglected New Hampshire, and the few towns in it were gov- Cradle of the first Pilgrim baby t ■, ■-» i ,, , -,i <», erned by Massachusetts till alter King Philip's War, when the King made it a separate royal province. Not long after this Plymouth, or -the Old Colony," was FourNew added to Massachusetts. England As the New Haven colony was colonies 64 PIONEER EIEE IN NEW ENGLAND already joined with Connecticut, there were then but four New England colonies left — Massachusetts Bay, New Hamp- shire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. SUMMARY 1. The first permanent English settlement in Xew England was made at Plymouth (1620) by the Pilgrims, as they were called. 2. After suffering great hardships, the Plymouth colony began to prosper, and its success led to a great Puritan immigration. The Puritans founded the colony of Massachusetts Bay, to which, after many years, Plymouth and Maine were annexed. 3. Religious differences soon led to the founding of a new colony by Roger "Williams, which we know as Rhode Island, and to the planting of three towns in the Connecticut River valley. 4. The arrival of these people in the Connecticut valley was the e;m expels pirates their rice could not be sent to Europe ; and that if it did not get to Portugal and Holland, they might better not raise it at all. Now, as rice was the chief crop of South Carolina, the pirates were thenceforth looked on as enemies, and every year numbers of them were to be seen swinging in chains from the gallows in Charleston. Indigo plant Ml M. PR. II. m; THE SOUTHERN COLONIES The pirate Blackbeard Driven from South Carolina, the buccaneers found refuge in the island of New Providence, one of the Bahamas, and in the sounds and rivers of North Carolina, where the people were still glad to see them. But when a British fleet drove the pirates from New Providence, they returned to South Carolina, not as friends, but as enemies. One of them was a wretch whose name was Robert Thatch, but who was generally known as Black- beard. He was the very ideal of a pirate chief. His brow was low, his eyes were small, his huge shaggy beard, black as coal, came far down on his breast, and over his shoulder hung three braces of pistols. He had been the terror of the coast for years before he appeared one day off the port of Charleston. with a line frig- ate of forty guns and three sloops well armed and manned by four hundred desperadoes. Despite his presence in the neighborhood, a number of ships set sail from Charles- ton in hopes that he might not catch them. But all were taken, and in one were several citizens of importance. These made a rich prize, and before Levies tribute giving them up, Blackbeard forced the governor of South Caro- on Charleston j ma t() gen( j ] imi ;l f u jj supply of such medicines and provisions as lie stood in need of. Then he went off to North Carolina. Blackbeard THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 87 The affair with Blackbeard seems to have made the governor vigilant, and later in the same summer, hearing of another pirate on the coast, he sent tAvo armed ships in pursuit. The newcomer was none other than the famous Stede Bonnet. He was found at the mouth of Cape Fear River, where a fight began, in the course of which all the ships went aground. The first to float was one of the govern- or's ships, and just as her captain was preparing for a hand-to-hand fight, the pirate surrendered, and with all his crew was hanged in chains. Just about the time that piracy disappeared from our southern coast, the last of the thirteen colonies was created by King George II. It was then the cus- tom in Great Britain to imprison men and women for debt and to keep them in jail till they died, even though the sum of money they owed was but a few pennies. Now it so happened that James Oglethorpe, a gallant sol- . dier and officer of dis- tinction, having lost a friend in the debtor's prison at London, gave his attention to the jails and the suf- fering of the prisoners. ( >glethorpe was so horrified at what he saw Colonial china closet that he made up his mind Adjustable candlestick English debtors' prisons THE SOUTHERN COLONIES The thirteenth colony planned Creek Indian Georgia settled to help these unfortunate people, and persuaded the government to set them free provided they settled in America. He might have taken them to one of the thinly inhabited old colo- nies, but he thought it best to make a new colony, and it so happened that just at that time a new one was much needed. Great Britain claimed our coast as far south as the St. Johns River in Florida ; but the strip be- tween the Savannah and the St. Johns Mas wholly uninhabited by white men and was in dan- ger of being occupied by the Spaniards, who still held St. Augustine. Oglethorpe, as an old soldier, saw the need of keeping the Spaniards out, and decided to plant his colony south of the Carolinas, and make it serve three purposes. First, it would be a home for distressed debtors, and give them a chance to begin life anew. Second, it would be a shield or buffer for South Carolina against the Spaniards. Third, it would open a fur trade with the Creek Indians. Some rich men were next interested in the plan, a company was formed, the King granted the country between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers, and Oglethorpe with a band of settlers sailed across the Atlantic to Georgia, as he called the new colony, and founded the city of Savannah. People from New Colonial mirror SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND HULL IN AMERICA? 89 England, Germans, and Scotch Highlanders soon followed, and to Savannah, in the course of a few years, were added three other settlements, and Augusta, a little fortified post in the heart of the Indian country. There the English came in con- tact with French traders who had wandered all the way from Canada in search of furs. Both in Georgia and the Carolinas the attempt of associ- change in ations of men to manage colonies did not succeed. The pro- prietors of Carolina sold their province back to the King a few years before Georgia was founded, and finally Georgia also was returned to him. Thus all the colonies south of Maryland were royal provinces. SUMMARY 1. For a long time there were no colonies south of Virginia, when King Charles II. gave a tract of land called Carolina to eight of his friends. 2. These proprietors or owners founded Charleston. :}. At first North Carolina (where some Virginians had settled) was not cut off from South Carolina ; but in time the great province of Carolina was divided into two. 4. During their early years these colonies were infested by pirates. 5. About the time the pirates were driven off, James Oglethorpe obtained a grant of land from King George and founded a colony called Georgia. CHAPTER X SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA'.' Thirteen colonies had now been planted along the Atlantic The thirteen coast by the English or had come under English control. These were the four New England Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the four Mid- dle Colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and <><) SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? Delaware ; and the five Southern Colonies of Maryland, Vir- ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They were settled mostly by Englishmen, hut also hy Dutch, Swedes, Germans, Welsh, Scotch-Irish, and French Huguenots. We have seen that some of these colo- Massachusetts and the King Flintlock pistol A charter nies were owned by the King, as the Carolinas ; others by pro- prietors — Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We have seen the reasons why people came to this country ; as, a desire to worship God as they pleased, or a desire for trade, or a hope of bettering their worldly condition. We have seen, also, some of the hardships and dangers that the early settlers met. We must now notice a few of the famous events in colonial history, and learn something about a few famous men. We shall see that Indian Avars and the dangers and hardships of frontier life were not the only things that troubled the New England people. Rulers who should have been their best friends were little better than enemies, and one such ruler was King Charles II. As we have seen (page 63), he took away New Hampshire from Massachusetts and made it a separate royal colony. He next demanded that Maine, which Massa- chusetts bought from the heir of Gorges, should also be given up to him. He was willing to buy it, but the people of Massachusetts would not sell. Thereupon for this and other reasons lie took away their charter. To understand what this charter was, we must remember Blunderbus 1. That all the land in America claimed by the English was supposed to belong at first to the King to do with as he pleased. SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 91 2. That it had pleased the King to give the soil of Massachu- setts to the Massachusetts Bay Company, and also to give this company, or the settlers, the right to govern themselves. 3. That the boundaries of the h and the rights the people sh< were written down on a parchment and signed by the Now, this written and signed parchment was the charter, and when the King took away the charter, he claimed that the peo- ple had lost the right to govern themselves, and that he was free i , i ii i Cr**^ Indian tomahawks to rule them as he pleased. King Charles II. was a tyrant, and was beginning to govern Governor harshly when he died. His brother James (the owner of New York) then became king and demanded the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Rhode Island gave up her charter ; but Connecticut did not, and when Sir Edmund Andros, the royal governor of New England, came to Hartford and de- manded the parchment, an amusing thing happened. The rulers of Connecticut were determined that he should not have it, and kept up the discussion with Andros till it was dark and the candles had been lighted. Then, upon a sudden, the candles were put out, and when they were lighted again, the charter, which had been lying on the table, was gone. Captain The charter Wadsworth had carried it off, and, it is said, hid it in the hollow of an oak tree, known ever after as the Charter Oak. The tree blew down many years ago, and the spot is now marked by a monument. 92 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? ■ 1 •(DMrfleld -vJy--,i. !u ' « 'V B «cLton ) ^C.Corf V SCALE OF MILES New England and Acadia Though Andros did not get the charter, he ruled Connecti- cut as he pleased, and the King soon placed the whole country from New Jersey to Maine under his control, charters But James did not remain king long. The people of restored England drove him from the throne, and made his nephew William and his daughter Mary king and queen (1689). Then Connecticut and Rhode Island again governed them- selves under their old charters, and Massachusetts was given a new one. James went to France, and the French King made war on England. In our country this war was called King William's 'War, and was soon followed by other wars between the French and the English. Thus in this country there was fighting for nearly forty years to decide whether the French, who owned Canada and the valley of the Mississippi, or the English, wdio held the Atlantic seacoast, should rule over America. King William's War begun SHALL TRANCE OK ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? <»3 England frontier The fighting began a year before William became king with some attacks by the English on the Indians in Maine. The Indians of course attacked the English settlements in return, and even had William never been king there would surely have been a great war with them and their French friends. But just then France and England went to war over the exiled King James, and the conflict in America began in earnest. If you will take a map of our country and draw a line from The New Penobscot Bay, in Maine, to Albany, in New York, you will have the New England frontier at this time. Now, if you notice where the rivers of this region rise and in what direction they flow, you will see how easy it was for the French and Indians to follow down these river valleys from Canada to attack the English frontier towns and settlements. One of these was Dover in New Hampshire, then on the very edge of the frontier. Like most such settlements, it was an open village guarded by blockhouses, to which the people were to come in times of danger. At these blockhouses some squaws appeared one evening in January, 1689, asked leave to • stay all night, and were admitted. But in the dead of night, when all was still, they rose quietly, undid the bars, opened the doors, and gave a loud whistle. Instantly a band of war- riors that had crept into the village sprang up, rushed into the houses, and began a horrible massacre. Then, after plundering and burning the houses, they marched twenty-nine captives off to Canada and sold them to the French as slaves. This was in return for the English custom of selling Indian prisoners into slavery. a squaw 94 SHALL FRANCE < >K ENGLAND KILL IN AMERICA? Among the prisoners was a little girl named Sarah Gerrish, seven years old. Once started on their homeward journey, the Indians, as was their custom, first divided their prisoners, and then split up into separate bands. The band to which little Sarah belonged took her to their village, where her owner sold her to another Indian, who went off with her to Canada. ( )n the way she suffered much from cold and hunger. At Quebec the wife of a French officer, moved by pity, bought her and placed her in a convent. Colonists What happened at Dover was repeated at several other Quebec places by Indian Avar parties sent by the governor of Canada. The colonists then struck back by sending soldiers and a fleet of ships from Boston to take Quebec. They failed, but the commander of the fleet rescued little Sarah Gerrish by giving a French prisoner in exchange. In this way the war went on for eight years. Town after town was laid waste ; men, women, and children were slain, tortured, or carried into captivity. One day in the early spring of 1097, as a farmer named Thomas Dust an was riding from his Haverhm home in Haverhill to his farm, he saw Indians in the distance. At his home, a mile from the nearest garrison house, were his Avife Hannah Dustan, a nurse Mary Neff, and eight children. Turning about, he had just time to gallop home and bid the children run for the blockhouse, when the Indians were upon him. Keeping the enemy at bay with his gun till the children had gone some distance, Mr. Dustan then rode after them, turned about, and again kept back the pursuers while his little family trotted bravely on, and repeated these tactics till all Avere safe in the garrison house. The Indians burned the farmhouses, and, leaving many murdered settlers lying in the smoking ruins of their homes, plunged into the Avoods with thirteen captives. Mrs. Dustan SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 95 and Mary Neff were among them, and fell to the lot of an Hannah Indian family of two braves, three women, seven children, and an English lad, Samuel Leonardson, who for a year and a half had been a prisoner in their hands. The presence of this boy made escape seem possible, and Mrs. Dustan deter- mined to make the attempt. The next night, accordingly, when the Indians were sleep- ing, the two white women and Leonardson rose, hatchet in hand, and in a few minutes' time killed all save one old squaw and one boy. Gathering up the guns and tomahawks, they next destroyed all the canoes except one, in which they paddled down the Merrimac River to Haverhill. The story of their adventures spread through all the colonies and every where the people praised them. The peace which ended King William's War lasted but a little while. The French and the English were soon fighting once more, and, as Queen Anne was then on the throne, the colonists called the long strug- gle of twelve years Queen Anne's War. Again the French and Indi- ans swept along the New Eng- land frontier year after year, burning, torturing, massacring. Haverhill was again laid waste ; Deerlield in the Connecticut valley was burned, and many of its inhabitants were killed or car- ried into captivity. - *: Monument to Mrs. Dustan 96 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND KILL IX AMERICA? ^-•^^s:;. Old "Indian house,'' Deerfield Deerfieid As Deerfield lay in the valley of a great river which rose near Canada and offered an easy highway for hostile bands of French and Indians, most of the forty houses of Deerfield had been surrounded with a high stockade: But long freedom from attack had made the in- habitants careless. The stock- ade had fallen somewhat into decay, and, as the winter of 1704 was very severe, the settlers believed they were quite safe. They had allowed the snow to pile up in great drifts against the stockade, and kept no watch at night. But cold and bitter as the winter was, it did not prevent a band of Indians and Cana- dians from marching down the valley to destroy Deerfield. On arriving at the town and finding no watch, a few Indians in the dead of night climbed one of the snowdrifts, dropped inside the stockade, undid the bars of the gate, and let in their companions, who rushed in, screeching and whooping like so many fiends, and began the work of slaughter. The captives The horrors of that fearful night and the sufferings of the long march to Canada have been told by one of the captives, John Williams, in a very famous book, "The Redeemed Cap- tive Returning to Zion " ; and in a museum at Deerfield is still kept a door, through which the Indians chopped a hole in order to shoot the people in the house. Only two houses were left standing ; the rest were burned, and in or around them lay the bodies of nine and forty settlers. A hundred others were car- ried off as prisoners. In time sixty were exchanged, and among SHALL FRANCE Oil ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? them Mr. Williams. But strangely enough, his ten-year-old daughter was adopted by one of the tribes, lived with it, married an Indian, and refused to return to her own people. Success, however, was not wholly with the French. The English take English attacked the eastern coast of Maine (then held by the Acadia French), and before the war ended, captured the Acadian town of Port "Royal, which they named Annapolis, and still hold. When peace came, the French gave up Acadia, or most of a period of what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Deserted by peace their allies, the Indians made peace and signed a treaty binding them never again to harm the settlers. A long peace of thirty years now followed for France and Great Britain, but not for the New England frontier. The war over, great numbers of settlers moved eastward to rebuild the desolated towns of Maine, and to make new settlements upon the rivers. The arrival of these settlers, building forts, blockhouses, and homes on land the Indians claimed as their own, made new trou- ble, and again and again brought on border wars in Maine. But for the country in general there was peace, and France turned it to good use. It was clear she could not con- quer the colonies. She must therefore confine them to the Door of old "Indian house'' ( Wow in the Deerfield Mas, inn) 98 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? Growth of New Orleans coast, else in time they would surely cross the mountains into the Mississippi valley. AVe left the story of the French in our country, you will * remember, after learning that La Salle had explored the Mis- sissippi to its mouth, and that the French had occupied Mobile Bay, and started New Orleans. The site of New Orleans was chosen by Bienville, one of those great French explorers, soldiers, and frontiersmen who did so much to spread French rule in America. The spot when he first saw it was a piece of low land on the banks of the Mississippi River, covered with cypress swamp and liable every year to be flooded with the waters of the great river. But Bienville felt that a city must be built on the river somewhere near its mouth, and as no other site was more favorable he selected this, sur- rounded it with a high, strong bank of earth to keep out the waters, and with a strange band of French criminals and workmen and a few merchants from Canada, made a clearing, put up a few cabins, and named the place New Orleans. Unpromising as was its start, the place grew, and by the end of ten years some sixteen hundred people were within its mud walls. With a few exceptions they were men — soldiers, trappers, galley slaves, or redemptioners. Very few women as yet found a home in the town. The French King therefore determined to do for New Orleans what the Virginia Company did a hundred years before for Jamestown, and sent over a ship loaded with sixty young women to become the wives of the better sort of the population. They were in the charge of casket girls nuns and had each received from the King a little trunk full of clothing. Later other shiploads of maidens came, and the >V SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 99 Sally port, old French fort, Annapolis girls with trunks were long known by the proud name of "casket girls'." While these things were happening at New Orleans, the The chain French were equally busy up the val- ley of the Mississippi, planting towns, and building, on the high bluffs and along the shores of the Great Lakes, a line of forts which in time ex- tended from Mobile and New Orleans to Montreal and Que- bec. The purpose of this chain of forts was to shut the British out of the Mississippi valley and all approaches to it. But the French were also determined to recapture Annapolis and Nova Scotia if they could, and as a step toward this they built the fortress and town of Louisburg on a fine harbor on the south- east coast of the island of Cape Breton. The fortress was very large and was so strong that the French believed it could never be captured. It took twenty-five years to build the fortress Louisburg, King George' and soon after it was finished, France declared war on Great War Britain (1744). There was fighting both in Europe and in America; but the war on this side of the ocean was called by the colonists King George's War, because George II. was then King of Great Britain. The struggle dragged on during four years, and in the course of it Louisburg, which the French Louisburg boasted could be defended by women, was besieged and cap- tured by New England militiamen. But their toil and blood- shed was all wasted, for on the return of peace Great Britain gave Louisburg back to France, and affairs in America were left much the same as before. LofC. 100 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? The French claim the Ohio valley CHAPTER XI SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? (Continued) With their flag once more waving over Louisburg, and no territory in the New World lost, the French again made ready to keep the British out of the Mississippi valley. As the Brit- ish were planning to settle the Ohio valley, the governor of Canada sent a band of sol- diers to take formal posses- sion of that region. Starting from a place near Montreal, the party in twenty - three birch canoes paddled up the St. Lawrence, crossed Lake Ontario to the Niagara River, carried their canoes on their backs around Niagara Falls, and paddled some distance along the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. At the mouth of a small creek the party left Lake Erie, moved their food, canoes, and baggage across to Chautauqua Lake, and paddled down the lake and its outlet to the Allegheny and so to the Ohio. Once on the Allegheii}', the work of taking possession began. As the party floated along it would stop at the mouths of big streams to nail a tin plate to a tree and bury a lead plate in the earth at its roots. On the plates fastened to trees were the arms of France ; on those hidden in the ground were inscrip- The upper Ohio valley SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 101 tions stating that the King of The lead France owned the Ohio River and plate£ its branches, and all the land that shed water into them. The French arms were probably soon pulled down from the trees ; but two of the buried plates have since been found. One day, about fifty years afterward, while some boys were swimming in the Ohio, they saw a great plate of lead stick- ing out from the bank of the river. What it was they did not know ; but it was made of lead, and taking it home they melted half of it to make bullets. The other half is now carefully preserved, and is shown in this picture. Another of Half of one of the lead plates the lead plates, unearthed by a freshet, was likewise found by a boy who was playing on the river bank. But the French knew very well that something more than French forts burying plates was needed to keep out the British, so they began to build log forts. One was put up where the city of Erie now stands, and two others on the upper waters of the Allegheny River. When the governor of Vir- ginia heard of this, he was greatly alarmed, because Vir- ginia claimed to own the Alle- gheny valley. He decided to Fort Le Boeuf, in the Allegheny valley MCM. PR. h. — i 102 SMALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? command the French to leave, and finally chose as his messen- ger a young Virginian, George Washington. George This man, whom we know as the most honored of Americans, as mgton wag -^ orn on p eDruar y 22, 1732, in Virginia. He was a big, strong, active boy, fond of outdoor life, afraid of nothing, and much given to doing whatever he had to do in the best way he knew how. For a while he thought of going to sea, in the hope that he might some day become the captain of a trading vessel. But the idea was not carried out, and Washington fitted himself to be a land surveyor. Now there lived in Virginia at that time an English noble- man named Lord Fairfax, who owned a vast estate on what was then the fron- tier. Attracted by the manly qualities of the young sur- veyor, Lord Fairfax employed him to survey his lands, and works as a at sixteen years of age Washington plunged into the wilderness and began his work. So well did he do it that Lord Fairfax procured for him the place of public surveyor and the rank of major in the militia, and started him on his career. But he was soon called to pub- lic service of a greater sort. When it was known that the French were in the Allegheny valley, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent a messenger to warn them to depart. But the messenger was not equal to the task. He was afraid, and, when one hundred and fifty miles away from the French forts, turned back. Plainly a brave man was needed, and, on looking about Greenaway Court, home of Lord Fairfax surveyor SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 108 for one, the governor was advised by Lord Fairfax to choose Washington. The advice was taken, and Washington was chosen. He set out at once with a few followers, made his way across Takes swollen streams and through dense, unbroken forests, found the French the French, delivered the governor's letter, and started home in the dead of winter. New difficulties now beset him. The Indians tried to kill him and came near doing so. He was almost drowned while crossing a river and nearly frozen when he got out. But he escaped all dangers and brought back a report of what he saw at the French forts, which in- creased the alarm of the governor of Virginia. It was clear that if the British wanted the valley of the Ohio they must do as the French were doing. They must build forts in it and hold it by force of arms. This the governor of Virginia determined to do, and a regiment of troops were hurried off to establish a fort just where the city of Pittsburg stands to-day. Of this regiment Washington was lieutenant colonel. But the colonel died on the way, and Washington took command. While the regiment was getting ready to march through the wilderness, a small party went on in advance to build the fort and have it ready when the soldiers arrived. But one day in April, 1754, while they were hard at work, the French came down the Allegheny River and drove them away. The messenger bearing this bad news met Washington and his troops making their way through the forest, cutting the first road that ever led down the western slope of the Appa- lachian Mountains. Some men would have gone back. But Be g ins vwr i • ii i • i nit French and \\ ashmgton pushed on, defeated a small party of the French, Indian war French soldier 104 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? and then retired to a narrow glade in southwestern Pennsylvania, called the Great Meadows. There he |J) built Fort Necessity, where the French attacked him and forced him to surrender, on the 4th of July, 1754. He was allowed to go back to Virginia. Thus was started one of the most important wars in our history. The colonists called it the French and Indian War because they fought Frenchmen and Indians. But it was really the last struggle between the French and the British for the possession of America. We have seen how the Dutch conquered the Swedes in the Delaware valley. We have seen how the English conquered New Nether- land. Now the British and the French were to fight for the greater part of North America. Both sides knew this and made ready for the The French prepared to defend their land. The Braddock's British made the attack, and sent over Braddock, one of their expedition | )egt g enevii \^ to command the British and American troops. He came to Virginia ; made Washington one of his aids ; and started to capture Fort Duquesne, as the French called the post they had taken from the Virginians. Southwestern Pennsylvania was then a wilderness. No road led through the woods, so Braddock was forced to have one cut by the troops as they went along. This made the march very slow. Nothing happened till the army was about eight miles from the fort, when suddenly the road choppers saw what looked like an Indian leaping and bounding through the bushes in front of them. He was not an Indian, but a French officer in Indian dress, and was leading an army to attack the British. Waving his hand in the air, he disappeared ; British soldier struR'Sfle. SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 105 victories and in a moment his French and Indians, hidden in bushes and Braddock- behind trees, fired on Braddock's men. The British fought e ea bravely ; but Braddock would not let them hide behind trees in Indian fashion, and their red coats were a fine mark for their enemy. So many were shot that a retreat was ordered. Then Braddock fell wounded, and the retreat became a flight ; and had it not been for Washington and the Americans, who checked the enemy, all the British would probably have been killed. A few days later, Braddock died of his wound. And now for three years the French and Indians had the best of the fighting. Then the tide turned, and the British British began to win victory after victory. They took Fort Duquesne, which was soon named Fort Pitt in honor of a great man then prominent in the British government. They took the for- tress at Louisburg a second time. Finally a young officer named Wolfe captured Que- bec. The fortress of ~itajt Modern Quebec Quebec stood on the top of a very high hill whose steep sides Quebec rose from the edge of the river. To climb the heights in the face of an enemy would have been impossible. But Wolfe sent his ships and troops up the river above Quebec, and one night in September, 1759, he and his soldiers got into boats, floated downstream to the foot of the bluff, climbed up, and in the morning his army stood ready for battle on the Plains of Abra- ham, as the level laud behind the city was called. The French, km; SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA ? led by Montcalm, came out to attack the British, and one of the great battles of the world was fought. The British won, and Que- bec was taken ; but among the dead were Wolfe and Montcalm. Painting by Benjamin West Death of General Wolfe France loses all in America Montreal was next taken, and the struggle for America be- tween France and Great Britain was ended. When the war began, France owned Canada and claimed all the valley of \he Mississippi River, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rockies, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. When the war ended, France gave Great Britain all of Canada (except two little islands near Newfoundland) and all of our country which she claimed east of the Mississippi, except New- Orleans and a small region about it (1763). SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA? 107 Up to this time Spain owned Florida. But in the war she had taken sides with France, and (Treat Britain had captured Havana. To get back Havana, Spain now gave Great Brit- ain Florida in ex- change. But France repaid Spain for this loss by giving her Oldest house in St. Augustine New Orleans and the country round about, and all the country west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. So North America was then divided between Spain and Great Britain, with the Mississippi as the boundary, down to New Orleans. And now again peace between France and Great Britain was Trouble with not followed by peace for all the colonies. In the region given up to Great Britain between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi, dwelt many tribes of Indians, old friends of the French and bitter haters of the English. The moment these Indians heard that the French must leave their country, and the English were coming in, they were easily persuaded to join in a war to drive the English back. The leader in the new border war was Pontiac, one of the Pontiacs greatest Indians known to history, and nobody saw more clearly than he did the difference between the two white races in the way they behaved in the Indian country. The French built rude forts, made friends with the Indians, married Indian women, and supplied the tribes with whatever was wanted in return for furs. The English built villages, killed the game, 108 SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA ? The back- woodsmen cut down the forests, made roads, planted farms, and looked on the Indian as a wild beast. To Pontiac the coming of the English meant the ruin of his race, and with wonderful skill he quickly roused the tribes of the Northwest, took the warpath, and swept the country from Lake Michigan to Pennsylvania. Along the frontier of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, were then scattered a hardy class of men who were by turn farmers, hunters, and fighters, as occasion required. Rough, brave, daring ; caring nothing for the refine- ments of city life ; dressed in moccasins, leggings, and hunting shirt of deerskin, they made their clearings, built their log huts, and, rifle in hand, ranged the forest at will. Here and there at lonsf intervals small stockaded forts, with a few cabins and houses, or thick-walled buildings like the garrison houses of New England, had been built, to which, in times of danger, the settlers came for refuge ; but along the Pennsylvania frontier even these rude defenses were few. Now that the French had been driven from America, these backwoodsmen supposed that a long period of peace was be- fore them, and had gone back to their farms and clearings, had planted their crops, and were cutting their hay, when Indian war parties burst upon them from every valley. It was the old story of surprise, treachery, massacre, burning, and torture. The general commanding the British forces in the colonics. Avith all the haste he could make, sent relief expeditions to Fort Niagara, to Detroit, and to Fort Pitt. That sent to Fort A backwoodsman SHALL FRANCE OR ENGLAND RULE IN AMERICA ? 109 Battle of Bushy Run subdued Pitt was in the charge of Colonel Henry Bouquet, a bold and daring soldier. Hearing of the coming army, the Indians who were attack- ing Fort Pitt instantly slipped away, and, hurrying eastward some twenty miles to Bushy Run, hid in the bushes to await the troops, who came upon them one scorching afternoon in August, 1763. The battle which followed was most desper- ate ; but the Indians were put to flight, and the arm}' went slowly on to Fort Pitt. This cleared the frontier of Pennsylvania. Another army The Indians sent the following year along the lake frontier to Detroit quieted the Indians in that region. But to sweep back the red men, recover the sites of the burned ^^v forts, and rebuild and garrison the block- j ^^ r ^ x '^^~- houses was not enough. The strong- hold of the enemy must be invaded. Bouquet accord- /j| ingly took up the task, and in the autumn of 1764 led an army from Fort Pitt into what is now Ohio, forced the Indians to submit, made them give up two hundred prisoners, and went back in triumph to Fort Pitt. . ~ — 1^ ■''TH.^zC^- Redoubt at Fort Pitt, still standing SUMMARY 1. The King of England took away the charters of Massachusetts and Rhode Island ; and for a short time the whole country from New Jersey to Maine was placed under one royal governor — Andros. 2. When William and Mary came to the English throne, war hroke out be- tween the French and the English colonies, and was known as King William's War. 110 COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 3. This was soon followed by Queen Anne's War, lim- ing which the English colonists captured Nova Scotia from the French. 4. During the peace which fol- lowed, France made ready to shut the British out of the Mississippi valley, and was building a chain of forts from Xew Orleans to Montreal, when King- George's War opened. 5. After peace France built a chain of forts in the Alle- gheny valley from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. 6. This alarmed the British and brought on the French and Indian War, in which the French were forced to abandon North America, giving to the British Canada and the part of'Louisiana east of the Mississippi. Spain was forced to give Florida to Great Britain, but received from France the Mississippi valley west of the river, with New Orleans. The departure of the French from the Mississippi valley and the Great Lakes was followed by an Indian uprising led by Pontiac. Old tower, Fort Marion, Florida oSKc CHAPTER XII THE COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY New The greater part of the country France surrendered to provinces (; rea t Britain in 17(33 was a wilderness in which very few white men lived. But some parts of the new British posses- sions were inhabited by white men, and the first thing Great COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 111 Britain did was to make, out of these, the three provinces of Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida. She next drew a line around the sources of the rivers which flow into the Atlantic Ocean from New England to Florida, and forbade the Americans to settle west of that line. The country west of the The Indian line was set apart for the Indians. Great Britain did these things in order that her colonies and provinces might be more easily &%> ^ g° veniecl - She also wanted the people to stay „, , near the seaboard and not wander into the Stamp used in 1705 region beyond the mountains. If hemmed in near the coast, it was thought, the colonies would in time become thickly settled and would buy great quantities of British manufactures. But the colonies and provinces must not merely be governed, Plans for they must also be defended. The Indians must be kept in order, and everything must be in a state of defense in case France and Spain tried to get back their lost territory. Great Britain proposed, therefore, to send over an army of regular soldiers to be scattered over the country. This would cosl a great deal of money, and King George III. and ^^'!£!j^# Parliament decided that part of the money should be y^C~**^V raised in two ways : by forcing the colonists to pay / V-> It C \ taxes on all the molasses, sugar, and coffee they im- I 1 CTJrTy J ported ; and by requiring them to print all newspa- N^gv^^y pers and write all legal documents on paper made in —- England and stamped and sold by government offi- cials. The law requiring this was the Stamp Act. ""rrL The colonies then had agents in London, and one of tliem was Benjamin Franklin. He was born at Boston nearly sixty years before this time, and was the son of a candle maker. 112 COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY Benjamin Franklin Agent for Pennsylvania When he was ten years old his school days were over, and for a while he cut wicks, molded candles, tended shop, ran on errands. and talked of going to sea. But the father opposed this, and bound Benjamin as apprentice to an elder brother, under whom he learned mmi to set type and did his share in print- ing the second newspaper in America. When seventeen he left his brother, and made his way to New York, in search of work. Finding none, he crossed to the Jersey shore and walked to the Delaware River, where he boarded a boat and rowed to Philadelphia. There in time he opened a printing house of his own, published one of the best newspapers in all the colonies, issued every year a very famous little book known all over the colo- nies as Poor Richard's Almanac, and took an active part in everything that benefited his fellow-citizens. He founded a library, and an academy which has since grown to be a greal university. He proved that lightning in the clouds and the electricity by which we ring bells, are one and the same : and invented the lightning rod and a stove still known by his name. The King ai^pointed him deputy postmaster for the northern colonies ; his fellow-citizens elected him to the legis- lature, and when somebody was needed to plead the cause of Pennsylvania in London, the legislature sent Franklin to do it. In company with agents from other colonies Franklin now- appeared before the minister and did all he could to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act, but in vain. k> Depend upon it, my good neighbor," he wrote home, " I took every step in my Printing press of Franklin's time COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 113 power to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act. . . . But Accepts the the tide was too strong against us. . . . We might as well tam P Act have hindered the sun's setting. That we could not do. But since 'tis down, my friend, and it may be long be- fore it rises again, let us make as good a night of it as we can. We may still light candles." But the people were not willing to accept dark- ness and " light candles " as Franklin said. When the news came that the Stamp Act had passed Parliament, and would be a law in the colonies on the first day of November, 1765, there was great ex- citement everywhere. In Virginia a famous scene occurred. The legisla- ture was debating a set of resolutions declarino- Benjamin Franklin the stamp tax unjust. One of the speakers was Patrick Henry, Patrick and a greater orator did not then live in the thirteen colonies. Henry Henry was born in Virginia a few years after Washington, grew up on one of the smaller plantations, and seems never to have given the slightest sign of being more than a very ordinary boy. He hated study and loved the woods and streams, and when he was ten had made so little progress at school that his father became his teacher till he was fifteen, 114 COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY when lie was apprenticed to a storekeeper, and then started with his brother in a store of his own. But he was quite unfit for business. Instead of making money he lost it, and was next placed on a small farm. He proved to be a poor farmer, and went back to storekeeping and once more failed to succeed. Those who knew him might now have thought him good for nothing. But like many another man great in our history, he had not yet found what he could do. In desperation Henry now turned to law, and after reading a few legal books went before the lawyers to be examined for permission to practice law, and with great difficulty got it. But now at last he had found his true work. Business came to him, and when one day a case was brought to him because no other lawyer would argue it, he took it, and made so elo- quent a speech that all who heard him knew that a great orator had arisen among them, what Such was the fame of this case that Henry was elected to Virginia did ^ ie Virginia legislature just at the time of the Stamp Act troubles. The question before it was, Shall the law be obeyed ? The wealthy and important men thought they would say yes, and were much displeased when Henry said no. His speech was not written down, so we know little of it, but those who were present describe it as wonderful, and have preserved for us one sentence. Recall- ing to his hearers the fate of tyranni- cal rulers who had been killed in old times, he said, "Caesar had his Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; and George the t-jmmiHMBiraU'j !•■• I- |j|.. Old Capitol of Virginia {Where Patrick Henry made his famous .speech) COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 115 Third" — "Treason ! treason! treason !" shouted the mem- bers ; — "and George the Third," continued Henry, "may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." The legislature finally passed a resolution that the Virgini- ans were not bound to obey the law. In Massachusetts the people were so much in earnest that stamp Act the legislature asked the colonies to send delegates to a con- Con s ress gress at New York. This body of men (known as the Stamp Act Congress) adopted, signed, and issued a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which stated : — 1. That the Americans were subjects of the British crown. 2. That it was the natural right of a British, subject to pay no taxes unless he had a voice in laying them. 3. That the Americans were not represented in Parliament. 4. That Parliament, therefore, could not tax them, and that an attempt to do so was an attack on the rights of Eng- lishmen and the liberty of self-government. Meanwhile certain men had been appointed in the colonies The stamp to sell the stamped paper. The people next called on these Act resis £ men to refuse to sell the paper, and, if they would not, used force to make them do so. The merchants in the great cities next signed an agreement not to import any goods from Great Britain, and the people pledged themselves not to buy any British goods for some months to come. This hurt the British manufacturers, and they raised such a clamor that Parliament repealed the stamp tax, that is, stopped it. When the colonists heard of this, they were greatly pleased. All trouble, they thought, was now over. But they were much mistaken, for the very next year Parlia- ment laid taxes on glass, paint, oils, and tea imported into New taxes the colonies. 11)3 COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY Tea at Boston Thus the right to tax the colonies was once more claimed, and the people again made ready to resist. But how should they resist ? By refusing to buy British goods. Such action had led to the repeal of the stamp tax. Like action would surely lead to the repeal of the new taxes. The old agree- ment not to import and not to use British goods was there- fore renewed all over the colonies. Parliament stood out for three years, but then it took off all the taxes except that on tea. At that time a company, called the East India Company, had the sole right to bring tea to Great Britain. But it could not send any to America. It must sell the tea and let others take it to the colonies. But the Americans had stopped buying tea from the British mer- chants, who for this reason bought less tea from the East India Company, and an immense quan- tity was lying in its Avarehouses. Parliament, in order to help the company, now gave it leave to send tea to America. The company accord- ing^ sent over shiploads of tea to Boston, New York, Philadel- phia, and Charleston. But it was required to pay a duty of three pence a pound ; the tea, therefore, was taxed, and the Americans would have none of it. " If Parliament may tax one article, it may tax all," said they. When the first tea ship arrived at Boston, she was made fast to a dock and guarded by the people, who insisted that her captain should take her back to London. This he was quite ready to do ; but the officers of the King would not give her a paper called a " clearance," and without a clearance the ship would not be permitted to pass the fort and the men-of-war in the harbor. Under the lead of Samuel Adams the people then asked the governor to order the officers to let the ship go. Flag of the East India Company COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 117 Samuel Adams was a native of Boston, was about fifty years samuei old at this time, and had long been prominent in public affairs. For twenty years past he had been serving his native town in all manner of ways — as a tax collector, as a fire warden, as moderator of the town meeting, as one of a committee to visit Adams schools, and see that chimneys were prop- and that due care was taken to prevent small pox, and as member of the legislature Services like these made him well known, which he discharged his duties made people and when the stormy times of the Revolu- fellow-townsmen naturally turned to him sought his counsel, and listened to his wrote articles for the newspaper, ex- acts and aims of Great Britain, defend- ple, and pointing out the kind of resist- should make ; and now when resistance made, it was Samuel Adams that led The governor, however, refused to customs officers to let the ship go, and while the people were meeting and discussing what next to do, two more tea ships arrived. This made the people more excited than be- fore, and at a great meeting at the Old South Meetinghouse one morning in December, 1773, it was resolved that the ships must go out of Boston harbor that very afternoon. A committee was then sent to the customhouse to demand a clearance, and when the officers again refused, the owner of one of the ships was sent to ask a pass from the governor. erly inspected, the spread of of the colony. The way in trust in him, tion came, his as to a leader, advice. He plaining the ing the peo- ance they was to be the way. order the Old South Meetinghouse Mi M. PR. H. 1 118 COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY saflrns usaar. J23;; SHE as sttt sTSBSSSBaflBVisaafc I ati£f"j£' sua'ii.-d" :'«',i!i );• ag;-;,.ii;i a t -,jSj5ilaftTa-im 3SB The "Tea Party Tablet," on Long Wharf, Boston Boston Night had fallen and the candles had been lighted when this Tea Party man returned, to find the people still waiting before the build- ing. They were not surprised to hear that the governor refused . _ to give a pass to take the ships out of the harbor un- less a clearance was first obtained. As nothing more could now be done, the meeting broke up, and the people were returning to their homes, when a band of men dressed like Indians hurried through the streets of the city to the wharf where the three ships lay, leaped on board, and with hatchets smashed in the side of every box and emptied the tea into the water. At New York, the tea ships were stopped and not allowed to come up the harbor. At Charleston, the tea was stored for three years and then sold by the state of South Carolina. At Philadelphia, the people met at the statehouse and passed reso- lutions calling on the merchants to whom the East India Com- pany had sent tea not to receive it. The river pilots were next asked not to pilot the tea ships up the Delaware River. This done, the people waited quietly for the arrival of the ships. At last, on the evening of Christmas Day, 1773, a horseman rode into town with the news that a ship with tea on board was really coming up the river. The next day was Sunday, but the people were so excited that a party of citizens rode down the river bank to warn the captain not to come near the city. ( )n Monday all business was stopped, the stores were shut, and a great meeting was held at the statehouse yard. Then it was Tea at other cities COLONIES QUARREL WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY 119 Port Bill resolved that the tea should not be landed. The captain was ordered to go back to London, and in twenty-four hours was on his way to sea. For their acts of resistance, Parliament now resolved to The Boston punish the colonies, and began with Massachusetts. The port of Boston was closed — that is, no ship was to be , allowed to go into or come out of Boston harbor — till if the people asked pardon and paid for the tea that was de- Jm stroyed. But the colonists were not frightened. The whole country felt sorry for the people of Boston. Their cause be came the country's cause, and -—J^Jf soon men from twelve of the colonies met in Carpenter's Hall at Philadelphia to con- sider what should be done. This body, known as the First Continental Congress, sent a petition to the King, asking him to put an end to the grievances of the colonies. It then called for a second Continental Congress to meet Philadelphia in May, 177f>. at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia SUMMARY In order to defend the colonies Great Britain proposed to send over an army and have the colonists help to pay the cost. Money was to be raised by new duties and by a stamp tax on newspapers and legal papers. As the colonists had no representatives in Parliament, they refused to pay the stamp duties, and agreed not to buy British manufactured goods. This forced Parliament to repeal the stamp tax. 120 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE But Parliament soon laid new taxes on glass, paint, oils, and tea. Again the colonists refused to buy British goods, and soon all the taxes were repealed except that on tea. As the people would not import tea, it was sent over. At some places the ships were forced to sail away. At Boston men disguised as Indians threw the tea into the water. For this, Parliament punished Boston. But the colonies sided with Boston, and the First Continental Congress met at Philadelphia in 1774. CHAPTER XIII THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Gage in Massachusetts During the seven months' interval be- tween the First and the Second Continen- tal Congress, the colo- nies and the mother country came to bl< >ws. The people of Massachusetts, fear- ing that trouble would come, had begun to collect and hide pow- der, shot, guns, and cannon. General Gage, who commanded the British troops in Boston, and had been made governor of Massachusetts by the King, was well aware of this, and several times tried to seize the supplies and destroy them. But the patriots were too quick for him. Thus, one day in February, 1775, Gage sent a band of soldiers from Boston to Salem with orders to seize some cannon. Not finding any, the troops Country around Boston THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 121 started for a town near by ; but while marching along, they came to a bridge guarded by Americans under Colonel Picker- ing. The British attempted to pass. Colonel Pickering said the bridge was private property and refused to let them go on. A fight seemed at hand, when a minister who was present reminded the jDeople that the day was Sunday, and the British were allowed to proceed. They found no cannon. Some time after this, officers were sent to find where the patriots did hide their cannon. They reported that guns, cannon, and powder had been collected at Concord, a town about twenty miles from Boston. Gage, therefore, ordered some British soldiers to go and destroy these stores, and on the evening of April 18, 1775, they set off as quietly as possible. But the Boston patriots had suspected that soldiers would be sent, and had agreed on a signal to be used when needed to notify the people in the country. If the British did go, lights were to be shown from the tower of the Old North Church : one lantern if they went by land ; two lanterns if they went by water. The British went by water. Two lights were there- fore hung out on the church steeple, and riders were sent galloping off in the darkness to arouse the country. It was believed that the British not only intended to destroy the stores, but were going to capture two active patriots, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were then at Lexington. Toward Lexington, therefore, one of the riders, Paul Revere, made all the haste he could. Galloping along from town to town, he would stop at the door of some patriot farmer, wake him up with the cry " The regulars are out." and leaving him to arouse his neighbors, -w would ride 011. Old North Church The signal 122 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Lexington Thus it came about that when the regulars reached Lexing- ton, about dawn on the never-to-be-forgotten morning of April 19, 1775, they found a little company of patriots drawn up and Concord 1- - ' ^A^iLAi : fyj jtijT, «y IJBBjHH • *e~> O^ P/ ; : Px \^ VHP F >* i e -., \- < * m «• i%i* ^ *& Ei V \ : i - -^.. Painting hy A It. Bicknell Battle of Lexington ready for them on the village green. " Disperse, ye villains ; ye rebels, disperse," said the commander of the King's troops. Instead of dispersing, one of the patriots pulled the trigger of his musket. It failed to go off. i The next moment the British fired, and sixteen men fell, killed and wounded. The Americans now fired, and one British soldier was killed. But, seeing they were greatly outnumbered, the Americans made no more resistance, and the British marched on to Concord. But there Paul Revere had aroused the people, who were gather- ing fast on the hillsides. Leaving a guard at the bridge across the Concord River, the British began to destroy the cannon and powder collected by THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 123 the patriots. While they were doing this, firing was heard at the bridge. The Americans had attacked the guard. Hurry- ing up to aid their companions, the British saw such a host of angry and determined men that they began to retreat toward Lexington. Meanwhile, news of the fight at Lexington at sunrise had The British spread like wildfire. The whole country was in arms. The people were in waiting along the road the British must take, and they poured a deadly fire on the retreating enemy. The Americans were stationed in buildings near the road, and behind trees and stone fences, so that the British could not shoot them. Indeed, the British soon began to run, and they might all have been killed or captured, had not a body of fresh troops met the regulars at Lexing- ton. With the help of these the British reached Charlestown at sundown. But the patriots came in from every side, so that in a ' few days great crowds of them were gathered about Boston, — > where they shut in Gage and the British army. When the Second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia in May, 1775, Massachusetts asked it to adopt the men gathered about Boston, as a Continental Army shire men, Massachusetts men, Rhode Islanders, and men from ( Onnecticut. Each band was a sort of little army with its own commander. Congress, seeing that the war had really opened, did as it \v;ls asked and formed these bands into a Continental Army; Concord Bridge and Monument There were New Hamp- The Continental Army 124 THE LONG EIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Flintlock mus- ket and car- tridge box " Battle of Bunker Hill ' and appointed George Washington as commander in chief. He started at once for Boston. But he had not ridden far from Philadelphia when he heard that a great battle had been fought near Bunker Hill. A short distance north of Boston, and just behind Charlestown, were two small hills. The nearer of the two to the American army was Bunker Hill. Just beyond it and nearer to Boston was Breeds Hill. The Americans, hearing that the British intended to fortify the hills, sent a body of soldiers, under Colonel Prescott, one night in June, to take possession of Bunker Hill. But Prescott went on to Breeds Hill, and quickly built a large earth- work. At daylight the British fired on it from their ships, but the Americans worked on, making a long trench and bank to protect themselves in the coming fight. About three o'clock in the afternoon the British, having come over from Boston, formed in line at the foot of Breeds Hill and began to march up. The Americans had very little powder. Prescott and General Israel Putnam, who were in command, urged them not to waste any. " Save your powder," was the order. " Men," said Putnam, " you are all marksmen. Don't one of you fire till you see the whites of their eyes." On came the forms, their faces, ute. They were British, nearer and nearer. Their uni- grew plainer and plainer every min- within three hundred feet, two hun- dred feet, one hundred feet, before the .order " Fire ! " rang out. Then the Americans fired, killing so many British that the rest hurried Putnam's plow down the hill in disorder. But the British officers rallied their men, and led them back up the hill. They were again thrown THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 125 into disorder by obliged to re- a third time A third time powder of the bayonets, they muskets and could end in forced to re- Although Hill, as this Bunker Hill Monument the steady fire of the Americans, and tire. Their courage was splendid, and their officers led them to the attack. the Americans met them. But now the Americans was gone, and, having no fought desperately with the butt ends of with stones. Such an unequal fight but one way. The Americans were treat. the British won the battle of Bunker Result of the fight is called, their loss was dreadful. " Two more such victories, and Great Britain will have no army left in America," said a great French statesman. " Did the militia fight? " exclaimed Washington, when on his way to Boston he heard of that they battle the battle of Bunker Hill. When assured fought splendidly, he said, "Then the liberties of the country are safe.