Class ^alB Book 'E.S,(c . Gopight}^^ COROilGHT DEFOSIE DICKERSON'S ART HISTORY SERIES. ••• Our Country HISTORIC AND PICTURESOUE. A COMPLETE STORY OF ITS DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST DISCOVERY BY THE NORTHMEN TO THE PRESENT TIME. EMBELLISHED BY MANY HUNDRED FINE ENGRAVTNGS, Illustrative of War f Historic Incidents, Grandeur of American Scenery. Life-like Portraits of Men who built the Nation, reproduced in Colors from Oil Paintings now owned by the Government at Washington. By Tryon Edwards, D. D., AUTHOR OF "light FOR THE day" " THE FAMILY TREASURY " "DICTIONARY OF THOUGHTS," ETC. F. "B. 'Dicker son Company, Detroit, Mich. COPYRIGHTED BY r. B. DICKERSON COAVPANY 1891. ALL RIGHTS RnSERV'ED. PREFACE, OF all studies, that of History is one of the most interesting and important. It satisfies a natural and laudable curiosity as to what has taken place in the world, and makes some amends for the shortness of life by enabling us to live over, in thought, the days and scenes of the past, and to know, as by a second experience, the life and labors of those who have gone before us. So strong and universal is the desire to know about the times that are gone, as to their persons, events, and progressive changes, that it may almost be called an instinct of the soul. And, as Cicero says, " Not to know what has taken place in former times is to be always a child, for if no use is made of the labors of by-gone ages, the world must always remain in the infancy of knowledge." This is eminently true of the history of our own country, the origin and growth of which have well-nigh the interest of personal experience. As we ponder its pages, we share the life and witness the progress of those who have passed away, while at the same time we are exempt from the dangers and self-denials to which they were subject, and through which they so patiently and faithfully struggled in carrying out the far-reaching plans of Providence, and laying broad and deep the foundations of our National Life. _ iii 3 iv PREFACE. To give a connected and clear History of the United States, from the days of the Northmen to the present time, is the object of this work. The aim has been to give an account of the origin and growth of Oar Country^ adapted especially to its families and youth; not, on the one hand, so full of minute details as to be tedious, nor, on the other, so brief as to be defective, but one that shall give, according to the best authorities, a full and proportionate narrative of the great events of our history, abounding as it does in the most stirring and instructive incidents. The work makes no claim to originality, for history is a matter of record, where one is, of course, dependent on the statements of previous annalists and writers, and where the chief merit is to so condense and arrange, as to be not onl}' correct, but entertaining in matter, and attractive by illustration. In such a work we may trace the first voyagers on their way over the ocean, the struggles and hardships of the early colonists, their various conflicts with the Indians, tlje gradual extension and growth of their settlements, the oppressions of the mother country which led to the war for independence, with its struggles and final triumph, the growing prosperity of the States, the war of 1812 and that with Mexico, and the fearful war of secession, leading to the overthrow of slavery, and to the renewed union of the States as one great and prosperous Nation. Years too, of peace, prosperit}' and progress, far more in number than those of struggle and conflict, may well fill us with thankfulness as we ponder the blessings they have brought, while the story of our statesmen, scholars, inventors, and explorers, and that of our progress in agriculture, commerce, education and religion are seen to be such as justly to place our country in the front rank of the great Nations of the World. As the maps of a country make plain its geograph}', so engravings of its scener}-, passing events and its distinguished characters, give vividness and interest to its written history, and aid the memory in retaining the knowledge imparted by it. The great number of such illustrations given in this volume cannot but aid in making the work both interesting and instructive to all. Detroit, 1892. T. E. CONTENTS. PERIOD I. EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. CHAPTER I. The Northmen or Vikings, . . 13 CHAPTER II. Columbus and other Discoverers, . 21 CHAPTER III. The Progress of Colonization, The New England Colonies, Virginia, CHAPTER I. Causes of the Revolution, PERIOD II. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, . Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, PERIOD III. LIFE IN THE COLONIES. The Other Colonies, CHAPTER II. French and Indian Wars, CHAPTER I. Virginia, • 32 Massachusetts, 40 Connecticut, . . . . • 49 Rhode Island, 54 New Hampshire, ■ 56 Maine 59 Vermont, . . . . . • 63 CHAPTER I. 95 106 PERIOD IV. THE REVOLUTION. CHAPTER II. 137 The War of the Revolution, • 25 64 74 76 81 83 87 89 92 "5 127 143 VI CONTENTS. PERIOD V, THE CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD. CHAPTER I. The New States, . . . 164-207 CHAPTER II. The Territories, . . . 207-227 CHAPTER III. Administrations before the Civil War: Washington, 1789 to 1797, . Adams, 1797 to 1801, Jefferson, 1801 to 1809, Madison, 1809 to 1817, . Monroe, 1817 to 1825, . 229 234 • 237 241 • 249 John Quincy Adams. 1825 to 1829, 251 Jackson, 1829 to 1837, . . 254 Van Buren, 1837 to 1841, . 258 Harrison and Tyler, 1841 to 1845, 260 Polk, 1845 to 1849, • • 263 Taylor and Fillmore, 184910 1853, 267 Pierce, 1853 to 1857, . . 271 Buchanan, 1857 to 1861, . . 273 CHAPTER IV. The Civil War and Emancipation : The Causes of the War, . . 278 Lincoln's Administration, . . 280 Campaigns of 1861, . . . 284 Campaigns of 1862, . . . 290 Campaigns of 1863, . Campaigns of 1864, The Final Campaign, 1865, Review of Campaigns, CHAPTER V. Administrations after the Civil War — • Reconstruction and Peace : Johnson, 1865 to 1869, . Grant, 1869 to 1877, . Hayes, 1877 to 188 1, Garfield and Arthur, 1881 to 1885, Cleveland, 1885 to 1889, . Harrison, 1889 to 1893, . CHAPTER VI. Our Country's Growth and Improve- ment : Territory, ..... Population, .... Government, .... Education, .... Religion, ..... Literature, .... Inventions, Discoveries, Improve- ments, .... CHAPTER VII. National and other Parks, 300 313 320 335 340 348 351 359 362 370- i7l 375 377 385 387 395 416 GREAT HISTORICAL PAPERS. Franklin's Plan of Union, . . 433 The Declaration of Independence, . 435 The Confederation of 1778, . 438 Constitution of the United States, 440 Amendments to the Constitution, . 452 The Farewell Address of George Washington, .... 457 Proclamation of Emancipation, . 467 Inhabitants Before Our Historical Period, 469 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page First Sight of Land, . Frontispiece Vessel of the Northmen, . . -15 The Dragon Ship, . . . i6 Ruins of a Norse Building, . ■ i/ Old Tower at Newport, . . . 18 The Dighton Rock, . . . -19 Christopher Columbus, ... 20 Vessels of Columbus, . . .22 Balboa's Discovery of the Pacific, . 23 The Eclipse of the IMoon, . . 24 Gate at the Entrance of St. Augustine, 25 Street Scene in St. Augustine, . 26 The Sun at Midnight in the Arctic Regions, . . . . -27 The Aurora Seen in Greenland, . 29 The Natural Bridge, Virginia, . . 30 Page The James River near Richmond, 32 View on the Potomac, . . -33 Tower Rocks, Virginia, ... 34 Baptism of Pocahontas, . . -36 Introduction of Slavery, . . 37 View on the Rappahannock, . . 39 Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, . 43 Scene on the Hudson River, . . 44 Silver Cascade, Crawford's Notch, 46 Old South Church, Boston, . . 47 Turner's Falls, Massachusetts, . 48 Attack on the Early Settlers, . . 5° Yale College, Connecticut, . . 52 Woodland Scene in Rhode Island, . 55 Squam Lake, New Hampshire, . 57 St. John's River, . . . .58 Vlll OUR COUNTRY. Bar Harbor, Maine, Off the Coast of Maine, . View in Acadia, .... Scene in Maine, . . . . Trout Stream in Vermont, Sabbath-day Point, Lake George, Sketch of Niagara Falls by Father Hennepin in i6g8, . Niagara Falls, American Side, . The Falls of Niagara, Opening of the Erie Canal, Trenton Falls, New York, First Passenger Railway, 183 1, . Rapids of the St. Lawrence River, Catskill Mountain Scene, . Arrest of Carteret, Chateaugay Chasm, New York, . Penn's House, Philadelphia, . View on the Susquehanna River, Penn's Treaty with the hidians, Pennsylvania Forest Scenery, Scene on the Delaware Bay, . Fight with the Maryland Pinnace, The " Golden Lion " Firing on the Marjdand Boats, Cumberland Gap, Maryland, . A Vista in North Carolina, View of a Cotton Chute, Scene in South Carolina, . A Planter's House in Georgia, Scene in a Georgia Meadow, On the New England Coast, Shore of Cape Ann, . . . . Evening at Sea, .... Church-Goers in the Early Colonies, . A Pioneer Home in Winter, . Page 59 60 61 62 63 65 66 67 69 70 71 72 72 73 74 75 77 78 79 80 82 84 85 86 87 89 91 92 94 96 97 97 98 lOI Page 102 IDS 107 109 Til 112 114 116 118 119 121 122 123 124 A Mountain Stream, Indian Burial Ground, View on the James River, Virginia, A Virginia Summer Scene, Group of Trees, Summer on the Rappahannock, Upper Au Sable Lake, A River Scene, .... A Cotton Field, The Cascades, .... The Alleghany Mountains, A Coast Scene, .... Roger's Slide, Lake George, A Dutch Household, Early Settlers Ascending the Hudson, 125 Quebec, ...... 128 Washington's Attack on the French, 130 Wolfe's Cove, . . . .132 Night Attack on Colonial Schooner, 133 Attack on the Fort at Presque Isle, 134 Meeting of Washington and Rocham- beau, . . . . . .136 Eventide, ..... 138 Building in Boston Where the Tea Plot was Hatched, . . . 140 Building in Philadelphia Where the First Congresses were held, . 141 The Brook, ..... 142 The Monument on Bunker Hill, . 144 Statue of Jefferson, .... 145 The Prison Ship " Jersey," . . 146 Washington Crossing the Delaware, 148 Attack on Chew's House, . . .150 Surrender of Burgoyne, . . 152 Washington Reproving Lee at Mon- mouth, ..... 153 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX Page Arnold at New London, . . 155 Washington's Headquarters at New- burgh, 156 Exploit of Arnold, . . -157 Attack by the British on the Block House at Tom's River, . .158 The House Where Cornwallis Sur- rendered, . . . .160 Washington Surrendering his Com- mission, ..... 162 Attack on the Rioters, . . .163 Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, . . 165 Look-out Mountain, Tennessee, . 166 Red-mill Falls, near Elyria, Ohio, . 167 A Mississippi River Boat, . . 168 Loading a Cotton Steamer, . . 169 View on the Mississippi, . . 172 A Nook, Fox Lake, Illinois, . -173 Scene on the Mississippi River, . 174 Cathedral Spires on the Merrimac, 175 Hot Springs, Arkansas, . . .176 Detroit River Scenes, . . .177 Scenes on the St. Mary River, . .178 Government Canal and Locks, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, . . 179 Amelia Island, Florida, . . .181 Sam Houston, .... 183 A Nook on Spirit Lake, Iowa, . . 185 On the Brule River, Wisconsin, . 187 Big Trees of California, . . .188 Yosemite Valley, . . . .189 Three Brothers, Yosemite Valley, 190 Mirror Lake and Mount Watkins, 191 The Falls of St. Anthony, . . 