E285 UBRARY OF CONGRESS DDaa3E5tja32 d^ o«'A'..'^ ^»• ^^"X <». '•• .' J.*' '1'.%. .r.;f^,% .v\.i- •^^< ^^. #^ .* ^H< •/ ^h* Digitized by the Internet Arcliive in 2010 witli funding from Tine Library of Congress littp://www.arcliive.org/details/dayswecelebrateOOdunn /f/^^ a^' W ftp' @x^ COPYRIGHTED 1895, BY MRS. JULIA MILLS DUNN. MOLINE, ILLINOIS. TO THE DAUGHTERS AND SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, DESCENDANTS OF THOSE HEROES WHOSE FORTITUDE AND PATRIOTISM, UNPARALLELED IN HISTORY, HAVE MADE THESE DAYS SACRED, THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED. [HE D11Y8 WE CELEBRATE 7 January, 1781. :©attle of dowpens. 3NE of the most brilliant victories of the Revolution. Cornwallis had ispatched Colonel Tarleton with his amous cavalry legion to destroy the .-atriot forces under General Morgan, 'r drive them out of the State. The Americans, learning of Tarleton's ap- >roach, took up a favorable position at I grazing ground known as the Cow- )ens, where they were attacked by the British. At the crisis of the battle, Colonel William Washington made a ■urious charge and scattered the British dragoons. The rout was complete ; :he victory decisive. There never was a victory more thorough. The Days We Celebrate. 1 22 February, 1732. Masbington'e :Birtb£)ais. THE greatest patriot of whom we know anything, whose life and deeds were to so profoundly affect the history, not only of his own country, but the history of civilization and the world, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Congress has most appropri- ately made his birthday a national holi- day, and the whole world does homage to his memory. 19 April, 1775 :©attle of Xcjington, THE first outbreak of the Revolution. When the patriots became aware that it was the intention of General Gage to subdue them by force of arms, they secretly carried arms and amuni- tion and stored them at Concord. Gage dispatched eight hundred men to de- stroy it, and also capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two bold patriots who were supposed to be hidden at Lexington or Concord. The Days We Celebrate. 5 In the darkness of the night, Paul Revere and William Dawes rode with all possible speed to Lexington, alarm- ing the settlers and villagers to "be up and to arm "; and when the British regi- ment, under Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, reached the place, they found a small but rapidly augmenting body of patriots ready to receive them. The patriots lost, in killed and wounded, eighty-three, and the British two hun- dred and seventy-three. " Scarcely a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year." — Longfello7v in '' Paul Revere s Ride" ' ' Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world." — Emerson. 10 May, 1775. Surrender ct 3fort XTiconDeroga. I^ORT Ticonderoga had been equipped i and fortified by the British at an expense of forty millions of dollars. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, a daring and eccentric patriot, at the head of eighty-three men rowed across Lake 6 The Days We Celebrate. Champlain in the darkness of the nighty and demanded the surrender of the fort. " By whose authority ? " demanded the astonished commandant, Delaplace. " In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" replied Allen. Thus an important fort, with one hun- dred and twenty cannon and vast quan- tities of military stores, was captured in ten minutes by a few undisciplined pro- vincials. 14 June, 1777. BDoptlon of tbc American jflaa, I HE first form of the American flag ^ was designed by Abram Markoe, captain of the light-horse troop of Philadelphia. It was the first that bore the thirteen stripes symbolizing the thirteen col- onies.^ Samuel Chester Reid, of New York, was the designer of the present form of the flag, and the first to propose adding a new star to the field of the flag when- The Days We Celebrate. 7 ever a new State was admitted to the Union. In adopting the flag, Congress re- solved that the proportions of the flag for army use should be six feet six inches in length, and four feet four inches in width. ' ' Forever float that standard sheet ! Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us ? " — Joseph Rodi7ian Drake. ' ' The star-spangled banner, oh, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ! " — Francis Scott Key. 17 June, 1775. JSattle ot :ffiunt^::*^tlL_^ IT had been rumored for weeks that the British, powerfully reinforced under Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne, were to move out of Boston to burn and pillage the country. Secretly the patriots fortified Bunker Hill the night before the battle, silently and under cover of the darkness, so 8 The Days We Celebrate. close to the enemy's ships in the harbor that they could plainly hear the ships* sentries call "All is well! " Though the patriots were obliged to retreat owing to lack of amunition, the British loss was more than double that of the Americans, and it was called a glorious defeat for the cause of liberty for the patriotism it everywhere kindled in the hearts of the people. 28 June, 1776. 3fort iilboultric. NO braver defence was ever made by the patriots during the war of the revolution than that at Fort Moultrie, where the gallant Colonel Moultrie, with four hundred raw militiamen, held the fort against a large fleet of British ships which bombarded the fort for eight hours. After a heavy loss the British were glad to retreat, and as soon as they could repair their damaged ships sailed away for New York. The Days We Celebrate. 9 4 July, 1776. Declaration of "ffn^epenOcnce. J HE news that King George was to ^ send hired Hessians to conquer the colonies aroused the patriots to frenzy. A resolution declaring inde- pendence of British rule was introduced into Congress by Richard Henry Lee, and called forth a spirited discussion, many members still hoping for an ami- cable settlement. In the steeple of the State House the old bell man had stood all day waiting for the summons to ring out the glad sound of freedom to the city and the world. At two in the afternoon a mes- senger shouted up to him, " Ring! ring!" And ring he did ; and at the sound men grasped each others hands, women wept with excitement, the glad cry was taken up and passed along the street ; all felt that the die was cast, there was no retreat. It was liberty or death. lo The Days We Celebrate. 1 6 August, 1777. ^Battle ot ^Bennington. I HE British, under General Burgoyne, ^ were marching toward Albany and dispatched a detachment to seize the military stores held by the patriots at Bennington, Vermont. The New Hampshire militia, led by Colonel John Stark and reinforced by the gallant Colonel Warner, utterly routed the British, and achieved one of the signal victories of the Revolution. 7 October, 1780. JSattle of 1Ring'5 /IRountain. (OLONEL Ferguson, with a force of -— eleven hundred regulars and tories, had been sent into the country west of the Catawba to overawe the patriots and encourage the tories to take up arms. On the heights of King's Mountain, where they were encamped, they were surprised by a thousand patriot riflemen led by Colonel Campbell. A fierce con- flict raged for an hour and a half, at the The Days We Celebrate. ii end of which, after a heavy loss, eight hundred men threw down their arms and surrendered to the patriots. It was a complete victory. 17 October, 1777. SurcenDcr ot :©ui:goi2ne. IaJhEN Burgoyne, the British com- ^ mander, was thoroughly outgen- eraled by the patriot forces near Sara- toga, he was obliged to sue for terms of capitulation. By this victory about six thousand prisoners of war, a splendid train of brass artillery, and a vast quan- tity of military stores, came into pos- session of the patriot army commanded by Generals Gates and Lincoln. It was one of the notable victories of the Rev- olution. 19 October, 1774. ^be Bnnapolis tlea*ipart^, TpFTER the destruction of the tea in ' V^ Boston, Great Britan still per- sisted in its shipment to southern ports. At Charleston the people resisted, and 12 The Davs We Celebrate. when it was landed forbade its sale. When on the date above given the owner of the Peggy Stuart anchored in Annap- olis bay with a cargo of tea, he little dreamed of what was to follow. The Whig club of Annapolis, under their daring leader. Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield, braving all consequences, went undisguised to the harbor and compelled the owner of the vessel to set fire to it, and stood on guard until ship and cargo were consumed, and then withdrew without disorder or further demonstration. Great Britain shipped no more tea to Maryland, and public opinion enthusi- astically upheld the destruction of the tea. No punishment was inflicted upon the perpetrators. 19 October, 1781. SurtenDer oX Xord Cornwallis. jORD Cornwallis, the British com- L^ mander, had encamped near York- town. La Fayette quickly advanced into the peninsula, and went into camp The Days We Celebrate. 13 but eight miles distant, from which point he sent urgent messages to Washington in his camp on the Hudson to come to Virginia and aid in striking the enemy a crushing blow. While General Clinton, the British commandant at New York, deceived by false dispatches, was preparing for an assault by the patriots, Washington with his whole army was marching to Vir- ginia, and a powerful fleet of French ships, commanded by Count de Grasse, twenty-eight ships in all, anchored in the mouth of York river. Cornwallis with his army was completely blockaded by land and sea, and on the seventeenth proposed terms of capitulation by which eight thousand or more soldiers and sail- ors, Hessians and English, became pris- oners of war. This was the final battle of the Revolution. 2,^ November, 1783. :i£vacuatiou ot IRew l^orf?. IN September of the above year a treaty of peace was signed be- tween Holland, Spain, England, France, 14 The Days We Celebrate. and the United States, and on the twen- ty-fifth of November, everything being in readiness, the British army embarked, and soon the Briton had made an igno- minious departure. The United States of America took her place as one of the nations of the earth, i6 December, 1773. Xlbe JSoston trea*parti2» Tl'MONG the causes that led to the • V^ Revolution was the excessive taxes levied on the colonies by an exorbi- tant duty to be paid on all imported articles, which was afterwards repealed except that on tea. The people pledged themselves to use no tea until that also was taken off. But English ships loaded with tea were sent to America. Then New York and Philadelphia closed their ports and forbade the ships to en- ter. At Boston fifty men, disguised as Indians, boarded some ships laden with tea, broke open over three hundred chests and poured the contents into the sea. This was called the Boston Tea- party. The Days We Celebrate. 15 26 December, 1776. JSattlc of Trenton. TyT the close of the year the British • V^ believed they had entirely con- quered the patriots, and that the war was ended. Lord Cornwallis obtained leave of absence and prepared to return to Eng- land. Washington resolved to attack the encamped Hessians at Trenton, and selected Christmas as the time, for he knew that the Hessians would spend the day in drinking and carousing. The Delaware river was filled with floating ice, and the crossing was so difficult that it was not effected until three o'clock in the morning after Christ- mas. The attack was a complete sur- prise to the enemy, who threw down their arms and begged for quarter. Be- fore night Washington had- the whole body of captives safe on the other side of the Delaware. FAVORABLE COMMENT, Mrs, Julia M. Dunn, Moline, Illinois. Dear Mrs. Dunn : "I have read with very great interest your brief synopsis of ' The Days We Celebrate.' It more than meets with my hearty approval, and indeed I have felt for a long time that our Chapters needed, very greatly, just such a book." LETITIA G. STEVENSON, Former President-General. Mrs. Julia M. Dunn. Dear Madam : "I heartily agree with Mrs. Stevenson that our Chapters need just such a book as ' The Days We Celebrate. ' " MARY PARKE FOSTER, President-General Daughters of the American Revolution. My Dear Mrs. Dunn : ' ' Your little book of dates and epochs, ' The 'Days We Celebrate, ' will be invaluable for Chap- ter use. The advance pages sent me are excel- lent, showing careful and accurate study of the subjects treated." ANNIE W. L. KERFOOT, State Regent Illinois Daughters American Revolution. )ear Mrs. Dunn : ' ' ' The Days We Celebrate ' will be a boon to every Daughter of the American Revolution." MARY L. DEERE, Regent of Rock Island County, Illinois, D. A. R. ^8 1 .^ s V V . ^>/ -life-. *'^*' •° -i-^"-*^^ ■ • ^^ %> *^' --V'^^