*' -' And this was the great lesson of Bunker Hill : that the American farmers would fight for their rights and would fight against the regular troops of Great Britain. During the next eight months the Continental Army, with Washington in command, surrounded Boston. It took a long time to drill the men and collect cannon and powder. But at last Washington was ready to drive Washington Elm at Cambridge (Where Washington tt'ck- command of the army) 126 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE new govern ments ' u <^;^. - King might yie. = iffi&'Mil called Comr British leave the British out of the town, and was just about to do it, when, under General Howe, they boarded their ships and sailed away. colonies form All authority of the King and Parliament was now ended in the colonies. The royal governors had fled, or had been put into prison. The patriots in every colony, hoping that the King might yield, had established tem- ernments, which they ommittees of Safety, Pro- pS vincial Congresses, or Provincial : Assemblies. But now it was very certain that unless the colonies were beaten in the war they never again would be under the British Crown. The Continental Congress, there- fore, advised the colonies to set up permanent governments. One by one they did so, and thus turned them- selves from British colonies into American states. Up to this time . , there had been thirteen colonics; Where the Declaration was signed now there were thirteen states. (Independence Sail, Philadelphia) But t J iese gtate governments independence were to be made without consent of the King. What did that mean ? It meant that the states were to be independent of the King. Then why not say so? Why not tell it to the whole world ? They decided to do so, and on July 2, 1776, Congress passed this resolution, moved by II. H. Lee of Virginia : — " Resolved, 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." THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 11*7 This settled the matter. The colonies were now independ- Declaration of ent. The next step was to tell or declare that fact to the ^dependence world, and so a declaration of independence, which had already been drawn up, was next voted on. " When, in the course of human events," says the Declaration, " it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands Avhich have con- nected them with another ... a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes." It was this decent respect which had led Congress to select Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston to prepare the Declaration of Independence, telling the world why the United States were independent of Great Britain. Jefferson wrote the Declaration, and on the 4th of Jul}*, 1770, Congress adopted it, and ordered copies sent to the states. To declare independence was one thing ; to force Great Britain to acknowledge it was another thing, and more than five vears passed before the last .. . . , r er , son f. J ■>- (On which Declaration ways written) British army surrendered to Washington. When General Howe and the British troops sailed away from British take Boston, Washington did not know where they would go next. NewYork But he thought it might be to New York, so he hurried there with his army. Sure enough, after several weeks the British fleet sailed up the bay. Howe found the Americans intrenched on Brooklyn Heights. His first attempt to drive them away failed, and before he could make a second, Washington crossed the river under cover of a fog, and retreated up the Hudson. While the British were encamped near Brooklyn, Washing- ton wished to know how many soldiers there were in the enemy's camp, and how they were arranged. To get this 128 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Nathan Hale information, somebody must go into the camp and look about him. Such a man would be a spy, and, if caught, would be hanged. But a young officer named Nathan Hale volunteered to go. Leaving the American headquarters near New York city, he went to Connecticut and from there crossed the Sound to Long Island. Making his way to Brooklyn, he spent a few days in the British camp taking notes, and then returned to the north shore of Long Island to await a chance to cross the Sound to Connecticut. One day, seeing a boat coming toward shore, he went down to meet it, thinking it was from Connecti- cut, but he was recognized by a relative who sided with the British, and was delivered to Howe. Hale was treated with great harshness. He was not allowed to send a letter to his mother, nor to read his Bible, nor to have a minister visit him. He was a spy, and he was hanged like a criminal. When about to die he said, " I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." These words are now carved on the pedestal of a statue erected to his memory not far from the spot in New York city where he died. Hale is known as the Martyr Spy of the Revolution. From New York Washington passed up the Hudson a few miles, crossed the river, and led his army through New Jersey. The British pressed him hotly. Discouraged by cold, hunger, and defeat, many of the soldiers deserted, and the anks grew thinner every mile. But Washington reached the Delaware River in safety, and crossed into Pennsylvania. Affairs were now in a desperate state, and Washington seemed almost disheartened. statue of Nathan Hale Americans who took the side of the King THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 129 were called Loyalists or Tories, and there were plenty of them The Tories in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The army got so little help from the people that the patriot canse seemed likely to " remain for some time under a cloud," as Washington wrote to his brother. But the cloud, dark as it was, soon lifted. To prevent the British from crossing the Delaware after him, Washington collected all the boats for miles along the river. So the British commander, when he reached the Delaware, finding no means of crossing, resolved to wait till the river was frozen and then march over on the ice. But while he waited Washington acted, and on Christmas night, 1776, recrossed the Delaware to make an attack on some German , ,. , iii i-ii Hudson and Delaware valleys soldiers who had been hired by the King to fight for him ; — as many of these soldiers were victory at from a part of Germany called Hesse, they are known as Hes- Trenton sians. The night was bitterly cold, and the river was full of great blocks of floating ice. But with splendid courage Wash- ington crossed with his little army, and at daylight fell on the Hessians at Trenton, beat them, and took one thousand prisoners. A week later Washington won another victory, at Princeton, Princeton ten miles from Trenton, and then marched on to the hills at Morristown, where his army passed the winter. —i 130 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Burgoyne's surrender British take Philadelphia During the following summer (June, 1777) the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes as our national flag. The first flag of this kind was made by Betsy Ross at her house on Arch Street, Philadelphia. The building still stands and is carefully preserved as the birthplace of " Old Glory." The British now (1777) at- tempted to get possession of the Hudson River, and so cut off New England from the rest of the states. But when an army, under Burgoyne, came down from Canada by way of Lake Cham- plain, the Americans, under General Gates, captured it near Saratoga. New York, and the attempt failed. Meantime another British army sailed from New York to take Philadelphia. Washington hurried across New Jersey and met the enemy below the city ; but was de- feated on Brandy- wine Creek, and later at Germantown. The British then passed the winter in the city, while Washington and his army were camped not far away. at Valley Forge. Washington's headquarters at Morristown 3*r« Betsy Ross house THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 181 The suffering of the American army during the winter was The suffering terrible ; but let those who were there tell of it : " The army J*^* lley has been in great distress since you left," General Greene wrote to General Knox ; "the troops are getting naked. They were seven days without meat and several days without bread." " The men," said Baron Steuben, a brave German who came over to help us, " were literally naked, some of them in the fullest extent of the word." "For some days past there has been little less than a famine in camp," Alexander Hamilton wrote to the gov- ernor of New York. " I am now con- vinced beyond a doubt," said Wash- ington, " that unless some great change takes place this army must starve, dissolve, or disperse in order to obtain provisions." But these grand heroes would not disperse. They would Patience of starve rather than desert. Well did John Laurens say, " I 50^3° * would cherish these dear ragged Continentals, whose patience will be the admiration of future ages." "To see men," said Washington, "without clothes to cover their nakedness, with- out blankets to lie upon, without shoes (for want of which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet), and almost as often without provisions as with them, marching through the frost and snow, and, at Christmas time, taking up their winter quarters without a house or a hut to cover them till they could be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge 132 THE LONG FIGHT FOE INDEPENDENCE Franklin in France Foreigners fight on our side proof of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled." The winter at Valley Forge was the darkest period of the war. But the darkest hour, as the proverb says, is just before dawn. And so it was in 1778 ; for, while the army was starv- ing and freezing at Valley Forge, France came to the aid of the Americans. In the year 1776, Franklin and two other men were sent to France to ask for arms and money. Their arrival in France Mas followed by an outburst of welcome. Everywhere French- men were talking of the Stamp Act, Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hill. One young nobleman, Lafayette, left France against his king's orders, came to the United States, and served under Washington till the end of the war. Lafayette was not the only foreigner who took up arms on our side. Others of his countrymen did so, as well as the German baron, De Kalb, and Steuben, "the drill- master of the revolu- tionary arm}- ; " and the Poles, Pulaski and Kosciusko. When Kosciusko was asked what he could do to help us, he answered quickly, "Try me," which greatly pleased Washington. Great as was the interest Frenchmen took in our struggle, Franklin was unable to get much aid from France till the arri- val of the news of the capture of Burgoyne. It was then cer- Intrenchments at Valley Forge THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 133 Franklin at the French court {From an old engraving 1 ) tain that the Americans could fight, and early in 1778 the French France King acknowledged that the United States were no longer Brit- a^iaTus ish colonies, and made two treaties with the new country. War between France and Great Britain followed at once ; and when General Clinton, who now commanded the British in Philadelphia, heard that a French fleet was coming over, he started for New York. Washington hurried from Valley Forge and chased him across New Jersey to Monmouth, where Monmouth another battle was fought. Neither side won ; but during the night the British went on to New York. Washington followed and stationed his soldiers at several places about New York, in order to watch the British and be read)' for whatever they might do next. In this way these MCM. PR. II. 9 134 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE wayne takes two generals and their armies spent many months without stony Point figi^^g an y g re at battles. Once Clinton grew bold enough to come out of New York and build a fort at Stony Point, on the Hudson River. It looked as if Clinton were about to push up the river to the American camp at West Point. Washington wished to prevent this, so he sent for Anthony Wayne, one of the most daring soldiers in the army, and asked him if he could storm Stony Point. Wayne said he could, and one dark night with a gallant band of men he did storm it, and carried off guns and prisoners, besides destroying the fort. Kentucky and Tennessee settled CHAPTER XIV THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE (Continued) During the year 1778, while great things were taking ' place in Paris and in New Jersey, events of perhaps even greater importance were happening among the Indians on the far western frontier. Great Britain no sooner acquired the eastern half of the Mississippi valley from France, than backwoodsmen from Virginia and North Carolina began to cross the mountains to hunt and trap and make settlements in what are now Kentucky and Tennessee. Some, under Revolutionary Dan iel Boone, formed Boonesboro, in Kentucky, swords Others, under James Ilarrod, built Harrodsburg. Others, under William Bean and James Robertson and John Sevier, put up their cabins on a branch of the Tennessee River called the Watauga, in Tennessee. These settlements were not farms or little village's, but frontier forts or sta- tions. THE LONG FIGHT FOll INDEPENDENCE 135 £7'*c y^«-'j» i- i -V-V- [J E N N E SjMCSf- The Ohio valley When a number of families went out under some leader to a frontier settle in the wilderness, they would select their ground, cut down the trees, and begin to build a fort, in the form of a square. One side of the square was formed by a row of log cabins. Around the other three sides, and between the cabins, was a stockade or high fence of huge logs placed side by side with one end thrust into the ground. In each of these sides were cut loopholes, and in one of them was a great door or gate that could be strongly barred when necessary. At the four corners of the stockade were two-story blockhouses. Within the stockade were the cabins whose backs formed one side of the fort, the sheds where cattle and provisions could be kept, and in the center of the square a strong blockhouse. This was the place of last resort. If the gate was beaten down, or if the stockade was destroyed by fire, it was to the central blockhouse that the inmates fled to defend themselves or die. To such stations the settlers came in time of war or when an Indian rising was feared. In time of peace they dwelt in log cabins on their farms or clearings, which were scat- tered over the country for miles around the fort. But peaceful days were few. The pioneers lived in con- stant war <>r dread of war with the Indians. Small bands of savages were generally lurking around the forts, killing ti e ™ r U ~ the men as they limited in the woods or worked in the pikes 136 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Wooden canteen war with fields, and ready to carry off the women and children at the Indians g^ c j iaDCe> Xhe history of those days is full of thrilling- adventures, narrow escapes, and deeds of heroism. Thus some Indians attacked Fort Henry, on the Ohio River, one day when there were only twelve men and boys in the fort, besides a number of women and children. The white men fought bravely, firing through the loopholes and driving back the Indians at every attack. But after ;i while their powder was nearly all used up. Then the commander asked for a volunteer to go to a house outside the fort, where a keg of powder was stored. To go meant almost certain death ; but four young men at once offered. While they were disputing about it, a young girl named Elizabeth Zane said : " Let me go for the powder. You can not spare even one man. There are too few in the fort now. But if I am killed, you will be as strong as ever." As she persisted, the gate of the stockade was opened just wide enough to let her slip out. She ran to the house, filled her apron with powder, and started to return, before the Indi- ans guessed what she was doing. Then they fired at her again and again, till she got inside the gate. She was unhurt, and the fort was saved, for there was now powder enough to last till more white men came and drove the Indians away. The country north of the Ohio River was claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia; but in reality the region was as much British as the province of Quebec, to which it had been added by the King four years before. Over Country north of the Ohio Revolutionary cannon THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 137 it roamed some of the strongest and fiercest of the Indian tribes. It contained a few old French towns, — such as Detroit, Kas- kaskia, Vincennes, — and a few forts garrisoned by the British, whom the Indians looked upon as the successors of the French and the rulers of the land. At these forts and towns the Indians obtained their muskets and powder, and were aroused to attack the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee. Anybody might see that these towns and forts ought to be George Rogers taken, that the country ought to be held by the United States, Clark and that the Indians ought to be made to stop helping the British. But it was left for a young Virginian, George Rogers Clark, to make the attempt to do this. j, Clark began by sending spies to find out sk\ the strength of the garrisons; then he A- i formed a plan for a secret expedition to attack them suddenly and unexpected])', and finally laid his plan before Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, and a _J|- -i^d^» few others. They gave him what aid they could, which was little enough, , «, , .,n t n ] , • u Powder house, Virginia and Clark with a hundred and eighty men went down the ( )hio one thousand miles from Pittsburg, hid his boats near the mouth of the river, marched across the prairies, and took the town and fort of Kaskaskia without Takes French • i /"{ rrrrrfS tOWnS resistance (1 1 <8). The French settlers, hearing from Clark that France was aiding us in the war, made him welcome, and Cahokia and two other towns likewise submitted. A Catholic priest then carried the news to Vincennes and persuaded the French in that town to surrender. The British governor at Detroit, learning of these things, set out with five hundred men, Indians and regulars, to conquer 138 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE the country again. After a long march through the wilderness, the troops appeared before Vincennes and occupied the fort. But Clark was equal to the emergency, and marching overland, in the dead of winter, he attacked the fort so vigorously that the British surrendered, and the governor and his soldiers became prisoners of war. importance of Clark, acting for the state of Virginia, had now conquered Clark's ^ ie country around the Wabash and Illinois rivers. The con- conquest j qnest was most timely, for, a few months later, a band of Span- iards marched from St. Louis to the head of the Illinois River, captured the British post of St. Joseph, and claimed the whole Northwest in the name of the King of Spain. Now let us see what, in the meantime, had happened in the East, Having failed to conquer the Middle States in 1776-1778, the British next sent armies against the Southern States. British attack q Once before (in 177f>), a fleet had appeared off Charleston, South Carolina, to attack it, But the British found Colonel Moultrie and his men behind two rows of palmetto logs with sand between, and after firing at this Fort Moultrie for a long time and doing no harm, the ships sailed |j • away. While the battle was hottest the flag- staff was struck by a cannon ball, and flag and all fell outside the fort. Instantly a sergeant named William .Jasper jumped down, picked up the flag, fastened it to a ramrod used to load one of the cannon, „, , climbed back, and planted it firmlv on Jasper monument, Charleston x " the fort. British take The British were successful in their second attack on the savannah y ou thern States, however, and Savannah was easily captured THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 139 SCALE OF MILES Part of the South (end of the year 1778). But before they could do more, a French fleet and an American army came to retake the town. While the ships bombarded from the water, the army, commanded by General Lincoln, tried to storm the British works by land. They were driven back, and among the dead were the brave Polish officer Pulaski, and Sergeant Jasper, who fell hold- ing in his hand the flag given him at Fort Moultrie. Georgia was now overrun by the British take British. " Charleston was then taken Charleston and South Carolina overcome. Thereupon Congress sent Gen- eral Gates against the British. But they beat him at Camden in South Carolina, where the German officer, De Kalb, who was fighting for us, received eleven wounds, of which he died. It is said that when the British minister heard of the capture of Charleston and Savannah, he said, • w We look on America as at our feet." But there were plenty of fighting men in the South who - did not intend to be " at his feet." Led by Marion, Sumter, and Pickens, the men hid in the swamps and fought the enemy in every way they could. Marion's men were especially active. Their guns were such as hunters used. Their swords were made of pieces of saws from the saw- mills. They had no cannon, no forts, no place of safety but the woods and swamps. Indeed, the British called Marion "the Swamp Fox." From such hiding places lie would come out One of Marion's men 140 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Arnold the traitor suddenly, attack a party of the enemy, and hurry back into the woods. When a strong force was sent to take him he could not be found. But in a little while he would appear in another place. With the British in possession of Savannah and Charleston, and all of South Carolina and Georgia in their hands, the out- look for the patriots was gloomy enough. But just at this moment an Ameri- can officer, Benedict Arnold, turned trai- tor and made it gloomier still. No officer had rendered greater services than Arnold. He had joined the army when it was before Boston ; had led a terrible march through 1 1 1 1 - Maine woods to attack Quebec in the first year of the war : had distinguished himself for bravery in the attempt to capture that city ; and had fought desperately in a battle near Saratoga, thus doing much to capture Burgoyne. But in 1T7S Arnold was put in command of Philadelphia, where he governed so un- justly that he was condemned to be reprimanded by Washing- ton, lie was brave and daring in battle, but he lacked moral courage ; and, thirsting for revenge, he laid a deep scheme to injure the patriot cause. As part of this scheme he asked Washington for the com- mand of West Point, the great stronghold on the Hudson Ruins of a fort at West Point THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 141 • M, House at Tappan where Major Andre was imprisoned River. He received it, and at once formed a plan to give up the post to General Clinton, commanding' the British at New Major Andre York. Clinton's agent, Major John Andre, met Arnold near Stonv Point one day in September, 1780, to finish the plan. But as Andre was going back to New York he was stopped, searched, and seized by ; patriot soldiers. In his stockings were found papers in Arnold's handwriting which revealed the plot. News of the arrest of Andre was at once sent to Arnold. It reached him as he sat at breakfast ; instantly rising from the table, he told his wife of his danger, and fled with all speed to a British ship down the Hudson. West Point was saved to the Americans. Andre was tried, convicted, and hanged as a spy. And now the dark hours of the war were over. Five days victory of after the hanging of Andre, a band of Tories, who were over- J™,* 8 ^,, running South Carolina, were met at Kings Mountain by a swarm of hardy Southern mountaineers, and every one of them was killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Victory then followed victory, and in a few months General General y Greene, who had been sent to ^ succeed (bites, drove the Brit- ish into Charleston and Savan- nah and recovered most of South Carolina and Georgia. A large British army, under Corn- Powder hom wallis, that had invaded Virginia, was Greene 142 THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Cornwallis surrenders End of the war next forced to make a stand at York- town, which it began to fortify. While it was so engaged, Washington hurried from the neighbor- hood of New York, and with American and French troops surrounded the place by land, while a French fleet, under Count de Grasse, hemmed it in by sea, and forced Cornwallis to surrender, October 19, 1781. This was the last battle of the war. The British gave up the struggle, and in 1783 a treaty of peace was signed at Paris by agents of Great Britain and the United States. The men who represented us were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. By this treaty certain things were secured : Moore house {Whore th, Cornwallis surrender was ranged) Terms of 1 peace Our country was admitted by Great Britain to be " sovereign, free, and independent." 2. The boundaries of our country were stated as fully as possible. 3. Citizens of the United States might catch fish in the waters of Nova Scotia and Canada just as the}* had done when British subjects. 4. Great Britain was to take away her troops. In November the last of the British army sailed away from New York city. THE LONG FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE 143 SUMMARY War with Great Britain began in New England with the battles of Lexington and Concord and the shutting up of the British in Boston (1775). The Continental Congress adopted the troops around Boston as the Con- tinental Army, and made George Washington commander in chief. On his way to take command, Washington heard of a great battle at Bunker Hill, which showed that Americans could tight. The colonies now formed themselves into states, and these thirteen states were declared free and independent of Great Britain July 1, 177G. The British left Boston by water, and Washington hurried his army to New York. There he was attacked and driven up the Hudson, and finally across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. From Pennsylvania he crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776, captured a thousand prisoners at Trenton, fought a battle at Prince- ton, and passed the winter at Morristown. Painting by Romiter and Mif/nat Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon 144 A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED 7. When summer came, the British sent an army under Burgoyne from Canada. The Americans captured it near Saratoga, Xew York. This led France to aid us. 8. Meantime a British army sailed from New York to attack Philadelphia. Washington hurried to meet it; was defeated in two battles: and spent the winter at Valley Forge (1777-78). 9. As the British in the Northwest incited the Indians to repeated attacks on the American frontier settlements in Kentucky, George Rogers Clark led a band of Virginians into the wilderness north of the Ohio River and captured most of the British posts in that region ( 1778-79). 