192 Lake of the Woods, . . .193 Portland, Oregon, and Willamette River 194 Page A Kansas Harvest Scene, . . 196 Basaltic Pinnacles, Colorado River, 199 The Cascades, .... 200 Near the Summit of the Rockies, . 203 View in Grand Caiion, . . 204 Rocky Mountain Scene, . . 205 Flowers and Butterflies, . . 206 Mountain Scenery, Utah, . . 208 White Cliffs, Utah, ... 209 Colored Cliffs Near Kanab, Utah, 210 Marble Canon of the Colorado, . 211 Cliff Dwellings, Arizona, . . 212 Distant View of Moqui, with Sheep- pens in the Foreground, . .213 Sitka, Alaska, . . . . 215 Scenes in the Inland Passage, . 216 Washington (Two Views), . . 218 Washington in 18 10 — The Old Capitol, 219 The Capitol — East View, . . 221 The Bartholdi Fountain, Statues — General Scott and others, . 222 The Naval, and Other Statues, . 223 Statues — General Rawlins and others, 224 Washington Monument, . . 225 The White House From Pennsylvania avenue, ..... 226 Mount Vernon from the Potomac River, 227 Washington's Reception at Trenton, 228 George Washington, . . . 230 Franklin's Grave at Philadelphia, 231 View of Washington's House, Mt. Vernon, .... 232 Washington's Bedchamber, . . 233 John Adams, .... 234 OUR COUNTRY. Martha Washington's Bedchamber, Washington's Grave, Mt. Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, .... Duel Between Burr and Hamilton, The Ofificers of the Chesapeake Offer- ing Their Swords, James Madison, .... Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, The Burning of Washington, Capture of the Cyane and Levant, James Monroe, .... A Scene in the Early Settlement of Ohio, John Q. Adams, .... Early Days on the Delaware and Hudson Canal Railroad, . Andrew Jackson, A Negro Village, .... Scene in Florida near Rock Ledge, Scene on St. Clair River, Michigan, Martin Van Buren, William IL Harrison, John Tyler, .... Salt Lake City, .... James K. Polk, .... The City of Mexico, The City of Vera Cruz, A Woodland Scene, Zachary Taylor, .... Millard Fillmore, .... Franklin's Expedition in the Polar Regions, .... Franklin Pierce, .... Mount Hood, .... James Buchanan, .... Harper's Ferry, Virginia, Page 236 237 239 240 241 243 245 247 249 250 2^2 253 254 255 256 257 258 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 268^ 269 270 271 272 273 274 A Skirmisher, .... General Robert E. Lee's Old Home, Arlington, .... Defense of Fort Sumter, . ' . A Railroad Battery, Early Home of Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, .... Federal Iron-clad River Gun-boat. The Swamp Angel, On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Destruction of Fort Ocrakoke, Battle of Bull Run, Fort Pensacola, .... Capture of New Orleans, Bailey's Dam on the Red River, \J . S. Military Telegraph Wagon, Fort Pillow, ..... The " Destroyer," Battle of Malvern Hill, . Antietam Bridge .... Sinking of the Alabama, Fight Between the Monitor and Mer- rimac, ..... The "Nashville" Destroying the " Merchantman," Battle of Chancellorsville, View F"rom Gettysburg — West, Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, . Gettysburg From Little Round-Top — East, ..... Gun-boats Passing Before Vicksburg, Longstreet's Arrival at Bragg's Head- quarters, .... Federal Lines at Chattanooga, Moist Weather at the Front, Attack on Charleston, Page 275 276 277 279 280 281 282 283 285 286 287 288 289 291 292 293 294 296 297 298 299 301 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 3" LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Fairfax Court House, . . 312 Explosion of Mine Before Petersburg, 314 General Sherman's Scouts, . -315 Death of General Polk, . . 316 Savannah, 317 Opening of the Fight Between the Kearsarge and Alabama, . 319 End of the Oyster War, . . . 320 The Peace Commissioners, . 321 Raising the Flag over Fort Sumter, 322 Destruction of the Nashville, . 323 Sunset Over Atlanta, . . . 324 On Picket, 325 Retreat of Lee's Army, . . 326 Surrender of General Lee, . . 327 The House Where General Lee Sur- rendered, .... 328 The Capture of Booth, . . . 329 Lincoln's Grave, .... 330 Review of the Union Troops at Washington, .... 331 The Lincoln Monument, . . 332 Residence of Andrew Johnson, . 335 Andrew Johnson, . . . 336 Ruins of Richmond After the War, 337 Picking Up the Atlantic Cable, . 339 Ulysses S. Grant, . . . 340 Birthplace of U. S. Grant, . . 341 The Joint High Commission, . 342 Storming of the Corean Forts, . 343 The Burning of Chicago, . . 344 " I Declare the Centennial Exhibition Open," 345 Attack by Modocs on the Peace Com- missioners, .... 346 Custer's Last Fight, . . . 347 Page Rutherford B. Hayes, . . 349 View on the Panama Railroad, . 350 James A. Garfield, . . . 351 Put-in-Bay Harbor, Ohio, . -352 Chester A. Arthur, . . . 353 General View of the Brooklyn Bridge, 354 Arrival of the French Transport Isere, 355 Statue of Liberty, .... 356 The Farthest Point North, Reached by Lieutenant Lockwood, . 357 Caldwell, the Birthplace of Cleveland, 358 Grover Cleveland, .... 359 Decoration Day, .... 360 Earthquake at Charleston, S. C, . 361 The Funeral Train of General Grant Passing West Point, . . 363 Benjamin Harrison, . . . 364 Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, . . 365 Kentucky Scene, . . . . 367 A Harvest Scene in Michigan; . 369 A Western Prairie, . . . -371 Ihiproving Leadville, 1877, . . 372 Leadville in 1887, .... 374 Gulf Coast near Galveston, . . 378 Wild Flowers 381 The Bend, 383 Along the Shore 385 Ferns and Leaves, . . . 387 Wild Flowers of the Pacific Coast, 391 Mountain Flowers, . . . 395 Pennsylvania Scenery, . . . 39S An Early Steamboat, . . . 407 A Modern Steamer, . . . 408 A Scene in the Rockies, . . 410 The Hunter's Retreat, . . .413 Fort Scenes, Mackinac, . . 414 xu LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Robinson's Folly, Mackinac Island Plummer's Lookout, Sugar Loaf Rock, Arch Rock, .... Yosemite Valley, Grand Canon, Colorado River, Steeple Rocks, Yellowstone, The Grotto, .... Boiling Springs, Yellowstone Park, Boiling Sulphur Springs, Yellowstone Park, 425 Great Falls of the Yellowstone River, 426 Old Faithful Geyser, . . . 427 Page 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 Lime Tower near Hot Springs, The Yellowstone, The Grotto Geyser, Lower Falls, Yellowstone Park, . Map, ...... Signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, .... The Golden Gate, .... Observatory Mound, Works at Marietta, Ohio, Islands in the Detroit River, . American Country Scenes, The First Icebergs, Page 428 429 430 431 432 439 468 470 473 V vii xii Our Country. PERIOD EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. CHAPTER I. The Northmen or Vikings. THE history of our country is full of interest, both to the old and young. Long before its discovery by Europeans, it was inhabited by the " Mound Builders," a prehistoric people whose monuments are now found in various parts of the land, and who, some suppose, were the remote ancestors of the modern Indians, while others think they were an entirely different people, conquered, and possibly in part exterminated, and in part merged in the tribes of the conquerors, and so disappearing as a people. Squier, Davis, and others take the former view ; but the traditions of at least two large Indian tribes give the latter, saying that the modern Indians conquered and drove out a people before them ; that that people conquered and drove out a race before themselves, and that the last mentioned people conquered and drove out those known as the " Mound Builders." Long before America was known to Europeans it was occupied by the Indians, whose numerous tribes were found in every part of the land, and the descendants of whom are still in the country, partly on reservations allotted by the government for their occupation, and partly in regions where they have long wandered or dwelt. Of the origin of the " Mound Builders," or of the Indians, comparatively little is known, but more full notices of them may be found at the end of this work. Nearly four hundred years before Christ, the inhabitants of the Eastern world had believed that there were undiscovered lands far to the West. Plato, who said his information came through Solon, from an old Egyptian priest, had told the well-known story, or fable, of Atlantis, describing its climate and scenery, its mountains, rivers, animals and inhabitants, and speaking of the Island as almost a paradise. And about a hundred years later Aristotle had taught that the earth was a sphere, and that the 13 14 OUR COUNTRY. waters on the west side of Europe washed the eastern shores of Asia. And Seneca tlie teacher of tlie Emperor Nero, who hvcd in the first century and died A. D. 65, as his words are translated by Archbishop Whately, said : "There shall come a time, in later ages, when the ocean shall relax its chains, and a vast continent shall appear, and a pilot shall find new worlds, and Thule (which was thought to be the end of the world) shall no more be the earth's boundary." This idea, kept alive through the middle ages, gave the impression which was widely spread, that by sailing westward, countries beyond the sea would some time be discovered. It is said that as early as A. D. 800, Japanese junks, driven by severe storms, had landed on the western coast of our great continent, and Modoc, a Welch prince, is said to have reached the coast of Virginia as early as A. D. 1170, though no permanent settlement was the result. And tradition had long asserted that nearly five hundred years before the time of Columbus, the Northmen had landed and made settlements on our eastern coast. These Northmen or Vikings had nothing, as the term "Viking" might seem to imply, of a kingly or royal character. They were not Vi-kiiig:. but l^ik-iiigs, simply the dwellers on the ]'iks or bays of the Scandinavian coasts, from which they went forth as bold and persevering buccaneers of the sea, much like the Algerian corsairs of a later day, except that, unlike tlie Algerians, they were not merely pirates and conquerors, but were also colonists, founding settlements in the lands they subdued and robbed. They were of the same race as those who, as Saxons, had, at an early day, overrun and subdued England, and afterward, as Normans, had conquered France, and still later, crossing over from France, had again conquered England, and mingling with the English and Saxons, laid the foundation of the Anglo-Saxon people. For a long time the Vikings were the terror of Europe, entering the ports and landing on what are now the British Isles, raiding up the rivers of France, and through the Mediterranean sea, reaching and plundering Africa, which they called "Saracen's land," and sending back the wealth of their booty to Norway, where, to this day, Greek and Arabic coins and chains of gold are found, as may be seen in the museums of Christiana and Copenhagen. Of the history and movements of these Vikings, Mr. Keary, in liis " Vikings in Western Christendom," has given full and most interesting accounts. As early as the year 789, as he quotes from the English Chronicle, " These Vikings sought the land of English folk," three ships bearing the first of these buccaneers, that, so far as is known, had not since the sixth century, made incursions on any Christian shore. These fierce freebooters had long and strongly built vessels, manned by from twenty to forty oarsmen on each side, and each having a mast thirty or forty feet