10. The British finally turned their arms against the Southern States. In Georgia and the Carolinas they were successful at first, but afterwards were driven away by General Greene. At last a great army, under Cornwallis, was captured at Yorktown, Virginia, and the war ended in the fall of 1781. CHAPTER XV A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED The treaty which ended our old troubles with Great Britain brought us neAV ones with Spain. You remember that during the French and Indian War, Spain fought against Great Britain; that Great Britain captured Havana ; and that to get it back, Spain gave her Florida in exchange, what Spain Now when France joined us in our war with Great Britain, Spain saw a chance to get Florida again, so she also declared war on Great Britain, in 1770, and sent two little armies to conquer the Gulf coast and the Mississippi valley. One went from New Orleans and took the British forts at Baton Rouge, Natchez, Mobile, and Pensacola (see map, p. 43). The other went from St. Louis, in the dead of winter, marched across what is now Illinois, captured the fort at St. Joseph, and took away the flags as proof of conquest. mi A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED 145 Having done all these things, Spain claimed that she owned whatspam the country from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi, claimed and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. When, therefore, the time came to make a treaty of peace at Paris, she insisted that the western boundary of the United States should be very nearly what is now the west boundary of Pennsylvania, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia. We were quite willing to let Spain have Florida, but notli- Our country's lllg more; SO when first boundary the treaty was made, Great Britain gave her Florida and a strip along the Gulf of Mexico as shown in white on the sec- ond map on page 232. The great region from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from Spanish Florida to the Great Lakes and Canada, became the United States. Lut, as we shall see later on, Spain for a time still claimed part of this territory. The immense wilderness won from Great Britain and Spain was claimed by seven of the thirteen states : Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The other six states had about their present limits. At the request of Congress, however, the states one by one western lands gave what were called their back lands to Congress. These ^on^ss were to be sold, and the money used to pay the debts owed by the United States. The back lands were to be governed by the Congress, or in some way that Congress should decide upon. Monro Castle, Havana 14f» A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED Stagecoach Now it so happened that the lands given by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia lay between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, Pennsylvania and the Mississippi. Congress made this entire tract a territory, which it called the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio. Except at Detroit and Macki- wherethe nac, and a few other places where the French had settled, the people hved territory was without white inhabitants, and was roamed over by Indians and wild beasts. As a matter of fact no part of our country was thickly settled. There are to-day more people in the city of New York than lived in the whole United States in 1783. Most of the people then dwelt in the cities, towns, and villages, and on the farms and plantations, of the states lying along the Atlantic coast, and the different states had very little communication with one another. Travel, except by sea, was very slow and dangerous. There were no railroads, no steam- boats, no good roads, and no bridges over the wide rivers. Now, it takes five hours to go from Boston to New York. Then, it took six or even nine days. Now, you may go from New York to Philadelphia in two hours; then, it required two days, occupations The chief occupations of the people were cod fishing, ship- e people building, ;l nd commerce, in New England; lumbering, agricul- ture, and commerce, in the Middle States; and, in the Southern States, growing tobacco, rice, and indigo, and making tar, pitch, and resin. Each one of the thirteen states had its own government, as it has to-day. But the control of the Indians, and some of our A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED 147 dealings with foreign nations, as making war and peace, were Powers of the intrusted to the Continental Congress. congress** 1 There was no President of the United States in those days. The Congress was composed of a few men sent by the legisla- tures of the thirteen states. These men could do many things, but a little experience showed that they could not do nearly enough for the good of the country. Congress, for instance, could not tax the people for money with which to pay the country's debts. It could merely ask the states for what it wanted. But the states did not give all that was needed. Congress, in the next place, could not regulate trade with foreign nations; could not force them to treat us fairly. Neither Spain nor Great Britain would make a treaty of com- merce with us. Congress had no power to regulate trade between the states. As a consequence each state regulated its trade as it pleased. New York, for instance, treated Connecticut and New Jersey as foreign countries and laid heavy taxes on firewood that came from the one and on vegetables that came from the other. This angered New Jersey, who sent word to Congress that unless it forced New York to take off the taxes, she would not pay her annual share of the cost of the continental government. Each state had its own paper money, and this was not good in other states. Except gold and silver, of which very little was to be seen, there was no money that people all over the country would take. More than one state had to pass a law to forci its citizens to use the paper money it issued. Chaise 148 A BETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED The Constitutional Convention The Constitution Congress asked the states to give it power to remedy all these defects. For a while they would not ; hut matters he- came so bad that, in 1787, delegates from twelve states met in Independence Hall at Philadelphia to consider what newpowers should he given to Congress. These delegates were the most distinguished men in the country, and the names of many of them are still familiar. Among them were Washington and Madison, who afterwards became Presidents ; Elbridge Gerry, a future Vice President ; Ellsworth, who in time became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court ; Alexander Hamilton, a famous Secre- tary of the Treasury ; Robert Morris, who had helped to raise the money needed to carry on the Revolu- tionary War ; Ben- jamin Franklin and others who had signed the Declara- tion of Independ- ence; and many others who after- wards held impor- tant places under the United States gov- ernment. Washington was made the president of the convention. These men drew up what is known as the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution is a written document which describes the plan of the general government under which we live. It fixes the powers of the President and tells how he shall be elected. It provides for a Congress composed Old windmill, Massachusetts (Still used) A RETTER GOVERNMENT NEEDED 149 Pennsylvania Statehoase, or Independence Hall, in Philadelphia of two bodies of men — a Senate and a House of Representa- tives ; and it provides for United States courts. Congress has now all the power the Continental Congress ever asked for, and more too. It does not have to ask the states for money; it lays taxes and has the sole power of coin- ing money, and it may regulate commerce with foreign nations and between the states. After the Philadelphia convention had made the Constitu- The new tion, copies were sent by Congress to the legislatures of the be^™" 16 " 1 states. Each state government then called a convention to con- sider the new plan and approve or disapprove of it, as seemed best. When nine states had in this manner approved it, the MOM. PR. H. [0 150 TROUBLE WITH FRANCE AM) GREAT BRITAIN Constitution was to be supreme law as to the nine. Eleven approved within a year, and the two others a little later ; and the Constitution took the place of the Articles of Confederation, which had described the powers of the Continental Congress. The place of meeting of the new Congress was New York city, and there, in 1789, Washington was made the first President of the United States. SUMMARY Chair used by Wash- ington at his in- auguration 1. By the treaty of peace we acquired the territory be- tween the Atlantic and the Mississippi, the Great Lakes and Florida. 2. The population was small and scattered along the coast, travel was dif- ficult and slow, and trade between the states was of little value. 3. Each state had its own government as at present. But over all was a weak general government carried on by the Continental Congress. 4. The plan of the general government was defective in many ways, and was finally replaced by the present Constitution of the United States. CHAPTER XVI TROUBLE WITH FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN Our country's capital When Washington was made President, Congress met in New York city. But it was decided that a square tract of land, ten miles on a side, should be obtained somewhere, and on this tract a federal city should be built as a home for the government. In it were to be the President's house, the build- ing in which Congress should meet to make laws, and any other buildings that might be needed. Congress having decided that the federal city should be on the banks of the Potomac, the r& 151 152 TROUBLE WITH FRANCE Trouble with France tract was laid out partly in Maryland and partly in Virginia, and was called the District of Columbia. ■ The city was named Washington. But it Mould take some years to erect the buildings and form the city. Congress therefore decided that it would meet in Philadelphia for ten years before it went to Washington, where all sessions of Congress have been held since 1800. Not long after Congress met in Philadelphia a war broke out between France and Great Britain. Our country did not take sides with either. But France tried hard to force us to side with her, and. when she found we would not, she treated us so shamefully that when John Adams was President the whole country cried out for war. An army was raised and General Washington was called from his home at Mount Vernon and put in command. The people in the large seaports gave money for war ships, and volunteered to build forts and earthworks. In the midst of the excitement our national song •• Hail - Washington's home at Mount Vernon, on the Potomac TROUBLE WITH FRANCE • 153 Columbia" was written. Philadelphia, as the seat of govern- "Hail ment, was a most intensely excited city. The citizens were ° um ia divided into two bodies, each distinguished by cock- ades worn on their hats. Such as hated the Presi- dent and upheld France wore the- red, white, and blue, or tricolor cockade. Those who sided with the President and resisted the French insolence wore the black cockade of the Revolution. So hisdi did feeling 1 run that if two excited men of opposite parties met in the street, each was pretty sure to try to snatch the other's cockade. ^SIlfBSl?" In the evenings at the theater one party would call : - for " Yankee Doodle," and the other for a song that -■■ ^**~ had been popular in France. This suggested to one of the actors the idea of French n f val 00 vessel finding some one to write a neAV patriotic song, and accordingly he applied to Mr. Joseph Ilopkinson, who wrote " Hail Columbia " to suit a very popular piece of music called " The President's March," to which we sing it to this day. It was sung for the first time at Philadelphia one night in 1798, was printed in the newspapers the next day, and at once became a national song. Among other tilings, France demanded a tribute from us as if Naval war we were a conquered nation. The popular cry therefore became Wlth France " Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute," and when the navy began to beat the French in the West Indies, it was said we were giving them the only kind of tribute they deserved — shot and shell. The war was entirely on the sea, and after four of her naval vessels had been captured or destroyed, and great 11 um- bers of merchantmen burned, France made peace with us in 1800. 154 TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN Impressment of American sailors •-*'>• Chesapeake and Leopard Our troubles with Great Britain and France having been thus settled, it seemed as if people might look forward to a long period of peace and quiet. But this was not to be. In ;i few years Great Britain and France were again at war, and the old troubles returned in a worse form than ever. British armed vessels came over to our coast. stopped our ships as they went in and out of our ports, and searched them for British sailors. An American packet or trader would sail from Boston or New York or Baltimore for Europe or the West Indies. But long before she reached her destination a British cruiser would appear and tire a signal gun. If no attention was paid, a shot would soon come skipping over the water and across the pack- et's bow, forcing her to stop. A boat would then put off, and an officer and a band of armed men would clamber upon the deck and order the captain to muster his crew. When the sailors were all in line, the British officer would pick out such men as pleased him, claim them as subjects of the King, and drag them off to his ship. This was called " impressment," because the men were "pressed" or forced to serve against their will. The patience with which we submitted to this treatment made the British bold, and one day as an American frigate called the Chesa- peake was on her way to the Mediterranean Sea she was fol- lowed by a British vessel, the Leopard, was fired on and Monticello, Jefferson's home (in Virginia) TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN 155 forced to surrender, after which four seamen were taken from her deck. But impressment was not the only cause for complaint, interference Great Britain meddled with our trade and commerce. She W1 » A ^ ien " can trade ordered our merchants not to deal in certain kinds of goods, and stopped and searched their vessels to see that they obeyed. She forbade them to go to a great number of ports in Europe, and tried to seize such slaps as continued to go to these ports. Nor did Napoleon, then Emperor of France and master of half Europe, treat us any better. He commanded our mer- chants not to send their ships to any port that was under the British flag. He seized numbers of our vessels in his own ports, and he declared that any vessel that submitted to be searched by a British cruiser should be captured wherever found. By 1807 matters had come to such a pass that our ships and goods were liable to be captured by somebod}' wher- ever they went. There was just one of two things then to do. We must fight for our rights on the sea, or we must abandon the sea. Upon the advice of Jefferson, who was then President, Congress decided to abandon the sea, and for The long more than a year an embargo was placed upon all merchant embarg0 shipping; that is, no trading ships were allowed to go from an American port to any foreign country. Schoolhouse where Jefferson went to school 156 TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN The War of 1812 It was supposed that this embargo, this O-grab-me, as the people called it, by spelling the name backwards, would force Napoleon and Great Britain to treat us better. The British and French could not buy our cotton, lumber, pork, flour, and other products, which were of great value to them. They could not sell their cloth, china, glass, hardware, tools, silks, wines, and a hundred other things in our cities. Yet the embargo had no good effect. Matters grew worse instead of better, and in 1812, when James Madison was President. Con- gress declared war against Great Britain. To right Great Britain was a bold thing to do. For nearly twenty years she had been at war with France and with Napo- leon. In her navy were more than a thousand armed vessels. In her army were hundreds of thousands of soldiers. We had no army, and a navy of but sixteen ships. Yet the war dragged along for more than OHIO two years, and both on land and on sea the greatest triumphs were ours. The British cap- tured Detroit and got control of the North- west. But Perry captured the British fleet on Lake Erie ; McDonough destroyed another fleet on Lake Champlain ; Gen- eral Macomb beat the British at Plattsburg in New York ; and General W. H. Harrison beat them again on the Thames River in Canada, and recovered Detroit and the Northwest. At sea during the war thirteen important captures were made and but four serious defeats were suffered. One of the Part of the northern frontier TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN 157 Perry's victory on Lake Erie American ships captured was the unlucky frigate Chesapeake that six years before had been attacked by the Leopard and had had four sailors taken from her deck. She was now captured by the Shannon. Toward the end of the war, Great Britain sent over a fleet and blockaded the whole coast, shut our vessels in port, and so put an end to our sea victories. One part of this fleet captured eastern Maine ; another with an army on board sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, where the troops landed and marched to Washington and burned the Capitol, the President's house, and some other public buildings. Returning to their ships, the soldiers were carried to Balti- more, which was attacked by land and water. It was during the bombardment of a fort defending Baltimore that Francis Scott Key wrote " The Star-Spangled Banner." Under a flag of truce he had gone on board one of the British ships to secure British successes " The Star- Spangled Banner" 158 TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN Andrew Jackson the release of some prisoners taken by the British, and was himself held prisoner dining the bombardment, which lasted all one day and part of a night. The scene from the deck of the enemy's vessel must indeed have been inspiring, and aroused by it he wrote the poem which has since been a national song. The opening lines describe the scene: — O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous right, On the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ; And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does the star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? Finding they could not take the fort and capture Baltimore, the British again went on board their ships, sailed away, and joined another fleet and army that was to attack New Orleans. But the Americans, under General Andrew Jackson, were more than a match for them. Andrew Jackson was born in North Carolina, and when a boy of fourteen was taken prisoner by a band of British troops and Tories who were roving about t la- state during the Revolutionary War. One of the officers, wishing to have his boots cleaned, ordered young Jackson to do it ; an order which the lad stoutly re- The Hermitage, Jackson's home (in Tennessee) fused to obey. In- TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN 159 Table of Jackson's time stead of admiring the pluck of the boy, the officer aimed a blow at him with a sword. Jackson drew up his arm to ward off the blow, and received a gash, the scar of which he car- ried through life. After the War for Inde- pendence Jackson removed to Nashville, then a little stock- aded fort far out on the frontier, and was soon known as a man of courage and determination. For a while after Tennessee became a state he was a member of Congress. Next he was a judge, and when the war with Great Britain opened, he raised a regiment of volunteers. But his services as a soldier began when the Creek Indians took the warpath and attacked the whites. These Creeks lived in what is now Alabama, and had long The creek been preparing for an attempt to drive out the whites ; and in 1813 they dug up the hatchet and drove the settlers from their farms to the little frontier forts. Into one of these, called Fort Mims, not far from Mobile, were gathered sev- eral hundred men, women, and children, when a thousand Indians, painted, naked, well armed, and led by their prophets carrying red sticks and bags of magic, suddenly attacked it. The defense was desperate ; but the In dians won, and massacred nearly all of the inmates. As soon as news of the awful deed reached Tennessee, troops were called OUt, Jackson was put in calash, a woman's headdress Command, and ill a few months' time worn in Jackson's time War 100 TROUBLE WITH GREAT BRITAIN Battle of New Orleans SEE ~5^ Treaty of peace lie destroyed the Indian power and made peace on his own terms. This exploit made Jackson so famous that he was put in command of the army along the Gulf of Mexico ; and he was in New Orleans when the British landed in the swamps below the city. Two little fights took place at once. But the famous battle, the anniversary of which is. celebrated even in our day. was fought on January 8, 1815. The Americans were behind a long line of intrenchments, and were, v |, almost every one of them, frontiersmen and fine shots with l\ a rifle. The British were veteran troops, were led by able generals, and came bravely on to the attack. But the Americans , jO.;, delivered a dreadful fire, which drove the British back with terrible slaugh- ter. It was the old story of Bunker Hill, with a happier ending, for the British were defeated and after a while sailed away. One of the results of the victory of New Orleans was to make General Jackson well known to the peo- ple, so that, fourteen years later, he was elected President of the United States. When the battle was fought, a treaty of peace with Great Britain had already been signed at Ghent in Holland. But ocean travel was slow in those days, and news of peace did not reach the United States for a month after Jackson's victory at New Orleans. This treaty of Ghent said nothing at all about the impressment of sailors or about the rights of trading ships ; but since then our ships and sailors have not been illtreated as they were before the Avar. a ; <&&2 M?: . : -. Battle of New Orleans monument BUILDING THE WEST 161 SUMMARY 1. France and Great Britain were at war, and France illtreated us because we would not side with her. At last war with France began ; but after a few naval battles in the West Indies she made peace with us. 2. The United States had three complaints against Great Britain. She " impressed " our sailors ; searched our ships ; interrupted our com- merce. Failing to get satisfaction for these wrongs, we went to war. 3. The righting was along the Canadian border ; along the Atlantic coast ; on the ocean ; and at New Orleans. 4. Along the Canadian border the British were at first victorious. But the American victories of Perry on Lake Erie, of Harrison on the Thames River in Canada, of McDonough on Lake Champlain, and of Macomb at Plattsburg, more than made up for the defeats. 5. Along the seacoast the British blockaded the ports, burned the public buildings at Washington, attacked Baltimore, and seized part of Maine. 6. On the sea many British ships were defeated or captured. 7. At New Orleans General Andrew Jackson won a great battle. CHAPTER XVII BUILDING THE WEST From a very early time in colonial days the people had Moving to been moving slowly westward from the coast. Under the new Kentuckv government of the United States, this march of population became rapid. One stream of emigrants went up the Mohawk valley, in New York. Another took possession of Tennessee. But the favorite land was Kentucky. Into it every year went thousands of men and women from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Some went over the mountains, with their goods on the backs of horses, driving their flocks and herds before them. Others went by way of the Ohio. They would go to Pittsburg or Wheeling and there buy or build a boat of some kind, put 162 BUILI)IN(i THE WEST - -J^i Ohio River keel boat Three new states their household goods and cattle on board, and float down the river to their settlement. The boat, generally a flatboat made like a square box, or a longer keel boat, was broken up at the end of the voyage and used in build- ing a house. It must not be supposed that the Indians looked quietly on while this stream of settlers spread over their hunting grounds. They did their best to drive the white men out, and the early history of Kentucky is an almost continuous story of murder and massacre. But neither the hardships of frontier life nor the horrors of Indian war kept out population. Year after year the settlers poured in, and in 1792 Kentucky became a state in the Union, and was followed four years later (179G) by Tennessee. With the exception of Vermont, which was admitted to the Union in 1791, these were the first new states added to the original thirteen. North of Kentucky, from the Ohio River to the Lakes, and from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, — that is, in the Northwest Territory, — most of the land - belonged to the United States, and was offered for sale to the people in order to pay the cost of the War for Independence. Though the United States owned the land, r the British and their Indian allies really occupied it. The British held the forts along the Great Lakes, traded with the savages, and sold them Conestoga wagon guns and powder. BUILDING THE WEST 163 With guns and powder so obtained, the Indians tried to Ohio settled drive out the people who were settling north of the Ohio. Concealed in the woods along the banks, the redskins attacked the boats as they floated by ; they even put out in canoes and climbed on board to massacre the immigrants. Sometimes when a boat was seen coming down the Ohio, the Indians would force a white prisoner to stand at the water's edge and beg piteously to be taken on board ; and when the immigrants stopped to help him, the savages would kill every man, woman, and child on the boat. When the whites in return attacked the Indians and burned their towns, a war broke out and raged during six years. One army was badly beaten ; another was almost de- stroyed ; but a third, under General Anthony Wayne, broke the power of the Indians and gave peace to the frontier. About the same time, Great Britain surrendered the fron- tier forts she had so long been holding. Then the settlers came in such numbers that after a few years a piece of this terri- «. , , . t Blockhouse at Erie, Pa. tory was cut on: and made into the state {Built by Waym i of Ohio (1803). Ever since the close of the Revolution the Spaniards had Trouble with been doing on our southern boundary what the British did pai1 along our northern. They occupied forts on the banks of the Mississippi in our territory, and refused to give them up ; made allies of the Indians ; and so really held what is now the greater part of the states of Alabama and Mississippi. More than tins, Spain had refused to allow citizens of the United States to go down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. She owned the country all around the mouth of the river. Therefore she claimed* the right to say who should use its waters, and many 164 BUILDING THE WEST years passed before she agreed to permit our people to take their produce to New Orleans, and promised to withdraw her soldiers from our soil. The crowding of Spain out of Mississippi alarmed France. As a great Frenchman said, "Americans seemed determined to rule America." By and by they would force Spain out of the country alto- gether. That would never do. He proposed, therefore, that Spain should give back to France the Louisiana which France in 1763 had given to Spain. If so, France would promise never to let the United States have it. After much persuasion Spain agreed to this, and in 1800 returned Louisiana to France. But as soon as the Spanish officials at New Orleans heard of it, they again shut the Missis- sippi to our western people and would not let them trade at New Orleans. The whole West of course cried out, and Con- gress was asked to send an army to take possession of the mouth of the river before France could occupy the country. The But President Jefferson preferred peace, and finally our gov- Louisiana ernmen t bought Louisiana from France for #15,000,000. This purchase ° nearly doubled the size of our country, as shown by the first map on page 233. As nobody knew anything about most of Louisi- ana, Congress asked the President for information, and received a most curious description. Jeffer- son of course did not write it, but had it writ- ten, and merely sent it to Congress. Among other things the writer told of a great suit mountain which existed, he said, one thou- I sand miles up the Missouri. The length x of the mountain was one hundred and Broadax BUILDING THE WEST 165 eighty miles; the width forty- five miles ; and there was not a tree nor so much as a bush on it ; but, all glittering white, it rose from the prairie a solid mountain of salt, with streams of salt water flowing from its base. When such stories were seriously told to Congress there was much need of real information, and this was soon to be supplied by a party of explorers led by Meriwether Lewis and Wil- liam Clark. Starting from St. Louis, which was then a frontier town, these explorers made their way up the Mis- souri River to a place in the present state of North Dakota, and there spent the winter with the Indians. Early the next spring (1805), the explorers set out again, followed the Missouri to its sou ices, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and went down the ( lolumbia River to the Pacific Ocean. The next year they came back to St. Louis. Lewis and Clark were the first of our countrymen to explore Discovery of the Columbia ; but the river had been discovered and named theCoum ' several years before by Captain Gray, of Boston. While en- gaged in trading for furs on the Pacific coast, he sailed into the mouth of the river, and named it after his ship, the Columbia. The discovery of the Columbia gave the United States a claim to all the country it drained, and this country, when A trail in Idaho {Used by Lewis and Clark, and still in use) Mi M. I'K. H. 11 166 BUILDING THE WEST Wooden piggin Moving to the West Frontier houses added to that purchased from France, extended the territory of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Along the Gulf of Mexico we as yet owned only the region about the mouth of the Mississippi. All the rest of the Gulf coast belonged to .Spain till 1819, when she sold us Florida. The money paid for it was not given to her, but to citizens of the United States to whom she was indebted. At the same time, Spain and the United States settled our southwestern boundary, as shown on the second map on page 233. The West was now fairly swarming with settlers. The hard times in the East which followed the war with Great Britain sent many thousands over the mountains every year. Never before had such a migration taken place in our countiy. Men of all sorts, farmers, mechanics, tradesmen, seemed crazy to go west. Once there, the " mover," the " newcomer,"' would secure his land, cut down a few small trees, and make a half-faced camp. This was a shed with three sides of logs and the fourth side open. When it rained, the open side was closed by hang- ing up deerskins. In a half-faced camp the settler lived till his log cabin was finished. If he made his home in a place where there were other settlers, they would all come and help build the cabin. These frontier homes rarely had more than one window and one door. As glass was scarce and costly, the window frame was often covered with greased Wooden pail BUILDING THE WEST 167 paper, which let in the light but could not be seen through. The tables and chairs were made by the settler. His brooms and brushes were of corn husks, and many of his utensils were cut out of tree trunks. If the man was industrious, he would of course get a better house in time. But in pioneer days a large part of the settlers lived and died in log cabins, such as are described on page 66. In just such a house in Indiana there was Abraham growing up at this time a boy named Abraham Lincoln. He was born in a little log hut in Ken- tucky, February 12, 1809. His father was a restless, shiftless, seeking the easiest way the course of his wan- Cornhusk broom Lincoln's boyhood Lincoln's broadax ne'er-do-well man, always to make a living, who, in dering from place to place, when Abraham was seven but a child, Abraham and set to work to help the half-faced camp lived for a year. The cabin, when built, had a doorway, but no door ; a window, but no oiled paper or glass ; and nothing but the bare earth for a floor. Little Abraham's bed was a heap of dry leaves in the loft, to which he climbed by pegs driven into the cabin wall. As he grew older he learned all the things a frontier settler's moved into Indiana years old. Though was given an ax clear the ground for in which the family boy must know. He could plow, cut grain with a sickle, thrash it with a flail, and clean -?^. it with a sheet ; he could chop wood, split rails, drive teams, and handle carpenter's tools, and could ?%?&}&>': ' Birthplace of Lincoln 168 BUILDING THE WEST Cabinet made by Lincoln The settler's farm do all so well that when his father did not need his help he could hire him out to a neighbor for more than ordinary wages. Abraham learned to read, write, and cipher at a school taught by some of the schoolmasters who in those days wan- I dered about the country from town to town. He went to school, as he said, "by littles"; in all, his schooling did not amount to more than a year. As soon as he could read he began to borrow every book he heard of, — among them iEsop's k * Fables," Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," " Robinson Crusoe," a " Short History of the United States," and Weems's "Life of Wash- ington." This last book got wet, and he bought it of the owner by "pulling fodder" for three days. For a slate he used the wooden fire shovel, or shingles, when they were to be had, scraping them clean when they were covered with sums. His pencil was a charred stick. From the borrowed books he copied long extracts, using brierwood ink and a quill pen made from a turkey buzzard's feather. When paper was not to be had, he wrote the extracts on shingles or bits of board. After Lincoln grew up, he moved to Illinois and became a lawyer, and before he died, the whole world had heard of him. When the land about a cabin was wooded, the settler would clear it of bushes and would cut down and burn the small trees. The larger trees were Lincoln's law-office chair BUILDING THE WEST 1(39 killed by cutting a deep " girdle " around them near the ground. In the fields thus laid open to the sun would be planted corn, potatoes, and wheat. At first the crops raised would be scarcely enough to feed the family, but by and by they would be much larger, and part of them could lie taken to a river town and there sold for " store goods." These river towns were often little shipping ports, from which flour, pork, lumber, and provisions of all sorts would be sent to New Orleans. The Ohio River was now a great highway of trade teeming Ohio River with life. Up and down it went odd craft of many sorts. There were Orleans boats, loaded with flour, hogs, and produce ; great fleets of timber rafts from the Appalachian Mountain streams, manned by fifty boatmen ; pirogues, dug out of the trunks of huge trees ; broadhorns, guided by great oars called sweeps ; arks carrying whole families of immigrants with their cattle and household goods ; steamboats that stopped anvwhere and everywhere ' x 1 l . J . ii! 0hi ° River Aatboat to get wood, or take on goods, or land passengers ; and floating stores. These stores Avere little one- story houses built on the deck of a boat, and fitted up just as if they were on land. As a boat of this sort floated along down the river, the captain would blow a horn the moment a farmhouse or a village came in sight. The people would then hurry to the river bank, the boat would make fast to a tree, and in a few moments the store would be crowded. Dry goods, hardware, iron pots, farm implements, and many other things were for sale. But they were not bought with money. The farmers gave grain, flour, pork, bacon, in exchange, and trade boatmen 170 BUILDING THE WEST these the storekeeper sold for money to somebody who would ship them to New Orleans. Mississippi The Mississippi was quite as crowded as the Ohio ; for into it came boats of all sorts from the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, the Missouri, loaded with goods going to New Orleans. A traveler who saw one of the Mississippi towns at this time tells us that often a hundred craft arrived and departed in a day. There would be gathered lumber from the forests of Pennsylvania, Yankee notions from New England, pork and flour, hemp and rope from Kentucky, corn, apples, and potatoes from Ohio, cattle and horses from Illinois, lead and poultry from Missouri, and barges carrying nothing but turkeys. The river As the boats lay side by side, the crews would wander from one to another, seeking old friends and making new acquaint- ances. At dusk all would go ashore to have a good time. But by midnight all would quiet down. At the first streaks of dawn bugle after bugle would ring out, the boats would again be astir, and long before the sun was up the whole flotilla would once more be on its way down the river. Then they would no longer go singly, but, lashed together in little fleets of eight or ten, would float on toward New Orleans, while the boatmen whiled away the time with dancing, singing, music, and story- telling. At New Orleans the produce and lumber would find a ready sale, after which the boatmen would work their passage up the Mississippi as deck hands on the steamboats. New western As people continued to come into the West by thousands year after year, the country began to be pretty well settled, and between 1812 and 1821, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi. Illinois, Alabama, and Missouri were made states. To trade with the people in these Western States was a matter of great importance to the merchants and manufac- States BUILDING THE WEST 171 turers in the Atlantic seaboard states. But in order to send them clothing, hardware, farm implements, and other things, there must be some easy way of getting to the West. The people of New York state decided that their easy way should The Erie be a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and after eight Canal Copyright, l'.wu, by C. Klack Travel by canal years of hard work they completed and opened (1825) the Erie Canal from end to end. This stirred up the people of Pennsylvania, who began to join Philadelphia and Pittsburg by a highway partly canal and partly railroad. In many ways it was now much easier to go about the conn- Better means try than it was when the War for Independence ended. Many oftravel of the large rivers were crossed by bridges. Between the chief towns better roads had been made. Over them the stage- coaches, drawn by good horses, passed more swiftly than of old. A traveler could go just about twice as far in a day in 1825 as lie could in Washington's time, and with about the same risk ; for now and then a stage would upset, as in earlier days. The greatest progress had been made in travel on the water, The for the steamboat was now in use on many bays and rivers. steamboat 172 BUILDING THE WEST The railroad The idea of driving a boat «n» through the water by means of a machine moved by steam was old. Sev- eral men had invented such ma- chines and moved boats. But the successful use of such boats dates from one August day in 1807, when Robert Fulton made a trip up the Hudson from New York to Albany in the Clermont. The next great improvement in the means of travel was the building of a railroad, that is, a roadway with rails, over which Early type of locomotive heavily loaded cars could body thought very much Early type of locomotive he drawn by horses. But no- about railroads till an English- man named George Stephenson invented the steam locomotive and showed that it could move long trains of cars much faster than horses could. There were soon built a few short railroads in our country, on which horses were at first used to draw the cars. But after 1831 the steam locomotive came into general use here, and many railroads were built. SUMMARY The arrival of settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains was the cause of a long and bloody warfare with the Indians. But the Indians could not drive back the whites. Settlers came in greater numbers than ever, and three Western States soon entered the Union: Kentucky in 1792, Tennessee in 1796, and Ohio in 1803. Vermont in the East had entered the Union in 1791. BUILDING THE WEST 173 2. Until 1800 Spain owned Louisiana (New Orleans and the valley of the Mississippi west of the river) and all our Gulf of Mexico coast. In 1800 she gave Louisiana to France, from whom, in 1803, we bought it. 3. The Columbia River was discovered some years before this by an Ameri- can sea captain named Gray. 4. The new territory purchased from France and the Columbia River coun- try were explored by Lewis and Clark. 5. Florida was purchased from Spain in the year 1819, and at the same time Spain and the United States agreed on a definite boundary from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. 6. After the second war with Great Britain more people went west from the seaboard states. Life in the log cabins on the frontier was hard at first, but the settlers came by thousands every year. Copyright, 1894, hy E. L. Henry Early railroad travel 7. The Ohio and the Mississippi became great highways, crowded with craft of every sort, from flatboats and rafts to steamboats. 8. The effect of this immigration was to build up six new Western States, admitted between 1812 and 1821: Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illi- nois, Alabama, and Missouri. 9. Trade with the people in the Western States was very important to the people of the East, and led to the construction of the Erie Canal across New York and of canals and railroads across Pennsylvania. 174 SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE CHAPTER XVIII THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE slavery When our country was under the British Crown there were three great classes of laborers, — freemen, reclemptioners, and slaves. Free laborers were those who were paid for their work. What redemptioners were was told in Chapter V., where men- tion was also made of the negro slaves that were early brought to America from Africa. A slave belonged absolutely to the owner. He could be sold, or given away, or hired out, exactly as a horse or an ox. He could not own anything, even if he found or made it, nor could he leave the plantation where he belonged without per- mission. It was not lawful to teach a slave to read or write, and to set him free was a very difficult matter. A slave woman's children were slaves. Down to the opening of the War for Independ- ence Great Britain forced the colonies to allow slaveiw. Several of them tried to abolish it, but this was always prevented. After the war the states were able to do as they pleased, and in time those from Pennsylvania east- ward to New Hampshire abolished slavery. The people in the states south of Pennsylvania would probably in time have done the same had they not begun to grow cotton in great quantities. Before 1790 it did not pay to raise cotton because of the difficulty of cleaning it. Raw cotton, or cotton cotton wool, grows inside of a pod on a bush. When the pod is ripe, it splits open and shows the cotton with a number of seeds in it, which must be picked out before it can be spun A negro slave SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE 175 *m into threads. To pick them out by hand was so slow and costly that a machine to do the work was greatly ; . - needed, and this machine Eli Whitney invented. ty* ' j ^ \ "Whitney was born in Massachusetts. When a $ Whitney's young man he went to Georgia to teach, and while j- at Savannah heard of the difficulty of cleaning cotton and set about removing it. He was a born inventor and mechanic, had used tools from boyhood, and soon made a machine which he called a cotton gin, the word " gin " being a short term for "engine." After the invention of Whitney's machine, cotton raising became very profitable. But the greater the quantity grown, the greater the demand for negro slaves to plant the seed and gather the cotton wool, and slavery became more firmly established than ever before in the Southern Cotton States where cotton was grown. In the Northern States, where cotton was not raised, the The dispute people Avere much opposed to slavery, and when at last Mis- overMlssoun souri asked for admission into the Union, Northern men insisted that she must be a free state, that is, one in which slavery was not allowed. The Southern people, on the other hand, demanded that she enter as a slave state. Of the new states already admitted to the Union, those north of the Ohio were free and those south of it slaveholding, so that in the whole Union of twenty -two states there were eleven of eacli kind. During the discussion in Congress about admitting Missouri, Massachusetts gave , her consent that Maine should become a state. Up to this time Maine had been part of Massachusetts. When the consent of this state to a separation was given, Maine applied to Congress for leave to enter the Union. 176 SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE The Missouri But there were no slaves in Maine. The South, therefore, compromise ma( j e use f this fact, and said to the North, if Maim- comes into the Union as a free state Mis- souri must come in as a slave state. And so it was finally arranged. Maine was ad- mitted in 1820, and Missouri in 1821. But at the same time it was agreed that in all the country purchased from France in 1803, north of the parallel of 30° 30', except Missouri, there should he no Henry Clay's home (in Kentucky) slavery> Thig wag called fche Missouri Compromise, and was brought about through the influence of Henry Clay, a very distinguished member of Con- gress from Kentucky. This compromise, it was hoped, would put an end to all dis- putes about slavery. If you start at the Delaware River and follow the south and then the west boundary of Pennsylvania to the Ohio River, then go down that river to the Mississippi, then up the Mississippi and around the north and west bound- ary of Missouri to the parallel of 36° 30', and then along that parallel to the meridian of .100°, you will have the line which in 1821 separated the slaveholding from the free part of the United States. In all the region south of this line slavery existed. In all the country north of it slavery had been abolished or was prohibited. In the opinion of Mr. Clay and many other people this settled the matter. But there were others who insisted that it did not, and that slavery ought to be abolished by Congress ; that it ought not to exist anywhere in our country. These Boundary of slave territory The Abolitionists SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE 177 were the Abolitionists, and their most celebrated leader was William Lloyd Garrison. One of the ways used to arouse a feeling against slavery Antisiavery was to scatter antisiavery newspapers, pamphlets, pictures, aglta lon books, and handbills all over the South. The South declared that such things were dangerous, as they were likely to make the slaves rebellious, and called on the North to stop their publication, and- put down the antisiavery societies. There- upon, in many Northern cities, mobs broke up the meetings of the antisiavery people, and destroyed antisiavery news- paper offices. Violence made matters worse. The feeling against slavery grew stronger and spread wider, and in 1840 a new politi- cal party, afterwards called the Liberty Party, was organized, and pledged to work for the freeing of the slaves. In 1840 William Henry Harrison was elected President by the party called Whigs had been: — Free and slave territory in 1821 Up to that time our Presidents The first ten Presidents George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison . 1789-17H7 1707-1801 1801-1809 1S09-1817 James Monroe John Qnincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Bnren 1817-1 *•_>:> 1825-1829 1829-1837 1 837-1 841 But Harrison had been President only a month when he died, and the Vice President, John Tyler, succeeded him. 178 SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE With the stormy politics of Tyler's term we need not be concerned. But there is one event connected with the story of slavery and the growth of country which must be mentioned. Some twenty years before this time, citizens of the United States went in large numbers to settle in Texas, then a part of Mexico. Although Mex- ico had been made a republic patterned after the United. States, its government was much less free than ours and in many respects was really very cruel and tyrannical. For Mexicans and Ameri- cans to live quietly together under such a govern- ment as that of Mexico was impossible. They soon disagreed, quarreled, went to war, and in 1836 the Americans made a declaration of independence, and Texas became a republic. The Texans then wished to bring their repub- lic into our Union as a state. People who wanted Annexation more slave states approved of this because there was slavery in Texas. Those who did not want more slave states opposed it, and so the question of the annexation of Texas was a very serious one for some years. At last, in 1844, when a new President was to be elected, the Democratic Party declared for the annexation of Texas. This meant that if their candidate, James K. Polk of Tennessee, was elected, and if they had a majority in both houses of Congress, they would admit Texas as a new state. When, therefore, Polk was chosen, President Tyler urged Congress without delay to take the steps necessary to admission, and in the last days of his term Congress did so, and in 1845 Texas became the twenty-eighth state in the Union. Since the admission of Maine and Missouri, the states of Arkan- sas. Michigan, and Florida had been admitted. A fashionable man about 1840 of Texas SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE 179 At the same time that the Democrats declared for the annex- The Oregon ation of Texas, they demanded a settlement of our dispute with coun ^ Great Britain over the ownership of the Columbia River valley, or the Oregon country, as it was called. You will recall that we claimed this country, first by rea- son of Captain Gray's discovery of the Columbia River (1792), and second by its exploration by Lewis and Clark some years later. A third claim was based on its settlement, for John Jacob Astor of New York had sent out settlers and founded Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia. For certain reasons Great Britain disputed our claims, and in 1818 it was agreed that for ten years to come the country should be open to the people of both nations. When the ten-year period was drawing to a close, the question of occupying the Ore- gon country was discussed in Congress. But Oregon seemed so far away, so un- likely to be settled for many years, that the old agreement with Great Britain was renewed without a time limit, and this was the state of affairs in 1842. Now, it happened that in 1842 another boundary dispute with Great Britain, which had been going on for sixty years, was finally settled. Ever since the end of the War for Independence, Great Britain had claimed that the northern half of Maine belonged to her. We claimed that it did not and insisted on a boundary north of the present line. Several attempts were made to end the dis- pute, but it was not till 1842 that a treaty was agreed on and the line determined. A fashionable woman about 1840 180 SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE When it was known that the dispute about Oregon had not been settled at the same time, the people were much displeased, and the Democrats thought it wise to demand a settlement. Northwestern Texas was slave soil ; Oregon would surely be free soil. It was good policy, therefore, when adding to our slaveholding area, to add at the same time a piece of territory to our free area. So they called for occupation of Oregon up to 54° 40'. "The whole of Oregon or none " was the cry ; " Fifty-four forty or fight." Happily, it was not necessary to fight, and the two countries in 1846 agreed to make the 49th parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the coast, the boundary of Oregon. Meantime the annexation of Texas was causing trouble for us with Mexico, for two reasons. First, though Texas was really an independent republic, Mexico refused to admit the fact, and insisted that we had no right to annex the country. Second, Texas claimed the Rio Grande as a boundary, while Mexico denied this and would have placed the dividing line at the Nueces River, farther east. Now, Congress having annexed Texas, which claimed the Rio Grande as its west boundary, President Polk sent troops under Zachary Taylor to take position on the banks of that river. There in 1846 the Mexicans attacked Taylor and were beaten. War with Mexico followed at once. Our armies were commanded by Generals Scott, Taylor, and Kearny, and in the course of the war did some wonderful fighting and marching. Taylor beat the enemy in battle after battle near the Rio Grande. Scott marched from the seacoast across the enemy's country to the city of Mexico and captured it, having Armchair War with Mexico SLAVERY QUESTION BEGINS TO MAKE TROUBLE 181 won many victories on the way. Kearny marched from Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri River to Santa Fe in New Mexico, a distance of eight hun- dred miles, captured the city, and then went on across the continent to California. There he found that Commodore Stockton and Captain Fremont had already con- quered California. When peace was made in 1848, we held the territory thus acquired and paid Mexico Terms of $15,000,000, besides paying claims of our citizens against peace Mexico to the amount of $3,500,000. Our country then had the shape shown in the first map on page 234. The hill castle of Chapultepec {The Americana under Scott carried Chapultepec by storm, in order to capture Mexico city) SUMMARY 1. Before the "War for Independence slavery existed in all the colonies. After it some of the states abolished slavery. Others would have done so had it not been for the cotton gin invented by Whitney. This made slaves more profitable in the cotton-growing states. 2. East of the Mississippi, slavery was allowed in the new states south of the Ohio, but was forbidden in the territory north of the Ohio. When Missouri applied for admission into the Union, the question of slavery west of the Mississippi was discussed and finally settled by the Com- promise of 1820. 3. About the time Maine and Missouri were admitted we bought Florida from Spain and agreed with her as to the boundary between Mexico (which then included Texas) and the United States. tfl M. l'U. n. — 12 182 DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES ti. 7. Mexico soon became free from Spain. Many American settlers went to Texas with their slaves, but would not live under the Mexican govern- ment, and so made Texas an independent republic. The Texans wished to be annexed to the United States. This was opposed for some time by those who were opposed to slavery, but in 1845 Texas was made a state in the Union. The northern boundaries of Maine and Oregon were fixed in 1842 and 1846, thus peaceably settling two long disputes with Great Britain. A dispute as to the southeast boundary brought on a war with Mexico. As one result of the Mexican War we acquired an immense piece of ter- ritory stretching from the upper Rio Grande to the Pacific. ^c CHAPTER XIX THE DISCOVERY OE GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES Captain Sutter A PART of the vast region acquired from Mexico was called California, and in this country, near the Sacramento River, lived Captain J. A. Sutter, a Swiss settler. He had obtained from the Mexican governor of California a great tract of land and on it had built a fort. Sutter's Fort, as it was called, stood at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers, on the site of the present Sutter's Fort about 1850 DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES 183 city of Sacramento. In it Sutter lived like a little king. Over his domain roamed thousands of cattle, thousands of sheep, and thousands of horses and employ were hundreds of laborers, fort were settled a number of As Sutter used a great deal of employed a man named Marshall mules. In his and around his Americans, lumber, he Sutter's Sutter's mill sawmill for him at a place called Coloma, some fifty miles away. The saws were to be moved by a water wheel. But when the wheel was finished and the water turned on, it was found that the ditch to carry off the water was too small. To make it larger, water was washed through it, and as a conse- quence a bed of mud and gravel was formed at the end of the ditch. One day in January, 1848, as Marshall looked at this bed of srravel he saw in it Part of California 184 DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES The rush to the gold fields Digging and washing gold Sutter's Fort as it is now some glitter- , ing particles, which he picked up, examined, and believed ) were gold. Gathering more, he carried them to Sutter, who easily proved that gold ---^ they were. To keep the discovery secret was impossible. Sutter and Marshall acted so strangely that a workman watched them and found some gold himself. Then the news spread fast. Everybody that could, dropped work and rushed to the gold fields. Laborers left their fields, tradesmen their shops, and sail- ors their ships as fast as they arrived on the coast. One of the San Francisco newspapers ceased to appear because the editor, the typesetters, and the printer's devils had gone to the gold fields. Another journal had the same experience a few weeks later, and California was without a newspaper. The . publisher of one of these papers stated that while traveling through the gold fields to see the sights he gathered without the aid of a shovel, pick, and pan, from forty-four to one hundred and twenty- eight dollars a day in gold. At the diggings the hill- sides were dotted with can- vas tents and bush arbors that served as houses for the miners. The gold was obtained .; by washing. Some men worked with tin pans, some with close woven Indian baskets, but the greater Washing gold DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES 185 part had a rude machine known as a cradle. This was a box six or eight feet long, on rockers. It was open at the foot, and at its head had a coarse grate. Four men were usually'required to work the machine ; one dug the ground, another carried it to the cradle and emptied it on the grate, a third gave a violent rocking motion to the cradle, while a fourth dashed on water from a stream. By November, 1848, reports from California had reached the Gold seekers East and set people crazy. It was then too late to go overland fromtheEast to the gold fields. But before February, 1840, more than a Prairie schooner hundred ships with thousands of " Argonauts," as the gold seekers were called, had started for California. Some went to the Isthmus of Panama, which the gold hunters crossed, and took ships on the Pacific coast. Others sailed around South America. When spring came, thousands of men were hurrying to Mis- The overland souri to make the journey from there across the plains. Com- n ing from all parts of the country, these men would usually assemble at Independence on the Missouri River, where they would "fit out" ; that is, they would buy fond, guns, ammuni- tion, oxen, canvas-covered wagons (prairie schooners), and California 186 DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES whatever else was necessary, and would make up parties for defense against the Indians. The road was up the valley of the Platte and over the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada in California. The suffering, both of man and beast, was ter- rible ; for on the wide, dry, sun-baked plains there was neither food, water, nor trees. Hunger and thirst caused the death of hundreds, and along the route for many years might be seen the skeletons of horses and oxen and the wrecks of wagons that had broken down on the way. Yet no danger, no suffering, no fear of hostile Indians, could stop the emigrants. They went by thousands, and California by 1849 had a population so great that the people formed a state government and applied for admission into the Union. The slavery In the newly made state constitution of California slavery cahfornia 11 was f° rD idden ; and this was a serious matter, for just then the whole question of slavery was before Congress and the country. The annexation of the slave state of Texas and the purchase of more territory brought it up in a new form. Hitherto the question was, Shall slavery be abolished ? Now it became, Shall slavery be extended ? Shall it be allowed in the country purchased from Mexico ? As this land had been made free soil by Mexico, many people in the North insisted that it should remain free, and formed a political party called the Free Soil Party, pledged to prevent the spread of slavery. " No more slave states " was their cry. The South insisted that the newly acquired country was the common property of the states, that any citizen might go there with his slaves, and that Congress had no right to prevent him. Besides this, the South insisted that there ought to be at least as many slave states as free states. Since the admission of Florida and Texas the two free states of Iowa and AVisconsin had been added, so that now the numbers were equal — fifteen slave states and fifteen free. DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES 187 Some threats were made that the slaveholding states would leave the Union if Congress sought to shut out slavery in the territory gained from Mexico. That a state might secede, or withdraw from the Union, had The question long been claimed by a party led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Daniel Webster had always opposed this doctrine and stood as the representative of those who held that our Union _ ' a&g^gfl 1 "* flb can not be broken. Once (in 1832) South Carolina went so far as to nullify a certain tax i ,i • i Webster's home (in Massachusetts) is, she refused to allow this law to be enforced on her soil, and she threatened to secede if the government used force against her. On that occasion a very famous debate took place in the Senate between Webster and Calhoun on this very question of secession. The dispute was finally settled by a compromise, largely through the influence of Henry Clay ; South Carolina gave up her attempt to nullify the law, but Congress made important changes in the law. Now in 1850 Clay undertook to end this latest quarrel TneCompro- between the states, as he had that over Missouri (in 1820), miseo ' 5C and that with South Carolina (in 1833). Again a great debate occurred, in which Webster, Calhoun, and Clay (the most dis- tinguished senators then living) took part, and once more a compromise resulted. We need not learn all its details. It is enough to know that, as part of it, — 1. California was admitted as a free state. 