high, set in a block of wood so large that, it is said, no block of equal size could now be found in Norway. These masts had no standing rigging, but with their square sails, were probably taken down when not in use, the dependence, in the absence of favoring wind, then being on the oars. In these powerful vessels the}' swept down from their old homes in the Scandinavian regions to the milder and richer South, and across the North sea to England, .Scotland, and Ireland, conquering and robbing wherever they went, and making many settlements under leaders who took the name of Kings. The ninth century saw their rise to greatness, and it saw also their decline; but during this hundred years they were the terror not only of France and the continent, but of the British Islands and every part of the coast. EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 15 The model and structure of these vessels are now as well-known as if they were just built and launched from our ship-yards. They are depicted on the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, and cuts of them are still seen on the rocks of Norway, and their remains are now and then found in different parts of that country. One of them, represented in the cut, which is taken from an engraving in possession of Mr. R. B. Anderson, of Wisconsin, was dug up at Sandefjord, about half a mile from the sea. It had evidently been used as the burial place of its owner, and a full account of it has been given in a volume by Mr. N. Nicolayson, published at Christiana in 1882. It was about seventy- seven feet long, over sixteen feet wide at its greatest width, and between five and six feet in depth, drawing less than five feet of water. It was not like the "dug-outs " or bark canoes (ill^ij of the savage or half civilized tribes, but was "neatly built and well preserved, constructed on what a sailor would call beautiful lines, and eminently fitted for sea service." It was clinker built, that is each of its thick oaken boards overlapped the one below it, like shingles on a house-top, just as our best boats are built to-day, and all were bound together with strong iron rivets well made and clinched. The vessel had no decks, but seats were arranged for from forty to sixty rowers, and there were corresponding holes for the oars which were some twenty feet long. In the vessel was a tent-like chamber in which were found human bones, the bones of a dog, the bones and feathers of a peacock, some fish-hooks, and several bronze and lead ornaments for belts and harness, and about the vessel were the bones of several horses and dogs, which, it is supposed, had been sacrificed at the burial of the owner. Vessels much larger than this were called Dragons, and other sizes were known as Serpents and Cranes, each ship so built, or having some part or figure such as to represent the name it bore. /(l|''''t|W W S The Vikings who went forth in these vessels fought with stones, arrows and spears, and had grappling irons, with which to fasten to other vessels for boarding and close fighting. At a council in Norway some were clad in iron, some wore leather cloaks and had halberds over their shoulders and steel caps on their heads, and their leaders wore rich and costly garments. One of their leaders, or kings, as they were called, who, landed in Ireland to carry away cattle and other booty, is mentioned as having an iron helmet on his head, a red shield inlaid with gold, a sword the handle of which was of ivory, a short spear, and a red silk cloak over his coat, on which was embroidered with yellow silk, the figure of a lion. Ireland suffered more from the Vikings than England itself, for it was in the fullness of their strength and when their eagerness for plunder was still unsatisfied that lit r^i ^^^ ^■^ 4 if ^vi Pv il i6 OUR COUNTRY. they came down on the Irish coasts. Ireland, at that time, was rich in monasteries, abbeys, and convents, which offered most tempting inducements as well as opportunities for their attacks, for in the fifth and sixth centuries that country abounded in religious establishments in which was gathered a large part of the wealth of the people. The jeweled mass-books, the richly adorned vestments of the priests, and the gold and silver sacrificial vessels, both invited and rewarded those daring robbers of the sea. Up to the year 807 their attacks had been mostly confined to the outlaying islands lona and Man and to the Northumbrian coast, but in that year they came down upon the mainland, and by the year 825 had plundered most of the churches and religious establishments of the country. By the middle of the century they had established three Norse or Viking settlements in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, under rulers whom they called kings. Great as were the losses and sufferings from their conquests some advantages resulted from their occupation of the country. They taught the people great improvements in ship, or rather boat-building; the first native coinage was introduced by the Norse king of Dublin, and the Irish were practically instructed in the uses and benefits of navigation, for both commerce and war. The capital of ancient times had been in the middle kingdom, but the Norsemen brought it down to the coast, and when they broke up the monasteries, and scattered the monks and clerks who were the scholars of the times, the latter went forth in great numbers to the continent, to be instructors there, and in place of the religious houses from which they had been expelled, trading stations grew up, especially along the coasts, starting the germs of a new civilization and prosperity. The attack of the Northmen on England was later than on Ireland, and though for a time successful, they were in the end defeated and checked by King Alfred and his west Saxons in the great battle of Edington, and compelled to conform to the terms of the treaty of Wedmore, and from this time on their power in the country was broken, and their success as freebooters of the land as well as of the sea, steadily declined. It was toward the end of this century that they found their way to the New World. In coming to America the Northmen were not intending or thinking of discoveries. They did not go forth like Columbus in the faith that a new world was to be found in the West. They were, rather, accidental discoverers, making " what might almost be called coasting voyages from Norway to Scotland, from Scotland to Iceland, and at last to North America, each passage extending but a few hundred miles," and, so, unexpectedly to themselves, reaching the new world. After they had colonized in Iceland, and made it their home, Eric the Red, having, on account of a quarrel, been declared an outlaw, went to sea and discovered Greenland, which he thus named, that people, by the name, might be attracted to it. Taking a colony with him, he there took up his abode, about the year 986. With Eric was a friend, whose son, Bjazzi Herjulfson, was absent when they left Iceland, and who in endeavoring to follow them to Greenland, landed at three different places, and at last at Greenland, where he found his father and remained with him. His fellow adventurers THE DRAGON SHU'. EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 17 determined to make further explorations, and to the number of thirty-five, led by Lief Ericson, sailed south and west, touching at several places, and at last discovered land which they called Vinland. Lief was followed by his brother Thorwald with thirty men, and Thorwald was followed by a larger expedition of sixty men and five women, who took with them cattle and provisions, and formed a settlement on the eastern part of what is now New England. Some have supposed the place was in the northern part of Maine, or even further north. But according to the writings of the Sagas, the region was not only one of forests and meadows, but of sO mild a climate that cattle did not need to be housed for the winter, and grapes abounded, and corn grew abundantly — a description that could not apply to Labrador, or even to the northern part of Maine. For a long time the accounts of the landing and settlement of the Northmen on the Atlantic coast were regarded with doubt and even disbelief. But they rest on writings and traditions as authentic as most of the statements which we have in the earliest annals of European history. They are mentioned in manuscripts of good authority still in existence in Iceland, in the Saga of Eric the Red written in Greenland, RUINS OK A NORSE BUILDING IN GREENLAND. and in that of Karlesnefni written in Iceland. These have been translated into different languages, and may be seen in Beamish's translation published in London in 1841, which has been reprinted by the Prince Society of Boston, and also, in part, in the Massachusetts Quarterly Review for March, 1849. -^"d in later Norse manuscripts of undoubted authority, there are references to " Vinland the Good " as a region in America well known. Where it was that the Northmen so settled has long been supposed to be utterly unknown. But from recent and careful investigation. Professor Eben N. Horsford, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, claims not only to have confirmed the statements of the Sagas, but to have found that the land on which these colonies settled was in Massachusetts; that after landing at Cape Cod and other places they finally fixed their main settlement at the mouth of what is now known as Stony Brook, on the Charles river, some nine miles from Cambridge, at or near where the town of Waltham now stands. Here, as he tells us, are found the remains of the buildings they erected, the fort, docks, wharves, walls, dams, canals, and basins, and also excavations ten and twelve iS OUR COUNTRY. feet deep, extending hundreds of feet in length on both sides of Stony Brook, and for much of the distance carefully graded and paved with stone. The old tower at Newport, Rhode Island, and the well known Dighton Rock, were at one time conjectured 'J i OLD TOWER AT NEWPORT. to have been the work of the Northmen, though the former is of much later date, and is said to have been a windmill, copied from one at Chesterton, England; and the inscriptions on the Dighton Rock are supposed to have been made by the Indians. EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 19 Norumbega, the name given to the region spoken of, was the ancient form of Norvega, or Norway, and of this, Vinland was supposed to be a part, the whole extending from what is now Rhode Island to the St. Lawrence river. It was first seen by Bjazzi Herjidfson in A. D. 985. The "landfall" of Lief Ericson, on Cape Cod, was in A. D. 1000, in which year he discovered the region supposed to be about Charles river, explored by Thorwald, his brother in A. D. 1003, and colonized by Thorfin Karlsnefni in A. D. 1007. The first bishop or minister of the settlers, Eric Gnupson, arrived in A. D. 1121 ; and the various industries of the settlers are said to have been carried on for three hundred and fifty years, till, finally, the last Norse ship went back to Iceland in A. D. 1347. The region was afterward occupied by the Breton French in the 15th, i6th and 17th centuries. TUF Dlr.IITON ROCK. Coming down to later times, it is an interesting fact that a Norwegian colony was founded in Bergen, New Jersey, in 1624; that the Swedes settled in Delaware in 1638; and that the first Swedish church was built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1698; though both these colonies lost, to a certain extent, their identity, first by the infusion of the Dutch element and later by the English. Immigration from Norway to this country began on a larger scale in 1821, when religious persecution led large numbers, like the Pilgrims and Puritans of old, to seek new homes in some of our Western States. In 1824, the first emigration society was formed in Norway, and on the fourth of July, 1825, a party of fifty-two persons started for America, and after a voyage of fourteen weeks landed in New York, safely and all well. Since that time large numbers have followed to this country, where not a few of them have become distinguished in literature, and prominent as editors and in political life. 20 OUR COUNTRY. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. [Said by the present Duke of Varagua to be the most representative of the known portraits.] CHAPTER II. Columbus and other Discoverers. THE inland rivers of Greece and Rome, and so the Mediterranean sea had long been navigated, but it was not till toward the end of the fifteenth century, and the beginning of the sixteenth, that the discovery of the mariner's compass and other inventions had prepared the way for long voyages out of sight of land, and that the great discoveries of that period were made. Then, in the hope of finding a short way to the East Indies and all their supposed riches, various expeditions were fitted out in .Europe. The Portuguese landed in Brazil. Balboa reached the isthmus of Darien. {See cut on page 23.) Vasco de Gama went to India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. And, at later dates, Davis, and Baffin, and Hudson, at the North, and IMagellan and others, at the South, as also the French, through the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, were seeking the same desired end — a short way to the East. It is, however, with Columbus, that the deeply interesting history of America begins. He was born at or near Genoa, about the year 1436, was the son of humble parents. His father, Dominico Colombo (as the name is written in Italian), was a wool-comber. He was the oldest of four children, having two brothers, Bartholomew and Giacomo or James, and one sister, of whom nothing is known except she married a person of obscure life. He attended school for a while at Pavia, where he became deeply interested in geography and astronomy, and, going early to sea, made several voyages on the Mediterranean. Settling at Lisbon, in A. D. 1470, he there married the daughter of Palestrello, a distinguished Italian cavalier lately deceased, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry. The newly married couple resided with the mother of the bride. The latter, perceiving the interest which Columbus took in all matters concerning the sea, related to him all she knew of the voyages and expeditions of her late husband, and brought him all his papers, charts, journals, and memoranda. In this way he became acquainted with the routes of the Portuguese, their plans and conceptions, and occasionally sailed in the expeditions to the coast of Guinea. When on shore, he supported his family by making maps and charts, the construction of which, in those days, "required a degree of knowledge sufiicient to entitle the possessor to some distinction, as geography was just emerging from the darkness which had enveloped it for ages. The maps and journals of Palestrello and others impressed upon his mind the idea of land to the westward, which he then supposed to be the prolongation of the eastern shores of Asia, but which he afterward found to be a new and vast continent. About the year A. D. 1482 or '83, he suggested his plans for discovery to King John, of Portugal, and afterward to the authorities at Genoa, Venice and other places, but, in each case, in vain. It was not till seven more years of effort and disappointment had passed, that, encouraged and aided by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, he was able to sail from Palos at day-break August 3, A. D. 1492, with three small vessels, and a hundred and 22 OUR COUNTRY. twenty men. For a long time Ferdinand was opposed to the views and plans of Columbus, but Isabella became so deeply interested in his projects that she pledged her jewels for the undertaking. The needful funds, however, were advanced by the royal treasurer, and all needful arrangements were made for the undertaking. Leaving Palos and directing his course westward, in October he discovered the Bahama and other West India islands, returning to Spain in A. D. 1493. Sailing again, in the same year, with seventeen vessels and fifteen hundred men, he discovered Jamaica and the Caribbee islands, and returned to Spain in A. D. 1496. In his third expedition, in A. D. 1498, he discovered Trinidad, and landed on the coast of South America, thus, for the first time, seeing the main land of the continent. In his fourth and last voyage, which was made in A. D. 1502, with four vessels and a hundred and fifty men, he hoped to have found a passage uniting THE NINA. THE SANTA MARIA. VESSELS OF COLUMBUS. the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but his crew became mutinous, and after many difficulties and disasters, he returned to Spain in November A. D. 1504, having added but little to his previous discoveries. Isabella was now dead, and Ferdinand proved basely ungrateful to the great discoverer; and so the noblest navigator the world has ever known, misrepresented and opposed by those who were envious and jealous of his greatness, and neglected by the King, at last died in poverty, at Valladolid, May 20, A. D. 1506. Pages might be filled with anecdotes of Columbus and of his ships and voyages and of his reception by the natives. At first they received him with kindness, which was continued during most of the year, which, on his fourth voyage, he spent in Jamaica while waiting for supplies for which he had sent. But the Spaniards being harsh and unjust to the natives, they finally refused to bring in the provisions on which the lives of the voyagers depended. Columbus, however, led them to change their course by appealing EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 23 to their fears and superstition. Knowing an eclipse was soon to occur, he threatened the destruction of the moon if they did not comply with his wishes. And the echpse taking place as he had foretold, they were so terrified that they hastened to do his will, and supply the wants of his people. {See cut 071 page 24.) But though to Columbus belongs the undivided honor of leading the way to the Western world, to John and Sebastian Cabot belongs the credit of first landing on the coast of what is now the United States. Fourteen months before Columbus, on his third voyage, came in sight of the main land, and nearly two years before Americus Vespucius sailed west of the Canary Islands, the Cabots, father and son, under patents from Henry VII, reached the main land, June 24, A. D. 1497, and thus gave a continent to England. In a |,«f,Wl^ BALBOA S DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC, SEPTEMBER 25. I5I3. cond voyage, after the death of his father, Sebastian Cabot reached Newfoundland, where he reported that the natives were clad in the skins of animals, and the fish swarmed in such vast shoals as to impede the progress of his vessels, while the deer were larger than those of England, and the bears were seen to plunge into the water to catch fish with OUR COUNTRY. their claws. Continuing his voyage in a southern direction, he explored the coast as far as Virginia, and possibly to Florida. In 15 13, Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. In 1520, some Spanish vessels from St. Domingo were driven, in a storm, on the coast of North Carolina. In 151 1, Cortez and his followers conquered Mexico, including what is now Texas, New Mexico and California, which thus became a province of Spain. In 1539-42, De Soto discovered and explored the Mississippi river. In 1 584-5, Sir Walter Raleigh sent two expeditions to the coast of North Carolina, and attempted a settlement on Roanoke Island. In 1565 a Spanish settlement was made at St. Augustine, P^lorida. In 1607, Jamestown, in Virginia, was settled. New York, then known as New Netherlands, was settled in 1613, and Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. The country on the great lakes, and on the Mississippi was explored by La Salle in 1682. Settlements were made by the French in Arkansas, in 1685, and at Mobile and Vincennes in 1702. Some of these settlements were utter failures. Some of the more important and successful ones may now be considered. THE ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. CHAPTER III. The Progress of Colonization. SAINT AUGUSTINE, now the oldest city in the United States, and which still retains its ancient appearance {See cut page 26), was first settled, as said above, in 1565, by Menendez de Aviles, a Spanish navigator, who, with fifteen hundred followers, arrived off the coast on the i8th of August, and gave the new settlement the name it still bears. The Spaniards built a large moat or ditch around their settlement and at the entrance they built a massive gate of masonry, which has proven a providential opening to •i ""^ ' *', **" *&• , ij—i M\ tM-- GATE AT THE ENTRANCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 189O. 53ESi the new world, and from which the colonizing work has expanded into a nation the progress and prosperity of which have become the wonder of mankind. The early settlers had hard struggles to maintain themselves against the Indians and against French and English adventurers. Twice the settlement was captured and pillaged; in 1586 by Sir Francis Drake 35 26 OUR COUNTRY. and in 1665 by John Davis, a pirate, but still it grew slowly, and in 1763 was ceded, with other Spanish provinces, to Great Britain, and so at last became part of the United States. The first attempt to colonize this country from England was made by Sir Walter Ralei"-h in 1584. Under a charter from Queen Elizabeth he sent out an exploring STREET SCENE IN ST. AUGUSTINE FROM A RECENT PHOTOGRAPH. expedition to what is now North Carolina, which after some six weeks, went back to England. The commanders of the expedition were delighted with the region, which, in the quiet beauty of summer, seemed to them almost a paradise ; and on their return to England they gave such favorable reports as to the country and all they had seen, that EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 27 Elizabeth, who was called the " Virgin Queen," gave it the name of Virginia, a title which was then applied to most of the coast territory extending from Maine to Georgia. Encouraged by these favorable reports, Raleigh, the next year, sent out a second expedition, consisting of seven vessels and a hundred and eight men, commanded at first by Sir Richard Granville, but soon coming under the charge of Ralph Lane. As there were no women in the colony the Indians imagined the colonists were not born of women, and therefore were immortal beings. The mathematical instruments, the burning-glass, the guns, the clocks, and the use of letters by which messages were sent on bits of paper and without vocal speech, all seemed to them to be the work of gods rather than of men, and for a time the Englishmen were reverenced as of divine origin and the special favorites of Heaven. But seeing the power of fire-arms the natives soon got the impression that sickness and death among themselves were caused by invisible bullets ; and fearing that the strangers might intend to kill them, and so take their places, they soon began planning to get them away. Knowing that the colonists were desirous of finding a short way across the continent to India or China, they told Lane that the sea was but a little way to the West, and he, believing their story, set out, with most of his men, to find it. But being of course disappointed, and falling short of provisions, they came back just in time to save those they had left from being destroyed by the Indians. Their wants were supplied in part by Sir Francis Drake, who was on his return from the West Indies. He brought THE SUN AT MIDNIGHT IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS — AS SEEN BY RECENT EXPLORERS. 