2. Texas received her present boundary, giving up her claim to the land now lying between the state of Texas and the Rio Grande. 188 DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES Migrations of the Mormons 3. Out of part of the country bought from Mexico were made two territories — Utah and New Mexico, in which slavery was not prohibited. In New Mexico were some old Spanish settlements founded long before an English colony was planted in our country, and the curious Indian villages or pueblos of the Zuni. The Mormons In Utah were the Mormons. Twenty years before, a man named Joseph Smith founded in New York state a new reli- gious sect. The members of this sect were commonly called Mormons because of their new " Book of Mormon," which they believed to be as holy as the Bible. From New York they went in time to Ohio, then to Missouri, and then to a little town which they built in Illinois on the bank of the Mississippi River. There they came to blows with the state officers, and in 18-1(3 the Mormon leaders decided to move their people out of the United States and into Mexico. The plan was not to go in one great body, but in a series of parties, and &T\ as the first of these crossed the plains to select the If \ site for a new city, it used curious met hods to mark the L\ K way for those that came after. The plains /^0^\s^~~^\ m those days were dotted with buffalo skulls bleached by long exposure to the sun and air. Taking one of these from time to time, the leader would paint across the skull the date and the number of miles made, and set it up as a guidepost or marker of a camping place. Others would be hung on the branches of trees and filled with letters to the members of the party next to follow. Guidepost Mormon guidepost DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND THE CONSEQUENCES 189 After three months of hard and wearisome travel, this band salt Lake city of pioneers climbed over a big- mountain and beheld below settled them the broad valley of the Great Salt Lake. Going down Mormon houses in the desert into it, they took possession, and some ten miles from the shore of the lake made the beginning of Salt Lake City. Later in the year (1847), several thousand people arrived, and still more in 1848. When the Mormons entered Utah, the country belonged to Mexico, but finding themselves again within the United States as a result of the Mexican War, they formed the state of Deseret, and (1849) asked for its admission into the Union. The request was not granted, and for many years this part of our country remained the territory of Utah. SUMMARY 1. The Mexican War was scarcely ended when news reached the Easl that gold had been discovered in California. 2. A great rush of gold hunters followed. Some sailed around South America, or crossed the Isthmus of Panama. Many went overland. 3. In California sailors left their ships, laborers and tradesmen dropped work, and all hurried to the gold fields. i. Men came in such numbers that in 1849 a state government was estab- lished and Congress was asked to admit California as a state. 5. A dispute broke out as to whether it should be a free or a slave state. It was finally made as a free state under Clay's Compromise of 1850. 190 THE SLAVERY QUESTION BRINGS ON CIVIL WAR CHAPTER XX THE SLAVERY QUESTION BRINGS ON CIVIL WAR The Compromise of 1850, as it was called, was supposed by those who made it to be a final settlement of all the troubles :I" J " - T-r~'[t i! - iai growing out of slavery. But when ■^-^H-— -^ Kansas and Nebraska were made territories (1854), the old quarrel Cannon used in forts during the ■, XT ,, , C1 ,•, ■, 1 Civil War between JNorth and South broke out anew. The Missouri You will remember that by the Compromise of 1820 (page compromise ifQ\ faeve was to be no slavery in all that part of the old Louisiana territory north of 36° 30', except in Missouri. Kan- sas and Nebraska were in this free part of the old Louisiana. But Congress, under the lead of Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, now repealed the Compromise of 1820 and opened these territories to slavery. The effects of this law (1854) were : — 1. That any man might emigrate to Kansas or Nebraska with his slaves and live there and not have them set free. 2. When the time came to admit Kansas or Nebraska into the Union as a state, the people were to decide whether it should be a free or a slaveholding state. 3. AV r hether Kansas and Nebraska should finally become slave- holding or free states depended, therefore, on whether the slaveholders or the settlers opposed to slavery were the more numerous. The struggle Both sides now made great efforts to settle and control or Kansas ly linsas . People pledged to make Kansas a free state hurried THE SLAVERY QUESTION BRINGS ON CIVIL WAR 191 in from the North and settled at Lawrence, Topeka, and else- where. Immi- grants pledged to make Kansas a slave state Musket used during the Civil War came in from Missouri and the South and founded Atchison, Lecompton, Leavenworth, and other towns. The struggle that followed was dreadful. Lawrence was plundered and burned, men were murdered, and during several years a civil war raged in Kansas. Lawless hands of both parties, called Jayhawkers, roamed about the country, and when they met, fought. One who lived in Kansas during this time tells us that farming was almost neglected ; that men went out to till the soil in bands of ten or twelve fully armed, and that whenever two strangers met they came up pistol in hand ; that their first salutation was, " Free-state or pro-slave ? " and that often the next sound was the report of a pistol. As the people north and south watched this civil war in Kansas, the feeling of the two sections grew more and more intense and bitter. In the midst of this excitement over Kansas the time came Lincoin- to elect a senator for Illinois to re- place Stephen A. Douglas, and the question arose, Shall he be re- elected, or shall some other man be chosen in place of him? Mr. Douglas, you remember, had secured the passage of the law creating the two territories of Kansas and Ne- braska, which allowed anybody to take slaves into those territories. The Republicans, whose motto was Field cannon in use during the Civil War 192 THE SLAVERY QUESTION BRINGS ON CIVIL WAR Abraham Lincoln Candidates for President in i860 "No more slave states, no more slave territories," wanted Douglas defeated, and nominated Abraham Lincoln for sena- tor. The Democrats nominated Mr. Douglas, and during the autumn of 1858 these two candidates traveled over the stair of Illinois, discussing the question of slavery from the same platform night after night. This Lincoln-Douglas debate created great interest. In the end Douglas was reelected, but Lincoln became so famous that in 1860 the Republicans nomi- nated him for President of the United States. The Democrats Millard Fillmore . • . 1850-1853 Franklin Pierce . . 1853-1857 James Buchanan . . 1857-1861 the slavery question brings on civil war 193 were divided ; one part nominated Douglas, and the other Mr. John C. Breckinridge. A fourth party, whose motto was to save the Union at any cost, put forward John Bell. The Presidents since Van Buren had been : — William II. Harrison . 1841 John Tyler . . . 1841-1845 James K. Polk . . 1845-1849 Zachary Taylor . . 1849-1850 The last two of these Presidents were Democrats and had secession of not opposed slavery. The Southern States now (1860) said states*™ that if Lincoln were elected, slavery would be destroyed, and that rather than have this happen they would leave the Union. When, therefore, Lincoln was elected, they began one by one to secede, that is, declared that they were no longer members of the Union known as the United States of America. First went South Carolina, and then Georgia, Florida, Ala- bama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Delegates from these six states next met at Montgomery, Alabama, and formed a new union which they called the "Confederate States of America." Jefferson Davis was elected its President, and Alexander H. Stephens its Vice Presi- dent. And now Texas joined the Confederacy. "When South Carolina Fort Sumter seceded, there was within her bounds much property belonging to the United States. Forts, etc. There were lighthouses, courthouses, post offices, customhouses * n South where duties on imported goods were collected, and two impor- tant forts, Moultrie and Sumter, which guarded the entrance to Charleston harbor, and were held by a small band of United States troops under the command of Major Robert Anderson. 194 THE SLAVERY QUESTION BRINGS ON CIVIL WAR What Anderson did Fort Sumter attacked by Confederates Charleston Harbor As soon as the state seceded, a demand was made on the United States for a surrender of this property. The partner- ship called the Union, it was said, having been dissolved by the withdrawal of South Carolina, the land on which these forts, arsenals, magazines, and build- ings stood belonged to the state ; but the buildings being the property of the United States should be paid for by the state. Agents were accordingly sent to Washington to arrange for the purchase. Troops, meantime, were being enlisted and drilled, and Major Anderson, fearing that if the agents sent to Washington did not succeed, the forts would be taken by force, cut down the flagstaff and spiked the guns in Fort Moultrie, and moved his men to Fort Sumter, which stood on an island in the harbor, and could be more easily defended ; and so the matter stood when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1861. Fort Sumter was now in a state his men could get no food from Charleston, s^V ' while the troops of the Confederacy had planted cannon with which they could at any time fire on the fort. Either the troops must very soon go away or food must be sent to of siesre. Anderson and 3? I ho»4* ' "-- as ' W £& mm mm Part of Fort Sumter after bombardment WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 195 them. Mr. Lincoln decided to send food. But when the ves- sels with food, men, and supplies reached Charleston they found that the Confederates had already begun to fire on Sumter. What then happened is best told by Major Anderson : " Hav- ing defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quar- ters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door closed from the effects of heat, four barrels and three cartridges of powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evacuation Fortsumter offered by General Beauregard . . . and marched out of the surrendered fort Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating. ..." SUMMARY 1. A law was passed (1854) establishing the two territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and repealing the Missouri Compromise. 2. The law provided that when these territories became states, their people should decide whether or not the new states should be free soil. The result was a bloody struggle for the possession of Kansas. 3. After Lincoln was elected President (1860), seven of the Southern States seceded from the Union and formed a new Confederacy. 4. A dispute over the possession of the forts in Charleston Harbor led to a successful attack by the Confederates on Fort Sumter. CHAPTER XXI THE WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND The moment the news of the fall of Sumter reached the North, the people knew that all hope of a peaceable settlement of the dispute with the South was gone. Mr. Lincoln at once 196 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND jJnOalvetton Buy ^ < -/ \<- 'f n K Galveston ^J^\J -^t^f' '• " l,tlt P G U L F f Jj» c **0 F M E X The Confederate States President calls called for 75,000 soldiers to serve for three months. Some of or troops ^^ results of this were 1. The secession of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, making eleven states in the Confederacy. 2. The removal of the seat of government of the Confederacy from Montgomery in Alabama to Richmond in Virginia. 3. The separation of the western part of Virginia from the eastern part. Out of this was afterwards formed the state of West Virginia. 4. The gathering of the Union army along Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, around Washington, along the Ohio River, and in Missouri. WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 197 The gathering of a Confederate army to oppose the Union army. There were thus two great armies drawn up in various places on opposite sides of a line stretching from Norfolk in Virginia up the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River to Harpers Ferry, then along the mountains to the southwest corner of Virginia, and then westward across Kentucky and Missouri. To break through this line and drive the Confederate forces back was the aim of the Union commanders. Just southwest of Washington, and between it and Rich- BuiiRun mond, was a Confederate force, and with this, in July, 1861, a Union army fought the famous battle of Bull Run. The Union soldiers were defeated and put to flight. General McClellan was now placed in command of the Union Forts troops near Washington, and while he was drilling them an ^enryand r ° <=> Donelson attempt was made to break through the Confederate line west of Virginia. Where the line crossed the Cumberland and Ten- nessee rivers, just south of Kentucky, were two forts called Donelson and Henr}\ Against these two forts General Ulysses S. Grant was sent with a fleet. Grant was born in a little town in Ohio, at a time when that part of our country was very near the frontier. While a MCM. PR. H. 13 Part of the battlefield of Bull Run an army, and Commodore Foote with 198 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND Ulysses S. Grant Battles in Tennessee Opening the Mississippi boy he did much hard work on his father's farm, besides going to school a few weeks each winter. When he was seventeen he became a cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, and during the Mexican War he served under General Taylor and then under General Scott. A few years after the war he left the army and went to live on a farm near St. Louis ; and the log cabin in which he lived he built with his own hands. But he did not succeed very well as a farmer, so he went to St. Louis and became a real estate agent. This venture also failed, and he became a clerk in his father's leather and hardware stoic in Illinois. There he was when Lincoln made the first call for troops to defend the Union. Grant at once offered his services and showed himself so able a soldier that early in 18(52 he was sent with Commodore Foote to make the attack on the Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson. The attempt was successful. Foote took Fort Henry, and Grant took Fort Donel- son ; and the Confederate line was cut in two. The Southern troops retreated southward to a place called Corinth, in Missis- sippi. Grant followed, and in April, 1862, was attacked at Shiloh. The tight raged for two days. when the Confederates fell back again to Corinth, and a few weeks later they retreated still farther. Memphis now surrendered, and the Mississippi River was opened as far south as Vicksburg. It was also opened near Confederate Capitol, Richmond WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 199 the Gulf ; for in April, 1862, a fleet under Admiral Farragut forced its way up the Mississippi, passing the Confederate forts near its mouth, captured New Orleans, and landed an army to hold the city. Now let us see what had happened in the East in 1862. As Richmond was the capital of the Confed- erate States, the North insisted that it should be captured, and early in 1862 preparations were made to attack it. One army was sent into the Shenandoah valley in western Virginia to pre- vent the Confederates from coming down that valley to attack Washing- ton from the west. An- other was stationed in front of Washington to prevent an attack from the south. A third, under McClellan, was taken in ships Peninsular down Chesapeake Bay to a point near famous old Yorktown, am P ai 8 n where General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in 1781. After capturing this place McClellan marched up the peninsula between the York and James rivers, fighting as he went, till he came to a place called White House Landing, whence he moved westward toward Richmond. But McClellan was forced back by General R. E. Lee to a place on the James River, whence his army was taken by boat to the Potomac River near Washington. Country around Washington 200 AVAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND Lee's home, at Arlington RooertE. Lee Lee was a native of Virginia, had been edu- cated at West Point, and down to the time when Virginia seceded had been an officer in the army of the United States. He had served on the frontier and in the war with Mexico, had been for three years at the head of the Mili- tary Academy at West Point, and was a soldier of great ability. Just before the outbreak of the war, Lee, who was then a colonel serving in Texas, was called to Washington ; and after the attack on Sumter he was offered the command of the Union troops. But Virginia at once seceded, and Lee resigned his place in the army of the United States and was put in com- mand of the troops of Virginia. Soon afterwards he was made a Confederate general, but it was not till McClellan was mov- ing upon Richmond that Lee was given command of a large army. The Confederate general who at first was pitted against McClellan (General Joseph E. Johnston) was wounded in the fighting near Richmond, and then Lee took command of the Confederate army and forced McClellan back. When McClellan sailed away, Lee attacked the Union army that had been stationed in front of Washington, beat it in a second battle of Bull Run, and crossing the Potomac entered Maryland. McClellan gave chase, overtook Lee, and fought a Antietam desperate battle at Antietam Creek, after which Lee returned to Virginia. McClellan was now removed from command and General Burnside was put in his place. But before the year WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 201 ended Burnside was badly beaten in an attack on Fredericks- Battles in burg, and a few weeks later General Hooker was given ir s ima command. "Fighting Joe," as Hooker was called, took the field in the spring of 1863, led his army against Lee, and was beaten at Chancellors ville. Lee now repeated his attempt of the pre- vious summer : he rushed around Hooker, crossed the Potomac, crossed Maryland, and marched into Pennsylvania as far as Gettysburg. As the Union army hurried along in pursuit, Gettysburg General Meade was put in command in place of Hooker. At Gettysburg, on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, was fought the great and decisive battle of the war. The fighting was desperate. The loss on each side was terrible. But Lee was beaten and went back to Virginia ; and in the East no more great battles were fought till the following spring. The field of Gettysburg is now dotted over with beautiful monuments marking the positions held by the Union regi- ments during this srreatesl battle of the war. On the hill 202 WAR FOR THE UNION UN THE LAND The behind the village, on a part of the field fought over, is a national cemetery where lie buried more than 3500 Union dead. On July 4, 1863, the day after the end of the battle of Get- Mississippi tysburgf, General Grant captured Vicksburg. Port Hudson opened J °' L ~ next fell ; the Mississippi was all in Union hands and the Con- federacy was cut in two. It was now the turn of the Confederates to win a victory. An army of them had been driven from Tennessee into the extreme northwest corner of Georgia, where they were en- chickamauga camped near a little creek called the Chickamauga. Having received more troops, General Bragg, who com- manded them, attacked the Union army under General Rose- crans (September 19 and 20) and beat it so badly that it would have been put to flight had it not been for the skill of General George H. Thomas. His firmness on that disas- trous field won him the name of the Rock of Chickamauga. The Union army, however, was forced to retreat to Chattanooga, in Tennessee ; and then General Bragg posted his troops on the hills and mountains about the town, and shut in General Rosecrans. More troops were now sent and General Grant was put in cLttannntY command, and then the situation changed. The Confederates were attacked and driven from their positions, in three days of fighting. As the second day, was cold and rainy, the clouds had settled down on the mountain sides so that fighting actually occurred above them, and the battle of Lookout Mountain is often called the Battle above the Clouds. After the great Lookout Mountain The Chattanooga WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 203 Sherman did battle of Missionary Ridge, on the third day, the Confeder- ates retreated to Georgia, and the command of their army was given to General Joseph E. Johnston. The Confederates had now but two great The union armies in the held, — the one under Lee in plan m l86 * Virginia, and the other under Johnston in northern Georgia. To meet these, two Union generals were selected. General Grant was put at the head of all the armies of the United States, with the rank of Lieutenant General, and to him was assigned the duty of beating Lee. General W. T. Sherman was given a large army in the West, and his duty was to crush the forces of General Johnston. Each began his task on the same day, May what 4, 1804. Sherman attacked Johnston, and drove him step by step through the mountains to Atlanta. President Davis therefore removed Johnston and put in command General Hood, who, after trying in vain to beat Sherman. turned and started back toward Tennessee, hoping to draw Sherman after him. But Sher- man sent Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga, to deal with Hood, and Thomas destroyed Hood's army in a terrible battle at Nashville in December, 1864. In the meantime Sher- man started to march from Atlanta to the sea. The army advanced in four columns, cover- ing a stretch of country sixty miles wide, and living on the country as they went. They tore up the railroads, destroyed the bridges, and in December, 1864, occupied Savannah, a Confederate soldier A Union soldier 204 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND Painting by F. O C. Darley Sherman's march to the sea What Grant did There Sherman stayed for a month, during which his soldiers became impatient. " Uncle Billy," they would call out as he went by them, " I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond." February 1, 1865, the march was resumed, and was continued across South Carolina to Goldsboro in North Carolina. Grant, according to agreement, began his attack on Lee in Virginia the same day that Sherman marched against Johnston in Georgia. Starting from a place called Culpeper Court House, Grant's army entered the Wilderness, a tract of coun- try covered with a dense growth of oak and pine, and after much hard fighting made its way around Richmond and laid siege to Petersburg. After a time Lee saw that he could no longer hold these cities, and in April, 1865, he left Richmond and marched westward. Grant followed, and on April 0. 1865, Lee surren- war WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE LAND 205 dered his army at Appomattox Court House. Johnston sur- rendered to Sherman near Raleigh in North Carolina about two weeks later ; Jefferson Davis was taken prisoner in May. This ended the war ; the Confederacy fell to pieces ; and End of the the Union was saved. Once more there was but one govern- ment for the United States. SUMMARY 1. With the firing on Sumter the Civil War began, and Union and Con- federate armies were soon gathered at various places along the Poto- mac River, in western Virginia, in Kentucky, and in Missouri. 2. 1861, July. A Union army tried to drive back the Confederates in Virginia, but was defeated in the battle of Bull Run. 3. 1862, February. The Union forces in the West took Forts Henry and Donelson, after which they pushed southward across Tennessee. 4. 1862, April to August. General McClellan moved up the Peninsula from Yorktown, but failed to take Richmond, and returned north by sea. 5. 1862, August-September. The Confederates under Lee now started to invade the North, but turned back after a great battle ;it Antietam. 6. 1862, December ; 1863. May The Union army in the East twice advanced against the Confederates, and was beaten at Fredericksburg and at Chancellorsville. 7. 1863, June-July. Lee began a second invasion of the North, but was beaten at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 8. 1863, July. Vicksburg and Port Hudson were captured, and the Mis- sissippi River was now in Union hands, it. 1863, September; November. The Confederates in the West de- feated the Union army at Chickamauga, but General Grant took command and defeated them near Chattanooga. !(>. 1864. May, to 1865, April. General Sherman fought his way from Tennessee to Atlanta and marched across Georgia to Savannah, and then north to Raleigh. At the same time General Grant carried on a bloody campaign against Lee. and at last forced him out of Rich- mond and compelled him to surrender at Appomattox Court House. 206 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER CHAPTER XXII THE WAR FOR THE UNION < >N THE WATER Duties oi the On the Union navy, during the war, fell duties of live Union navy kinds : 1. It blockaded the coast from Chesapeake Bay to the Rio Grande in Texas. 2. It helped to capture the seaports and forts scattered along this great coast line. 3. It got control of the bays and sounds along the coast, as Chesapeake, Albemarle, Pamlico, Mobile, Galveston. 4. It aided the army in opening the rivers, as the Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Red. 5. It tried to protect the commerce of the United States on the ocean, and to destroy all Confederate cruisers. A seaport is blockaded by keeping, off the entrance, armed ships to tire on any vessel that tries to go in or come out. To blockade all the bays, sounds, and harbors of our coast, from Norfolk to Texas, was a hard task and required a great number of ships. Trad- ing ships, river steamboats of all sizes, tugs, and ferryboats were therefore bought by 'he government, and the blockade began. To make it as complete as possible, the hulks of old whalers were taken from New England to the Southern ports, filled with stone, and were sunk in the channels. Trade with the South was thus ended unless vessels could run the blockade, and that is just what they did. The blockade An old whaler WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER 207 A blockade runner The South raised millions of bales of cotton, which were sold Blockade to manufacturers in Great Britain and made into cotton cloth. runnin s Great Britain depended on the South for cotton, and in order to get it, blockade running became a regular business and was engaged in by many trading firms in Liverpool. Some had as many as fifteen vessels. At first they were old craft, so that if they were captured the loss would not be great. But speed soon became so important that ships were especially built for the work. They were long, low steamers, drawing but a few feet of water, and having great speed. They burned hard coal, which made no smoke, and were painted a dull gray, so as not to be easily seen. The port of Nassau in the British island of New Providence, off the coast of southern Florida, was selected as the place from which the runners were to start, and to it were brought arms, salt, gunpowder, medicine, boots, clothing, whatever the Con- federates wanted. At Nassau the goods were loaded on a blockade runner, whose departure was so nicely timed that the vessel would be off the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, on a night when the moon did not shine and when the tide was high. Then, trusting to the darkness, the runner would dash through the line of blockading warships and by daylight would be safe in Confederate waters. After landing the smuggled cargo the vessel would be loaded with cotton, and during a dark night or storm would run out and steam back to Nassau. Some blockade runners went to Charleston instead of Wilmington. As neither of these cities was captured till near the end of the war, this blockade running grew to be a large business. 208 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER Confederate cruisers Another way in which Great Britain helped the South was by allowing the Confederates to lit out vessels in England for the purpose of capturing or sinking the trading ships of the United States. Several of these commerce destroyers were fitted out, but the Alabama was the most famous of them. The Alabama was built for the Confederacy at Liverpool, Eng- land, and in spite of the protests of the United States minister at London was allowed to go to sea. ( )ff the Azores Islands she was met by a British vessel hav- ing on board her guns and ammunition, and by a steamer with The Alabama and the Kearsarge her crew and Captain Raphael Semmes. Sailing leisurely across the Atlantic the Alabama burned twenty vessels, cap- tured a mail steamer in the West Indies, destroyed one of the warships blockading Galveston, and took her place off the east coast of Brazil in the pathway of ships homeward bound from the East Indies and the Pacific. Here ten prizes were taken, after which the Alabama went to the Cape of Good Hope, and WAR FUR THE UNION ON THE WATER 209 then to the China Sea ; then back once more to the Cape of Good Hope and by way of Brazil and the Azores to the port of Cherbourg in France, having captured sixty-six vessels during her cruise. While the Alabama was anchored in the harbor of Cherbourg, the United States cruiser Kearsarge entered the port. A chal- lenge to light was sent and accepted, and one Sunday morning in June, 1864, the two ships met in combat off the coast of France, and when the battle ended the Alabama sank to the bottom of the sea. Most of the other Confederate cruisers in one way or another fell into the hands of United States authorities. After the war Great Britain was forced to pay $15,500,000 for the damage she did to American shipping by allowing the Con- federate cruisers to leave her ports. Another very famous ship duel was that of the Monitor and the Merrimae. When the war opened in 1861, one of the finest navy yards The Merrimae in the United States was near Norfolk, Virginia. Having no means to defend it, the officer in command set fire to the shops, houses, and ships, and tried to blow up the great dry dock. One of the vessels whichburned to the water's edge and then sank was the steam frigate Merri- mae ; but the Confederates found that her engines and the hull under water were not damaged, so they raised her and made her into an ironclad ram. Her deck was almost level with the water, and on it was built a sort of long, low house with The Merrimae 210 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER sloping sides covered with thick plates of iron. In the sides were holes for the guns. At the bow, about two feet under water, was a cast-iron ram. what the To make these changes was slow work, so it was March. 1862, emmac 1 k e f ore £ ne Virginia, as the Merrimac was renamed by the Con- federates, steamed out upon the broad sheet of water called Hampton Roads. Just across the Roads lay at anchor the Union war vessels, Cumberland and Congress, toward which she now made her way. As she drew near, the guns on the Cumber- land and the Congress opened lire ; but their shot glanced from her iron sides like pebbles, and keeping steadily on, the Merrimac drove her ram into the side of the Cumberland, crushed it like an eggshell, and, backing away, left a hole ''wide enough to drive in a horse and cart." Through this the water poured till the gallant ship tilled and sank, her flag flying and her guns booming as she went down. Turning to the Congress, the Merrimac, after an hour's fight- ing, forced her to surrender and set her on fire. As it was now late in the afternoon, the Merrimac drew off and left a third ship, the Minnesota, to be destroyed in the morning ; but when morning came, there lay beside the Minnesota a small, odd-looking craft, that had arrived at Hampton Roads the The Monitor Ji night before. It was the Moni- $BMf tor, designed bv Captain John ■ I » • I H ; . . 1 — c Difex ~y ^ r ~ i Ericsson, built at New York, „., , .. „ .. and sent round bv sea. Her Side view of the Monitor broad deck was almost as low as the surface of the water, and was plated with sheets of iron. On the deck was an iron cylinder or turret which could be made to revolve by machinery, and in this were two very large guns. The Monitor s voyage from New York was a terrible one. The waves swept the deck, and rolled completely over the WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER 211 little pilot house in the bow, sending floods of water through The voyage the sight holes and once knocking the helmsman from the wheel. Torrents of water came down the smokestack, and poured in streams through cracks and crannies into the hull. The fires were nearly put out and the engine room so filled with gas that no man could live there. More than once it seemed certain that the little craft must founder in the sea. But she kept afloat, and as she rounded Cape Henry late on the after- noon of March 8, 1862, the distant booming of guns told the crew that a fight was ra- ging, for the Merrimac was then engaged in the destruc- tion of the Congress. Dark- ness came on before the scene of action was reached, but as the Monitor came up the Roads those on board saw the Congress burning. About eight o'clock the next morning, the Merrimac was seen coming across the Roads to finish the work she had left undone the evening before. Whether or not that work was to remain undone, depended solely upon the insignificant little craft flying the Union flag and looking, it was said, "like a cheese box mounted on a raft," which now swunsf free from her moorings ami started forth to of the Monitor Painting by J. U. Davidson Burning of the Congress ( oi might, 1892, by C. Klackm r 212 WAR FOR THE UNION ON THE WATER The first battle of ironclads battle. During four hours the fighting raged without either ship being able to harm the other seriously. The Merrimac then withdrew, and the Monitor went back to her place beside the Minnesota. In one sense neither ship won ; but as the pur- pose of the Merrimac was to destroy the Minnesota, and the purpose of the Monitor was to prevent it, the victory was with the Monitor. Yet the fight was the greatest in modern times. Never before in the world's history had two ironclad ships engaged in battle; and when it was over, the days of wooden navies were gone, and all warships had to be built anew out of iron or steel. Painting by W. II. o Farragut in Mobile Bay After the occupation of Norfolk by the Union forces, the Merrimac was blown up by the Confederates. And in January, 1863, the Monitor was lost in a storm at sea. REBUILDING THE SOUTHERN STATES 213 But it must not be supposed that the services of the navy Naval battles ended with the blockade of the coast and the defeat of the Ala- on l 1 ?*™ and bays bama and Merrimac. Desperate battles were fought and victo- ries won on the western rivers and in the bays of the southern coast. It was Farragut's fleet that ran past the forts on the lower Mississippi and captured New Orleans ; it was Foote's flotilla that took Fort Henry on the Tennessee ; it was Davis's fleet that cleared the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio to Memphis (1862). Porter's fleet ran by the forts at Vicks- burg to assist the army under Grant (1863), and Farragut destroyed the Confederate fleet in Mobile Bay (1864). The fleet under Dupont, aided by the army, captured Port Royal (1861). All along the Atlantic coast of the Confederate States the services of the navy were conspicuous. SUMMARY 1. The navy had five duties. 2. The blockade of Southern ports cut off the cotton supply of Great Britain and led to blockade running. 3. The South obtained several commerce destroyers. The most famous of these, the Alabama, was sunk in a fight with the Kearsarge. 4. Another famous sea fight was that of the Monitor and the Merrimac. 5. Other naval victories were won for the Union on the Mississippi River; at Xew Orleans; in Mobile Bay; and along the Atlantic coast. CHAPTER XXIII REBUILDING THE SOUTHERN STATES There is another side to the war besides the rights on land and sea, and that is the cost in life and money. While the war was going on, President Lincoln called twelve times for volunteers. To these calls there were about 2.770.000 Hi M. I'U. H. — 14 214 REBUILDING THE .SOUTHERN STATES What the war cost in lite Union Cemetery at Arlington What the war cost in money responses ; each time many thousands of men left their homes and occupations, and served in the defense of the Union. This does not mean that there were 2,770,000 soldiers in the field at any one time. Some served for three months, some for six, some for a year, others for three years. Very often the same men would enlist again when their term was out. The greatest number of men in the army was in April, 1865, when 1,000,000 were under pay, and of these 650,000 carried arms. During the four years of fighting about 360,000 men died in defense of the Union. As the Confederate loss was probably as great, we may believe that the war cost the lives of 700,000 citizens. To understand fully the cost in money is out of the question. 1. There was the national debt, amounting in 1865 to over $2,800,000,000. Nearly all of this money had been spent on the war. 2. Between 1S62 and 1865 there was raised by taxation nearly 1800,000,000. The greater part of this also went for war purposes. 3. There was interest to pay on the national debt, and pensions for the disabled soldiers and sailors, and for the widows and orphans of the men who lost their lives. REBUILDING THE SOUTHERN STATES 215 Between 1861 and 1879 our national government spent on account of the war more than $6,000,000,000. The states also spent large sums of money, and so did the cities and towns. Their war expenditure amounted to more than $450,000,000. You are not expected to remember these figures. Nobody- can understand what $6,000,000,000 means. The sums spent are given in order that you may know in a general way what the people of the North did in order that our Union might be preserved, that, as Mr. Lincoln said, " government of the peo- ple, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth." What have we gained by the war? We have shown that our Union is firm and can not be broken. We have increased respect for our government at home and abroad. There are no more threats of seces- sion ; no more fears that government by the peo- ple can not endure ; no more doubts that when- ever necessary the peo- ple will rally to its sup- port and defense. 3. Slavery, which made so much trouble for eighty years, has been abol- ished. The negro now has the " inalienable rights " of man men- tioned in the Declara- tion of Independence. What the war accomplished Monument to Confederate dead, Richmond 216 REBUILDING THE SOUTHERN STATES Lincoln murdered .•Kc CHAPTER XXV THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY The history of our country since cen- tennial year (1876) is the familiar one of steady growth and increasing prosperity. The building of the railways across the continent made a new West and a new Northwest. The buf- faloes that roamed over the plains by millions in 1870 were all but exterminated in 1880, and in their place came herds of cattle, sheep, and horses. Grain farms, cattle ranches, mining towns, and prosperous villages covered the great plains once Western cattle ranch THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY 229 thought little better than a desert, and seven more states (between 1889 and 1896) were admitted into the Union : North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, IMMIGRANTS 1800:000 The waves of immigration and Utah. Three of these, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, did not exist as geographical divisions in 1860, and their names are not to be found on the map of our country of that date. All this means that in the course of a century our country- Our men have spread over the continent from the Atlantic to the immi e rants Pacific. But they are not the only people who moved west- ward, for thousands on thousands have come to us from the Old World. Before 1820, not more than 10,000 immigrants came over each year, but thereafter for a long time more and more arrived nearly every year, till about 100,000 landed on our shores in the course of twelve months. Then the number fell off slightly. But in a little while famine in Ireland, and hard times in Germany, sent over a great wave of immigration, MCM. PR. H. — 15 230 THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY swelling up year after year, till more than 400,000 foreigners came to us in one year. Then the wave spent itself, and the tide went down, only to turn into a second wave greater than before. By this time sailing vessels had given place to steam- ships. The voyage was ten days instead of twenty-four ; the cost was less ; the Northwest was growing ; our government was giving farms to men and women who would really live on them and cultivate them. Under the influence of these causes this wave of immigrants rolled toward us, till in 1873 the number that came over was 460,000. The wave then went down, fewer people coming every year. But it soon rose again to 789,000 in 1882, after which it went down once more and then rose again. Since the year 1789 more than 20,000,000 people have come to our country from the Old World. Most have come from Ireland, Germany, England, Norway and Sweden, and Italy. As the cost of travel across the ocean became lower and lower, the steamship companies sought emigrants to bring out, and the cities and countries of Europe began to send over beg- gars, paupers, and criminals. Laws have therefore been made to exclude such persons, and also the Chinese, who are consid- ered by the people of the Pacific coast as most undesirable im- migrants. While the settlers in the Northwest are chiefly from the Eastern States, vast numbers of them arc Germans, Swedes, .? Harvester THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY 231 the East Modern newspaper printing press and Norwegians. In Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, there are large stretches of country where almost every inhabitant is a Norwegian or a Swede. In the old states the changes of a quarter century have been changes in even more marked. There, too, popu- lation has increased with astonis ing rapidity, and cities whi were small in 1870 grew to be great in l'JOO. New in- dustries have arisen, old ones have been immensely enlarged, and many occu- pations that were unknown when the Civil War ended give employment to hundreds of thousands of men and women. A little more than four hundred years have now passed since Four periods Columbus landed on the shore of San Salvador. As we look back over these centuries the history of our country falls natu- rally into four periods. 1. The first period, 1492-1(300, was the age of discovery. Discovery an.i Explorers from Europe sailed along our coast, touching it here ex P l0ratl0n and there, and so laying the foundation for claims to ownership by several European countries. Spain in this way obtained claims to Florida and all the Gulf coast, England to our Atlantic shore, and France to the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. Now and then some bold adventurer, as De Soto or Coronado, went into the interior and established for his country a claim to territory far from the seaboard. But when the period closed no settlements by Europeans existed within our bounds on the mainland, save at St. Augustine and Santa Fe*. 2. The second period, 1600-1700. was that of occupation Occupation and settlement. It was during these years that England planted settlement 232 THE CLOSE OF THE (KM I KV The struggle for possession all her colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, save Georgia ; that the Dutch and Swedish settlements were made on the Hudson and the Delaware; that France took possession of the St. Lawrence valley ; and that Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle explored the Mississippi. 3. The third period, 1700-1800, is memorable for the long struggle for possession. Before 1700 the Dutch had conquered the Swedish colony, and the English had conquered the Dutch; but during the period 1700-1800 the English conquered the Colonies before the Revolution United States in 1783 French, and acquired Florida from Spain, so that all of our country east of the Mississippi, save a little piece about New Orleans, came under the British Crown. The new colonial policy adopted by ( Treat Britain after this expansion of terri- tory brought on the war between the colonies and the mother country, which ended with the overthrow of British rule and the establishment of the republic of the United States. Independence secured and a definite territory acquired, the struggle for a better government began. After a few years' trial, the old Articles of Confederation were abandoned, the Constitution was framed and adopted, and the century closed with our country fairly started on its marvelous career of prosperity. THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY 233 4. When the fourth and last period, 1800 to the present, Growth of opened, our country lay between the Atlantic Ocean on the east our country and the Mississippi on the west ; between Canada on the north and Florida (which had been given back to Spain) on the south : the states were but sixteen in number, and the entire popula- tion, men, women, and children, black and white, free and slave, was less than is now to be found in the state of Pennsyl- vania or of New York. But our country went on expanding in area ; the people went on increasing in number, and state United States in 1803 United States in 1819 after state was added to the Union. By the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803; by the purchase of Florida from Spain in 1S19 ; by the acquisition of the Oregon country : by the annexation of Texas in 1845; and by the cession from Mexico in 1848, our country spread steadily westward till by 1850 it stretched across the continent from ocean to ocean (see the next map). There Avere then thirty-one states in the Union, inhabited by twenty-three million people. The fron- tier, which in 1800 had just crossed the Appalachian Mountains. was in 1850 on the plains beyond the Mississippi. Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit. St. Louis, which thirty years ourcountry before were little frontier villages, were now towns of impor- in l85 ° tance. The older cities of the East had not only grown in size, 234 THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY but had greatly changed in appearance. Omnibuses and street cars and gas were in use. The free common schools had become an American institution, and many inventions and dis- coveries had done much for the happiness, comfort, and pros- perity of the people. The steamboat was now on river, lake, and ocean, and joined the Old World with the New. The railroad pushing westward had almost reached Chicago, and the tele- graph was coming into general use. During the last half of the nineteenth century our area was United States in 1848 United States in 1853 still further expanded by the Gadsden purchase in 1853 (south- ern New Mexico and Arizona), by the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, by the annexation of the Hawaiian Republic, and by the acquisition of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, Jn U j^ untry and of a few other islands, so that in 1900 our flag floated over territory stretching halfway around the globe. Our states then numbered forty-five, and our people seventy-six million. We have become a great world power: we have tested and proved the possibility of what Mr. Lincoln grandly called government of the people, by the people, for the people. We have shown that it is possible for millions of people, living in a country of vast size, to grow rich and prosperous without the rule of king or emperor. THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY 235 The spread of our country's population (The dots show where tin most people lived at each date) SUMMARY 1. The history of our country falls naturally into four periods: a. Discovery and exploration of the new continent, 1-192-1600. /'. Colonization of North America, KioO-1700. c. The long struggle for possession, ending with the establishment of the United States of America. 1700-1800. '/. The expansion and the industrial and political development of our country, 1800 to the present. 236 THE CLOSE OF THE CENTURY 2. During the nineteenth century there were nine important acquisitions of territory, as follows : — 5. Mexican cession . 1848 6. Gadsden Purchase . 1853 7. Alaska . . . 1867 8. Hawaii . . . 1898 1. Louisiana . 1803 2, Florida 1819 3. Texas 1845 4. Oregon country 1846 9. Porto Rico, Guam, the Philippines . 1899 Longitude 12C East 180 Longitude West 120 from Ureeawich The United States and its possessions (shown by the heavy shading) 3. Six of these pieces of new territory were purchased ; two were republics which we annexed with their consent. One was acquired by discovery, exploration, and settlement. The fifth and ninth acquisitions of terri- tory were the direct result of wars. The rest were gained by peace- ful means. 4. Between 1800 and 1900 our population rose from 5,000,000 to 76,000,000, and our states increased in number from sixteen to forty-five. During this period of our history 20,000,000 emigrants came to us from the Old World. THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS 237 CHAPTER XXVI THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS & The Hawaiian Islands In the last chapter mention was made of our annexation of the Hawaiian Islands , and our acquisition of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Archipelago. Many years ago, when the natives of the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands were heathen, mis- sionaries from our country went out there and labored earnestly to convert the na- tives to Christianity and to civilize them. They suc- ceeded so well that numbers of white men came to the Hawaiian Islands for purposes of trade and commerce. In 1893, the descend- ants of these early settlers, with others that came later, Avere so dissatisfied with the government of the native queen that they deposed her, formed a republic, and asked to be joined to the United States. Mr. Cleveland, who became President shortly after this, was opposed to annexation, so nothing was done for five years, when (1898) Hawaii was formally joined to the United States. It has since (1900) been made a territory. Meantime a revolution of a dreadful sort was going on in Rebellion another island much nearer our coast. Early in 1895 the people of Cuba rebelled against Spain and founded a republic. Hawaiian scene 238 THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS FLOMDA7 ^Jf Nassau Key Wert*" Qo Havana j ^ , ^Vl ISLE OF * pines ' ^ ^ | i. 1*J ■fr West Indies The Maine A cruel and barbarous war followed, which deeply interested our countrymen for sev- eral reasons. Large sums of American money were invested in Cuban mines, rail- roads, and planta- tions ; we were forced to police our coasts to prevent the Cubans from carrying arms and military supplies from our country to the insurgents ; our commerce with the island was almost ruined ; and we were shocked at the cruel way in which Spain carried on the war. For some years past our country had been trying to per- suade Spain to allow the Cubans to govern themselves: but Spain would not consent to such a thing. In February, 1898, our battleship Maine, which was lying in the harbor of Havana, was blown up and sunk, with two hundred and sixty officers and men killed. Then all hope of a peaceful ending of our troubles with Spain j disappeared, and in April, 1898, Con- gress demanded that Spain should leave Cuba, and authorized the President to use force to make her do so, it' necessary. ^^^^2#~^^^^ppS And now war began in earnest. One fleet, which had been gath- ering at Key West in Florida, ™._ v .., u- tut went off under Admiral Samp- The battleship Maine l son to blockade the port of war with Havana. Another under Commodore Dewey sailed from spam begins (/i ima to destroy the Spanish fleet in the Philippine Islands. THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS 230 The Philip- pines . Scene in the Philippines This group of islands, many bun- v § dred in number, lies off the east cons! of Asia. They were discovered by Magellan (1521) during the first voyage that was ever , made around the world. As Magellan's expedition was in the Spanish serv- ice, Spain claimed the Philippines (which were so named from King Philip II. of Spain) and in 1898 she had owned these islands for more than three hundred and fifty years. In the harbor of Manila, on May 1, 1898, Dewey found the The battle ships of the enemy. Passing the forts at the entrance, he entered the bay, destroyed the entire Spanish fleet of ten ships, winning a great victory, and blockaded Manila. General Mer- ritt, with twenty thousand soldiers, was then sent across the Pacific to take j possession of the Philippines. A second Spanish fleet, under Blockade of Admiral Cervera. meantime had Santiag0 started for Cuba from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and after a time our ships found it in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, a port on the south coasl of the island. The entrance was by a lone and narrow of Manila Bay Dewey's flagship Olympia channel between high hills bristling with forts and batteries. To go in and attack the Spanish ships was impossible. But 240 THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS Battles near Santiago they must be kept there till troops should come over from Florida and capture the city. In order, therefore, to prevent the escape of Cervera, the harbor was closely blockaded by the fleets under Rear Admiral Sampson and Commodore Schley. Besides this, Lieutenant II. P. Hbbson with a crew of seven men took a coal ship into the channel, blew holes in her sides, and sank her, amidst a rain of shot and shell. The gallant band were unhurt, but were taken prisoners and were after- wards exchanged. An army under General Shafter was now hurried from Florida to Cuba, and landed a lew miles from Santiago. Seri- Wreck of the Spanish ship Oquendo ous fighting followed; but the success of our troops made the capture of the city so certain that Admiral Cervera was ordered to break through our fleet and put to sea. On the morning of THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS 241 Sunday, July o, 1898, the attempt was accordingly made, for it was thought that on Sunday our officers would be less watch- ful. But Cervera found them fully prepared. A desperate Street in Porto Rico fight ensued, and in a few hours every one of the six ships of the enemy was either sunk or stranded or a burning wreck on the coast of Cuba. All hope of successful resistance to our army was now over, and .Inly 14, General Toral surrendered Santiago and all the east end of Cuba. A week later General Miles set off with a small army to cap- PortoRic ture the island of Porto Rico. He landed on the south coast, 242 THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS took Ponce, and was marching across the island toward San End of the Juan, when at the request of Spain all fighting ceased, "and a preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Washington. Spain promised to leave Cuba, and to surrender to us Porto Rico and one of the islands in the Ladrones. It was also agreed that we should hold the city and harbor of Manila till a perma- nent treaty of peace should dispose of the Philippines. News of peace was sent to Manila as fast as possible, but before it came, the city was attacked and captured by the army under General Merritt and the fleet under Admiral Dewey. Terms of According to the final treaty of peace, Spain withdrew from Cuba; Porto Rico, and the island of (J nam in the Ladrones, were delivered to us ; and the Philippines were sold to us for 120,000,000. While the treaty was under consideration, General Otis, who had succeeded General Merritt, occupied Manila ; but the natives under Aguinaldo held the rest of the island of Luzon, on which the city is situated. The Aguinaldo considered himself an ally of the United States, insurrection anc ^ now that Spanish rule was at an end, insisted that we should leave the Philippines to the Filipinos. This we refused to do, whereupon, on the night of February 4, 1899, Aguinaldo attacked our troops in Manila and brought on an insurrection against our authority that has with difficulty been put down. The Chinese And now we became involved in strife with China. There is in that country a popular society called The Boxers, whose motto is " Kill all Foreigners." Early in 1900, the Boxers, feeling sure that the Chinese Empress was in sympathy with them, rose and began the work of destruction. Native Chris- tians were massacred ; missionaries were killed, mission stations were burned : railways were torn up ; and even at Pekin, the capital of China, all foreigners were forced to take refuge THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEAKS 24:5 Copyright, VMl,byJ. 0. Hemment Legation Street, Pekin under the roofs of the ministers who represented their respec- tive countries. It now became necessary to rescue these people, who were besieged by Boxers and Chinese troops ; and as quickly as possible an allied army of British, Germans, French, Russians, Japanese, and Americans was gathered in China, and marched against the cities of Tientsin and Pekin. Both were captured and most of the Europeans were saved. In 1900 President McKinley was reelected. Since the death Presidents of Mr. Lincoln our Presidents have been : since the Civil War Andrew Johnson . Ulysses S. Grant . Kut herford B. Hayes James A. Garfield . Chester A. Arthur. lsr,.-)-lS6<) 1869-1877 1877-1881 1881 1881-1885 Ciover Cleveland . Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland . William McKinlev 1885-1889 1889 1893 1893-1897 1897- 244 THE EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS SUMMARY 1. In 1898 the Republic of Hawaii became part of the United States. 2. A rebellion in Cuba, the cruel treatment of the Cubans, and the serious injury to the interests of Americans, forced our country to intervene, and brought on a war with Spain. When it ended, Cuba was free, and Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands were possessions of the United States. 