28 OUR COUNTRY. them provisions, and left them a ship, but the latter being soon afterwards lost in a storm, the colonists became discouraged and went back to England. Lane and his associates, while in the country, carefully examined its productions, especially those which they thought might be sources of profitable commerce. Maize, or the Indian corn, attracted his attention, both for its productiveness and its value for food ; and the potato, though it was known before, had attracted but little attention till brought into use in England by these returned colonists. Lane also observed the culture of tobacco, and was the first to introduce it into England. He himself used it, and believed in its healthful influence. He learned from the Indians to smoke it ; and his example was soon followed in England, some of the first tobacco-pipes being made of the shell of the walnut for the bowl, and a straw for the stem of the pipe. It is said th^t when Sir Walter Raleigh's servant first saw him with the smoke coming out of his mouth, he thought he was on fire, and poured a pitcher of water over his head to put out the flames. Not discouraged by his previous failures, Raleigh determined to send out another colony which should be agricultural, consisting of emigrants with their wives and children, who should make their homes in the new world, and so establish settlements that should be permanent. John White was appointed governor, and with him were eleven assistants for the administration of affairs. They arrived on the coast of North Carolina in the summer of 15S7, and hastened to the Isle of Roanoke, hoping to find the few men who had been left there by Granville ; but they found only the ruins of the fort, and the scattered bones of the miserable men who had been murdered by the Indians. Soon after the landing and settlement of White's colony, his granddaughter, the first English child, was born on the continent and named " Virginia Dare." White, himself, going back to England for supplies, was detained by the war with Spain, and when at last he returned, the colony, composed of eighty-nine men and seventeen women, had entirely disappeared, though some twenty years afterward it was said that seven of them were still living among the Indians. So ended the efforts of Raleigh to establish settlements in America. Five times he had sent to search for his lost colonists, but each time in vain. Their fate was never fully known. , Other Voyages to America. The favorable reports of the early adventurers, and the still cherished hope of finding a short passage to India, led to still further efforts at discovery. In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold, who had already sailed to Virginia by the round about route by the Canaries and the West Indies, endeavored to reach America by the direct route, and had well nigh secured to New England the first permanent English colony. Steering his small bark directly across the Atlantic, in seven weeks he reached the coast of Massachusetts, and landed, with four men, at Cape Cod, the first spot in New England ever trod by English. men. Reaching the westernmost part of the Elizabeth Islands, they built on it a store house and fort, intending to lay the foundations of what should be the first New England colony. But fear of the Indians, want of provisions, and disagreements as to expected profits, brought their plans to an end, and the whole party soon went back to England, after an absence of some four months. So favorable, however, were their reports of the land they had visited, that another expedition consisting of two small vessels, with forty-three men, was fitted out at Bristol, EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 29 and under the command of Martin Pring, sailed for America in April, 1603. The vessels were well provided with trinkets and merchandise for traffic with the natives, and the voyage was every way successful, reaching the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts, and returning safely to England in about six months. Other enterprises for discovery and traffic soon followed. Bartholomew Gilbert sought in vain for the remains of the colonies of Raleigh. An expedition commanded by George Weymouth, seeking a northwest passage, explored Labrador, and discovered the Penobscot river. And these and other voyages so spread inforination and wakened enterprise, as to lead to the later and permanent settlements which built up the United States. The daring and skill of these TirE AURORA SEEN IN GREENLAND. early adventurers were wonderful. The ocean was untried, and its winds and currents unknown. The vessels were mostly of less than a hundred tons burden. Frobisher's vessel was only twenty-five tons ; and two of those of Columbus were without a deck. Hudson, by the mutiny of his sailors, was turned adrift in an open boat, in the bay now bearing his name, and there left to perish by the waves or the savages. The vessels of several of the early navigators went down at sea with all on board. And such was the state of the art of navigation that the dangers of the sea were practically a hundredfold greater than they are at the present day. 30 OUR COUNTRY. THE NATURAL BRIDGE, VIRGINIA. PERIOD II, THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. CHAPTER L Not counting Vermont, which did not come into the Union till 1791, the original thirteen colonies whose delegates signed the Declaration of Independence were Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The Old Thirteen. The curtain rises on a hundred years, — A pageant of the olden time appears. Let the historic muse her aid supply, To note and name each form that passes by; Here come the "old original Thirteen." Sir Walter ushers in the Virgin Queen; Catholic Mary follows her, whose land Smiles on soft Chesapeake from either strand; Then Georgia, with the sisters Caroline, — One the palmetto wears, and one the pine; Next, she who ascertained the rights of men, Not by the sword, but by the word of Penn, — The friendly language hers, of "thee" and "thou." Then, she whose mother was a thrifty vrouw,— Mother herself of princely children now; And. sitting at her feet, the sisters twain, — Two smaller links in the Atlantic chain, — They, through those long, dark winters, drear and dire. Watched with our Fabius round the bivouac fire, — One the free mountain maid, in white and green, One guards the Charter Oak with lofty mien; And, lo! in the plain beauty once she wore. The Pilgrim mother from the Bay State shore; And last, not least, is Little Rhody seen. With face turned heavenward, steadfast and serene, — She on her anchor, Hope, leans, and will ever lean. 31 — Charles T. Brooks. 32 OUR COUNTRY. Virginia. In the early voyages of Columbus, and of other early navigators, the great aim, as we have seen, was to discover a new and short passage to India, with all its imagined wealth. The passion for gathering gold, and the desire for the luxuries of the tropical regions were the leading motives to enterprise. The popular idea seemed to be that untold wealth could be gathered almost without effort in the new world. " I tell thee," says one of the actors in Marston's play of " Eastward, Ho!" which was written in 1605, " "-old is more plentiful there than copper is with us ; and for as much red copper as I can bring, I'll have thrice tiie weight in gold. Why, man, all the dripping-pans are of THE JAMES RIVER AND COUNTRY NEAR RICHMOND. pure gold, and all the chains with which they chain up their streets are of massive gold. All the prisoners they take are fettered in gold ; and as for rubies and diamonds, they go forth in holidays and gather them by the sea-shore, to hang on their children's coats and stick in their children's caps, as commonly as our children wear saffron-gilt brooches and groats with holes in them. It is a pleasant country, withal, as ever the sun shined on, temperate and full of all sorts of excellent viands. Then, for your means of advancement, there it is simple, and not preposterously mixed. You may be an alderman there, and never be a slave. Besides, there we shall have no more law than THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 33 conscience, and not too much of either, — shall serve God enough, and eat and drink enough, and enough is as good as a feast." Such was too much the theory that at first led great numbers to go forth as colonists, though afterward, as less influenced by such wild anticipations, came the higher aim of founding states, and planting permanent colonies, with all the elements of civilization and religion. In 1606, under a patent from James I., the "London Company" was formed to send out a colony to America. And on the igth of December of that year, a little squadron of three small vessels, with a hundred and five men, set sail for Virginia. The making up of the company was not auspicious. John Smith, one of their leading men, speaks of them as " poor gentlemen, tradesmen, serving-men, and libertines." Of the hundred and five of their number only twelve were laborers ; and though they were going to a wilderness where there was not a dwelling of any kind, there were only four carpenters, and none of the men had families. After a tedious voyage of nearly five months, they at last reached the peninsula of Jamestown, which, in May, 1607, they selected as the site of their colony. By the middle of summer, when Newport, their leader, sailed for England, their provisions were exhausted, the Indians had become unfriendly, and the intense heat of the climate brought on disease, so that one half the members of the colony died before September, and the colony would have been entirely broken up but for Captain John Smith, so noted in the early history of the country, and perhaps the strongest and most representative man of all the colonists of Virginia. In spite VIEW ON THE FOTOMAC. 34 OUR COUNTRY. Is, of discouragements and almost insurmountable obstacles, Smith kept the colony together for two years, drilling the soldiers, com- pelling labor, repairing the fort, conciliating the Indians, whom he ''"^outwitted, and procuring from them the corn and provisions which kept the colonists from starving. The story of Smith being taken prisoner by Powhatan, the head chief of some —J thirty tribes, and that when condemned to death he was saved by Pocahontas, the '^ daughter of that chief, is probably a fiction, for it is not mentioned in his first account of his explorations, which was published in 1608, and did not appear in print till about 1616 or 161 7, in the time of Queen Anne. But whether the story has or has not any foundation, Smith undoubtedly so influenced the tribes as to keep them for a long time in friendly relations to the colonists. He explored the Bay of Chesapeake to the Susquehanna; probably entered the port of Baltimore, and ascended the Potomac up to the falls at Georgetown. He was not only the leading man in the colony, but was made its governor; but when new colonists arrived who opposed his administration, and after THE EARLY -COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 35 he had been injured by an explosion of gunpowder, he gave up the government and returned to England, where he died in London in 163 1. He gave to New England the name it now bears. Smith, at his departure, had left some four hundred and ninety persons in the colony, but through indolence, vice, famine, disagreements among themselves, and hostility on the part of the natives, in less than a year only sixty remained ; and these would have perished but for the timely aid which was brought by Gates and Somers, with part of the fleet, followed by Lord Delaware, who came over as governor and captain-general, bringing fresh emigrants and also supplies for the settlers. He reorganized the colonv, which, with the additions he brought, consisted of some two hundred men. He held ofifice, however, but a short time, and was succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale, who for five years was the ruling spirit of the colony, though aided for a time by Gates. Dale ruled with severit}-, but in most respects wisely, restraining the idle and worthless, and keeping on friendly terms with the Indians. The borders of the colony were extended and much was done for the permanent prosperity of the settlement. Pocahontas was converted to the Christian faith, and in the quaint little structure at Jamestown, builded from the rough timbers of the forest, whose font was hollowed from the trunk of a tree, Pocahontas renounced the heathenism of her people, and in her broken English, uttered the responses in accordance with the rites of the Church of England. She was baptized under the name of Rebecca, and shortly after, April, 1613, was married to John Rolfe. Six vessels coming from England, with three hundred fresh emigrants, under the leadership of Thomas Gates, gave fresh life and prosperity to the colony. The land, which hitherto had been held in common, was now assigned, in portions, to individuals, as private property. A new charter, given in 161 2, enlarged the powers of the company, and the Indians submitted to the English, acknowledging themselves tributary to the king, an event which was brought about by the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe, a union commemorated with approbation by the historians of Virginia, and to which many of her distinguished men trace their descent. When Dale went back to England, in 1616, Pocahontas and her husband went with him. She was received there with great attention and treated at court as a princess, but died in England the same year, at the age of twenty-one years. Rolfe, her husband, was the first one to cultivate tobacco largely in Virginia, and it soon became a valuable export to England, and was of great help in making the colony successful. The allotment of land to individuals greatly encouraged industry among the people, and tobacco soon became not only the staple product but the ordinary currency of the colony. In 161 8, many new emigrants came over from England, and the "Great Charter" was granted, under which the people of the colony had a voice in making their own laws, which was the beginning of free government in America, control of affairs being put in the hands of a governor, "a council of estate," and "a general assembly," thus establishing the threefold form of government which was afterward generally adopted in the colonies. In 1619, Sir George Yeardley was made governor, and under him the new charter was put in operation, so that more than a year before the Pilgrims in the Mayflower left the harbor of Southampton, the first elective assembly of the New World was organized at Jamestown, July 30, 1619, and made, in Virginia, laws for the government 36 OUR COUNTRY. of the people. This assembly took steps for the establishment of a college ; ordered that the Church of England should be the established church of Virginia; passed laws for the strict observance of the Sabbath ; for instruction of the Indians, and for other interests of the colony. BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. A bad element was introduced into the colony in 1619. when a hundred convicts arrived, having been sent over from English prisons, by order of the king, to be sold as servants. The same year was also marked by the arrival of the first African slaves, twenty of whom were brought to Jamestown by a Dutch trading vessel, thus laying the foundation of the slave system in the land. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 37 At this time there were in the colony only some six hundred men, women and children, but in the course of the year some twelve hundred and sixty persons, mostly of an excellent class, were added to their number. That the colony might be more firmly established, in 1619 ninety respectable young women were sent over to be married to the settlers, the cost of a wife being from a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. Within three years some thirty-five hundred persons had found their way to Virginia. In 162 1, the colony was granted a written constitution, under which representation in the government and a trial by jury became acknowledged as rights of the people. The colonists at various times had had trouble with the Indians, but in possession, as they were, of fire-arms, they felt confident of always being able to protect them- selves: and while Powhatan lived, the thirty tribes of which he was the head chief, numbering some twenty-four hundred warriors, remained peaceful and friendly. But afterward, becoming jealous of the growing power of the English, and fearing their complete ascendency, the Indians, while still pretending friendship, treacherously resolved on the destruction of the colony. Early in the spring of 1622, at INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY. 38 OUR COUNTRY. mid-day, they suddenly fell upon the unsuspectuig settlers, and murdered, with savage barbarity, three hundred and forty-six persons. Jamestown, and some of the settlements, through information given by a friendly Indian, were prepared for the attack, and so the greater part of the colony was saved. From this time on, for several years, there was almost continual warfare with the Indians, which ended at last in their complete subjugation, so that they dwindled away and were not afterward seriously troublesome. In 1624, the colony underwent an important change in its government. The London Company was dissolved by the king, and Virginia was made a royal province, and so continued for a hundred and fifty years, down to the time of the revolution, except during the protectorate of Cromwell. But though ruled by royal governors, the people still elected their own legislatures, which they regarded as the safeguard of their liberties. The slaves which, as mentioned, had been brought in by the Dutch in 1620, and sold to the planters, were found to be most profitably employed on the tobacco plantations, and as a consequence others were brought in, and so slavery was rapidly extended through the colony. Several times the legislature endeavored to put an end to the traffic, but England would not consent, as it was a source of revenue to the king and the English government. The value of slave labor, however, was found so great that the colonists gradually gave up their opposition to the system, and so it was fastened on the country. At a later date, Virginia, and so several other Southern States, seeing the evils of the system, strongly opposed its continuance, and Jefferson, speaking of its existence and influence, said, " I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever." But the British authorities did everything in their power to encourage and sustain it, saying it was " the pillar and support of the British plantation trade in America," and that they " could not allow the colonies to check or discourage, in any degree, a traflfic so beneficial to the nation." And so slavery continued, until, as the result of secession, freedom came to the millions who had been held in slavery, and the entire country was free. During the time of Cromwell and the commonwealth in England, the Virginians remained loyal to the royal cause, and at one time sent and invited Charles II. to come from France and become their king. He accepted their invitation, and was about to embark for the colony, when, after the death of Cromwell and the downfall of the commonwealth, he was recalled to the throne of England. And on his accession as a reward for her loyalty, he allowed the colony to quarter the arms of England, Ireland, and Scotland with those of Virginia, as an independent member of the " Old Dominion," a name which, to this day, is often given to Virginia. In 1660, England passed what was known as the " Navigation Acts," the purpose of which was to control all the trade of the colonies, so that the Virginians, as well as- others, were no^ allowed to sell or buy any of their products or goods except to and from England, and everything was ordered to be carried in English vessels. These laws bore heavily on Virginia, and were among the causes of the Revolution. The progress of Virginia in population and wealth continued till the end of the colonial period, 1776, at which time its population was 575,000. The people were hospitable, the better class living mostly on plantations. Crime was rare, and theft almost unknown. The established religion of the colony was Episcopacy ; but religious freedom grew rapidly, so that at the Revolution two-thirds of the people were dissenters from the Episcopal church. Before the Revolution, education was neglected, and THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 39 even in 1671, the governor, Sir William Berkeley, said he "thanked God that there were no free schools and no printing presses in Virginia, and no prospect of any for a hundred years to come," adding "God keep us from both!" But in 1688 some free schools were opened, and in 1692, the college of William and Mary was established. The professions of law and medicine for a long time were almost unknown ; and of the clergy, Bishop Meade, in his history of Virginia, says, " there was not only defective preaching, but most evil living among them." The planters, who were proud of their descent, were the influential and governing class, and from them, in the later days of the Revolution, came a set of leaders who have done the greatest services to the country and the greatest honor