3. Our occupation of the Philippines was followed by a revolt of some of the natives, under the lead of Aguinaldo. 4. Just as the insurrection in the Philippines was dying out, the rebellion of the Boxers in China involved us in trouble with that country. INDEX Key to Pronunciation. — Vowels : a in late, a in fat, a in care, ii in far, a in last, a in fall, a in was, au in author; in inc. c in met, e in veil, e in term ; I in fine, i in tin, i in police; 6 in note, o in not, 6 in son, o in for, <; in do ; u in tune, ii in nut, u in rude, u in full ; y in my, y in hj'inn. Consonants: c in cent, e in ean ; g in gem, g in get ; n= ny in barnyard, n = ng, n = ng but is silent; qu = kw; s = z; th in this. Italic letters are silent. Ab-o-li'tion-ists 170, A 'bra-ham, Plains of 105, A-ca'di-a, taken by English A 'co-ma Ad'ams, John, President 152, signs Declaration of Independence . . . signs treaty of Paris Adams, John Quincy, President Adams, Samuel 116, 117, A-do'be, houses of A-gwi-naTdo Al-a-bii'ma, admitted to (Tnion Creek war in joins Confederacy Alabama, cruise of 208, claims settled A-las'ka 234, Al'ba-ny, founded becomes English Al'be-mark Sound S3, A17e-g//e-ny valley, French and British claims 100- Al-ta-ma-ha' River A-me-ri'go Yes-puc'ci (-poot'chee), America named for An'der-son, Major Robert, at Fort Sum- ter 198- An'drg, Major John, story of An'dros, Sir Edmund 91 An-n;ip'o-lis, Maryland Annapolis, Nova Bcotia 97 An -t/c'lam, battle of An-ti-slav'er-y agitation Ap-pa-la'chi-an Mountains IT, Ap-po-mat'tox Court Bouse, Lee surrenders at Ir'gO-nautS " of California . M. If, PR, II. — 1G 205 185 Ar i/.o'na. Indians in Ar'kan-sas, admitted to Union joins Confederacy Arkansas River, discovered . . Ar'nold, Ben'e-dict, bravery of . turns traitor Ar'thur, Chester A., President . Ar'ti-cles of Confederation . . . As'tor, John Jacob As-to'ri-a. founded Atch'i-son, founded At-lan'ta, Sherman's march from Au-gUS'ta, Georgia, founded . . A-zoreg' Islands, Alabama at Back 'woods men 108, Ba-ha'ma§, discovery of pirates in Bal'ti-more, attacked by British founded Baltimore, Lord, proprietor of Maryland . . Bar'ba-dos Island Bar-ce-16'na Bat'on Rouge (roozh), captured by Span- iards " Battle above the Clouds " Bean, William Beau're-gard (bo -), General, at Fort Sum- ter Ben'ton, Fort, trading at Berke'ley, Lord, proprietor of New Jersey . Bcr-mu'da. Virginia Bienville (be-as-vecl'), at New Orleans . . Bil-ox'i, settlement at Bi'son. or buffalo 18,26 extermination of Black Hawk, Indian chief ■a<;e . 22 , 220 . 196 . 38 . U0 , 141 , 243 . 150 . 179 . 179 . 191 , 204 . 89 , 208 137 11 86 157 55 54 83 14 144 202 134 195 22 1 77 60 98 41 ,29 22s 'J'.V, 245 246 INDEX PAGE Black Kettle, Indian chief 227 Blockade, of Cuban ports 238, 240 of Southern ports 206, 207 Blockhouses in New England 65 Bon 'net, Stede, pirate 87 Boone, Daniel, in Kentucky 134 Boones'bor-o, founded 134 Booth, John Wilkes, murders Lincoln . . 216 Bos'ton, British in 120, 126 founded 60 port closed 119 tea ships at 116-11S Boston Tea Party lis Boundary line 232-234 northeastern 179 northwestern ISO southern 163 southwestern 166, 234 Bou-quet (-k;V), Colonel Henry 109 Box'ers, of China 242,2*3 Brad'dock's expedition 1U4, 105 Brad'ford, William, of Plymouth . . . 58,60 Bragg, General, at Chickamauga .... 202 Bran'dy-wine, battle of 180 Breck'in-ridge, John C 193 Breeds Hill, Prescott at 124 British. See Great Britain and England. Bryn Mitwr' 80 Buc-ca-neers', in the Carolinas .... 84-87 BiieA-an'an, James, President 193 Buf fa-lo 18, 26, 29, 224 extermination of 22S Bull Run, first battle 197 second battle 200 Biin'ker Hill, battle of 124, 125 Bur-goyne', General, surrender of ... . 130 Burn 'side, General, commander of Army of Potomac 200, 201 Bush'y Run, battle of 109 Cab'ot, voyages of 44 Ca-ho'ki-a, taken by Clark 137 Cal-hown', John C, advocates secession . . is" Cal-i-for'ni-a, admitted to Union . . . 186, 1S7 conquest of 181 gold discovered in 183-1S6 Ciin'a-da, ceded to Great Britain .... 106 French settlers in 35, 36 Ca-na'ry Islands, Columbus at 9 Cape Bret'on 99 Car'a-vels seized for Columbus 9 Car-ib-be'an Islands, discovered 14 Car-o-H'na, colony of 88-87, 89 Ca-ron'de-l§< 37 Car'pen-ters' Hall, first Continental Con- gress at • . H9 Car'ter-et, Sir George, proprietor of New Jersey 77 Car-tier' (-tya), explorations of . . . . 31-33 Casket girls 98, 99 Ct'r-ve'n'i (ther-), Admiral, at Santiago 239-241 Cham-plain', and the Iroquois 33 founds Quebec 34 Champlaln, Lake, battle of 156 Chan'cel-lors-ville, battle of 201 Cha-pu.l-te.-pec', battle of isi Charleston, blockade running at .... 207 British attack 138 founded 83 pirates in 85, 86 taken by British 188-140 tea ships at 116, 118 Char'ter Oak 91 Charters, colonial 90, 91 Chat-ta-noo'ga, siege of 202 Chait-tau'qua Lake 1011 (,'her'bourg, battle of Kearxarge and Ala- bama near 209 Cher-o-kee' Indians 227 Chea' a-peake, British fire upon 154 captured 157 Chesapeake Bay 45 Chick -a-mau'ga, battle of 202 Chi'na, disorder in 242, 243 Chi-nese', exclusion of 230 Cin-cin-na'ti, founded 225 Ci-pan'go 11 Civil War 193-213 causes of 190-193 cost of 214 results of 215 Clark, George Rogers, conquests of . 137, 138 Clark, William, explorations of 165 Clay, Henry, effects Compromise of 1850 . . 187 effects Missouri Compromise 176 ('lei--mo)it', first successful steamboat . . 172 Cleveland, Grover, President . . . 237, 248 Clln'ton, General, at Monmouth .... 133 Col'o-nies, the thirteen 89-81 become states 126 Col-o-ra'd6, admitted to Union 223 gold discovered in 220 Co-him'bi-a. District of 150, 152 Columbia River, discovered 165 Co-lum'bus, Christopher 8-14 Com'pro-mlse, Missouri, adopted .... 176 repealed 190 Compromise of 1850 187, 190 INDEX 247 PAGE Conc'ord, battle of 122, 123 Cdn-es-to'ga wagon 162 Con-fed'er-a-ey 198 See Ciril War. Confederate states, reconstruction of . 21G, 217 Con-fed-er-a'tion, Articles of 150 Con'gress, Continental. See Continental Congress. Congress, destroyed 210, 211 Congress, Stamp Act 115 Congress of the United States 14S Con-nect'i-cut. colony of . . . 61, 62, 91, 92 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 Con-sti-tii'tion of United States . . . 148-150 Constitutional Convention 14S Con-ti-nen'tal Army, formed 123 Continental Congress 119, 128 adopts Declaration of Independence . 120, 127 adopts national flag 180 " back lands " given to 145 powers of 14014s, 150 Corn-wal'lis, General, invades Virginia 141, 142 surrenders 142 Co-ro-nii'do (-ftid), explorations of . . 28, 231 Cotton gin invented 175 Cotton industry in South 174,175 CgM-rgttrV de bois (deh bwa'), in Canada . . 80 Crazy Horse, Indian chief 227 Creek Indians, trade with 88 war of 159 Cu'ha, discovered 11, 24 rebellion in 237, 23S Spanish-American War in . . 238,239,241 CuTprp-er Court House 52 Cum'ber-land, Merrimae destroys . . . 210 Cus'ter, General, death of 227 Dfi'vis, Jefferson, President of Confederacy . 193 taken prisoner 205 Dec-la-ra'tion of Independence . . . 126, 127 Deer'field, massacre at 95, 90 De Kalb', in Revolutionary War . . 182, 189 DeTa-warfl, settlement of 75,79 Den'ver, settled 221 De. So'to, in the Southeast 29, 231 Detroit', fort at 86 Dew'ey, Admiral, in battle of Manila . . .239 sails to Philippines 23s takrs Manila 242 Din-wid'dia, Governor 102, 108 District of Columbia, formed .... 150,152 Don 'el-son. Fort, taken 197 Doug'las, Stephen A 190-193 Do'ver, massacre at 93 PAOE DQ-luth', founded 223 Du-pont', captures I'ort Royal 213 Dutjuesne (doo-kan'), Fort 104, 105 Diis'tan, Hannah, captivity of 95 Dutch settlers in New Netherland .... 74 Dutch West India Company 73,74 East India Company, sends tea to Amer- ica 116, 118 Ells' worth, Chief Justice, at Constitutional Convention 148 E-man-ci-pa'tion Proclamation . . . 217, 218 Em-bar go, the long 155. 150 England, claims part of America 44 colonies of 45-72. 70-92 wars with France in America .... 92-107 wars with Holland in New Netherland . . 70 See also Great Britain. English settlers, in the Carolinas 83 in Georgia 88 in Maryland 55 in New England 50-72. 75 in Pennsylvania 78-SO in Virginia 45-54 Er'ics-son, Captain John, designs Monitor . 210 E'rie Canal, built 171 Erie, Lake, battle of 156 Fair'fax, Lord, and Washington 102 PSr'ra-gut, Admiral, captures New Or- leans 199, 213 in battle of Mobile Bay 213 Fil-i-pi'nos, insurrection of 242 Fill'moiv. Millard. President ...... 198 Flag, national, making of 130 Flor'i-da, admitted to Union 178 British province In7, 111 discovered 24 joins Confederacy 193 Narvaoz in 25 purchased by United States 160 Spain regains 144, 145 Foote, Commodore, takes Fort Henn . 198,213 Ford's Theater, Lincoln murdered in . . . 210 Fort Am'ster-dam, built 73 Fort Don 'el-son, taken 198 Fort Duqueane (doo-kan') li)4, 105 Fort Good Hope, built 73 Fort llen'rv, Tennessee, taken . . . 198, 218 Fort Henry. Virginia. Indians attack . . . 130 Fort Lci/v'en-worth 1-1 Fort I.e Boewf, built mi Fort Mur'i-on. old tower of 110 Fort Minis, massacre at 159 248 INDEX PAGE Fort MouZ'trle, Anderson leaves . . . . .194 British attack 188 Fort Nils 'sau, built 73 Fort Ne-ces'si-ty, Washing-ton builds . . . 1 04 Fort NT-ag'a-ra, relief sent to 108 Fort Orange, built at Albany 73, 70 Fort Pitt 105 in Pontiac's War 108, 109 Fort St. Lok'w, built 40,41 FortSum'ter 193-195 Forts, frontier 134, 135 France, gives Louisiana to Spain .... 107 helps United States 132, 133, 142 interferes with American trade .... 155 loses American possessions . . . 100, 107 naval war with United States 158 regains Louisiana, and sells it to United States 104 wars with England 92-107 Frank'lin, Benjamin 111-113 at Constitutional Convention 14S helps frame Declaration of Independence 127 in France 132 opposes Stamp Act 112, 113 signs treaty of Paris 142 Fred'er-icks-burg, battle of 201 Fre-mont', Captain, in California .... 181 French, hatred of Iroquois for 34 in America 31-18, 02-1(17 in Mississippi valley .... 87-41,98,99 in Ohio valley 100, 101, 108 missionaries 34 New Orleans founded by 98 on the Great Lakes 37 settle in Canada 35, 30 French and English Wars 92-107 French and Indian War 103-107 Friends, or Quakers 78, 77 Fron'tier forts 134,135 Frontier houses 100, 108 Ful'ton, Robert, and the steamboat . . . 172 Fur trade, in Canada 35, 30 in New Netherland 73 Gads/den Purchase 284 Gage, General 1211, 121. 12:: Gar 'field, .lames A., President 24:! Gar'ri-son, William Lloyd, opposes slavery 177 Garrison houses, in New England .... 65 Gates, General, at Saratoga 130 in South Carolina 189 (leor'gi-a, founded 88, 89 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 joins Confederacy . . '. 198 PAOE Ger'man settlers 230 in Carolina 81,83 in Georgia .... '.89 in Pennsylvania 81 Ger'man-town, battle of 130 _ founded 30 Ger'rish, Sarah, captivity of 94 Gfir'ry, Elbridge 148 Get'tyg-burg, battle of 201 fi/u'nt. treaty of 100 Gil 'bert, Humphrey, death of 44 Glad'wyn« SO Gl&MCes'ter, Fort Nassau built at .... 73 Gold, in California 1S3-1S6, 220 in Colorado 220 in Montana 224. 227 Gor'ges, Fer-di-nan do, proprietor of Maine 68 Grant, U-lys'seg S 197, 198 campaign against Richmond 204 Lee surrenders to 205 Lieutenant General 203 President 219, 24S takes Fort Donelson 198 takes Vicksburg 202 GrSsse, Count de, at Yorktown 142 Gray, Captain, discovers Columbia River, 165, 179 Great Brit'ain, assigns land to Indians . . Ill Boston Port Bill 119 boundary disputes with 179, 180 helps Confederacy 207-209 impresses American sailors .... 154, 155 in French and Indian War .... 10H-1O7 in War of Independence 120-142 in War of 1812 156-160 interferes with American trade .... 155 pays Civil War damages 209 Stamp Act 111-113, 115 surrenders frontier forts 103 treaties with 142, 160 Greene, General, at Valley Forge .... 131 in Georgia and South Carolina 141 Guam 234, 286, 242 " Hail, Columbia," written 152,153 Ila/'ti, Columbus at 12 Hale. Nathan 128 Half-faced camps 100 Half-Moon, Hudson's shi| 72 Ilam'il-ton, Alexander, at Constitutional Convention 14^> at Valley Forge 131 Hamp'ton Roads, naval battles on . . 210-212 Han 'cock, John, at Lexington 121 Har'mar, General, in Indian war .... 225 INDEX 249 Har'ri-son, Benjamin, President 243 Harrison, "William H., at Tippecanoe . . .226 in battle of Thames River 156 President 177 Har'rod, James 134 Har 'rods-burg 134 Hart'ford, Dutch at 73 English found 61 Ha-van'a, blockaded 238 captured by British 107 Hii'ver-Aill, massacres at 94, 95 Ha-wal'ian Islands 234, 236, 237 Hdvfs. Ruth'er-ford B., President .... 243 HeTe-na, founded 224 Hen-ri'cus, town of 50 Hen'ry, Fort, Tennessee, taken . . . 198, 213 Henry, Fort, Virginia, Indians attack . . . 136 Henry, Patrick, Governor of Virginia . . . 137 opposes Stamp Act 113,114 His-pan-io'la (-y<"> -), discovered 12 Hob'son, Lieutenant R. P 24(1 Hol'land, founds colony in America . . 72-75 Pilgrims sail from 56 wars with England 76 Hon-du'ras, Columbus discovers .... 14 Hook'er, General, commander Army of Po- tomac 2(11 Honker. Thomas, founds Hartford .... 61 House Of Kep-re-sent'a-tives 149 llowt. General, leaves Boston 126 takes New York 127 Hud'son, Henry, voyage of 72,73 Hudson River, discovered 73 Hu'gwe-notB, settle in Carolina S3 Huron, Lake 34 I'da-ho. admitted to Union 229 Il-li-rioi.s', admitted to Union 17o Indian war in 226 Im 'mi-grants from Old World . . . 229. 230 Im-press'ment of American sailors . . 154, 155 lu-dent'ed servants, in Virginia 49 In-de-pend'ence, Declaration of . . . 126,121 Independence, Missouri 185 In-di-an'a, admitted to Union 17(1 Indian reservations 227 Indian Territory 226 Indian wars 224-227 in Alabama (Creek War) 159 in Kentucky and Tennessee . . . 135-138 in New England 61-6::. ;»::-;i7 l'ontiae's War 107 109 Indians 1C-23, 2T, 224 227 and Pilgrims 59 Indians, and William Penn 79 Great Britain assigns land to Ill sold into slavery 98 villages of 18,22,32 In'dieg, West, named 14 I'o-wa, admitted to Union 186, 220 Irish settlers 81,280 Ironclads, first battle of 210-212 Ir-o-quois' 21 defeated on Lake' Champlain .... 33,34 hatred of, for French 34 Is-a-bel'la, Queen, helps Columbus .... 8 I-tal'ian settlers 230 Jack'son, Andrew 15S-160 at battle of New Orleans 160 in Indian Wars 226 President 177, 226 Ja-mai'ca, discovered 13 James'town, settlement of. . . 45. 47, 4S, 52 Jas'per, William • . . . 138, 139 Jay, John, signs treaty of Paris 142 day 'ha wk-ers, in Kansas 191 Jef'fer-son, Thomas, President . 155, 164, 177 writes Declaration of Independence . . . 127 John'son, Andrew, President . . . . 216, 243 impeachment of 217 John'ston, Joseph E., at Richmond . . . 200 in Georgia 203 surrenders to Sherman 205 Joliet (zho-le-a'), explorations of . . . . 37-39 Jo'seph, Indian chief 227 Kan'sas, admitted to Union 223 civil war in 191 slavery question in 190, 191 Spaniards in 29 territory of 190 Kas-kas'ki-a, taken by Clark 137 Kear'ny, General, in Mexican War . . 180, 181 Kearmrge (ker'sfirj), siiik> Alabama . . 209 Ken-tuck 'y, admitted to Union 162 emigration to 161, 162 frontier life in 185 188 settled 134 Key, Francis Scott 157, 158 Kings Mountain, battle of 141 A"no\. General, at Valley Forge 181 Kos-ei-us'ko, in Revolutionary War . . . 132 I.a droiws' 242 La-fa-yetie', at Mount Vernon 143 in Revolutionary War 152 Lake Cham-plain', battle of 156 250 INDEX Lake E'rU, battle of 156 Lii Halle', explorations of ... . 37, 39-41 in Texas 41 Lau'rens, John, in Revolutionary War . . 131 Lead plates, French claim territory with 100,101 Li'<;v' en-worth 181, 221 Le-cornp'ton, founded 191 Lee, Robert E 200, 199 at Gettysburg 201 surrenders to Grant 204 Lee, R. H., in Continental Congress . . . 120 Leon 'ard-son, Samuel, captivity of . ... 95 Liop'ard, fires on Chesapeake 154 Lew'is, Mer'i-wefh-er, explorations of . . 165 Lewis and Clark, expedition of . . . 105,179 Lex'ing-ton, battle of 122, 123 Liberty Party, organized 177 Lincoln, Abraham 167, 108 calls for army 196, 213 debate with Douglas 191, 192 elected President 193 Emancipation Proclamation 217 inaugurated 194 murdered 216 reelected 216 Lincoln, General, at Savannah 189 Liv'er-pool, blockade running business at . 207 Liv'ing-ston, Robert, helps frame Declara- tion of Independence 1-7 Lo'co-mo-tives, steam 17'J Lon 'don Company, controls Virginia . .45,54 Look'out Mountain, battle of 202 Lof/'is-burg, built and taken 99 taken again 105 Lou-i-si-a'na, admitted to Union .... 17o claimed by France 40 ceded to Spain 107 ceded to France 104 joins Confederacy 193 purchased by United States 104 Luzon', insurrection in 242 McClel'lan, General, at Antietaui .... 200 commander of Army of Potomac .... 197 in Peninsular campaign 199 McDdn'ow^A, in battle of Lake Cham plain . 156 Mack'i-nar, Strait of 36 McKin'ley, William, President 243 Ma-CQmo', General, at Plattsburg .... 156 Mad'i-son, James. President .... 156, 177 Ma-gel 'Ian, discovers Philippines .... 239 Mail service, in far West 221-228 Manic, admitted to Union 175. 170 border wars in 97 PAGE Maine, bought by Massachusetts .... 63 boundary dispute 179 Maine, destruction of 288 Man-hat'tan Island, purchased 73 Ma-nil'a, battle of 239 surrenders 242 Mar'cos, explorations of 27, 28 Ma-ri-et'ta, settled 225 Mar'I-on, in Revolutionary War 139 Marquette (mfir-keY), Father, explorations of 37-39 Mar 'shall, discovers gold 1S3, 184 Mar'thas Vine 'yard 77 Ma'ry-land (mer'-) 54, 55, 108 Ma'son, John, proprietor of New Hampshire 63 Mas-sa-chii'setts, charter troubles . . .90, 92 English colony 56-60 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 opposes Stamp Act 115 prepares for war 120 Mas'sa-soit, Indian chief 59, 60 May'flow-er, voyage of 57, 58 Meade, General, at Gettysburg 201 Mem 'phis, surrendered 198 Mer'i-on 80 Mer'ri-mac 209, 210 battle with Monitor 210 212 destroyed by Confederates 212 Mer'ritt, General, at Manila .... 239, 242 Mexican War 180, 1S1 Mich'i-gan, admitted to Union 17S Miles, General, captures Porto Pico . 241, 242 Min-ne-sG'ta, admitted to Union .... 223 Mis'sion-a-ry Ridge, battle of . . ... 203 Mis-sis-sip'pi, admitted to Union .... 170 joins Confederacy 193 Mississippi River, discovered . . . .25,37,38 life and trade on 170 Mis-sow 'ri, admitted to Union . . . 170, 170 dispute over admission of 175 Missouri Compromise, adopted 176 repealed 190 Missouri River, explorers on 165 Mo-bilf', founded 41 Mobile Hay, battle of 213 French at 41,98 Mo'dOC War 227 Mon'i-ior, battle with Merrimac . . 210-212 lost at sea 212 Mon 'mouth, battle of 133 Mon-roe', James, President 177 Mon-ta'na. admitted to Union 229 gold in 224. 227 Mont-cii/m', General 106 INDEX 251 PAGE Mon-ti-cel'lo, Jefferson's home 154 Mont-re-al', Cartier at site of 32 fur trade at 36 taken by British 100 Mor'mons, in Utah 188, 189 MOr'ris, Robert, at Constitutional ('(inven- tion 148 Mor'ris-town, Washington at 120 Mor'ro Castle 145 Mow^'trie, Colonel, at Charleston .... 138 Moultrie, Fort 138, 103, 104 Mount Ver'non, Washington's home . . . 152 Nar'berth 80 Nar-va'ez (-eth), seeks for gold .... 25, 26 Nash'ville, battle of 203 Nas'sau, blockade runners at 207 Natch'ez, taken by Spaniards 144 Na'va-jos (-hfiz) 227 Ne-briis'ka, admitted to Union 223 territory of 100 Neff, Mary, captivity of 95 Ne'groeg, after emancipation .... 21S, 219 See also Slavery. Nefh'er-lands. See Holland. Ne-vii'da, admitted to Union 223 New England colonies, founded .... 56-64 life in 64-72 struggle with the King 00-02 New 'found-land fisheries 31 New Hamp'shire, settled 63 New Ha'ven, founded 61 New Jer'gey. English colony 77 New Mex'i-co, old settlements in . . . . 1SS pueblos of 22 territory formed 1SS New NerVer-land, Dutch colony . . . . 74,75 given to Duke of York 76 taken by English 76 New Or'le-ang, battle of 160 British attack 158-160 Farragut captures 100, 21:-! founded 41, 98, 99 given to Spain 107 New Swe'den 75 New York, English colony 77 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 New York city, British leave 142 taken by British 127 tea ships at 118 Washington inaugurated in 15il Xij: Per (ej Indians 227 Ni-iig'a-ra, Fort 108 XI' nd, Columbus's ship 9, 12 PAGE Nor'fo/k Navy Yard, burned 209 North Car-o-li'na, colonial life in 84 gives ''back lands " to Congress .... 145 joins Confederacy 196 pirates in 86 North Da-ko'ta, admitted to Union .... 229 Lewis and Clark in 165 Northwest, opened to civilization . . 228-227 the new 228-231 Northwest Territory 146 lands sold to settlers 162 Nor-we'gi-an settlers 230, 231 No'va Seo'tia (-shi-a) 97,99 Nug'ces River 180 Nul-li-fi-ca'tion Act 187 O'gle-thorpe, James 87, 88 O-hi'o, admitted to Union 163 Ohio Kiver, life and trade on 169 Ohio valley, French and English in loo, 101 , 103 "Old Colony," Plymouth called 63 Old North Church 121 Old South Meetinghouse 117 O-lym'pi-a, Dewey's flagship 239 O'ma-ha, railroad built from 223 On-ta'ri-o, Lake 34 Oquendo (o-ken'do), wreck of 240 Or'e-gon, admitted to Union 223 boundary dispute 179,180 Os-ce-6'la, Indian chief 226 O'tis, General, in Manila 242 Ot'ta-wa 40 Pa-cif'ic railroads 223 Pa'los, Columbus at 8, 9, 12 Pam'li-co Sound 206 Pan-a-ma', Isthmus of, discovered .... 14 Par'is, treaty of 142 Pas'cu-a Flo-ri'dii 24 Pa-troong' 74 Pc-kin', allied armies capture 243 Pen-in' su-lar Campaign in Civil War . . . 199 Penn, William, proprietor of Pennsylvania 18, SO and the Indians 79 buys Delaware 79 Penn-syl-vii'ni-a, backw Ismen of ... 108 Scotch-Irish settlers in 81, 82 settlement of 78-82 Pe-n&b'scot Bay 93 Pen-sa-co'la, taken by Spain 144 Po'quot Indians, war with 61, 62 Per'ry, in battle of Lake Erie 156 Po'ters-burg, siege of 204 252 INDEX PAGE Phil-a-del'pM-a, Congress meets in 119, 126, 152 Constitutional Convention at 14s founded 80 tea ships at lit'., lis, ug Phil'ip-pine Islands 236, 230 acquisition of 234, 242 insurrection in 242 Phil'ip, Indian king, War of 62, C8 Pick'eng, in Revolutionary War 139 Pick'er-ing, Colonel 121 Pierce, Franklin, President 103 Pikes Peak 221 Pil'grims, and the Indians 59, 67 found Plymouth 5S sail from Holland 56 Pin'ti'i, Columbus's ship 9,12 Pinzon (peen-thon') deserts Columbus. . . 12 Pirates, in the Bahamas 86 in the Carolinas .■ 84-87 Pltts'burg (Fqrt Pitt) 103,105,108 Plains of Abraham, battle of Quebec on 105, 106 PlaMe River 1S6 Platte'burg, battle of 150 Plym'outh, added to Massachusetts . . . C3 Pilgrims settle 58 Po-ca-hon'tas, story of 46, 47 PoZk, James K., President . . . ITS, 180, 193 Pon'ce (-tha), General Miles at 242 Ponce de Leon (da la-on'), in Florida ... 24 Pon'ti-ac's War 107-109 Pony express, in the far Wot . . . . 221,222 Poor Richard's Almanac 112 Por'ter, on the Mississippi 213 Port Hud'son, battle of 202 Port Royal, captured by Dupont .... 213 Port Royal, Nova Scotia, captured by English 97 Por'toRi'co 14.24,2:16 acquisition of 2:14. 242 General Miles captures 241 Po-to'mac 199 Pow-ha-tan', Indian chief 46 Prfi/'r/e dii Chi'On' 37 Pres'cott, Colonel, at Bunker Hill . . . . 124 Presidents, list of 177,198,243 Prov'i-dcnce, founded 60 Pueb'log (pweb-) 22, 28 PiVget Sound 223 Pu-kis'ki, death of 139 in Revolutionary War 182, 189 Pu'ri-tans, settle Massachusetts 60 Put'nam, General Israel, at Bunker Hill . . 124 Quak'ers, or Friends 77, 78 Que-bec', attacked by colonists 94 pa<;e Quebec, fall of 105, 106 founded 33 province of Ill RM'nor 80 Railroads, introduced 172 Pacific, built 223 Ra'legh (raw'ly), Sir Walter, settlements of 45 l!a'b'i[//i, Johnston surrenders al .... 205 Red (loud, Indian chief 227 Re-demp'tion-ers, in Virginia 49,54 Be-pub'li-can Party, nominates Lincoln . . 192 Revere', Paul, ride of 121,122 BAodi Island, charter troubles . . . .91,92 colony established 60 Rich'mond, Confederate capital 196 Ri'OGrfm'dc. 29, 180 Ro-a-nOke' Island, first settlements on . . 45 Rob'ert-son, dames, builds frontier fori . . 134 Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas .... 47 Ro'ge-crans, General, at Chickamauga . . . 202 Ross, Betsy, makes first national Hag . . . 180 Sab'in Hall 53 Sac-ra-men 'to, pony express to . . . 221,222 Sacramento River, settlement on .... IP" St. Au'giis-tine, built 30 St. Clair', General, in Indian War .... 225 St. Law'rence River, Cartier discovers . 82 St. Low'ls 37 St. Ma'ryg, founded 54,55 Sa'lem, British at 120 founded 60 Salt Lake City, built 189 Sam'o-set, Indian chief 59 Samp'son, Rear Admiral, blockades Havana 23s blockades Santiago 240 S;'in Juan (hoo-an') 242 San Sal-vS-dor' 11 San'ta Fe, founded 80 Kearney captures 181 8&n.'t& Ma-ri'd, Columbus's ship . . . 9,12 BSn-ti-S'go de Cu'ba, battle of 240 blockaded 239 surrender of 241 Sar-a-to'ga, battle of 180 SauK 8te. (sSnt) Ma'rie 37 8a-van'nah, British capture .... 188-140 founded 88 Sherman at 203 Schley, Commodore, at Santiago .... 240 Sc/aiyl'kill River, Welsh settlers on ... 80 Scotch High'land-crs. in Carolina .... 83 INDEX 253 PAGE Scotch Highlanders, in Georgia 89 Scotch-Irish settlers 81 Scott, General, in Mexican War . . . ISO, 181 Se-ces'sion, of Southern States . . . 193,196 Secession, question of 18" B6nw»«§, Captain Raphael 208 Sen'ate ,..'.. 149 Se-vier', John, builds frontier fort .... 134 Sew'ard, Secretary, attacked 21(5 Shifter, General, in Cuba 240 Shan'non, captures Ohesajieake .... 157 Shen-an-dO'ah 199 Sher'man, Roger, helps frame Declaration of Independence 127 Sherman, William T., march to the sea 203, 204 Johnston surrenders to 205 ShI'loh, battle of 198 Sho-sho'nees 227 Si'-iVra Ne-va'da 186 Sioux wars 227 Slav'er-y 174-178 ar -dished in North 174 abolished in United States .... 215-219 proposed in California 186, 187 struggle for, in Kansas 190, 191 Slaves, emancipated 217 in Virginia 49, 54 Smith, Captain John, at Jamestown . . 45, 46 Smith, Joseph, founds Mormon sect . . . 188 South Car-o-H'na, colonial life in S4 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 federal property in 193, 194 joins Confederacy 193 'Nullification Act of 1S7 pirates expelled from S5 South Company formed 75 South Da-ko'ta, admitted to Union .... 229 Southern States, cotton industry in . 174, 175 denied representation in Congress . 216, 217 reconstruction of 216, 217 secession of 193, 196 tobacco cultivation in 48, 50 Spain, border trouble with 163 cruelty to Cubans 238 cedes Louisiana to France 164 claims in our country 30,138 [OSes Florida 107 receives Louisiana 107 regains Florida 144, 145 sells Florida to United States 166 war with United States 288-242 Spaniards (-ySrdz), in New World . . . 24-3(1 Spanish-American War 288-242 Spotted Tail, Indian chief 227 PAGE Squan'to, Indian friend of Pilgrims . . .59, 67 Stamp Act 11J-115 Stamp Act Congress 115 Stand 'ish, Captain Miles 58 "Star-Spangled Banner," written . . 157,158 Starved Kock 40 Steamboats, first successful .... 171, 172 Ste'phens (-venz), Alexander II., Vice-Presi- dent of Confederacy 193 Steii'ben, Baron, at Valley Forge . . 131, 132 Stock'ton, Commodore, in California . . . 181 Ston'ing-ton 62 Stony Point, Wayne takes 134 Stity've-sant, Peter 75, 76 Siim'ter, in Revolutionary War 139 Sumter, Fort, Anderson at .... 193-195 siege and fall of 194, 195 Sut'ter, Captain J. A 182-184 Sutter's Fort 182, 184 Swedish settlers, in Delaware 75 in the West 230, 231 Swiss settlers, in Carolina 83 Tax-a'tion, of the colonies 111-119 under the Articles of Confederation . . . 147 under the Constitution 149 Tay'lor, Zachary, in Mexican War .... 180 President 193 Tea Party, Boston 118 Tea ships 116-118 Te-cum'seh, Indian chief 225, 226 Ten-nes-see', admitted to Union .... 162 emigration into 161 frontier life in 135-138 joins Confederacy 196 settled 134 Ter're Haute (hot) 37 Tex'as, admitted to Union . . . 178, 180, 220 Indians of 27 joins Confederacy 193 settled 178 Vaca in 26 Thames (temz) River, battle of . . . 156, 226 Thatch, Robert, pirate 86, 87 TAom'as, George II., at Chickamauga . . . 202 at Nashville 203 Ti-en 'tsln, captured 248 Tip-pe-ca-nog', battle of 226 To-bac'co, cultivation of in South . . .48,50 Indians raise 18 Tobacco plantations, in Maryland .... 55 In Virginia 50 To-pe'ka, founded 191 To-raT, General, surrenders Santiago . . . 241 254 INDEX PAGE Travel, facilities for 146, 171, 172 Treaty, of America 85 of Ghent 1G0 of Paris 142 Spanish-American 242 Tren'ton, battle of 129 Turks, interfere with Eastern trade ... 7 Ty'ler, John, President 177, 17s United States, growth 232-236, 164, 166, 17S, 181 occupations of people 140, 281 U'tah, admitted to Union 229 Mormons in IsS, 1S9 territory formed 188 Vii'ca, in Texas 26 reaches Gulf of California 27 Val'ley Forge, American Army at . . 130-132 Van Bu'ren, Martin, President 177 Vermont', admitted to Union 162 Ves-puc'ci (-poot'chee), A-mg-ri'go, America named for 14 Vicks'burg. fall of 202 Vin-cen??es' 37, 137 battle at 13s surrender of 137 Vir-gin'i-a, backwoodsmen of 108 colony of 45-54 divided 196 first slaves brought to 49 gives " back lands " to Congress .... 145 indented servants in 49 joins Confederacy _ 196 opposes Stamp Act 114,115 women sent to 49 Wadg 'worth, Captain, hides Connecticut charter 91 Wam'pum, uses of 19, 20 War, Civil 193-218 Creek Indian 159 French and Indian 108 107, 220 King George's 99 King Philip's 62, 63 King William's 9'_>-95 Mexican ' . 180, 181 Modoc 227 naval, with France 153 PAGE War, of 1812 156-160 Pequot 61 Pontiac's -. 107-109 Sioux 227 Spanish-American 288-242 Washing-ton, admitted to Union .... •_'•_".( Washington, George 102, 108 at Constitutional Convention 148 in French and Indian War .... 108-105 in Revolutionary War .... 124-1:;:;. 142 President 150, 177 recalled to command of army 152 Washington city, British burn 157 founded 152 Wii-tau'ga River 134 Wayne, Anthony, in Indian war . . . 163,225 takes Stony Point 134 Web'ster, Daniel, debate with Calhoun . . 1S7 Welsh I?ar'o-ny, in Pennsylvania .... 80 Welsh settlers in Pennsylvania 80 West, great migrations to 220 mail service in 221-223 settlement of 220-227 West India Company 73, 74 West In'di'es, explorations in 'J4 West Point, in Revolution .... 140, 141 West Virginia, admitted to Union .... 223 formation of 196 Wheat growing in the West . . 224, 229, 230 Whit'ney, Eli, invents cotton gin .... 175 Wilderness, battle of the 204 Wil'liams, John, captivity of 96, 97 Williams, Roger, founds Rhode Island . . 60 prevents union of Indian tribes .... 61 Wil'ming-ton, blockade runners at .... 207 Win 'throp, Governor John 70 Wis-con'sin, admitted to Union 1S6 Indian War in 226 Wolfe, death of 106 takes Quebec 105 Wy-o'ining, admitted to Union 229 " Yan'kee Doo'dle," national song .... 153 York 'town, battle of 142 McClellan captures 199 Zane, Elizabeth 186 Zu' ni Indians 22,23,28,227 June-] 1«o"l MAY 9 190 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS " 011 447 212 8