to the American name. A generation that could furnish such men as Washington, VIEW ON THE JAMES RIVER. Marshall, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Madison, and many others like them, is one that is worthy of note, not only in the history of the United States, but in that of the English race and of the world. The firm and noble stand taken not only by such men, but by the great mass of the people of Virginia for their political rights, was of the greatest benefit as an example and stimulus to the other colonies, and greatly prepared the way for our independence as a nation. Virginia has an area of 38,352 square miles. Its geology, climate, soil and productions differ in different parts of the State. It is rich in minerals, which are various and of great value, especially its coal and iron. The western coal region, cut through by large rivers, is one of the most valuable in the world. Mineral springs abound. Among the 40 OUK COUNTRY. curiosities of the State are the Natural Bridge in Rockbridge' county ; the Blowing Cave. that sends out a blast of cold air in summer, and draws in the air in winter; the Natural Tunnel, 70 feet high; the Hawk's Nest, a pillar 1,000 feet high; and several ebbing and flowing springs, as well as some of valuable medical properties. The Potomac is one of its chief rivers, and cuts through the Blue ridge at Harper's Ferry, which is so noted from its connection with the John Brown raid, and with many of the important military movements of the country. The State has eight colleges, including the State University, besides several important literary and theological institutions of a high order, and numerous state institutions of benevolence, besides those sustained by private benevolent associations. Its public school system was organized in 1870, and in 1875 its receipts for school purposes were over $[, 000,000. The population of the State in 1800 was 886,200, of whom 345,796 were slaves; in 1880, 1,512,565, and in 1890, 1,648,911. THE NEW ENGLAND AND OTHER COLONIES. New England was so named by Captain John Smith of Virginia, who, after his first return from Virginia to England, sailed to the American coast in 1614, for purposes of trade and discover)-. He examined the coast from the Penobscot river to Cape Cod, and made a map of the region, which was first printed in London in 1616. All this northern part of the United States had been granted by King James, in 1606, to the Plymouth Company, which had tried, but unsuccessfully, to found a colony in Maine, and it was dissolved in 1620, when a new company was formed, called the "Council for New- England," to which was granted all the territory from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, and extending from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific. While this Council was considering its plans, a colony was founded in Massachusetts by the Pilgrims, at Plymouth, and a little later a settlement was made by the Puritans in the region of Massachusetts Bay, both settlements forming what afterward became Massachusetts. Mass.\chusetts. The Pilgrims of New England are sometimes improperly confounded with the Puritans, who came over to New England at a little later date. The Pilgrims came out from the Puritans of England, going beyond them in opposition to the views and ceremonies of the Church of England. The doctrines of the Reformation began at an early date to have influence in England, but it was not till the time of Henry VIII. that they greatly divided the people. Then, and in the following reigns, strong opposition arose against the teachings and ceremonies of the established English church, those who dissented from the church while yet remaining in it and seeking its purit}% being called Puritans, while those who separated themselves entirely from the establishment were called Separatists, and afterward were known as the Pilgrims, or the Pilgrim Fathers. The Puritans acknowledged the Church of England, but remained in it desiring, laboring, and hoping for its reform and greater purity. The Pilgrims went far beyond this, and denounced it as a corrupt and idolatrous institution, false to Christianity and to the truth. Being opposed and persecuted for their views in various ways in England, the Pilgrims, many of them, fled to Holland, under the lead of their pastor, John Robinson. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 4I Remaining there some thirteen years, they finally resolved to emigrate to America, there to establish a colony where they might be free to carry out their views of religion and worship. Providing two ships, the Speedwell, of sixty, and the Mayflower, of a hundred and eighty tons, a part of their number embarked from Leyden. Twice they started, and twice put back, and at last the Mayflower sailed alone, with a hundred and two colonists, for the New World, September 6, 1620. They intended to go to the Hudson river, but after a stormy and trying passage, they landed, at last, at Plymouth, on the 2 1st of December. The leaders were not, with some exceptions, men of high social position or of great wealth, but they were men of thought and conscience and high character, and they bore with them the seeds of a great nation, and of a great system of government. As they had no authority from the king or the company as to the future of their enterprise, they decided, before landing, to make a mutual agreement with each other as to their government, and they drew up the following voluntary and solemn compact providing for their organization into a "civil body politic" for securing "just and equal laws," to which they promised " all due submission and obedience." It was signed by all the men of the company, forty-two in number, and is as follows : The Compact. In the name of God. Amen: We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain. France, and Ireland, king, defender of tjje faith, &c., having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord. King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1G20. Under this compact, James Carver was unanimously chosen their governor for the first year. As they landed they found the region almost entirely unoccupied, for most of the Indians had a few years before been swept off by a desolating pestilence. The voyage had been severe; their provisions were limited; as they disembarked, the water was so shallow they had to wade ashore, and in the freezing weather severe colds were taken which brought on disease and suffering, so that forty-four of their number died before the winter was over, and at the end of the year more than one-half of them were dead. At one time only seven of their number were well enough to care for the sick. Fearing the Indians, some of whom had attacked the first exploring party, they levelled the graves of the dead, planting Indian corn over them to conceal the weakness of the colony from the natives. The rock on which they landed has been carefully preserved to this day; and their landing and the lofty character of their plans have been deservedly and widely celebrated both in prose and poetry, but no where in more soul-stirring lines than in those by Mrs. Hcmans, which have been read and admired in every land where tlie story of the "Pilgrim Fathers" has been told. 42 OUR COUNTRY. The Landing of the Pilgrims. The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tossed; And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore. Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true-hearted, came; Not with the roll of stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame; Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear; — They shook the depths of the desert gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer. Amidst the storm they sang — And the stars heard, and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim vvoods rang To the anthems of the free! The ocean-eagle soared I From his nest by the white wave's foam; And the rocking pines of the forest roared, — This was their welcome home ! There were men with hoary hair Amidst that pilgrim band; — Why had they come to wither there. Away from childhood's land? There was woman's fearless eye. Lit by her deep love's truth; There was manhood's brow serenely high. And the fiery heart of youth. What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? They sought a faith's pure shrine. Ay ! call it holy ground. The soil where first they trod; They have left unstained what there they found, — Freedom to worship God. As spring advanced the sickness and mortality decreased. But the hardships of privation and want had still to be encountered. At one time their provisions were so spent that they know not at night where to find food for the morning, and at another, they were reduced to a single pint of corn, which being parched and distributed, gave to each individual only five kernels. But through all their self-denials and sufferings their trust in the goodness and guidance of divine providence remained unshaken. They threw out trading posts, hunted, farmed, fished, worked, and patiently stayed on, and so laid the solid foundations of the future State. The details of their life and progress may seem trivial in themselves, but they rise to grandeur when judged by the after results. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 43 They were set down at the time, with minute care, by men Hke Bradford, who seemed to have an instinctive assurance that tlie future would long to know of their struggles for existence, and that he and his friends were laying one of the corner stones of a great and prosperous nation. The colony grew slowly, but it did its intended work, and opened the way for the great emigration and growth that were afterward to build up the powerful commonwealths of New England. The system of common property here, as in Virginia, had worked badly and caused much discontent. But after 1623 it was agreed that parcels of land should be allotted, PLYMOUTH ROCK, MASSACHUSETTS. SO that the members of every family could plant and cultivate for themselves, an arrangement that gave great satisfaction and led to universal industry, so that very soon enough was raised for quite a commerce with the Indians, who gladly bartered their beaver and other skins for the corn of the colonists and for the manufactured articles which these furs purchased from England. One day, in the spring of 1621, Samoset, an Indian who had learned a little English from the Penobscot fishermen, came into the settlement, saying in English, " Welcome, 44 OUR COUNTRY. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 45 Englishmen ! " He brought with him Squanto, another Indian, who had been in England, who taught the colonists the Indian way of cultivating corn, and also acted as interpreter between them and the other Indians. Massasoit, the sachem of a neighboring tribe, came also to visit the colony, and formed with them a treaty of friendship — -the oldest act of diplomacy recorded in the histoiy of New England — a treaty which was faithfully kept as long as he lived. The influence of the English over the Indians rapidly increased, many of the chiefs submitting themselves and their tribes to King James. One of them, Canonicus, the sachem of the Narragansetts, was for a time unfriendly, and sent to the governor a bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattle-snake, as a token of his hostility, but when Bradford returned the skin stuffed with powder and bullets, his courage failed, and he also made peace with the colony. Later than this a plot was formed by some of the Indians to destroy the English, but Massasoit revealed the plan to his allies, and Miles Standish, who had been appointed commander of the colony, seized the plotters suddenly, and put them to death with their own weapons, and so ended the danger. Though the colonists exercised self-government, and were at peace with the natives, the progress of population was very slow. The lands were not fertile, the climate was severe and unfavorable, and at the end of ten years the colony numbered only about three hundred souls. Robinson had died at Leyden, and the remainder of the Pilgrims had come over from Holland to the colony, which afterwards acquired rights at Cape Ann and Kennebec, and also made a settlement on tlie Connecticut river. By a charter from William III., in 1629, the colony was united to the colony of Massachusetts, of which its territory thus became a part. To enjoy religious liberty had been the great object of the first comers of the Plymouth colony. Their form oi government was most simple. For more than eighteen years the legislature was made up of the whole body of the male inhabitants ; the governor was chosen by vote, and had several assistant councilors ; and the State was a strict democracy. But in 1639, as the population increased and the territory was extended, the system became representative, and each town sent its committee or delegates to the general court. As guides and pioneers, the Pilgrims set the example of popular government, and moulded the civil and religious character of our country, laying broad and deep the foundations of republican freedom and national independence and prosperity. They were a thoughtful, intelligent, thrifty. God-fearing people; for their age, were liberal Christians, and never chargeable with the religious persecutions for which the Puritans of the Massachusetts colony have been blamed. Not long after the Pilgrims came to Plymouth, other English people had visited the coasts of New England for exploration, fishing and traffic with the natives. At an early day Martin Pring had discovered New Hampshire; John Smith had visited the coast of Maine, and John Mason had established settlements at Portsmouth and Dover. And in 1622 thirty-five vessels were fishing on the coasts of New England, and settlements had been begun which afterward became the colonies of New Hampshire and Maine. The Puritans in England had now greatly increased in numbers, and afterward, in the time of Cromwell, they controlled the government. Now, however, they were opposed and persecuted, and seeing the growing success of the Plymouth colony, a number of their leading and wealthy members formed a company to send out other A^ OUR COUNTRY. SILVER CASCADE, CRAWFORD'S NOTCH, WHITE MOUNTAINS. THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 47 settlers to Now England. This company calling themselves the "Company of Massachusetts Bay," made purchase, in 1628, of extensive lands on the Bay, extending westward, as was supposed, to the Pacific ocean; and having in 1629 received a charter from King Charles, they sent out a party of Puritans, under John Endicott, which settled in Salem, and there laid the foundation of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Others followed, the same summer, and settled at Charlestown. In 1630 the charter and powers of government were transferred from the company in England to the colony, thus giving the colonists the right of governing themselves, the result of which was that a large number of Puritans, of influence and wealth, resolved to leave England for the colony. In the summer of the year, a fleet of thirteen vessels brought out fifteen hundred Puritan settlers, and with them horses, cattle, goats, and all things necessary for planting, fishing, ship-building, &c. With them came John Winthrop, as governor of the colony. He was greatly respected and esteemed by the people, and was frequently re-elected as governor. After being si.xty-one days at sea, the Arbella landed her passengers; Boston was made the capital of the colony, and a church was organized with John Wilson as pastor. The colony, as usual, had many hardships and discouragements, and a hundred or more of their number, disheartened and fearing famine and death, went back to England. Before December some two hundred of their number had died, but the survivors persevering, brighter days came on, and between 1630 and 1640, some twenty thousand persons had come o\'er to the colony. The people were thrifty and persevering, cultivating the ground, caring for their flocks and herds, fishing and hunting for food, and exporting cured fish, lumber, and furs of various kinds, which brought them, in return from England, articles of comfort and luxury. The laws were made by a legislature elected by vote of the citizens who were church members, till 1686, when the charter was taken away by James II., and the legislature abolished; but in 1692, a new and favorable charter was granted by King William, and Massachusetts continued to be a royal province down to the time of Independence in 1776. From the days of the revolution Massachusetts has had a steady and healthful growth. The State has an area of 7,800 square miles. The country is hilly, and much of the soil is sterile, so that less than one-half of the acreage of the State is improved in farming, but in the low grounds, and especially in the river valleys, it is fertile. The great prosperity of the State, however, is not from agriculture, but from its great manufacturing and commercial interests, in which it is relatively in advance of any of the OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON. 48 OUR COUNTRY. States. The fisheries of the State have also been one of its leading industries. It has numerous rivers and streams giving waterfalls of great power for manufacturing purposes, as at Lawrence Lowell, and Turner's Falls. In the State are some seven thousand schools of various grades, a university, and seven colleges, theological, medical, law, scientific, and industrial schools, and numerous hospitals and charitable institutions, and the railroad connections, thousands of miles in extent, give abundant channels for travel and transportation of every kind. In the early days of Massachusetts the colonists suffered greatly from the hostility of the Indians. In 1675, King Philip's war broke out, lasting more than a year, and causing great loss of life and property. No less than twelve or thirteen towns were l-'AI.I.S, MA^SACIirSETTS. destroyed by the Indians, and over six hundred houses were burned. In one conflict twenty of the colonists were killed. It was during this war that an attack was made upon Hadley, on a morning when the people were all in church. Suddenly the Indians rushed in and surrounded the meeting-house, and though the people rushed to arms for resistance, all was alarm and confusion. Suddenly, in the midst of the people, appeared a man of venerable appearance, but dressed differently from the people, who took the command, and arranged and ordered the men in the best militar\- manner. Led bv him they repelled and routed the enemy, and saved the town. Then the stranger immediately disappeared, and the inhabitants, not being able to account for the ohenomenon in any other way, believed that he must have been specially sent by God for their deliverance, and for some time afterward seemed persuaded that they had been THE EARLY COLONIES AND ORIGINAL STATES. 49 saved by an angel taking the form of man. Nor did they know who their deliverer was till some twenty years afterward, when it became known that it was Goffe, one of the two regicide judges who had been secreted there^ Massachusetts, in its colonial days, was deeply involved in the struggles between England and France for control in the New World, which did not cease till the union of Canada to England, and of the vast region then known as Louisiana to Spain. From the earliest days the people of the New England colonies were a highly intelligent and thinking people, and their leaders were men of thorough education and just and broad views of legislation and civil and social rights. In 1650, in the Massachusetts Bay colony one in every two hundred of the people was a graduate of an English university, and many of them had been as prominent and distinguished in England as they afterward were in the New World. In the controversies that led to the revolution, and in the war itself, as in all the steps that led to our independence and to the formation of the new republic, Massachusetts took a leading part, and most of the ablest leaders in the great work were from Massachusetts and Virginia. In 1790, the population of the State was 378,787; in 1880, 1,783,085, and in 1890, 2,333,407. Connecticut. The valley of the Connecticut river had early become an object of desire and competition to the settlers of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, as it had also to the Dutch. Its territory had first been granted to the Earl of Warwick, and then to Lord Brook and Lord Say and Sele and their assigns. A trading-house had early been established at Windsor by the Plymouth people, and another by the Dutch, at Hartford, and small settlements had been made in one or two other places, but the great body of the future possessors of the rich Connecticut valley came from Massachusetts. In 1635, John Winthrop, the younger, came out from England as governor of Connecticut, under the patent of Lord Brook and Lord Say and Sele, and took formal possession of the country, tore down the Dutch arms where ever they had been placed, and built a fort at Saybrook. In the spring of the next year, Thomas Hooker, " the light of the western churches," led to Hartford a colony of some hundred souls, gathered from the most valuable citizens of the Massachusetts settlement. Going on foot through the wilderness, with no guide but the compass, and no resting place at night but the ground, they drove before them their herds of cattle, and reaching the Connecticut river, founded the settlements of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, forming the " Connecticut colony." For a time there was trouble between the English and the Dutch, as both claimed Connecticut, but the former at last gained full possession, and in 1644 the Saybrook settlement was united with the Connecticut colony. The settlements thus united were exposed to many perils, especially from the Indians. The colonists numbered, in all, only some two hundred persons, while the Pequots, who were hostile, had some seven hundred warriors, who soon began raiding and burning on the outlying farms, and murdering the inhabitants. Men going to their work were killed and scalped and horribly mangled. At Wethersfield a man was taken by them and roasted alive, and ten persons were massacred, and two girls carried away. 4 50 OUR COUNTRY. Roused by these atrocities, war was declared by the colony, and Captain John Mason, with seventy-seven men and reinforcements of friendlj' Indians from the Narragansett and Nyantic tribes, attaci